Here are the first two chapters, a little delayed because even though I live in a tropical area now, my bronchitis still thinks it needs to visit me each year. (Maybe Arizona will be the only place where I don’t cough up a lung?)
SALEM–Safety Assured leaving East of Medicetti picks up immediately where Book 4 leaves off, with Perrin and Mahrree trusting random people who show up in the middle of the night, and Peto thinking his parents are desperate, cowardly, and meek for going along with their plan.
Naturally, the teenager knows he’s going to save the day.
But we all know this isn’t that kind of book series.
A shockingly productive weekend–about three hours of listening pleasure for you! (Ok, “pleasure” may be pushing it a bit.)
Mahrree wonders if people give into coercion and force because of fear, or because of lack of faith.
This has been my question for nearly two years now, especially when I look at my own responses to everything since March 2020. Often I stand up with faith, and often I bow down in fear–no, not so much “fear” but in deference others who are fearful, to make people around me “feel better” in the face of what I consider ridiculousness. I don’t want to offend or hurt feelings, but I also don’t want to hide what I believe is correct.
It’s a tough, tough balance, one that I have yet to handle well. But one verse from the apostle Paul keeps coming back to my mind: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” Faith over fear. It’s hard to achieve, hard to maintain, hard to demonstrate without offending. But it’s the only way to get through anything.
Then again, it’s so easy to be brave . . . in theory. So easy to make promises . . . when you don’t have to follow through yet. So easy to feel so much pride . . . when you’re untested.
I confess I’m much like Mahrree, but only when she’s believes she much tougher in her mind than she is in real life. It’s so easy to label others cowards . . . until we face the same situation. (And I’m such a coward, but I wish I weren’t.)
And sorry there’s no visual on this last chapter. I have NO idea where my screen went. Usually you can see the text I’m reading (and revising as I read), but in this chapter? Just some odd, clipped image. I’m clueless. Sorry.
“After terror, the people are willing to forfeit all kinds of freedoms to ensure their security.”
Some of the lines I read out loud give me goosebumps when I see how the same scenarios are happening in our own countries, already. This one especially. I’ve said before I knew we’d come to this, but it’s all happening faster than I anticipated.
And the fact that Dormin is a “straw man”–I’m teaching logical fallacies to my students right now, and this label jumped out at me today with additional layers. Read about straw man tactics here: https://thinkbuthow.com/straw-man/
Also, pink is not my favorite color either, Perrin. I totally get your reaction. I’d feel the same way.
It’s finished, guys! I thought this would take me until January to get finished, but once I decided to do it, I found ways to keep going. The Forest at the Edge of the World is complete! (And that last chapter is just over an hour, so take an extra long walk or deep clean your fridge as you listen. Why do I write such long chapters?!)
Yes, that means Book 2, Soldier at the Door, will be coming soon. I need to work on the thumbnail for it, then I’ll start recording chapter by chapter for that one as well.
I teach high school English at a residential treatment center, and today I showed my students selections of “Mulan” as part of a unit in Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. (We’re tracking the cycle in a variety of stories and movies, such as Harry Potter and Hunger Games).
As my students spontaneously sang along with, “Make a Man Out of You!” I realized that Capt. Shang has a lot in common with Perrin, except that Perrin is of Japanese descent (“shin” means “truth”) while Shang is Chinese.
I hadn’t realized before how much Shang may have unconsciously influenced my character development of Perrin:
“Tranquil as the forest . . .”
(Admit you, you sang along in your head, didn’t you?)
Three more chapters for you, nearly halfway through the book. (And no wonder I lost my voice earlier trying to record chapter 14–it turned out to be 49 minutes long).
I was really hoping I could 14 done tonight, too, but my voice couldn’t hold out for two long chapters, and started sounding as gravelly as Relf Shin. Sadly, I didn’t have any Relf Shin lines to read, though. (Mahrree’s lines were really starting to sound bad.)
I’ll have to record chapter 14 tomorrow. Stay tuned . . .
Forestedgebooks.com 