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Lest you wonder why I don’t worry about my book sales:

There’s a decided lack of plot in the above synopsis, and it’s not because I want to withhold spoilers. Truth is, there really isn’t a plot in Twilight. Nearly 400 out of 500 pages are devoted to Bella and Edward cuddling, professing their undying love for each other, and generally staring at each other dewey-eyed. In other words, oodles and oodles of this:

“His angel’s face was only a few inches from mine. I might have — should have — flinched away from his uexpected closeness, but I was unable to move. His golden eyes mesmerized me.”What are you afraid of, then?” he whispered intently.But I couldn’t answer. As I had just that once before, I smelled his cool breath in my face. Sweet, delicious, the scent made my mouth water. It was unlike anything else. Instinctively, unthinkingly, I leaned closer, inhaling.”

Sweet smelling…breath? Is this for real? I bet he craps rainbows, too. Just sayin’.

Seriously people, this is it. Between scenes of Bella playing Susie Homemaker to her father and wondering at her inexplicable popularity, this is Twilight.

Given the rather exotic nature of Summa Elvetica I suspect no one will ever doubt my professed lack of ambition to make the NYT bestseller’s list again. The truth is, if I wanted to maximize my pursuit of the consumer entertainment dollar, I’d much prefer to build an x-rated empire and develop games like Strip Club Tycoon and Rape 3D than write this sort of banal and brainless schlock.

Speaking of porn and Twilight, I’m reminded of the writer who wondered what was going to happen when a generation of young men accustomed to acrobatic performances by silicone-enhanced actresses runs headlong into a generation of young women expecting the human equivalent of gentlemanly teetotalling vampires. My impression is that moment of two cultures colliding will be the perfect moment to introduce Robogirl.

And, of course, bid adieu to Homo Technicas.

In which I conclude our new visitor is doomed to disappointment:

Heard you on AFR yesterday and was taken with your tone. You seem to have a great understanding of how things really work without the usual cockiness that accompanies that.

J, I’m very glad to hear that you enjoyed the interview. You’re certainly welcome to bookmark this blog and hang out as often as you like. I hope you enjoy the ongoing discourse. However, full disclosure requires me to inform you that I do not suffer from what a reasonable man would describe as a dearth of self-assurance. I am polite when making an appearance on other people’s shows and blogs, but this civility should probably not be taken as an absence of arrogance.

It’s probably just as well Bane already kicked it. This would totally have done him in. He would have died laughing.

I’ve always subtracted 5 points from the Democratic advantage and usually come closer to the actual result than any of the pre-election polls. This guy, however, has closely examined a number of their structural flaws:

I have already written extensively about polling groups manipulation of demographic weights, so I will only summarize here that in addition to party affiliation, various polling groups this year have produced polls out of demographic balance with Census norms for urban/suburban/rural participation, minority race representation, age, employment status, and income range. It should not be difficult to imagine how these manipulations might invalidate the results published by the polling groups.

I have to admit, it always seems bizarre to me when a poll announces that in a recent polling of 850 Democrats and 600 Republicans, Obama has a 58-42 advantage. I mean, do they even have to ask the question to figure that one out? I understand the concept of estimating dynamic party identifications and electoral turnout, but it seems to me that given the weight of those estimates, the actual answers are irrelevant.

“In a poll of 140 black Democrats and one Republican who still supports Ron Paul, Obama is ahead 100-0. Looks like an epic Democratic landslide of unthinkable proportions, Katie!”

In summary, if McCain is within 5 points next month, he probably wins.

There is nothing free about the market in the USA:

On Monday October 13 in the US Treasury, Paulson convened an emergency meeting with the heads of the nine largest US banks. According to reports from participants, Paulson handed each person a one page document to sign that they would agree to sell their stock shares in part to the US Government in return for an emergency injection of $250 billions. Paulson told them they must all sign before leaving the room. Three hours and reportedly many acrimonious arguments later, all nine had signed in the largest Government intervention into the US banking system since the Great Depression.

Unsurprisingly, the “conservative” media is almost completely silent about this coercive government acquisition. About the only way they’d even notice is if Paulson took over the Yankees or American Idol this way.

In care you’re interested, I’ll be doing an interview about TIA on the Christian Radio Network with Tim Wildmon and Marvin Sanders from 11:15 to 11:55 EST.

It seems that contrary to my original impressions, Summa Elvetica is actually available through Amazon now. I assume that most of you who were interested in acquiring the book have already ordered it from Marcher Lord by now, but if not, I thought I’d see if anyone was still interested in participating in a book surge of the sort we did for TIA. So, let me know what you think one way or the other; in the meantime, here’s a few more comments on the book from three recent reviewers:

I have never written fan mail to an author before, but I wanted to email you in praise of your wonderful book! I finished reading Summa Elvetica this weekend and was terribly disappointed when it ended so soon! I would quite happily have stayed in the world you created, enjoying the philosophical debate and the theological discussions. I trained as a surgeon in Oxford, and your book reminded me of the kind of arguments we would have in the Common Room until the small hours of the morning (though admittedly not over the eternal fate of elves…:)
– JB (via email)

Beale is an accomplished storyteller. This is evidenced by the fact that he stuck what amounted to two massive flashbacks into the front of his story and I didn’t realize until I got to the end of the first. And Beale also put in a great deal of tension and I didn’t see the ambush coming until it was too late. On top of that, the way the Sanctiff decides the question of elvish souls is so deliciously simple, I couldn’t stop smiling after I read it.
– The Least Read Blog on the Web

