Legacy, Redemption, Destiny, and Disney; A Faith- Based Look at 'Descendants.'

Hi everyone, welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
This summer has yielded a lot of good theatrical movies ("Avengers: Age of Ultron," "Inside Out," "Ant- Man," "Minions," etc.), but for this entry, I’ll be looking at a TV movie.
Normally, I avoid Disney Channel’s made- for- TV movies like the plague. A month or so ago, however, a new one premiered on Disney Channel that had such a cool and potentially interesting concept that I had to DVR it and give it a watch; It’s called, simply, ‘Descendants’ (Not to be confused with the George Clooney movie).

As the mythology behind this film, every Disney hero and heroine now lives in a kingdom called Auradon, and their teenage children attend a prep school there with the Fairy Godmother as the headmistress. The Disney villains, in contrast, have all been exiled to an island called the Isle of the Lost for their crimes, with a magic force field preventing them from ever setting foot in Auradon again.
As ‘Descendants’ starts, Prince Ben (Mitchell Hope), son of Belle and the now- human Beast, is preparing to take the throne. As his first royal decree, he proclaims that four of the villains’ teenage kids from the Isle of the Lost will be allowed to cross over and attend Auradon Prep, in an attempt to redeem their family names and show he doesn't believe kids should be punished for their parents' bad decisions.
      The four villainous offspring that are chosen for this experiment are an interesting bunch: Mal (Dove Cameron), daughter of the infamous Maleficent; Jay (Booboo Stewart), son of Aladdin’s nemesis Jafar; Evie (Sofia Carson), daughter of the Queen from ‘Snow White’; And last but not least, Carlos (Cameron Boyce), son of the fur- coat fanatic Cruella De Vil. None of them initially have any desire to accept Prince Ben’s offer, but Maleficent sees a way it can be used for their evil advantage; She tasks her daughter and the other three kids with going to Auradon Prep, finding the Fairy Godmother’s magic wand, and stealing it to help Maleficent and the other villains regain their power and take over the world (Mua-ha-ha-ha-ha!).

      The wand is normally kept in a nearby museum, but when the villain kids break in to try and make off with it, they find that its security system is tight. Mal gets the idea to use a love potion to make Prince Ben fall madly in love with her, so that she could be allowed to be close enough to him at his coronation ceremony to make a grab for the wand when the Fairy Godmother removes it from its case. As she gets to know Ben more, however, she begins to sincerely fall for him and begins to question what she really wants out of life.
       Amidst all this, the other three villain kids are surprisingly adapting pretty well to Auradon Prep; The smarter- than- she- seems Evie turns out to be nearly as adept at chemistry and potion- making as her mother was, the athletic and aggressive Jay proves to be a natural at “Tourney” (The sport they play there: Sort of a soccer/ lacrosse hybrid) and learns to be more of a team player, and the severely cynophobic Carlos gets over his fear of dogs (The scene in which Ben helps him do this is hilarious and heartwarming). However, things go south in a hurry at the school's Family Day, as an awkward moment of Mal meeting Sleeping Beauty's mother leads to a misunderstanding among some of the kids and an outburst that causes the villain kids to be treated more like outcasts than ever. It all leads up to an action- packed climax at Ben's coronation, Mal and her three friends having to decide which side they're truly on, and a hint at a possible sequel.

I won't lie, 'Descendants' has some problems. In the songs, there is often obvious lip- synching. The songs themselves are good enough (More on that later), but it's something that can't be ignored. Also, Mal is made such a center of the story that the other villain kids don't get quite as much play as they should (Especially Jay and Carlos). For that matter, a lot of the hero kids in the school aren't used as much as they could have been, either, especially Mulan's kind- hearted daughter Lonnie (One of the first hero kids to really make an effort to befriend the villain kids), and Dopey's band- geek son Doug (A very funny character who ironically hits it off really well with Evie).

All of that being said, 'Descendants' was a fun, enjoyable movie nonetheless. It didn't take itself too seriously, had plenty of intentional humor, was well- enough acted for a Disney Channel movie, and had a decent story with enough nice twists to it that a couple moments near the climax really did take me by surprise. If you take it for what it is and what audience it's mainly aimed at, you should enjoy it.

