Reading, it's not just for breakfast any more

It's a quarter after three in the morning here, and what am I doing besides writing to you, my non-existent following?

I just finished up a fan letter.

A fan letter, in fact, to somebody who'd kept me awake all night.

I am a voracious reader. Gimme words in a row and I'm more or less happy. Books are perfect. Magazines will do. Medicine wrappers and cereal boxes are emergency rations. I've been known to read return mail addresses and postmarks, grabbing after then like a meth-head for his little baggie.

Part of my "ok, it's time to go to sleep" ritual is that I grab a book and read a few pages before snuffing the reading lamp on my side of the bed.

The key phrase there was " a few pages". It's after three in the morning - I started re-reading that book at about midnight, finished at two.. gave up on sleep at two thirty, wrote a fan letter... and am now writing to my imaginary readers.

By and large, I tend to do a lot of re-reading. I have a BUNCH of books, and .. let's say, with two teen-aged boys in the house, rather limited funds. Re-reading is just a part of life.

Except.. I can't re-read mysteries or suspense novels. Solving a riddle is frantically boring if you already know the answer.

But, as I put in my fan letter, what use is an exception without an exception?

Enter the author in question. J.A. Jance. Primarily, she writes about Detective J.P. Beaumont (of the Seattle area) and Sheriff Joanna Brady (of Bisbee, Arizona fame) - though there is a smattering of authorial output not related to those two series'.

J.A. Jance is the ONLY suspense author in my re-read pile.

When most of us think of mysteries and detecives, we tend to think of Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple. On the one hand, I can forgive them - they are products of their times - just as Beaumont and Brady are. The difference is, I can actually see myself meeting Det. Beaumont or Sheriff Brady on the street some time. Mrs. Jance has created real people who have real lives. Real problems that actually last longer than a chapter or two before vanishing without another word. Real lives ebb and flow around them, interfering with their jobs and making life harder than it needs to be... but the way it is

As old as I am, and as cynical, sour, grumpy.. basically antisocial as I am, I find the peek I get into the world of Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont utterly captivating. Their fictional lives serve to remind me that there really are good people out there.

I just wish I knew them.

As for J.A. Jance.. I told her it was all her fault for keeping me up this late. And asked her - very kindly, I hope - to keep on writing.

I wouldn't even complain about reading a post-mark if she wrote it.

Required Reading - Intelligent Design

Those of you who know me, know where I stand on the "debate" between Intelligent Design (and know how much it hurts to capitalize those words) and "Darwinism". For those of you who don't, and think the first sentence is ambiguous, let me put it bluntly.

Creationism, in any guise, is full blown horse puky.

There. That should be clear enough.

Evolution has, literally, hundreds of years of science behind it. Years and years of mankind guessing and testing and guessing and testing, learning not only what happens, but how and why.

Creationism... er.. Intelligent Design .. has.. a story thousands of years old as its basis in . . . um.. "fact". Well, they try to lay claim to some form of high ground by pointing to "gaps" in the fossil record and various strange and esoteric microbiological issues. Except.. well, they're wrong. Demonstrably and provably wrong.

The problem isn't that people believe in creationism. That's a personal choice on their part. The problem is, a large number of people want some form of creationism (renamed "Intelligent Design" in an attempt to dodge legal issues) taught in our schools. As science.

Sticking a paisley nightshirt on a grizzly and calling it "Pop" does not make it dear old Dad. Intelligent Design is Creationism - and Creationism is a religious issue. If you want to teach it in school, it belongs in Comparative Religion or Philosophy. It most certainly does not belong in a science class.

Now, for some excellent reading - not that I expect Intelligent Design proponents to either read it or understand it. Please check out http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876
Evolution is explained, and the authors show how and why it works. They also take a few words to very clearly demonstrate how full of bean juice Intelligent Design really is.