Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Joe Show #57: Blue Sunday

New this week on



The Joe Show
featuring Average Joe American

Show Fifty-Seven: Blue Sunday

Free MP3 Download


Love Loss Hope Repeat by Carbon Leaf
courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network

Between The Bars by Elliott Smith
courtesy of IODA Promonet

UTTER OF THE WEEK:
featuring Rich Palmer

Long Way Til Tomorrow by Acoustic Junction
courtesy of IODA Promonet

DIY by A Band Called Quinn
courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network
video link

WHAT'S ON MY MIND?

I Could Sing of Your Love Forever by Big Stuf
courtesy of IODA Promonet

COMEDY MINUTE:
featuring John Branyan
courtesy of Mike Williams & the Christian Comedy Podcast



Average Joe American Exclusive!
Always by Evan Agee of Richmond, Indiana
used with permission of the artist

IN THE NEWS THIS WEEK:
this segment this week is being replaced by a review of
Chosen by Ted Dekker







WARNING: THE FOLLOWING CONTAINS SPOILERS

Ted Dekker is at it again with his tale of the Circle, an epic saga that began with the trilogy Black, Red and White, and continued through Showdown, House, Saint, and even Skin. The latest volumes in this saga are Chosen and Infidel. Though these latest works are targeted at young fiction readers, they're sure to be gobbled up by Ted Dekker fans of all ages.

Chosen starts off with the hero of the Circle saga, Thomas Hunter, choosing new lieutenants for the Forest Guard from a group of sixteen and seventeen year olds. Times are tough and dangerous, and the 400,000 member strong Horde army is closing in.

One thing disturbs me early in the story -- and I'm actually writing this before finishing the book, so it may be cleared up -- but in book three of the trilogy, White, Thomas Hunter's wife Rachelle has passed away and gone on to be with Elyon, and Thomas has remarried the converted Horde princess, Chalise. As Chosen opens in a stadium filled with spectators, we discover that one of the spectators is Hunter's wife, Rachelle. With this volume set some thirteen years in the future, I'm hoping for some clarification in the coming pages.

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Having done some research into the confusion surrounding Thomas's wife at TedDekker.com, I have come to the conclusion that Thomas still being married to Rachelle in Chosen is probably legit.

During the Circle trilogy, there is a point in which Thomas Hunter -- the Thomas in Bangkok, not the dream Thomas -- goes to sleep, and Thomas of Hunter lives out fifteen years of his life in the Forests. It seems that I remember reading somewhere when The Lost Books were first announced that they would take place during that fifteen year period to fill in the rest of that story line.

This sets my mind at ease a bit, and seems credible. I was a little concerned because I havr never known Ted Dekker to make such a significant slip as to resurrect someone from the dead.

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In Ted Dekker's book Skin, there is a scene where it first begins to become apparent that the book is indeed interwoven with The Circle trilogy. A scene where, as a reader, I thought that Elyon as a boy had crossed into the town of Summerville.

The stories become more interwoven the more I read. About halfway through Chosen, we learn that it was not the boy Elyon at all who had crossed into Summerville, but young Johnis from Chosen. It's this kind of cross-integration among the many, many Dekker novels making up the Books of History Chronicles that makes readers like me keep pining away for the next volume in this epic saga. What J.R.R. Tolkien did for Middle Earth, Dekker does for Other Earth.




Angel by Kevin Burdick
courtesy of IODA Promonet

SINK OR SWIM:
Evereal by Spring Clock Wonder
courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network

Face My Fears
by Jason Moss, 15 year-old musician from California
courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network
thanks to Jersey Joe for the tip


OTHER CONTENT INCLUDED:

Blue Sunday

"Go Colts" from the Troops



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Email Feedback: joe@averagejoeamerican.us


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