Better late than never....

[Divides the Waters]

I seem to have done this out of order. I somehow missed the "where to introduce yourself" thread. So, in the interests of letting people know who I am, here is my belated introduction:

My name is Robert Mullin (Rob to most of my friends). I am thirty-three years old, and married for five of those years. I have one bunny and thousands of books, and have spent quite a while developing a universe in which to tell a kind of apocalyptic tale of temptation, redemption, and sacrifice. The first novel in this untitled series is called Bid the Gods Arise, and thus far has defied definition (as it blends elements of science fiction, fantasy, horror/spiritual thriller, and biblical allegory).

I have gone to Africa twice in search of a possible living dinosaur. The Lingala term for this animal is "Mokele-mbembe," which despite what one reads on the net, translates into "he-who-divides-the-waters." (Now you know where I got my screen name.) It's an experience about which I plan to write a fiction and a non-fiction book.

I head a writers group here in Flagstaff, Arizona, and my wife teaches at a preschool. I edit and proofread articles for the Creation Research Society Quarterly (a scientific publication done, as the name suggests, from a creationist perspective).

It's hard to pick favorite authors, but I have to admit to being very impressed with Karen Hankock's Legends of the Guardian-King (I know that's not how you spell her name, but the language guard keeps changing it to "hanthingy"). Right now, despite having been disappointed in the ending of the first book, I'm trying to make my way through L.B. Graham's Binding of the Blade series. I used to collect fantasy of all sorts, but lately I have been culling the more pagan-oriented stuff from my collection and going with Christian authors. I'm tired of being offended when I read.

I love film music (all authors should), and recently discovered the vocal glories of the group Celtic Woman.

There's more, I'm sure, but that's the nutshell version. Thanks for letting me join the ranks.

[scholar]

Hey, similar interests. Cool.

A fellow cryptozoologist (although I am only armchair). And those ladies can sure sing.

May God bless the efforts of your hands.

[Jeff Gerke]

Rob is also a regular contributor of suggestions for books to be added to the Booklist at www.WhereTheMapEnds.com. He's found books and authors I've never heard of. Hey, maybe I should put him in charge of the whole Booklist...



Welcome, Rob.

Jeff

[rwley]

I really like the Guardian Kings series as well. Very impressive. Like you, I too have long been fantasy fan and have begun to become more selective in my tastes. I still have to admit to an addiction to Terry Brooks. His newest, Genesis of Shannara, is a combining of his existing Shannara series and the Knight of the Word series. I can't wait for the next volume.

As to Celtic Woman, yes, they are fabulous. I love Celtic music anyway and two of my favorite worship CD's are Celtic. Eden's Bridge is a wonderful group. If you haven't heard them, find them. Amazing voices and messages.

[Divides the Waters]

Jeff,

Scholar, I'm kind of under an unofficial ND agreement regarding what we've found in Africa, but I guarantee you that we have come across some info you simply will not hear anywhere else. The head of the expedition is also writing a book, and it should tell most of the important details. Suffice it to say that I am confident this animal is there, simply waiting to be found.

Jeff, I wish I could brag, but it's really nothing to boast about; simply a history of browsing for hours at used bookstores whenever I have the chance. It's amazing the sorts of things that pop up when one wastes time on a routine basis. I hope to be able to help with the booklist; I have certainly been able to cull a number of titles that very few seem to have heard of.

Rwley, I have not eliminated all of the secular stuff from my library; I'm still rather addicted to George R.R. Martin and, well, the entire Star Wars Expanded Universe (which consists of input from dozens of authors). But I quickly gave up on Sara Douglass and several others because I saw a pattern of "I hate Christians; Christians are stupid, narrow-minded bigots who don't truly understand the wisdom of witchcraft" emerging in their writing. I have not read much Brooks, but I've liked what I have read.

P.S. I'll have to try out Eden's Bridge! I was surprised to hear that others have heard of Celtic Woman; they were new to me, and something of an accidental discovery!