The performances from the younger actors are all pretty solid. Dove Cameron nails the role of Mal. You can really feel how conflicted she becomes over what she's doing, and can sympathize a lot with her inner struggles. Sofia Carson makes Evie into a pretty well- developed character as well. Booboo Stewart (the only young actor in this I had seen in anything else before, from when he played the mutant hero Warpath in 'X- Men: Days of Future Past') did a great job as Jay, and he too is well- developed, going from a hotheaded, bullying spotlight- hog to being willing to help another player score the winning goal in a Tourney championship. Carlos ended up becoming my favorite character, as I expected he would be. He provides great comic relief, and Cameron Boyce's performance helps ramp up the humor even more (Especially the many scenes in which he's cringing in terror at one thing or another).
Among the adult actors, the only real stand- out is Kristin Chenoweth as Maleficent. She is hysterical, so delightfully venomous and over- the- top, you can tell she's really having fun with this role. Cruella De Vil and Jafar are both rather under- utilized, but the Evil Queen at least has some funny lines later in the movie (Her reaction to seeing Snow White as a TV hostess is priceless).

Of course, considering that it's a Disney Channel movie musical directed by Kenny Ortega, who also directed 'High School Musical,' I must talk a little about the songs. When you get past the lip- synching, the songs (Other than possibly an acapella cover of the Disney classic 'Be Our Guest' that I didn't care for) are cool and fun to listen to and watch. My favorites are 'Rotten to the Core' (A catchy, energetic song at the start of the movie which serves to introduce the villain kids) and 'Did I Mention' (A silly, lighthearted song in which Ben, while under the influence of the love potion, wildly declares his love for Mal in song form). Another good addition to the songs is Maleficent's song, 'Evil Like Me.' While most of the songs in the movie have a modern- pop feel common to Disney Channel's TV movies, 'Evil Like Me' has more of a Broadway feel to it (Unsurprising, considering that Kristin Chenoweth is a Broadway veteran), adding a nice bit of variety to the soundtrack. The dancing's pretty good, too, especially for the final song "Set it Off."

I can think of quite a few Scriptural messages that can tie into 'Descendants.' One of the first is considering family, and how you shouldn't judge a person based on his or her past or family. Jesus Himself had a less- than- perfect family tree; Some of His ancestors included a woman who tricked her own unknowing father- in- law into sleeping with her in order to get pregnant (Tamar in Genesis 38), a prostitute (Rahab, seen in earlier chapters of the book of Joshua), a woman from an evil and rightly- hated tribe that most Jews wanted nothing to do with (Ruth, in the Bible book of the same name), and a king who had an affair with the wife of one of his most trusted military officers then had him killed in battle so he could marry her (David, 2 Samuel 11). From such a bizarre and flawed family tree came the Savior of the world. Similarly, in 'Descendants,' even though Mal and her friends had such vile fiends as parents, each of them ends up becoming his or her own person and making great unlikely heroes.
The opposite can hold true too, of course. Even good parents and families can produce offspring that don't hold to their parents' good examples. Hezekiah (Seen in 2 Kings), one of the best and most righteous kings Israel ever had, was succeeded by his son Manasseh, who for most of his reign was one of the worst and most wicked kings Israel ever knew. In 'Descendants,' we see a little of that principle as well, as Cinderella's son, Chad Charming, is quickly revealed to be a self- absorbed creep with none of the noble qualities his parents possessed.
Lastly, probably the most important Biblical theme seen in 'Descendants' is redemption. Mal, Evie, Jay and Carlos start out the movie as kids who really like finding random ways to be mean and cruel to others, clearly following in their parents' rotten footsteps. Over time in Auradon, however, they discover that the friends they made and the things they find out about themselves are what makes them truly happy, and ultimately find that they want to be good. In the same way, the Bible makes it clear in verses such as 1 John 1:9, Colossians 2:13- 14, Psalm 103:10-12, and  Ephesians 1:7-8  that no matter what a person may have done or how badly he or she may have fallen, they can be forgiven and redeemed through accepting Jesus, and His grace can transform them entirely. As one of my favorite hymns says, "The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives."
So, there we have 'Descendants': A fun, lighthearted little TV movie that shows how even someone who seems "Rotten to the Core" can be brought to the light.
That's all for now. A new entry of the Nightcrawler Experience should come in a few weeks. Until then, God bless you all!

Providence, enjoyment, and awareness: Some Godly lessons I learned from Megacon 2015.

