Sir RalphSir Ralph Gifford
Being resurrected can be an unsettling experience - particularly when you find that the world is five hundred years older than you ever thought it could be and your descendants haven't been doing their duty by the local parish church. Sir Ralph Gifford has another source of annoyance: despite explicit instructions, his miserly heirs have failed to bury him in his second-best doublet and hose. This calls for some serious haunting!
Sir Ralph Gifford Wow! That's some story. It gave me goose bumps as I read it which means to me that you are pretty close to the truth!
I found it well written and you manage to convey a sense of the olde english in Ralph's speech. I didn't have any significant theological problems with the story, in fact you clarified a few things I hadn't really thought about - food for one thing and the way technology could be used in heaven. I do hope there are computers in heaven - with good software!
I don't think you need to change anything. The style is good, the footnotes help and you could put in more (to explain things in more detail). I don't agree with Gareth's comments about footnotes and will be interested to hear his theological objections.
My wife is also enjoying the tale, by the way.
Julian FitzherbertThat pretty much sums up what I believe about death. The 'Afterword' has also convinced me even more that this is what the Bible says about the New Heaven and the New Earth.
ChrisWell, I've read it: you write well, but I wish you preached less. (Or at least had some way of integrating the preaching more successfully with the story. I suppose the preaching is actually the main reason for the story...) I'd also lose most of the footnotes and shorten others, and change "the soon return of Christ" to "the imminent return of Christ" near the start.
You will probably not be surprised to hear that I disagree with most of the particular points on which I felt preached at, but of course that's no criticism of the writing which, as I say, is good. (If you want comments on the theology, you can have them.)
Gareth McCaughan, Dept. of Pure Mathematics & Math. Statistics, Cambridge University, England.Dear Ken, Have downloaded Sir Ralph and have read about three quarters. Richard has read it too. I really have enjoyed what I've read so far. It's not quite how I imagined it as I expect something more immediate but I can see that your story could be a good tool for those with little knowledge of Christ's return. I like the style. It is very readable. I find I am reading at speed so that I can get to the next chapter to discover what will happen next. God bless,
Vee