(August 27, 2015 at 12:21 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Well even Carrier goes in depth into each alleged piece of evidence to explain why it is not.  Xtians hate to hear that.

Right.

I guess I figure that if you write a book about there being no evidence for something then it'll be a freakin' short book:

Quote:There was No Jesus, There is No God
By Rafael Lataster

Chapter One: Jesus
There was no Jesus.

Chapter Two: God
There is no god.

The end.

I've started rereading Tales from Margariaville, J. Buffett

I'm a goth chick but I'm NOT really into vampires.


Anne Rice is known for her vampire literature,
but I preferred a non-vampire trilogy she once wrote.

It was a historical epic about a fictitious family named the "Mayfairs".

The family's story spans centuries, starting in the Highlands of Scotland,
spanning to modern day America, where they enjoy great wealth and power.

But the family wealth is riddled with infamy,
as well as a legacy of much close inbreeding
which has resulted in "extra" chromosomes in their DNA,
which in turn has some curious mutations, such as some strange "gifts".

Central to the story is not only the family's own genetic peculiarities,
but the fact that there is a demon or familiar
that serves the family, and has, for centuries;

It was first unwittingly called up from a "circle of stones"
by a "cunning woman", in some village in the Scottish Highlands,
centuries ago.

The first book, " The Witching Hour " is mostly the history of the family.



The second book, " Lasher " is more the story of the spirit or familiar.



The third book " Taltos " reveals a far greater backstory,
which includes a strange but entirely natural, earthly species,
mammalian and hominid,
but far older, and far more evolved than humans...

....which eventually crosses paths with the Mayfair family.



These books are among my favourites,
and this, even though Rice's writing style is not always to my liking.

I find the concept highly imaginative,
and I appreciate that she weaves in much real history, science and medicine.

I love the whole trilogy but it is the second book in the series, " Lasher "
that I think is worth considering most, for the purposes of this forum;

If it is all feasible that Jesus and the other "gods" of history ever really existed, at all,
I could quite easily think of their nature as being similar to Lasher,
and I wish the religions of the world would consider that possibility, too:

That while it is still most likely that there is no God at all, and no spirit realm, to speak of,

that IF there is ANY possibility whatsoever that such beings truly exist,
that they have matter and limitations, just like us,
and that they are opportunists, with needs, that have manipulated humanity for thousands of years,

taking advantage of the fact that we lack the apparatus to detect them,
much in the way that birds have eyes that can see ultraviolet, but we do not;
and how dogs can smell things that we never could,

mixing truth with lies to confuse us,
telling us they love us when they really resent us,
misguiding us into believing that they are mighty and infallible and all-knowing,
when in fact they are weak and muddled,
jealous of our bodies and relying upon human focus and energy, to manifest,
and panicked at the thought of us realizing we don't need them,
trying to belligerently threaten us back into paying attention to them;

feeding off our "worship" and attention,
until they no longer need us,
at which point they abandon us
...thus, the "fallen gods" of the old religions of Rome and Greece and Egypt.


Note:

Anne Rice eventually added onto this trilogy, which I felt was complete already;

she added the book "Blackwood Farm"
which mixes in another wealthy, eccentric, and somewhat infamous family, the Blackwoods,
who are unaware that they are distantly and illegitimately related to the Mayfair family;

I enjoyed Blackwood farm,
but after the halfway mark,
she begins to cross her Mayfair and Blackwood families over with her vampires;

and while I see the temptation to do such a crossover in the storyline,
I personally felt the family epics were good enough on their own;
I kind of wish she had restricted herself to merely hinting at the suggestion
that vampires had passed near to these families, at some point in their history,
without actually bringing vampires into the active story.

But I really enjoyed the book up until that point.
The family stories were good.

She then took it a step further, with" Blood Canticle "
which is not only a vampire book,
but actually weaves her most popular character,
the Vampire Lestat into the story, too.

Not my thing.

But vampires are what she does, I guess.

I absolutely loved her Interview with the Vampire.

Now I'm in a pickle. The new Kim Harrison book, "The Drafter" (book one of the "Peri Reed Chronicles") came out today and since I pre-ordered I already have it, but I'm in the middle of "The Kingkiller Chronicles." Do I interrupt the current series to read the new one I've been waiting months for or do I finish what's been published so far of one of the best fantasy series I've ever read?!?

Aaaaaarghhhhh!

BRANDON SANDERSON IS COMING TO TOWN!!!!!!

October 6th at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver! YESSSSS! Another signed first for my collection!

(September 1, 2015 at 9:48 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: Now I'm in a pickle. The new Kim Harrison book, "The Drafter" (book one of the "Peri Reed Chronicles") came out today and since I pre-ordered I already have it, but I'm in the middle of "The Kingkiller Chronicles." Do I interrupt the current series to read the new one I've been waiting months for or do I finish what's been published so far of one of the best fantasy series I've ever read?!?

Aaaaaarghhhhh!

Keep what your on. Else you will lose your rhythm and probably forget some parts of the story.

(September 1, 2015 at 10:31 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: BRANDON SANDERSON IS COMING TO TOWN!!!!!!

October 6th at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver! YESSSSS! Another signed first for my collection!

(August 31, 2015 at 10:00 am)excitedpenguin Wrote: I absolutely loved her Interview with the Vampire.

That was kind of her Opus; she is most famous for that book.

It was made into a movie, I don't know if you saw it, it was very successful.

I never quite reconciled myself with the choice of Tom Cruise as Lestat,
although I suppose I can grudgingly admit that he did a pretty good job.

(September 2, 2015 at 10:25 am)Clueless Morgan Wrote:

(September 1, 2015 at 10:31 pm)SnakeOilWarrior Wrote: BRANDON SANDERSON IS COMING TO TOWN!!!!!!

October 6th at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver! YESSSSS! Another signed first for my collection!

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Hey. Don't go peeing on my parade. I missed a Marie Lu and Carrie Vaughn (both at the Tattered Cover) while on the business trip to Chicago.