Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Monday, February 05, 2024

Detonate - MTG 4E

Sunday, February 04, 2024

Shotguns V Cthulhu (Cthulhu Anthology #15) 4Stars

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot, & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Shotguns V Cthulhu
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #15
Editor: Robin Laws
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 242
Words: 94K

This was how my final King in Yellow book should have gone! This had shivers running up my spine. This had my mind revolting. This had me questioning why I enjoyed the twisted stories so much. It was everything I expect in a Cosmic Horror story.

Now, I had read a King in Yellow anthology edited by Robin Laws and it wasn’t very good. So I went into this with lowered expectations. Thankfully, I was disappointed in my expectations.

And that’s all I write because I’m tired of writing right now.

★★★★☆

Table of Contents:

Robin D Laws Preface: Save a Barrel for Yourself
Kyla Ward Who Looks Back?
Rob Heinsoo Old Wave
Dennis Detwiller Lithic
Chris Lackey Snack Time
Dan Harms The Host from the Hill
Steve Dempsey Breaking Through
A. Scott Glancy (based on an idea by Bret Kramer) Last Things Last
Chad Fifer One Small, Valuable Thing
Nick Mamatas Wuji
Natania Barron The One in the Swamp
Kenneth Hite Infernal Devices
Dave Gross Walker
Robin D. Laws And I Feel Fine
Larry DiTillio Welcome to Cthulhuville
Ekaterina Sedia End of White

All of My “Cthulhu Anthology” Reviews

Saturday, February 03, 2024

[Art] Lover's First Date

After last’s month’s Pain and Suffering, and in the light of February being Valentines, this particular drawing seemed very appropriate to start the month off.

Happy and in love, that’s what I see here. The excitement of the First Date is wonderful and it only gets better as time goes on. Recently I have come to realize that Love grows into that quiet contentment of being with that special someone. Glorying in their presence, just happy to be around them. Not necessarily Doing Things together, but simply Being Together.

Thursday, February 01, 2024

Witch Week (Chrestomanci #3) 2.5Stars

Title: Witch Week
Series: Chrestomanci #3
Author: Diana Jones
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fantasy
Pages: 185
Words: 73K

I have heard the question “Why isn’t DWJ as famous as JK Rowlings” punted about over the years. It might seem like a legitimate question, but I think this book answers it quite aptly.

Namely, this was a scary book for kids about bullies, meanness and very unlikeable people. None of the beautiful people are nice, none of the adults (except Chrestomanci, when he shows up for the last 10%) are decent and even the main characters are some really nasty pieces of work. Some of this might be VERY true to life and some kids might be able to identify with it all, but that’s not the goal. It’s not enough to just identify with a character, but to have characters that your readers want to emulate to be better people. This is DWJ’s failure in this book.

Until Chrestomanci shows up and begins setting things aright, I was questioning why DWJ even bothered to write this and why I was continuing to read this. While I know intellectually this so called “Chrestomanci Series” really isn’t, I do wish that that DWJ had made more of an effort to weave him into the overall story instead of making him such a small part. It’s as lame as calling Jubilee from the X-Men a real superhero (she can throw sparkles or something from her hands, whooooo).

I guess I will have to change my expectations for the rest of the series but if I come across any more that are as unlikeable as this, I’ll just stop this series and start in on my next middle grade read, the Westmark trilogy by Lloyd Alexander.

★★✬☆☆

From Wikipedia:

Click to View Synopsis

Witch Week is set in an alternative modern-day Great Britain, identical to our world except for the presence of witchcraft. Despite witches being common, witchcraft is illegal and punishable by death by burning, policed by a modern-day Inquisition.

At Larwood House, a boarding school where many of the children of executed witches are sent, a note claiming “Someone in this class is a witch” is found by a teacher. This launches an internal investigation of the more unpopular students at the school (Nan Pilgrim and Charles Morgan), who are gradually coming to terms with the fact that they are witches. Mayhem gradually ensues as magic is used to make birds appear in the classroom, to rain shoes, to curse a classmate into having his words always be true, and other pranks. When the magic gets totally out of control, one of the students runs away, leaving notes that blame the witch for controlling him. The headmistress of the school calls in an Inquisitor to find the missing student and locate the source of the trouble.