Hi everyone, welcome to another installment of the Nightcrawler Experience!
On April 11th, I attended the 2015 Megacon comic book convention in Orlando, FL with my dear friend Elizabeth (Who may from time to time in the future be seen writing guest articles here on the Nightcrawler Experience, as well). Other than my phone being dropped and the screen's visuals knocked out, I had a great time there. Not only did I have a lot of fun, get a lot of stuff from my comic collection signed by some of the writers and artists who were there, acquire a few buttons for my collection on my travel- backpack, see some great cosplayers, and meet some cool celebrity guests, I also learned some pretty valuable lessons about living for God from being there, so I'll be presenting them here along with my general thoughts as this entry.

My first lesson occurred right at the start of the convention, and dealt with not letting circumstances steal the joy we have. Early in the day, before the convention floor itself actually opened, something happened that has never happened before: A cosplayer actually wanted to take a picture with me, rather than the other way around (I was wearing my Captain America hoodie, and he had a backpack that resembled Cap's shield)! I insisted on having a picture of it taken with my camera phone as well, but as the guy was handing it back to me, it got dropped on the cement floor, wrecking its visual display. When this happened, I freaked out a lot, wondering how I could make things work out and if it could be fixed or replaced. Elizabeth, however, noticed the fear and focus I was developing, and strongly encouraged me to let it go. She pointed out that if I kept obsessing over my worry with my phone, it would ruin my enjoyment of the entire convention. So, through that wise bit of advice, I put my worry about the phone on the backburner, and had a lot more fun in the convention in the process.
In much the same way, God teaches us not to let obsessive worrying about our immediate circumstances steal the joy and service to Him we can gain from our lives. In Matthew 6:25 and 27, Jesus tells us '“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?... Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"' 1 Peter 5:7 says 'Cast all your anxiety upon (God), because He cares for you.' God loves us enough that He doesn't want to see us wasting our lives worrying about petty things. It's not to say He doesn't want us to have a plan for things or think through our problems, just that we shouldn't let them consume us so much that they keep us from living our lives to the fullest.
By the way, here's the picture in question:

Another great lesson I learned was that God is immensely faithful, and can find ways to deliver His faithful children, whom His eye is always on. See, I went with Elizabeth, but we quickly went our separate ways to look at different things, agreeing to meet at a panel on creative writing at around noon. I went to it when the time came, but Elizabeth apparently didn't, and I couldn't find her anywhere. This really worried me, because I was hoping that I could use our meeting there to arrange where and when we would meet when we were ready to go home for the day, and now that was out the window (Especially due to the fact that my phone was broken and I was fairly certain hers would be out of battery power by that time)!
After the panel ended, I felt a pulling that that should be the time I should then go and get in line for the media guest Alan Tudyk's autograph. See, his presence as a guest was one of the major draws that led me to attend Megacon this year. For those who aren't familiar with him, Alan Tudyk is a quite talented character actor I've been a fan of for over 12 years, playing great roles in movies like 'Dodgeball' (As Steve the Pirate), 'A Knight's Tale' (In which he played the short- tempered squire Wat), the magnificent cult- classic TV show 'Firefly' and its theatrical movie 'Serenity' (As the fan- favorite pilot Wash), the horror- comedy gem 'Tucker and Dale vs. Evil,' the Jackie Robinson biopic '42,' and doing voice work in the Disney movies 'Wreck- it Ralph,' 'Frozen,' and 'Big Hero 6'. I went through the line to meet him slowly yet surely, and as I was doing so, I started trying to think up increasingly complicated plans to try and get into contact with Elizabeth (Some of the plans I thought up involved borrowing another convention attendee's phone, using my laptop to connect to the convention center's wi/fi, calling Elizabeth's mom, and similar ridiculous things). Then out of nowhere, when I was about 10 spots away from Tudyk's table, Elizabeth came along! I had a guy in front of me hold my place in the line, and ran up to her. We talked quickly, and made our arrangements on where and when we'd meet when we wanted to go home. She got into line herself (She's a fellow Alan Tudyk fan), and I went the rest of the way through and met Tudyk.

Through this, I learned a good lesson about God’s providence. I remembered that God always makes all things work together for good for those who love Him (As it says in Romans 8:28), and will always look after and provide for His faithful children. It might not always be in the ways we want or expect (More on that in a bit), but it comes just the same. Furthermore, Psalm 33:18 says that '... The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love.' I believe it was indeed His will that Elizabeth and I each got the idea to get Tudyk's autograph then so we'd run into each other, and better work out our plan to meet up and get home safely.