Theodore Beale takes up this theme in Summa Elvetica. When it is claimed that religion causes war, the crusades spring instantly to mind. If we read the prospective holy war against the elves as a parallel to one of the crusades of the middle ages, a complicated picture begins to emerge. The pious may be more likely to support a war if urged on to do so by their spiritual leader, but the war profiteers aren’t going to be moved by indulgences and red crosses. In short, a variety of motives lead men to go to war, even an ostensibly holy one. Blame resides with fallen man, not with religion which serves to ameliorate his depravity. Beale is not likely to join the company of Tolkien and Lewis—at least not yet—but he gives evidence of a lucid imagination and demonstrates that he can tell a good story. Its unusual subject matter may suggest merely an amusing novel, but Summa Elvetica creates a world in which the middle ages, its wars and its theological disputes, come roaring back to life.
– Thoughts and Ideas… of a Catholic libertarian

I don’t believe it makes any sense to argue with another reader’s impression of a book, least of all when you’re the author, so I will merely observe that I am fully aware of how I violated numerous “rules” of fantasy fiction throughout Summa Elvetica and mention that my publisher is in total agreement with the second point made by The Least Read Blog. If one understands that The Programmed Man is my favorite science fiction novel, then perhaps one can grasp why I elected to handle such an important plot element in that manner. As for the first point, the entire purpose of the book was to drop a medieval Church into a conventional high fantasy world, therefore convention in the usual fantasy races was required. Note, however, that I did build a foundation for a departure from conventional high fantasy with some of the other races in the event I decide to set future fiction in Selenoth.

Also, if you have written reviews, I’d encourage you to put them up on Amazon.

The Fraters Libertas consider a highly relevant question:

In hindsight, if the 2004 election were indeed so important, what would things look like if the result had been different? More specifically, would the political fortunes of the Republican Party be better or worse today if John F. Kerry had defeated George W. Bush in 2004?

I don’t think there’s any question that the Republican Party would be much better off had Bush lost in 2004. Given this, it’s hard to argue that it wouldn’t also be better off losing in 2008 as well. McCain has already shown that he can’t handle the economic situation, so even from the pragmatic perspective, it would be better to let Obama and the Democrats take the blame for the Fed’s future failures.

Unsurprisingly, yet another massive bailout may be “required”. And guess what? The next one won’t work any more than the previous five. Or is it six now?

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, today admitted the Government may be forced to inject billions of extra dollars into the American economy after warning of a “protracted slowdown”. Speaking before the House of Representatives, Mr Bernanke suggested that the US required another “significant” fillip to help stimulate growth after Americans were granted $168 billion worth of tax rebates in May, to encourage spending and boost consumer confidence.

A new plan would come on top of the $700 billion bailout of the country’s ailing banking sector, which includes $250 billion in funding to buy shares in American lenders.

To steal an example someone here used previously, you can’t bail out a boat by drilling holes in the bottom. Well, I guess you can, the point is that you can’t do so successfully.

Joe Biden gives fair warning:

Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., on Sunday guaranteed that if elected, Sen. Barack Obama., D-Ill., will be tested by an international crisis within his first six months in power and he will need supporters to stand by him as he makes tough, and possibly unpopular, decisions.

It’s nice of old Joe to let us know that, yes, the HopeChange shouldn’t lead anyone to assume that the Obama administration won’t hesitate to run the old ordo ab chao game as did its predecessors in the Bush administration. Now, given that this was a warning given to a group of hardcore Democrats, what can we assume they will consider to be distasteful.

More government spending? No. Increased government power? No. Increased taxes? No. Is there a crisis that might involve reducing government spending or lowering taxes? Not that I can think of. This leads one to conclude that Biden is referring to either yet another invasion and occupation – unlikely, given the overstretched state of the military – or a much more probable suspension of civil liberties.

An Englishman writes an ode to the joys of remaining unmarried:

Too many feeble men give in to the supposed security of marriage. They see it as panacea to their problems (including, but by no means limited to, alienation, indecision, and lack of direction and motivation). “I don’t want to be the oldest father at the school gates,” lamented one friend recently, explaining why he was getting engaged to his girlfriend, who we all know will make his life a misery.

Marriage like this is for wimps….

Incidentally, dating younger girls draws a curiously bitter response from single women my own age. I remind them that there is nice symmetry in this: every schoolboy remembers the moment at 15 when all the best-looking girls in his year decided they didn’t fancy their spotty-faced contemporaries and began dating the sixth-former with a Vauxhall Astra. It’s not revenge, exactly, but they started it.

If a man’s goals in life are fundamentally hedonistic or if his character is narcissistic, there’s simply no reason to get married anymore. The limitations on one’s life, the financial risks of divorce and a court system that is structurally biased in favor of women, and simply having to put up with female idiosyncracies on a regular basis just aren’t worth the benefits of marriage. As David Spade’s character once told his married friends: “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go do whatever I feel like doing, all the time.”

If, however, one possesses moral restrictions on one’s behavior due to one’s religious faith or philosophical principles, or believes in the importance of continuing human society, then marriage is essential. This does not, however, mean that a man need accept life as a spineless, pussy-whipped omega male at his wife’s constant beck and call. Marital faithfulness is not equivalent to female dominance of the marital relationship; if that’s the case, it’s a diseased marriage of the very sort that the writer is rightly determined to avoid. A happy marriage is one that caters to the needs of both parties, which usually means adhering more or less to the traditional model.

Of course, weddings are always lots of fun.