Four more of the students flee the school and two seek help from an “underground railroad” system that is known to save witches by sending them to a world where they are not persecuted. Instead they are given a spell to summon unknown help and all five students converge where they are able to use it, summoning the enchanter Chrestomanci. He and the children conclude that their world diverged from 12B (ours) by a particular historical accident. They work to outwit the local inquisition and to merge their history, thus their world, with ours. It turns out that most of the schoolchildren are witches and all must lose any such powers by revising history in that way.

– All of My “Diana Jones” Reviews

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

January '24 Roundup & Ramblings

Raw Data:

Novels – 14 ⭤

Short Stories – 0 ⭤

Manga/Graphic Novels – 0 ⭤

Comics – 1 ⭤

Average Rating – 3.23 ↓

Pages – 3057 ↑

Words – 1060K ⭤

The Bad:

Stalking the Dragon – 2stars of Ultimate Boring!!!!!

Woman in White – 1star of Wilkie Collins. Overwriting. Everything. All The Time.

The Good:

Second Foundation – 5Stars of all the SF goodness

Weaponized – 4Stars of Polity body horror

Movie:

John Wick 4 was a torturous, bloated movie of violent excess. I don’t have any thing else to say.

Miscellaneous Posts:

Personal:

What a busy month. Looking at our wall calendar, we had multiple things going on every single week. I am not a fan of having commitments to others that often. A body needs down time, alone time, so it can recharge.

Had a couple of snowstorms, both of which were decent sized. Of course, a week later it either rained and washed it all away, or it was up to 50degrees and melting like crazy.

Taking Friday’s off from writing on the blog has helped tremendously. Just seeing that “Free Day” on my google calendar is a weekly reminder and it’s been good for me emotionally. While Wednesday’s haven’t worked out quite the way I was hoping, knowing that they are only open for Review posts does help me. I read enough that writing reviews, while monotonous at times, doesn’t have the same creative pressure that a non-review post does. Mainly because the reviews are for myself and I just don’t care. Non-review posts are usually written with some random idea whereby I hope to engage your interest and elicit comments from you all 😉

Our church finalized the hiring of a new assistant pastor (not sure what his official title is, as he’s still studying at seminary and so doesn’t have his doctorate yet). He’s in his mid-20’s, married to his highschool sweetheart, with one little kiddo. He’s some sort of engineer at one of the big car companies and he likes people. In short, he’s everything I wanted to be 20 years ago. But I’m me and no amount of moaning or whining is going to change that 😉 I am really hoping for his success out here (they are moving from Michigan) and that he gets along with the majority of the congregation. He made a great impression on us when they came out to visit at the end of ’23. I do admit, I am looking forward to seeing how a young man proceeds in this day and age, as the challenges he will face will be totally different from what I might have back in my 20’s. Being witness to the rising of the next generation of Christians is sad, scary, exhilarating and oh so encouraging, all at once.

Our cable bill went significantly up this month. I am looking at other options but I am afraid it will impact us, I just don’t know how yet. Not looking forward to yet another change. Using our phones as hotspots and tethering is one option. That would mean I can’t stream stuff on our bluray player anymore but I don’t know how much of an impact that would actually have. But a 50% jump in the rate is not something we can sustain.

Cover Love:

Shadow of Anubis wins this quite handily. The Arcane books are just gorgeous and I’m ok with that. And Dr Bell is looking shaaaarp in that vest!

Plans for Next Month:

Going to be doing a buddy read with Lashaan for Pride and Prejudice. Looking forward to that.

Other than that, it should be business as usual. I do promise that this month’s Art will be happier than the Pain & Suffering of January 😉

Tuesday, January 30, 2024

Equal Rites (Discworld #3) 4Stars

Title: Equal Rites
Series: Discworld #3
Author: Terry Pratchett
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 162
Words: 67K

When I first read this in 2007, I was fresh off the Rincewind books and was expecting more of the same. Equal Ritesis the first of the Witches sub-series and as such, while humorous, IS different and I wasn’t ready for that difference back then. Instead of the insane, zany and just plain ridiculous humor that typifies Rincewind, The Witches series is much more sardonic and relies on the humor inherent in opposites. All of that was just to say that I enjoyed my read this time much more than I did 16 years ago.

