I'm reading "Antarktos Rising" by Jeremy Robinson, part of a Lovecraft-homage-binge-order I placed on Amazon some months back. I'm a little past half-way through.

The writing is passable. A number of the characters are a bit shallow, but it's a decent read. There's some blatant nationalism, possibly racism, with what feels like a strong right-wing pro-America undercurrent (Arabs, Russians, and Chinese are all enemies and rather stereotyped, and there's a moment of French stereotyping and dismemberment, too, that I can't ignore). And then there's creationism.

I almost put the book down permanently when I hit this part...

( ...Creationism AHOY... )

...if you thought "evolving water" was bad, take a gander at this:

If [the Big Bang] did occur, then as we observe everything in the universe they should be the same. Coming from the same "pot" all the planets should be made of the same "stuff." Instead, we find each planet quite different and made of different elements and colors. The planets have different number of satellites in different orbits. The atmosphere of each planet is unique, as is it's topography.

I am aware of Kepler's Planetary Laws, but the fact that each planet has a different rotation period [day] tells this observer that the Big Bang is incorrect. If all matter was blown out of the core at a consistent speed, then all the planets should be rotating at about the same speed day in and day out.

It's like I'm reading English words, but someone decided to choose words he had heard someone say once and make up new definitions for them! I sat there and laughed, because it was all I could do. This poor, deluded soul really believes he has rejected science based on thoughtful examination of the issues. And, by the gods, wait until you read the stuff he "realized" about gender evolution. That's when my brain sort of went plunk and broke.

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Earlier tonight, I had a brief conversation with a die-hard Christian fundamentalist whom I work with. A few interesting things came up when talking science and religion. This is Part II and it's about, well, science, religion, education, free will and things of that sort.

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