Daylight Atheism » Fiction http://www.daylightatheism.org NIGHTTIME IS FOR DREAMING. DAYLIGHT IS FOR ACTION. Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:14:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 en hourly 1 Never Quote Discworld to an Atheist http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/09/never-quote-discworld-to-an-atheist.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/09/never-quote-discworld-to-an-atheist.html#comments Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:36:04 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=4296 The other day, I found this article from a Google alert: an essay on the religious website First Things by the author and Catholic apologist Elizabeth Scalia (who also blogs as The Anchoress).

The post was about Terry Pratchett, the celebrated fantasy author and secular humanist. Since his personal beliefs visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/09/never-quote-discworld-to-an-atheist.html/feed 34 The Contributions of Freethinkers: Ursula K. LeGuin http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/03/the-contributions-of-freethinkers-xi.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/03/the-contributions-of-freethinkers-xi.html#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:53:51 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=3367 Although I've highlighted the lives of some amazing feminists on Daylight Atheism, I don't want to give the impression that the only thing women can be famous for is fighting for the rights of women. Today's post is a reminder that freethinking women have made their mark in other areas of human culture as well.

Science fiction and ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2011/03/the-contributions-of-freethinkers-xi.html/feed 15 Return to the Desert IV: The Xenophobe http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iv.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iv.html#comments Sun, 14 Nov 2010 16:03:51 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=2808 I kept walking, leaving the canyons behind. The eerie stone pillars and rugged topography of the badlands faded away like a mirage, and soon, the land was flat and featureless again.

This part of the desert was what geologists called a hamada, a low, level plain of boulders and stony soil. Low, wind-carved dunes rose in the distance, and far beyond them, hazy with distance, stood the ever-present mountains in whose rainshadow this barren land lay. My steps crunched on the rough ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iv.html/feed 12 Return to the Desert: The Eschatologist http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iii.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iii.html#comments Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:41:56 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=2780 The salt-crusted stone shack disappeared before I had been walking more than a few minutes, swallowed up in a sandstorm gust. Squaring my face to the wind, I kept walking.

The salt flats soon fell away behind me, and I entered a new region of the desert. It was a badlands: a barren landscape of mesas and canyons, steep slopes and sawtooth ridges, all sculpted into fantastic, unearthly shapes like the topography of an alien planet. Tall, twisted spires and jagged outcroppings rose all around ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-iii.html/feed 7 Return to the Desert: The Scholar http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-ii.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-ii.html#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 10:47:08 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=2754 A gust of stinging wind assailed me as soon as I passed through the portal, blowing fine grit into my face. I coughed and staggered back a step, tasting a bitterness in my mouth. It was a few moments before I could clear my eyes and look up, and when I did, the lay of the land was different than it had been. Instead of steep, rising dunes, it was a flat plain of barren red and brown, cracked and crazed in unearthly patterns by the pounding of the sun. Weathered red mesas rose in the distance ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/11/return-to-the-desert-ii.html/feed 9 Return to the Desert http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/10/return-to-the-desert.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/10/return-to-the-desert.html#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 02:53:18 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=2752 The sun beat down, hot and harsh, from a lead-colored sky. I stood at the end of a dusty, winding trail. Behind me lay gray marsh and scrubland, grassy plains, forest and woodland, and finally the rivers and gardens of my home. But before me was a harsh, arid land, parched and withered and hostile, bleak and savage and yet inhabited: my destination. The desert.

In front of me rose an arch of crumbling red stone, pitted and scoured by wind and blowing sand, the words once engraved deeply into ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/10/return-to-the-desert.html/feed 5 Movie Review: Creation http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/creation.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/creation.html#comments Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:25:03 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=1596

Last night I had a chance to see Creation, the independent film by British director Jon Amiel that presents an account of the life of Charles Darwin and his struggle to write his great work, On the Origin of Species, while mourning the death of his beloved daughter Annie. The movie is based on Annie's Box, the biography of ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/creation.html/feed 20 Book Review: The Quantum Mechanic http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/the-quantum-mechanic.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/the-quantum-mechanic.html#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:32:07 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=1539 Summary: A compelling atheist thought experiment, wrapped inside a cleverly plotted and fast-paced tale of transhumanist fiction.

This isn't the first time I've reviewed a book written by a fellow blogger, but it's always a pleasure for me to do, and this one was particularly pleasurable to read. The Quantum Mechanic is a novel written by the blogger D - you may know her as the author of She Who Chatters - for 2009's National ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2010/02/the-quantum-mechanic.html/feed 22 Book Review: 36 Arguments for the Existence of God http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/11/36-arguments.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/11/36-arguments.html#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:08:09 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=1193 (Author's Note: The following review was solicited and is written in accordance with this site's policy for such reviews.)

Summary: Sparkling writing; marvelous characters; could have benefited from a tighter narrative.

This is the first time I've ever reviewed a work of fiction for Daylight Atheism, but this one was well in tune with my site's mission and merited the exception: Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's 36 Arguments ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/11/36-arguments.html/feed 5 In Honor of Terry Pratchett http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/10/in-honor-of-terry-pratchett.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/10/in-honor-of-terry-pratchett.html#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:57:32 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=1164 I should have mentioned this story much earlier, but better late than never.

If you're an atheist and a regular reader of sci-fi and fantasy, you probably know the name Terry Pratchett - and if you don't, you should. He's the award-winning and much-loved author of Discworld, a series of fantasy novels set in a flat, circular world that's carried through space on the back of a giant tortoise. Discworld began as a straight-up parody of other fantasy novels, but it's moved on to parodying all ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/10/in-honor-of-terry-pratchett.html/feed 26 Ambassadors for Atheism http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/01/ambassadors-for-atheism.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/01/ambassadors-for-atheism.html#comments Wed, 28 Jan 2009 12:23:23 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=943 In the world of Philip Pullman's fantasy series His Dark Materials, each human being is accompanied everywhere by their daemon, an intelligent animal-shaped spirit that is the outward manifestation of their soul. When Pullman's heroine, Lyra, meets a boy who's been severed from his daemon by a cruel experiment, her reaction is one of disgust and horror:

Her first impulse was to turn and run, or to be sick. A human being with no daemon was like someone without a face, or ... [visit site to read more]

]]> http://www.daylightatheism.org/2009/01/ambassadors-for-atheism.html/feed 39 The Tempter Returns http://www.daylightatheism.org/2008/10/the-tempter-returns.html http://www.daylightatheism.org/2008/10/the-tempter-returns.html#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:30:00 +0000 Ebonmuse http://www.daylightatheism.org/?p=863 I awoke from my sleep with a start.

It had been a long and wearisome day. I had turned in early, as the late autumn light waned from the sky, and it was now dark and deep outside my window. But now something had roused me, and I had the distinct feeling that I was not alone.

I went from room to room, searching for intruders. At first glance, my home seemed silent and empty. The Observatory was silent, its holographic displays a pale flickering in the darkness. The screens in the Rotunda ... [visit site to read more]

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