I also did this as a buddy-read with Dave. I’ll be linking to his review after the star rating and before the synopsis.

I enjoyed this on a completely different level from the previous two books. Granny Weatherwax (the main character despite this being about the little girl Esk) isn’t silly and stupid but she’s also not some omniscient Paragon of Everything. Pratchett is definitely poking fun at the genders (male and female) and Granny isn’t a bra burning feminazi. She’s crotchety, gets things mixed up, makes bad decisions but ultimately has the good of Esk in mind. She’s a wonderful character in fact. I loved reading about her. It is almost scary to me how 16 years of life experience can make that kind of change in me. I still like Rincewind and the complete chaos that he is, but I now appreciate Granny much more than I could have back then. That’s good. We should change as we mature and get older.

I have talked about this before (Why I Re-Read from ‘18) but that change in perspective is the EXACT reason why I am such a re-reader. What I experienced reading Equal Rites this time around I simply could not have back in ‘07. And if I had never re-read it now, I would be stuck with that ‘07 memory of it. Which isn’t bad, but it’s not as full and rich as my memories of the book now. As a serious reader, growing is important. A reader should be a tree, ever growing, not a karesansui garden (one of those japanese gravel gardens) which stays static unless an outside force acts upon it. A reader’s growth should be from within, affecting the outside, not the outside affecting the growth within. It is the difference between an oak tree and a bonsai tree. One acts upon the landscape while the other is acted upon.

So to end. I am VERY happy I re-read this. I enjoyed it more than I originally did and I am thankful I have a better memory of the book now.

★★★★☆

Dave’s Review

From Wikipedia.org

Click to Open

The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is destined to become a wizard; on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the magical properties that are sometimes ascribed to seven in other mythologies. Billet wants to pass his wizard’s staff on to his successor.

However, the newborn child is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith). Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff passes on to her. As Esk grows up, it becomes apparent that she has uncontrollable powers, and the local witch Granny Weatherwax decides to travel with her to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork to help her gain the knowledge required to properly manage her powers.

But a female wizard is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers.

Simon’s magic causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions while he is in Esk’s presence. The staff, acting to protect Esk, strikes Simon on the head, closing the hole but trapping his mind in the Dungeon Dimensions. Esk throws the staff away, believing that it attacked Simon. While attempting to rescue him, Esk ends up in the Dungeon Dimensions. The extreme cold there causes the staff, now washed out to sea, to create a huge ice sheet, causing a storm that floods the university as well as the surrounding city.

Esk and Simon discover the weakness of the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions—if you can use magic, but don’t, they become scared and weakened. With the help of Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle, who have retrieved the staff, they both manage to transport themselves back into the Discworld. Esk and Simon go on to develop a new kind of magic, based on the notion that the greatest power is the ability not to use all the others.

Monday, January 29, 2024

Desert Twister - MTG 4E

Sunday, January 28, 2024

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023 Movie)

Excess. Nihilistic Excess. This was not actually a movie. This was a video game with a body count so high that I’m never going to view the original John Wick film in the same light. JW should have been the lowest bar that has ever been set in terms of sheer violence. Sadly, it ended up being the top level of an underground bunker.

I have enjoyed each successive John Wick movie less and less. To the point where I actually questioned whether I would watch this or not. I enjoyed the pure brutality of the first movie. This, this made me sick and question myself as I kept on watching instead of turning it off.

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Second Foundation (Foundation #3) 5Stars

Title: Second Foundation
Series: Foundation #3
Author: Isaac Asimov
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 200
Words: 72K

What a masterpiece of storytelling. The Foundation Trilogy absolutely deserves all the plaudits it has received over the decades. When I read this trilogy in ‘08 and only gave it 3stars, I suspect most of that had to do with the fact that I was in the midst of thralldom to the Sandersonization of the SFF genre. Now I’m not and so can appreciate it better. Which in turns means that those who are addicted to the chunksters of SFF today probably won’t enjoy the Foundation either. That’s too bad, but that’s how it all shakes out.

