Thursday, September 18, 2008

Has it been that long already?

Man, how time flies when you're having fun. Or working a lot.

Anyway, this entry I thought I talk a little about some of the books I've been reading lately. I'm a bit of a bookworm and Terry Brooks is one of my favorite authors, an incredible story teller, with great stories to tell. I started reading the Genesis of Shannara series about a year ago, the third book having just been released last month, which I'm almost done with. I also started reading the Word and the Void once I had finished the second book in the Genesis series and had a year to wait for the third. In both of these series', the world is facing some serious challenges. The Word and Void takes place first, in which times are tough and the world is headed for certain disaster. In both of these sets of books, their is the Void and the demons that it uses to fight for its cause and there is the Word and the Knights of the Word that it uses to fight for its cause.

Here's where it gets interesting. The demons don't work the way you might think, they work by cunning, trickery and subtle means. Spending years on a plan that slowly comes together and snowballs with terrific force. The good do what they can to prevent this, but often discover too late the real intents of the tricky demons. Just when they think they are one step ahead, it turns out they are actually two steps behind.

I find the stories riveting and many good people die, just as you'd expect in real life fights of good versus evil.

And on that note, what is good and what is evil? The men that brought about the collapse of the twin towers did so in the name of their God, claiming to be fighting the good fight. I do not believe it though, I believe they are evil. That anyone who preys on those who are weaker are evil and those who fight to defend the week are generally good. Many good lives are lost in the fight between good and evil, it is sad, but it is also reality.

Right now, I have a brother in Iraq, fighting the good fight and, God willing, he will return home unharmed at the end of his tour. I do not like the fighting, I wish it could just end, but I realize that isn't going to happen when children are taught from birth to hate others. I encourage anyone who reads this to do their part not to influence any child to hate another human being, for any reason.

And for those looking for a good read, Terry Brooks comes highly recommended. He has many different types of stories and all are fascinating, well told and typically offer excellent metaphors about life, the world and human nature.