[scholar]

Rob, that is so cool. I will be waitin. There have been some new reports of cryptids from Liberia over on Cryptomundo.com. Nothin lately on Mokele Mbembe, though. And the Guardian King Books are great, I think, as was Arena, her first book. I will be looking forward to her next book when it comes out, but it doesn't look as if it is going to be fantasy, should still be good though.

Hmm. I've never heard of Eden's Bridge - will have to look them up. Thanks for the pointer, Robi.

[rwley]

I know what you mean about Sara Douglass. I've just recently finished several of hers and while they are well written, I'm not particularly fond of her message. Ever since I've discovered Where the Map Ends, I've been working my way through that list. There's this one author, Jefferson Scott, you know he's pretty good. Somebody ought to tell Mr. Gerke about him!! (ha, ha, ha) Maybe he can sign him up for MLP.

[Jeff Gerke]

Nah. He's a hack writer. Besides, I think he's dead.

[Teskas]

Welcome, Rob. I remember seeing an old B&W aerial photo, taken in Africa, of an unusually large reptile. Only its head was visible, peeping from a large hole in the ground. I don't believe the photo was fabricated evidence. Conan Doyle's The Lost World suddenly seems plausible.

[Divides the Waters]

I've heard of Jefferson Scott. Shame to hear about his possible demise; resurrection isn't one of my gifts. Maybe I can convince Jeff to take a look at another author, instead. I have one in mind; he's pretty talented, and a really nice guy.... lol

Teskas, if you ever come across that photo, could you let me know? Most of the photographic evidence for Mokele-mbembe has been pretty lame. It's interesting that it would be looking up from a large hole in the ground; one of the things we discovered in our last trips is that the creatures are burrowers (burrowing sauropods; who'd've thunk?). That substantiates things rather well.

[pixydust]

Welcome, Robert!

[Divides the Waters]

Thank you! Your art rocks, by the way. Loved the website.

[Therin]

Man, your life seems a lot more interesting than my pencil-shoving life as a student. Hope you find this thing, whatever it is!

P.S. I wonder how the discovery of a living dinosaur would affect Evolutionists beliefs. They claim the whole rise of mammals was because their bigger competitors were eliminated. What would they think of finding some living competitors?

[Divides the Waters]

Therin,

Those are the highlights. My life is actually quite dull; thanks to finances and personal tragedy, I never finished college. I'm a delivery driver to pay my bills, and I struggle sometimes to justify my own existence. I was simply blessed with some great opportunities, for which I can take no credit.

I would like to say that the discovery of a living dinosaur would blow evolution out of the water (after all, some prominent evolutionists have said that all it would take would be the discovery of man tracks contemporaneous to dinosaur tracks). Regrettably, we've seen time and time again that no matter what evidence one has to counter evolution, a new (and usually even more preposterous) theory emerges to patch up the holes in the old.

Frankly, I'm sure there would be a few converts in the scientific world. But the great thing would be the impact on those who don't really know the stakes. We're hoping, as creationists, to be the first to find the dinosaur so that we can at least get in the first punch, so to speak. If we can tell the world, "this is what we think it means, and here's what you can expect the evolutionist's response to be," we'd at least have a foot in the mental and spiritual door. Dinosaurs have iconic value that things like the coelacanth lack; every schoolchild can tell you that "dinosaurs lived millions of years ago"--finding one alive would blow that out of the water. And if even one person was saved, and raised from the lying mire of evolutionism, all of our efforts would have been worth it.

Incidentally, our primary suspect at the moment is Vulcanodon. It seems to fit the bill.

[rwley]

I have absolutely no scientific proof, this is just my opinion. Nessie is a dinosaur. I don't know what kind, but I think she's real, and I think she's a dinosaur. I think Komodo dragons are dinosaurs. Just small ones. But see, since I know very little about science, and I have no logic whatsoever (ask my husband, he will confirm), I can believe what I want. I wouldn't understand the proof if they spelled it out for me anyway, so I just go on blindly believing the Bible and creation. I like it that way. I hope you find this thing is real and has a name and is a dinosaur. That would be really cool!