Structure-wise, Second Foundation follows the same formula of the previous book, in having two novellas comprising the one book. Each novella in turn is broken down into “chapters” that read much more like a short story than just a chapter from a whole. That kind of structure works very well for me and as Asimov was a genius in terms of writing short stories, I think it works well for how the book is made up.

Story-wise, this wraps things up just fine. The First Foundation is still alive and working on it’s destiny to unite the galaxy in a second empire in a couple of hundred years and the Second Foundation is safely in the background, guiding things along. Seldon’s Plan is back on track after the disruption of The Mule and humanity seems to be riding the right track.

And I can see why people keep reading the later Foundation novels. I ended this and my first thought was “I want more”. I read Foundation’s Edge and Foundation and Earth back in highschool and hated them. But that was almost 30 years ago now and I wonder if my tastes and opinions have changed enough that I wouldn’t hate them this time around. Considering how much I loved this trilogy this time round, I am hesitant to do anything to mar that pleasure. But at the same time, I am a reader. I read books, lots and lots of books (say that in your best Neo voice please)

(But this is not a post about my decision making skills or abilities. That’s for another time. That’s a threat, count on it!)

I enjoyed reading this book, and this trilogy and I found it tantalizing, well done and once again, worthy of all the praise it has received over the years. I highly recommend this, even if you end up not liking it nearly as much as I do. The Foundation Trilogy is foundational to SF and once you’ve read it, you’ll see it peeping out everywhere in the SF genre.

★★★★★

From Wikipedia.org

Click to Open for Synopsis

Part I: Search By the Mule

Part I is about the Mule’s search for the elusive Second Foundation, with the intent of destroying it. The executive council of the Second Foundation is aware of The Mule’s intent and, in the words of the First Speaker, allows him to find it—”in a sense”. The Mule sends two of his people on a search for the Second Foundation: Han Pritcher, who had once been a captain and a member of the underground opposition prior to being Converted to the Mule’s service, and Bail Channis, an “Unconverted” man (one who hasn’t been emotionally manipulated by the Mule to join him) who has quickly risen through the ranks and impressed the Mule.

Channis reveals his suspicions about the Second Foundation being located on the planet Tazenda, and takes the ship there. They first land on Rossem, a barren planet controlled by Tazenda, and meet with its governor, who appears ordinary. Once they return to the ship, Pritcher confronts Channis and believes him to have been too successful with the search. The Mule, who had placed a hyper-relay on their ship in order to trace them through hyper-space, appears, and reveals that Channis is a Second Foundationer. Pritcher’s emotional bonds to the Mule are broken in the ensuing exchange between Channis and the Mule, and he is made to fall into deep sleep. With only the two of them left, the Mule reveals that he has brought his ships to Tazenda and has already destroyed the planet, and yet senses that Channis’s dismay is only pretense. He forces Channis to reveal that Rossem is actually the Second Foundation, and that Tazenda is only a figurehead.

The First Speaker for the Second Foundation appears and reveals to the Mule that his rule is over; neither Tazenda nor Rossem is the Second Foundation, and Channis’s knowledge had been falsely implanted to mislead the Mule. Second Foundation agents are headed to Kalgan and the Foundation worlds to undo the Conversions of the Mule, and his fleet is too far away to prevent it. When the Mule experiences a moment of despair, the First Speaker is able to seize control of and change his mind; he will return to Kalgan and live out the rest of his short life as a peaceful despot.

Part II: Search By the Foundation

Part II takes place 60 years after the first part, 55 years after the Mule’s death by natural causes. With the Mule gone his former empire falls apart and the Foundation resumes its independence. Because of their enslavement at the hands of the Mule and their wariness of the Second Foundation (who possess similar abilities to the Mule) the Foundation began studying the mental sciences.

