At Patheos: NRA: Paper jam

Fred Clark has posted a new post, NRA: Paper jam, at Patheos.com.

This week Fred writes about pp.24-33 of Nicolae: The Rise of Antichrist

Excerpt:

And then, suddenly, we catch another glimpse of what is surely meta-Jenkins briefly surfacing from the author’s subconscious:

Chloe spoke up. “Buck, shouldn’t you try to edit it or shape it into some sort of book form first?” “I’ll take a look at it, Chloe, but there’s a certain beauty in simply reproducing it in the form it’s in. This was Bruce off-the-cuff, in the middle of his study, writing to fellow believers, writing to friends and loved ones, writing to himself.”

The very best writing, you see, isn’t “edited” and shouldn’t be “shaped … into some sort of book form.” It’s just reproduced as is.

That’s either a revealing Freudian slip or else it’s Jenkins explicitly mocking his audience. I can’t tell which.

[Fred Clark, NRA: Paper jam, July 13, 2012, posted at Patheos.com]


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Comments

[Caretaker of Cats]

I'm feeling the urge to write fiction to save Loretta from awful characterization.

[Firedrake]

A laser printer running on fanfold paper is more fantastic than most of the miracles we've seen so far.

I'm not surprised to learn that in the L&J psyche documents on computer are difficult scary things that aren't useful until they're printed. I've worked with people like that.

[chris the cynic]

Shameless self promotion, because it's kind of what I do:

Fred Clark wrote:

2. Buck has such a senior-level executive card because he is a senior-level executive. But apart from the perks that come with this job, both he and the authors seem to have forgotten he has any job at all. I’m sure his boss, the Antichrist, couldn’t care less that Buck just bought himself a new car shortly after his old car was destroyed along with the rest of mid-town Manhattan. But I’m guessing that Nicolae will care a great deal about the fact that the executive in charge of Global Community Weekly is blithely ignoring his journalistic duties, failing even to check in with the office following the outbreak of World War III.

In Skewed Slightly to the Left:
Cameron headed straight to the offices when Fitzhugh warned him the shit was going to hit the fan.  And warned everyone there that they were up against fate itself if they tried to make a difference.

Then they tried to make a difference.

And somewhere in there he found time for a personal moment.

[chris the cynic]

@Caretaker of Cats

I would read that.

[Caretaker of Cats]

All right, I've got a draft going. Lacking the actual book, could someone point me to the post(s) where Bruce Barnes stops hanging out at the church and goes on his world tour or whatever he was supposed to be doing before he was hospitalized?

[Firedrake]

Caretaker of Cats, that's a very good question! Because he gets back from that tour before everything goes to pot, and then he's emailing back and forth for ages.

Anyway, there's not a lot of talk about Bruce's ministry through the book. Anyone would think that LaJenkins had got bored with his toy.

"Bruce Barnes had done his share of traveling, too. He had instituted a program of house churches, small groups that met all over the suburbs and throughout the state in anticipation of the day when the assembling of the saints would be outlawed. It wouldn't be long. Bruce had gone all over the world, multiplying the small-group ministry, starting in Israel and seeing the ministry of the two witnesses and Rabbi Tsion Ben-Judah swell to fill the largest stadiums on the globe."

"Bruce was fast becoming one of the leading prophecy scholars among new believers. The year or year and a half of peace, he said, was fast coming to a close."

"Bruce had become famous, even popular. But many believers were growing tired of his dire warnings."

"Bruce, who was at the church less and less all the tune due to his ministry all over the world"

"Buck said he and Chloe would come to Chicago then, too. Bruce would be back from a swing through Australia and Indonesia. They set the date, four in the afternoon, six weeks later. They would have a two-hour intensive Bible study in Bruce's office and then enjoy a nice dinner somewhere."

That last one's in http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2011/10/17/tf-best-kept-secrets/ where Fred gave us the second half of the paragraph.

[Caretaker of Cats]

Hmm. That'll take a bit of work. I have a horrible time believing that Pastor Secret Shelter for Four actually traveled that much or shared information that widely.

[chris the cynic]

That was during the 18 month timeskip. Other than World War III, which was barely in book 2, anything interesting that happened in the first two books happened during the 18 month timeskip.

And, honestly, a lot of interesting things did happen, they just get glossed over in a matter of sentences. Unfortunately for Bruce, one of the interesting things is that he finally starts being heroic-like, so of course he has to die.