The Music of the Spheres - Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett was a master of the art of British comedy. What's more: he was one of the great fantasy novelists and satirists of the 20th Century. In being all these things, he is - at least in America - often unfairly overshadowed by specialists in each. He created a famous black-haired, bespectacled young wizard who goes to a school in a castle, and then a young upstart came along and stole his thunder. A successor to Monty Python and P.G. Wodehouse, a contemporary of Douglas Adams, he was a bit more serious than any of them. The breadth of his invention rivaled Dickens, but then, he wasn't Dickens. And of course, Pratchett was far too funny to be taken seriously as a satirist.

A Murderous Bunch - The British Mystery 2013 Line-Up

This is older information - for the latest, follow this link. 

The BBC's mystery list for 2013 has me tickled pink. First up, more episodes of my favorite detective show: Foyle's War, starring Michael Kitchen.

Following the end of WWII, Foyle plunges into the Cold War as an MI5 agent, taking on Soviet spies and corruption in high places. I worry a bit that the shift in tone will alter the feel of the show. After all, in the last three episodes, Foyle took on racism with African Americans, and it was hinted that James Devereaux (played by Andrew Scott, a.k.a. Moriarty) might be Foyle's illegitimate son. Still, despite the shaky territory (and a slight swing in a politically correct direction), as far as I remember, Foyle was the same old modest upright fellow as in earlier series. He's one of the few characters on TV with (mostly) Christian morals who is not caricatured, or changed. Hopefully that is how he will remain. Anthony Horowitz also says that this series will be the last he writes.

Here's the first trailer, featuring very un-Foylish music:

Only a Slave Can Be Truly Free - Paradise Lost

Only the eyes of the heart perceive

That the deaf and blind can hear and see

That insanity’s saner than sanity

That only a slave can be truly free

-“Through the Eye” Michael Card

I tend to prefer the epic to the commonplace. While Shakespeare’s tightly plotted tragedies and comedies are hardly everyday fare, compared to John Milton’s Paradise Lost, they’re as familiar as an alarm clock in the morning. Because really, Paradise Lost is high fantasy. Fantasy based on fact, but still legendary in scale. Peopled with fantastic creatures and transcendent beings, colossal settings and astounding descriptions, Paradise Lost consists mainly of Milton letting his imagination run wild as it fills in gaps between the first few chapters of Genesis.

Milton doesn’t just try his hand at description; he also takes a shot at theology. Obviously, anyone who creates a fictional story puts their characters in a world where the author’s views are Truth. For instance, judging the bulk of literature, one concludes that most of humanity (consciously or unconsciously) believes in an ultimate Happy Ending, and longs for the triumph of Justice.

“…and they lived happily ever after.”

The main ideas that jump out in Lost (really, the TV show wasn’t very true to the book), are those of justice, pride, freedom, gratitude, and forgiveness. Milton certainly isn’t a universalist. He correctly understands that every time God forgives, he must do so at the expense of his justice. Of Jesus he said: