Well, the big news is that foreign language rights to The Heathen’s Guide to World Religions has been bought up by a company called Macro Gruppo Editoriale. They are at this very moment translating it into Italian for release in Italy.
The pope will not be happy.
After that, the book is scheduled to be released in France, Sicily, and (of all places) the Czech Republic. It’s going to be kinda cool looking at all the copies at once, seeing my work in other languages. Looking forward to it.
In other news…
Amazon finally has the “Look Inside ” function working for my new fiction, The Eschaton. This means people can read the first chapter or so before buying the book.
We’ve decided to run with the tag line: “Every faith believes that their god will one day return to destroy the Earth. They were right.”
Feel free to comment on this. I could use the input.
All of this explains, I hope, why I’ve been out of the blogosphere for most of January. But things are calming down now so I should be posting regularly again. Besides, the Vatican is trying to oust Pope Benny, so this is gonna be a month worth reporting on…
Heathen's Guide Blog 
February 15, 2009 at 11:53 pm |
Got it, read it, loved it. It’s a movie innit? And you were right about the editing.
March 1, 2009 at 9:45 am |
Just passing by.Btw, you website have great content!
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Making Money $150 An Hour
March 5, 2009 at 4:22 pm |
Hey William! What’s happened to your blog? Nothing posted for a month (unless there’s something wrong with my browser?). At least let us know that you’re okay 🙂
March 29, 2009 at 6:57 am |
Actually, not so ok. Just now getting back to it. Started with pneumonia, then I wound up having a stroke, heart attack, and congestive heart failure. As of now I have no lingering symptoms or major problems, so all is gonna be ok.
March 16, 2009 at 5:52 am |
I read the first chapter on Amazon —sounds interesting. So I have until Thursday, maybe Sunday, to get my act together? Mmmmm… what shall I take with me when i am raptured? Or maybe, since I’m a heathen, I will be left behind. That will be nice —no one showing up at my door trying to convert me.
March 29, 2009 at 1:36 pm |
Jeez! I guess that’s a pretty dam good reason for not posting. Sorry to hear you were having those kind of problems. Scary stuff. But glad you pulled through with no lasting effects. Of course, you know what the god botherers will say (complete with condescending sneer) don’t you!
April 24, 2009 at 11:33 pm |
I hope you’re getting better again. Must be the wrath of the Gods or stuff (sounds like in Terry Pratchett books, wear a lightning rod). One thing you really got to know: you got to be healthy and live long. I mean it, I am serious, everything else is not acceptable. Kind Regards from the crazy Buddhists of Normandy, stanze
July 25, 2009 at 5:14 am |
Just read through your blog. Decided not to buy your book based on the level of thought that goes into the rest of your writing.
There is nothing redemptive about your ignorance of the Catholic Church. By which I mean that you’re seemingly just another ranter who will achieve absolutely nothing in this curious quest to battle anyone or anything that doesn’t squeeze into your self-interested myopia.
But that isn’t the main issue I have as a theologian. My main concern is that you’re consistently inconsistent. You display gross hypocrisy in your attempts to demonstrate the errant nature of the Church whenever she steps out of line with the cesspit that is ‘current social morallity’.
You attempt to place Catholicism (which gave the world law, music, science, human rights, democracy, western philosophy, and whatever other foundation stones you care to mention) in the same league as Wahabbist Islam, protestant fundamentalism, and zionist judaism. To attempt to do that and still to expect consideration as an erudite and thinking mind is farcical; to put the most important political and religious body the earth has ever known in the same league as madmen and barbarians merely demonstrates your own prejudice or stupidity.
That’s all.
Fides quaerens intellectum, you ingrate.
July 25, 2009 at 6:44 am |
My responses are inline, bolded:
Just read through your blog. Decided not to buy your book based on the level of thought that goes into the rest of your writing.
There is nothing redemptive about your ignorance of the Catholic Church.
Yes, my 20 years of being raised Catholic, living in a rectory, and going through to be a priest has left me totally ignorant of all things Catholic.
By which I mean that you’re seemingly just another ranter who will achieve absolutely nothing in this curious quest to battle anyone or anything that doesn’t squeeze into your self-interested myopia.
Myopia? Man, you gotta get out more.
But that isn’t the main issue I have as a theologian. My main concern is that you’re consistently inconsistent. You display gross hypocrisy in your attempts to demonstrate the errant nature of the Church whenever she steps out of line with the cesspit that is ‘current social morality’.
No, I have a problem whenever a church massacres hundreds of thousands of people, restricts the lives and livelihoods of generations of decent folk, and tells them that they need to suffer all these indignities because God says so.
You attempt to place Catholicism (which gave the world law,
Catholic law (canon) came from Mosaic Law, which in turn came from Hammurabis Code. Even Catholics don’t pretend to have invented it. They claim a legal ascendancy from Adam/the Torah. (Ignoring the Babylonian influence.)
music,
The kings and emperors were on par with the Catholic Church in their sponsorship of musicians. Post-Reformation, however, the Church fell way behind.
science,
Wow… do you even pretend to read history? Copernicus? Galileo? Science was the enemy of the Church until John Paul II fundamentally changed the theology.
human rights,
Catholicism, like Islam, is about centralized power and control. Setting aside the Inquisitions (an obvious retort) the Church has no history of benevolence. What they have are stories of individuals who were both Catholic and good, and they appropriate these tales to say how great the Church was. Of their own accord, the Church has never taken on a cause that didn’t better their station of fatten their coffers (unless forced to do so).
democracy,
No… the Church is now and always has been a centralized theocracy, not a democracy. It sees democracy as an aberration from the True Universal Church (Catholic, for those who do not know, means “universal”). Catholics are about expanding a theocratic system, and do NOT support democracy. They merely tolerate it.
western philosophy,
I loved that one. Western thought is based on Greek and Roman thought… Plato, Socrates, Aristotle etc. The Church banned these books for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until the sacking of Constantinople when the Muslims came across the banned books that they were ever distributed or considered. Oddly enough, it was through the imams of Persia and the expansion of the Ottoman Empire that Greek thought moved out to the world, eventually making its way back to Europe after the Reformation. So no, the Catholics did not give us western philosophy… they did their best to kill western philosophy.
and whatever other foundation stones you care to mention) in the same league as Wahabbist Islam, protestant fundamentalism, and zionist judaism. To attempt to do that and still to expect consideration as an erudite and thinking mind is farcical; to put the most important political and religious body the earth has ever known in the same league as madmen and barbarians merely demonstrates your own prejudice or stupidity.
Stop and listen to any madman long enough and they sound like they make sense. Really. Trust me, I’ve done it. A wahabbist, given time to explain his struggle and beliefs can come off sounding sane as the day is long. Same with Zionists. Same with Catholics. Thing is, you seem to have only been listening to the Catholic contingent.
That’s all.
Fides quaerens intellectum, you ingrate.
[I translate that as: Faith Seeking Understanding]
Sounds to me like you’re not “seeking” anything. You, apparently, have all the answers. Good for you. Now go find a decent history book and get back to me.
September 26, 2009 at 7:21 am |
William, I happen to agree with you whole heartedly. I it is amazing to me that people that pretend to be intelegent will go goofy, technical term, over anything religious.I have been a southern baptist most of my life. Then I learned that there is more under the sun Herashio. I have since been on my own Pilgrimage and found my own form of enlightenment.
I am also sorry to hear that you have been ill. It takes a lot to come back from all that. My husband and father both have heart problems. You are in my “prayers” and heres to good heath in the new year. Barb
January 30, 2011 at 5:05 pm |
good post thanks..