Leighton's Blog

I just watched Ask Doug — Magic In Literature by Douglas Wilson and his son, author Nathan Wilson. They had some very important things to share but I disagreed with them on a few points…

First let me try to explain what their points were.

From what I understood, their viewpoint is that The Bible is full of magic and if someone rejects magic in literature they are subconsciously rejecting the bible. However the bible condemns sorcery so you have to walk a fine line between sorcery and magic. Sorcery is bad; magic if used properly is good.

That’s what I came away with and if you think I had a misunderstanding feel free to correct me in a comment.

Now here’s my viewpoint.

The magic in the LOTR. Gandalf is called a wizard. He uses “magic". Is the LOTR bad? First you have to ask the question:

Who is Gandalf?

Gandalf is basically one of the lesser valar sent by Illuvatar. Illuvater is Tolkien’s name for God. Valar are basically angels appointed by God.

In that sense Gandalf is not unbiblical. His power comes from God just like an angel’s does. If you’ve never seen or read the LOTR just for the reason that you thought Gandalf wasn’t biblical, you can go check it out.

Now you may ask the question, what about Saruman? He was an angel too. He turned bad and used magic for bad! How could that magic come from God? There are two ways of approaching that one.

One:

You could say that since he became bad that God’s power left him and he turned to sorcery for power. With that answer you have to ask: What is sorcery??

Two:

This is the stance I take. The magic does come from God. Hold on there! Don’t kill me yet! LOL Think about satan. Where does he get his power? Does he have power of his own? He is powerless. His power is appointed to him by God.

Ok, hear me through. lol

Check out Job chapter two! Satan is begging and groveling to God for permission to do evil. Why does God allow Satan, you may ask?! For his glory! Why would an author let his/her character do something bad? Because that event leads to other events that in the end make the end of the story more fulfilling.

I personally don’t call what Moses did in Egypt to be magic. I think of it as God funneling his power through Moses for his glory.

I love the Inheritance Cycle. (Eragon/Eldest/Brisingr) Is it biblical? Nope.

Harry Potter and Eragon, although great adventures are not biblical. Can you read material that isn’t biblical as a Christian? I’ll leave that up to you.

Next Post — Who Is The Author?

Hey dudes and dudesses! Leighton here with some updates on the newest and coolest company of the century; SLY Games! Just kidding… >_>

As you can see to the right I’ve updated and streamlined the logo, any suggestions?

Feel free to share them in a comment.

And now, about the updates… Hehe

As many of you know I am doing most of Wolf’s Bard in Blender 3D, a free open source piece of software readily available for download at their website.

I just downloaded a cool tutorial for the newest version on how to make awesome fire. Blender users check it out here: http://www.blenderguru.com

I’m soo happy that there is a free piece of software out there as good as Blender.

I have been working on Wolf’s Bard lately and learning alot about texturing and have been making some good progress. That’s all folks! Check back for more later!

Click to go to YouTube page…

Personally I’m REALLY happy this turned out the way it did. If you like it, please rate it 5 stars!

We did ALL of it ourselves. No stolen video clips or music. We did this from scratch.

- Leighton

Last week our family was visited by Scott Appleton and his wife Kelley! We all had a great time. For those who don’t know, Scott is an author and has written a really cool book: Swords of the Six among other shorter stories. His newest novel Offspring will be coming out soon hopefully.

Together me and Scott Appleton:

Shoveled snow
Stacked wood
Played video games
Worked in 3D
Made jokes about Pharaoh
Listened to music
Watched movies
Boffered
Ate (Don’t ask what food)

Talked about:

Books
Authors
The Bible
Movies
Tolkien
Politics

And last but not least, talked about book signings!

And last last but NOT least, LAUGHED! ROFL

I had a great time. If you live in or near a popular area and you think there are enough bookstores and schools around contact him through his blog:

http://flamingpen.blogspot.com

He is a great guy, got strong standards and a love for God you wouldn’t believe. Since our family eats vegetarian and does things a little different we weren’t sure how the Appletons would adjust.

Surprisingly they ate closer to our diet then many of our friends where we live. lol

I made a 3D promo for The Swords of the Six that will hopefully be put on his website:

http://www.theswordofthedragon.com/

Here is a render from it:

More soon!