A secret cabal is formed within the Foundation to root out the Second Foundation after evidence of the latter’s manipulation is found through mental analysis of the former society’s key figures. They send one of their own, Homir Munn, to Kalgan to search for clues to the Second Foundation’s location. Munn is followed to Kalgan by Arcadia, Dr Darell’s daughter.

Since the death of the Mule, the Second Foundation has worked to restore the Seldon Plan into its proper course. In the organization’s secret location, the First Speaker discusses the state of the galaxy with a student. The Student is concerned that the Foundation’s now tangible knowledge of the Second Foundation’s existence would have negative effects upon the former which would then further destabilize the Seldon Plan. The First Speaker reassures the Student that a plan has been put in place by their organization in order to address his very concerns.

In Kalgan, a man named Stettin has assumed the Mule’s former title as First Citizen. He believes that the Mule’s actions have made the Seldon Plan irrelevant and declares war upon the Foundation, intending to usurp their role in the formation of the Second Empire. He’s unconcerned with the possible intervention of the Second Foundation.

Arcadia escapes from Kalgan to Trantor with the help of a Trantorian trader named Preem Palver. With his help, she passes information to her father regarding the location of the Second Foundation.

Kalgan eventually loses the war against the Foundation as the specter of the Seldon Plan adversely affects the performance of the Kalganians every bit as much as it bolsters the morale of the Foundationers.

The Foundation cabal reconvenes to discuss what they’ve learned about the Second Foundation. Munn believes that the Second Foundation never existed while Pelleas Anthor believes they’re in Kalgan. Dr Darell states that the Second Foundation is in Terminus itself based on information supplied by Arcadia. He also reveals he has created a device capable of emitting mind static, which is harmful to individuals with mental abilities similar to that of the Mule and the Second Foundation. Activating the device in the presence of the cabal reveals Anthor to be a Second Foundationer, and further interrogation leads to the discovery of the rest of his comrades who are subsequently detained indefinitely.

Unsatisfied with the ease by which the Second Foundation has been defeated and suspecting Arcadia’s information to be planted through mental tampering, Dr Darell runs tests on his daughter to determine if she has been compromised. Both are relieved when the tests’ results are negative. Dr Darell basks in the realization that with the Second Foundation gone, the Foundation are the sole inheritors of the Seldon Plan and the Second Empire.

It is then revealed that the Second Foundation are not only intact but also the mastermind behind the recent major events. The Foundation’s conflict with Kalgan and their subsequent victory was meant to restore the former’s self-esteem after the Mule enslaved them. Anthor and his comrades were in fact martyrs meant to mislead the Foundation into believing they had eliminated the Second Foundation, thereby shrouding the Second Foundation in secrecy once more and restoring the Seldon Plan to its proper course. Arcadia was unknowingly working for the Second Foundation, having been mentally adjusted shortly after her birth in order to prevent detection. The Second Foundation is actually located at the planet Trantor, the seat of the previous Galactic Empire.

The story closes with the revelation that the First Speaker of the Second Foundation is Preem Palver, who is satisfied that the galaxy is now forever secure.

Thursday, January 25, 2024

A Confession (The Russians) 3.5Stars

Title: A Confession
Series: (The Russians)
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Translator: Aylmer Maude
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Nonfiction
Pages: 83
Words: 25K

The synopsis from Wikipedia is filled with wild surmises and assumptions that I totally disagree with, especially all the crap about Tolstoy somehow viewing God from a pantheistic viewpoint. Someone with an axe to grind wrote that instead of someone who just wanted to factually write what the novella was about. This is why I don’t trust Wikipedia, it’s a damn cesspit. But it is easier to copy/paste that than to try to write out my own synopsis, so this is just a disclaimer that I’m using their synopsis, but under very loud and vociferous protest. But mainly because I’m lazy.

This was the journey of one man who went from a children’s belief in Christianity, to Unbelief, to Church Orthodoxy to his own belief in Jesus Christ.

