Today we are going to take a look at the darker side of life in Colonial America:

Colonial America’s Dark Side

The Starman Team is delighted to announce, at last, that the work of rewriting the Starman saga has been completed, and the new version has been posted on Lulu and is available for purchase.

Over the past year and a half, we have gone through the stories carefully and fixed about two thousand typographical errors. Moreover, we have also corrected a number of plot glitches—inconsistencies, illogical decisions, and outright major errors. We also noted a number of implications that hadn’t been properly followed up on that add a great deal to the story; new material has been added to correct these omissions.

Overall, the story is the same, of course, but there are at least a couple of dozen new features in the plot, including the following major items: The nature of the Xenobots has been entirely altered and made much more creepy, and therefore consistent with the deeper implications of the saga’s exploration into the ramifications of moral choices and the nature of evil. The short story “The Infestation of Sulphur Creek”, originally an independent Starman short story written for a magazine, has been extended with a new ending to make it fit better into the rest of the saga. The fate of Luxa, the Xenobots’ home planet, has been completely changed, which required providing a new chapter to The Last Command. The novelette Paradox Lost has been upgraded to the status of a novel (albeit the shortest of the ten novels) with its own integral place in the saga. The character of Owsley Robbins in Paradox Lost has been done over. Two brand new chapters have been added to the ending of Master of Shadows, showing the fate of Kathy Foster and bringing the entire saga to a new conclusion. Further, a brand new short story, “Stars of the Deep”, has been added; at 10,000 words, it now takes first place as the longest of the short stories. We hope our readers will enjoy the new character of Miz Felicity Tulip, owner and manager of the planetwide tea empire on Ahmanya; and will be moved when the Starmen revisit the now dark and abandoned Ahmanyan refuge, Imlah Taltahni on a strange quest.

Brand new cover artwork has been created by Jon Cooper, giving a new slant and a different emphasis to the look of the stories.

The books are now available in dust jacketed versions as well as casewrap (picture covers). Altogether there will be four books; the first three, which contain the Starman saga in full (well, almost), are now available. A fourth volume, The Starman Companion, is now in preparation. This last volume will provide the best of the background material, taken from an enormous amount of information in our files. This includes essays from the once-active Yahoo group; a reprise of the best stuff from the Inter*Stellars, the fanzine of the Starman series; a complete glossary; and much more. Some of this material was published before, but it has now been carefully edited and placed into logical context. There will also be a significant amount of new material, such as the first emails in which Jon Cooper, Mike Dodd, and David Baumann first made contact and then developed the earliest ideas for the creation of the Starman series; the full document we spent a year writing, setting forth the parameters of the world of the Starmen before the first book was written; and a large amount background material to the writing of Master of Shadows, including photographs of characters provided to the artist. The new “last chapter” of Master of Shadows and the conclusion to the entire Starman saga, is reserved for this fourth volume.

We welcome feedback from our readers, including any (gasp!) errors that we somehow missed in our thorough rewrite. The fourth volume, The Starman Companion, will be available early in 2017.

The books can be purchased here:

Starman Saga #1, The Dawn of the Starmen, by David Baumann, Michael Dodd, and Jonathan Cooper. A race of ancient, malevolent aliens wage war against mankind, and the best and brightest of the human race try to stop them. Printed Cover Edition: $26.49. Dustjacket Edition: $29.49. PDF Download: Free.

Starman Saga #2, The Search for the Benefactors, by David Baumann, Michael Dodd, and Jonathan Cooper. The fabled Starmen search for the only civilization that has ever defeated the vicious Xenobots. Printed Cover Edition: $29.49. Dustjacket Edition: $32.49. PDF Download: Free.

Starman Saga #3, The War of the Light, by David Baumann, Michael Dodd, and Jonathan Cooper. Mankind makes one last, desperate attempt to defeat the darkness that threatens to engulf the entire galaxy. Printed Cover Edition: $29.29. Dustjacket Edition: $32.29. PDF Download: Free.

So what religion did Benjamin Franklin practice? Was it Christianity, Deism, or something else? Today we explore the answer to that question:

Benjamin Franklin’s religion

In the final lesson in our study of the psalms, we are going to take a look at the longest chapter in the Bible – Psalm 119:

Lesson 4: Psalm 119

The third lesson in this year’s January Bible Study is a look at one of the imprecatory psalms – a psalm that asks God to bring disaster and suffering upon someone else:

Lesson 3: Imprecatory Psalms

The second lesson in this year’s January Bible Study is going to be on the Messianic prophecies that are found in the Psalms:

Lesson 2: Messianic Psalms

In January Bible Study this year we are going to study the Psalms. The first lesson will be an overview of the book of Psalms itself:

Lesson 1: Overview of the Psalms

This Sunday evening’s lesson will be on the book of Philemon:

Philemon

This Sunday morning’s lesson will be on the parable of the unrighteous steward:

The parable of the unrighteous steward

Wednesday night’s lesson will be on King Uzziah:

King Uzziah

I just wanted to apologize for the delay in new Stryker chapters. A few other things came up that I had to take care of, and then I got sick and that put me further behind. I’m hoping to resume work on the book next week.

Thanks!

Tonight’s lesson comes from 1 Kings 20:

1 Kings 20

Here is chapter 12 of Stryker #6, In The Ages To Come:

Chapter 12: A New Plan

[Updated 10/1 to fix some errors]

This week’s Sunday School lesson covers the second half of 1 Peter 1:

1 Peter 1:13-25

Here is chapter 11 of Stryker #6, In The Ages To Come:

Chapter 11: Assistance