Actually meeting Alan Tudyk was of course awesome, too. He was really nice, and had a great sense of humor, as I'd imagined he would. He even did a little of his King Candy (The villainous character he played/ voiced in Disney's 'Wreck- it Ralph') voice for me! I asked him if there was going to be a 'Tucker and Dale' sequel anytime soon, and he basically said that he and some others are working on developing it, but won't really commit to it unless they can make it into something at least as good as the first film. I then asked if he was going to be doing any more voice work for Disney in the near future. He responded by saying yes, but that he wasn't at liberty to say anything else about it at the moment. I'm hoping that means he'll be doing a voice for Disney's next big animated film, 'Zootopia.'

Another important lesson I learned was also associated with meeting a media guest. I had set out to also meet Tudyk’s ‘Firefly’/ ‘Serenity’ costar Summer Glau, who’s also been in shows like ‘Arrow,’ ‘Alphas,’ and ‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.’ Problem is, the line to meet her was one of the worst- managed lines I’ve ever seen for a media guest in my entire life. Between how incompetent the volunteers running the line were, and the fact that Glau would regularly step out for long periods to do photo- ops for fans, I was in that line for almost two hours without making much progress. When there were about 30 people between me and her, she abruptly left again, presumably for another photo op. What’s worse, it was very close to the time when I would be expected to meet Elizabeth so we could get ready to go home. I happened to look over to the left, and noticed that in the very next booth over, there was almost no line at all to meet another actress I like, Danielle Panabaker (From movies such as ‘Sky High’ and the 2009 ‘Friday the 13^th’ remake, and currently playing Caitlyn Snow on the hit TV series ‘The Flash’). I jumped over to her line, and got her autograph instead! She was very sweet and friendly, and definitely worth the autograph, but there was another surprise in store for me, too: Shortly before getting to Panabaker, Summer Glau abruptly popped out from the curtain (Separating the tables where the media guests were sitting from the hallways leading to other areas of the convention center) right behind her! I waved at Summer, she noticed, and waved back at me with a big smile! I got to have my cake and eat it, too!
This got me to thinking: God’s ways and plans are often completely different from our own plans, largely because He has a MUCH better sense of the "Big picture" than we do. There are plenty of verses in Scripture that drive home this point, such as Proverbs 16:9 ('In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.') and Isaiah 55:8-9 ("'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."'). Lots of times, we’ll need to keep our eyes open to see if the things we’re working on and pouring our efforts into are truly worth the effort, or if maybe God has something even better in mind right in front of our noses!

So, just from my one day at Megacon, I got a lot of fun, a lot of autographs, some cool meetings with celebrities I admire, and three very valuable lessons on what it means to walk with Jesus. From not letting outside circumstances steal my joy about the here and now, to trusting in God’s deliverance for His faithful servants, to keeping our eyes open for unexpected opportunities He may send our way. I may very well attend next year's convention as well!

That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Some new entries should be on their way soon, including possibly a guest- entry by Elizabeth. Until then, God bless you all!

Hope in the Worst of Times: Stephen King vs. Dean Koontz.

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!
Today, I felt like talking a little about books, comparing (From both a Christian perspective, and a pop- culture nerd perspective) an author who used to be my favorite with one who is currently one of my favorites, and who have been kind of rivals in the same genre.

WARNING: Both of these authors have made content that isn’t suitable for kids. Exercise caution and discernment before reading their works if you're under 16 or so or if you're squeamish.

From about my 8^th grade year, to shortly after graduating high school, I was a devoted fan of the works of Stephen King. I read a lot of his classic books like 'It,' 'Carrie,' 'Salem's Lot,' 'Christine,' 'Firestarter,' the anthology 'Different Seasons,' and many others. I loved them all. In fact, 'Salem's Lot' almost inspired me to write a book of my own once, but nothing really came of it.

However, Stephen King largely jumped the shark in the early- mid 90's, shortly after writing 'Desperation' and 'The Regulators.' The last good things he did were an episode of 'The X- Files' he directed in 1998 called "Chinga" and the TV miniseries 'Rose Red' in the early 2000s, and even those can't compare to his earlier works. Much of his work since then has been simply awful. Even his 'Dark Tower' comic book limited series he came out with some years ago was so bad and so dull that it literally put me to sleep. When not even a comic book can at least keep my interest, you know something's really wrong.