Really, this was just a slightly updated version of the book of Ecclesiastes (from the Bible). In that, The Preacher (most people figure it is King Solomon) talks about his loss of faith and how useless life is and how he sets out to find the meaning of life. Tolstoy does the same thing, but in a very russian way.

My biggest issue with this was how he almost never references the Bible itself in his searchings. He goes to all these various teachers and dogmas, but not the Bible itself, which the teachings and dogmas are based on. Or if he does, he doesn’t mention it but it really doesn’t seem like he goes to the source. Another part is that I don’t have the same experience as him. I took my Christianity very seriously from the time I was twelve. By the time I was sixteen I knew that I wanted to follow Jesus Christ whole heartedly and by the time I was twenty-two I knew I was on the correct path. The last 20+ years have been my various trials, tribulations, rejoicings and victories as I’ve continued to trod that path. Tolstoy didn’t have the same foundation and thus had to travel a very different path from me. I suspect this novella might speak much louder to someone who is in the midst of their own doubts about the meaning of life.

The translator, Aylmer Maude, added several footnotes that I found very helpful. While I have no idea if his translation is correct or not (I would hope so, as he was translating some very complex theological ideas), the fact his footnotes were clear, concise, to the point and were actually helpful makes me think his translation was a good one.

To end, while I am not a subscriber to various catechisms, I do think they have their place. And in this regards, this particular catechist(?) is apropos:

What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.

That folks, is the meaning of your life and the only way to do that is through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

★★★✬☆

From Wikipedia.org

Click to Open

The book is a brief autobiographical story of the author’s struggle with a mid-life existential crisis. It describes his search for the answer to the ultimate philosophical question: “If God does not exist, since death is inevitable, what is the meaning of life?” Without the answer to this, for him, life had become “impossible”.

The story begins with the Eastern fable of the dragon in the well. A man is chased by a beast into a well, at the bottom of which is a dragon. The man clings to a branch that is being gnawed on by two mice (one black, one white, representing night and day and the relentless march of time). The man is able to lick two drops of honey (representing Tolstoy’s love of his family and his writing), but because death is inevitable, he no longer finds the honey sweet.

Tolstoy goes on to describe four possible attitudes towards this dilemma. The first is ignorance. If one is oblivious to the fact that death is approaching, life becomes bearable. The problem with this for him personally is that he is not ignorant. Having become conscious of the reality of death, there is no going back.

The second possibility is what Tolstoy describes as Epicureanism. Being fully aware that life is ephemeral, one can enjoy the time one has. Tolstoy’s problem with this is essentially moral. He states that Epicureanism may work fine and well for the minority who can afford to live “the good life,” but one would have to be morally empty to be able to ignore the fact that the vast majority of people do not have access to the wealth necessary to live this kind of life.

Tolstoy next states that the most intellectually honest response to the situation would be suicide. In the face of the inevitability of death and assuming that God does not exist, why wait? Why pretend that this vale of tears means anything when one can just cut to the chase? For himself, however, Tolstoy writes that he is “too cowardly” to follow through on this most “logically consistent” response.

Finally, Tolstoy says that the fourth option, the one he is taking, is the one of just holding on; living “despite the absurdity of it,” because he is not willing “or able” to do anything else. So it seems “utterly hopeless” – at least “without God”.

So Tolstoy turns to the question of God’s existence: After despairing of his attempts to find answers in classic philosophical arguments for the existence of God (e.g. the Cosmological Argument, which reasons that God must exist based on the need to ascribe an original cause to the universe), Tolstoy turns to a more mystical, intuitive affirmation of God’s presence. He states that as soon as he said “God is Life,” life was once again suffused with meaning. This faith could be interpreted as a Kierkegaardian leap, but Tolstoy actually seems to be describing a more Eastern approach to what God is. The identification of God with life suggests a more monistic (or panentheistic) metaphysic characteristic of Eastern religions, and this is why[citation needed] rational arguments ultimately fall short of establishing God’s existence. Tolstoy’s original title for this work indicates as much, and his own personal “conversion” is suggested by an epilogue that describes a dream he had some time after completing the body of the text, confirming that he had undergone a radical personal and spiritual transformation.