Another book by Wayne Thomas Batson! This is the first book of the first series he wrote. And guess what? It is the best. Now this may just be my own opinion but I think that this book is the best book ever written. (2nd to the bible) (Ok, so I’m exaggerating)

This book is the funniest, the most realistic, the most engrossing book I’ve ever read. If you have read it and disagree, inform me of a book you like better, in a comment.

For all you aspiring writers out there, understand this, I haven’t read your book yet!

!! SPOILERS AHEAD !!

Aiden is 14 year old failure, he’s out of shape, he’s not cool, and now he left behind in Maryland his only friend Robby. Why? His grandfather lives in Colorado, and has reached the point in life where he can’t take care of himself properly. So Aiden’s parents have decided to move to Colorado and take care of Aiden’s grandfather.

To sum up, Aiden finds some strange scrolls in his Grandfather’s basement that present the key to unlock something that will change Aiden’s life permanently, and direct the course of the future…

Wow, there are so many things I can say about this book, but it would be idk HOW many pages long. Oh, well. Let me try to give a short list of things I liked.

• The map
• The characters
• The creatures (Especially the Mortiwraiths )
• The plot
• The message

Great book!

http://www.epictales.org/samples/leighton/bestspider5.mov

Copyright © by Christopher & Leighton. All Rights Reserved. You may not use this without express written permission from us.

Ever tried imagining a color that doesn’t exist on earth?

*thinks*

*brain chokes*

That about explains. lol Now, this is even harder, try creating a color previously unseen.

*dies*

Impossible. Right? Wrong. God can. In Colossians 1:15-17 it says:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

You see, God created everything, including time itself. He created the colors we have here on earth, so why would he have trouble creating others?

Life here on Earth is infinitely shorter than a second compared to eternity in Heaven. Think of that. That means that you can be the most unlucky poorest person locked away in an insane asylum for no reason and it really doesn’t matter as long as you have a relationship with Christ. That leads me to something else.

Here on Earth, it is kind of a secular thing for people to cry and make funerals such sad occasions. If the deceased was a christian what’s the big deal? Say your dad has to go out and walk down your driveway to get the mail in the mailbox. Would you cry? Would you miss him for such a short time? lol

Here on Earth for us Christians our trust in God and our attempts at faithfulness to him should be our main goal, not just a little hobby that makes us feel mildly “religious". We tend to subconsciously put material possessions and how we look etc, before God. Many churches (Protestant, etc…) have made everything a little ritual, a meaningless shibboleth so we don’t see clearly what Christianity is all about.

A verse to support what I just said on our main goal on Earth, 1 John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world— the craving of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the father but from the world. The world and it’s desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Here’s another one, 1 Peter 4:4-5

They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Life here on earth is a story, in more ways than one. When you read a fantasy book (or write one, lol) when you finish, don’t you think, “Man, wouldn’t it be cool if things like that were in real life."? I do. I would love to kill orcs with Legolas and Gimli, run through Narnia with the animals, get taken to Allyra with the seven. But no, it’s too fantastical to exist here. Right? Guess again.

From the moment he created Earth, God has been writing a fantasy story. A real one. We are the characters in it. In LOTR Tolkien ties it all up with a eucatastrophe. The definition of that word is “The good catastrophe, the sudden and joyous turn.” (Tolkien’s wording) Sounds familier huh?

Starting to sound like life is a novel. A love story, believe it or not. Would you recognize it if I said “The wedding supper of the Lamb"? Life here on Earth is the betrothal. And at the same time, an allegory. Marriage here is a shadow, a faint reflection of what marriage in Heaven to Christ will be like. God, you are Awesome!

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I threw this together at Ness’ request. Happy New Years Y’all!

Here are a few images…

Finally! A sneak peak frame from the much awaited video!

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And … Get this, ANOTHER ONE!

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Here is a cool render.

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And here is a totally silly render I threw together for fun.

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And, for you guys, I decided to add one more frame. Creepy… >_>

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Merry Christmas!

Here is a tree that I have been working on.

Click to enlarge…

Tell me what you think!