Part of the problem, which many have noted in critiquing King's works, is that there tends to be a very formulaic style to a lot of his works, especially in terms of his always including certain tropes and cliches in his works. For instance, nearly all of his works take place in Maine (Or occasionally in another dimension), nearly all of his works have a writer of some sort as a major character (I get that part of it is him incorporating his own inner struggles into his works, and it was novel the first few times it was done, but it's gotten old really quick), most of them have a stereotypical "Bully" character who is completely unsympathetic, many of his books feature children and babies dying, they often end on a quite bittersweet note, and so on. It's so obvious and so repetitive, that one of my favorite Internet personalities, the Nostalgia Critic, has created a "Stephen King Drinking Game," based around taking a shot every time you see one of those tropes in one of his books or the movies based off them. It's actually gotten even worse in King's more current works, with these tropes becoming much more pronounced and predictable.

There is one more major cliché that’s a regular in King’s works, which is a big part of the reason why I’m not really a fan of his anymore: In many of his works, especially nowadays, there will be a token “Christian” character who will inevitably be portrayed as either an ultra- stereotypical ignorant moron, an ultra- stereotypical narrow- minded jerk/ bigot, or (King seems to particularly favor this one) an ultra- stereotypical raving psychopath who spouts Bible verses while killing or otherwise mistreating people for no good reason.

 As those who know me personally or have read this blog in the past would probably know, I tend to be very permissive in terms of what I watch and read (Probably too much so: I partially attribute it to the fact that before I found Jesus, I was into even grislier fare, which largely desensitized me). There is very little that will bother me so much that I would flat- out avoid it. However, the one exception to this is I have VERY little patience for movies, shows, books, etc., that portray Christians in a blatantly insulting and stereotypical manner, and many of King’s works do exactly that with Christian characters. It’s a big part of the reason why I haven’t seen the ‘Carrie’ remake from a couple years ago, even though I’m a fan of the actress who plays Carrie in it, Chloe Grace Moretz, because I knew that Carrie's psycho religious- nut mother in the story would undoubtedly be made even more over- the- top and offensive in the remake. I’d imagine my reaction to these kinds of portrayals isn’t much different from how an African- American might react to seeing the old movie ‘The Birth of a Nation.’
 It wouldn't be as much of an issue with me if they at least made it a little more balanced by featuring other Christian characters portrayed in a more positive light (Sort of like what Disney did with 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame'; I've GOT to do a review of that for this blog some time), but King rarely does that, and on the few occasions he does, those characters tend to be relatively minor and rarely if ever even mention their faith. This is the sort of thing that we as Christians should expect. The Bible contains numerous verses pointing out that we will be insulted, slandered, and mistreated by the unbelieving world; It's why Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account. Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Because the unbelieving world doesn't understand us and doesn't know Jesus, it's understandable that many of them would openly insult and slander Christians as a whole. Still, that doesn't mean I have to keep giving my reading time or my money to support an author whose works deliberately promote hatred and intolerance of everything I believe in.

So, between his blatantly insulting and stereotyping my religion time and again, and also just the quality of his work in general declining so rapidly, I can say that while I still like Stephen King's older works, he definitely no longer occupies the position he once held as my favorite author.

Now that I've talked about King, I'll move on to talk about another author, seen as a sort- of rival to his (Though not quite as successful as King), who over the last few years has become one of my current favorite authors: I am referring to Dean Koontz. The first of his books I read was 'Watchers,' around the time when my love of Stephen King was starting to wane, and I did really enjoy that book. Then, in the summer of 2010, I began getting interested in his books again, sort of by accident; My mother and I were beginning the long drive up to our family's vacation cabin in Canada. Since driving that steadily over that long of a period ensures we'll never be able to enjoy a radio station for very long, the drive can get boring and tedious for everyone involved. On this occasion, my mom was driving, and she started feeling a little dozy from the silence and boredom, so she in an exasperated tone told me to get a book from her tote bag she brought and read it aloud to her, to help break the tedium. The book I selected from her bag was Koontz's novel 'Relentless.' As I read it aloud, not only did it put Mom in a better mood and help her stay alert, it also proved to be quite an enjoyable read for myself! After 'Relentless,' I got into his 'Frankenstein' series,' and soon afterwards, his 'Odd Thomas' series as well (btw, the first 'Odd Thomas' book has been made into a VERY good movie a year or so ago, starring Anton Yelchin as the title character). I've finished the 'Frankenstein' series, borrowed a one- shot book of his called 'What the Night Knows' from a friend and will start reading it soon, and I have the third Odd Thomas book, 'Brother Odd,' set aside as part of my summer reading.

Koontz's writing quality cycle appears to be the exact opposite of King's: As King's writing began steadily declining over time, Koontz's work, in turn, began steadily improving over time. His characters became more developed, his stories more complex and unique, and his work just generally more enjoyable to crack open and spend some time with
One benefit that Koontz has over King imo is better protagonists. Many of King's protagonists, especially in more recent years, tend to be incredibly bland and uninteresting. He's made some good heroes in his day, to be sure (i.e. the Losers' Club from 'It,' Dennis and Leigh from 'Christine,'), but most of them are quite forgettable. Koontz's heroes, in contrast, are all insanely fun and likable. From the trio of Travis, Nora, and Einstein in 'Watchers,' to Cubby Greenwich and his family in 'Relentless,' to all the various protagonists in the 'Frankenstein' books (i.e. Carson and Michael, the original creature Deucalion, and many others), to of course the great Odd Thomas, they are all great, well- developed heroes that are easy to root for.
Another benefit Koontz has over King, something that developed over time and became more apparent in each book, is his humor. While King's books have occasional funny moments, they are relatively rare. Koontz's books, in contrast, have loads of witty humor, which can come in a variety of different forms, to help relieve some of the tension. For one example, there is a scene in his third 'Frankenstein' book, 'Dead and Alive,' in which the main characters, the tough policewoman Carson and her wisecracking yet effective partner/ love interest Michael, are chasing down two of Victor Frankenstein's replicants that have gone mad and are attempting to kill a dog, and manage to gun down one of the two replicants. Obviously, this is a very intense chase scene, with the replicants chasing after the dog and Carson and Michael chasing after them through a city park, pouring bullets at them and taking out one. In the middle of all this, out of nowhere, Michael's cell phone rings, and his ringtone happens to be of Curly's distinctive laugh from the Three Stooges ("Nyuk nyuk nyuk... nyuk nyuk nyuk..."). Just the picture of that in my imagination made me burst out laughing!
What's more, while Koontz does often feature Christian characters in his work, he tends to portray them in a MUCH more balanced way than King does. For instance, one group of characters featured in the last two books in the Dean Koontz ‘Frankenstein’ series are the members of a Montana- based church called the “Riders in the Sky Church.” They are an admittedly colorful/ eccentric church (i.e. Cowboy- centered imagery factors heavily into what they do, such as the church’s pastor having a painting in his home of Jesus riding on a horse and carrying six- shooters). Koontz, however, refrains from portraying them in such a bigoted, dime- a- dozen way as Stephen King does with most of the Christian characters in his works. Rather, he portrays the Riders’ beliefs as being colorful and a little odd, but also portrays them as good, brave, kind- hearted people who earnestly love the Lord.
Dean Koontz's books don't try to sugarcoat things (He wouldn't be much of a thriller/ suspense writer if they did): They make it clear that real evil does exist in the world, be it through evil, demented people or through dangerous ideals and worldviews. However, a common theme to Koontz's books is that even in the darkest times, clinging to faith, hope, humor, and love can help us on the side of good find our way and emerge victorious. Even when the victories at times come with a heavy price (i.e. The ending of the first 'Odd Thomas' book), it's one worth paying for us to stay true to what's important and see good triumph over evil in large or small ways.
This is very much a strong Christian theme as well. We can endure in the face of evil and suffering through trusting in the Lord and keeping hope alive. In Deuteronomy 31:8, it says that "Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; He will never fail you nor forsake you." It also says in Psalm 56: 3-4, "When I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?" Lastly, in Psalm 33:18-22, it is said that "The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. In Him, our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us, o Lord, even as we put our hope in You." By doing these things, trusting in God and keeping our faith and hope in HIm alive, we may similarly triumph over what the world and the Devil throw at us.
For all of those reasons and more, I can comfortably say that Dean Koontz has officially become one of my favorite authors. He may not hold the same position that Stephen King used to hold for me, but pretty darn close.
That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience, but a new entry should hopefully come soon, as I'll be going to Megacon next week. Until then, God bless you all!