Charlie W. Starr

But for some business transactions posted on clay tablets in Mesopotamia, poetry is older than prose. Its ancientness signals an archaic mode of thought-something still a part of us lying deep within, something which, because of who we are, means that some things cannot be said in any way except through poems... There the timeless moment frozen in time can be expurgated from the self, expressed to others, and examined by those looking to see if any fellow travelers have thought, felt, experienced the same things that they have. There are places where fall colors are "twenty shades of dull", and so the traveler must "choose to/Notice the multiple shades of earth." So Charlie Starr counsels in "Autumn toward Austin", and for the reader of this eclectic mix of poems, " the] reward is a lesson in subtlety." Through shades comical, cosmic, squeamish, and whimsical, Starr takes us on a "journey...with tiny islands of destination along the way." -Ryan Apple, author of Stars and Sparrows Alike

If you've ever started reading Romans and thought, "I just can't follow what Paul is saying here; it's too deep for me," then Even the Hero will clarify what seems murky and difficult. Paul's letter to the believers in Rome is one of the most important theological documents ever written. Its influence on the Christian community throughout the centuries has been enormous. But its content is difficult, and Paul's argument is often hard to follow. For people who would like to say, "Now here's a part of the Bible I get," this is the book to get. Charlie W. Starr has written this devotional commentary on Romans 1-8 in order to cover what he calls "Christianity 101," the basics every Christian needs to know. The book is written for people who like to read and people who don't, for people who are experts and for people who aren't. Most of all, it's written for people who want to know about the good news brought by Jesus Christ and preached by his Apostle Paul.

Using a philosophical lens to more deeply examine, appreciate, and understand C. S. Lewis's writingsDrawing on C. S. Lewis's essays, sermons, and fiction, The Lion's Country offers a comprehensive exploration of Lewis's understanding of reality—important, Charlie W. Starr argues, to more fully understand Lewis's writing but also to challenge and inform our own thought about what constitutes the Real. For Lewis, reality is not simply a matter of what we can ascertain with our senses; the Real includes but also transcends the physical. Indeed, for Lewis, who is perhaps the most influential Christian writer of the 20th century, God is the most Real thing there is. Yet during the modernist era when Lewis lived, taught, and wrote, the prevailing view was that the only legitimate knowledge was that which could be derived from empirically provable facts. Lewis's rejection of such a narrow belief prompted him to ask, "What are facts without interpretation?" and led to his lifelong pursuit of experiencing and understanding the Real. Much of his fiction, including The Chronicles of Narnia, is fundamentally about how we can encounter reality and be certain of what we know. Starr's unique look at Lewis's philosophical and theological underpinnings extends even to a discussion of heaven and what it would be like to see the face of God. Including a never-before-released passage from Lewis's unpublished Prayer Manuscript, The Lion's Country is an essential contribution to Lewis studies.

While visiting with Mr. Tumnus in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Lucy Pevensie notices a bookshelf filled with such titles as Nymphs and Their Ways and Is Man a Myth? Beginning with these imaginary texts, Charlie W. Starr offers a comprehensive study of C. S. Lewis’s theory of myth, including his views on Greek and Norse mythology, the origins of myth, and the implications of myth on thought, art, gender, theology, and literary and linguistic theory. For Lewis, myth represents an ancient mode of thought focused in the imagination—a mode that became the key that ultimately brought Lewis to his belief in Jesus Christ as the myth become fact. Beginning with a foreword by Lewis scholar Devin Brown, The Faun’s Bookshelf goes on to discuss the many books Lewis imagined throughout his writings—books whose titles he made up but never wrote. It also presents the sylvan myths central to the first two book titles in Mr. Tumnus’s library, including explorations of the relationshipbetween myth and reality, the spiritual significance of natural conservation, and the spiritual and incarnational qualities of gender. Starr then turns to the definition of myth, the literaryqualities of myth, the mythic nature inherent in divine glory, humanity’s destiny to embrace (or reject) that glory, and a deeper exploration of the epistemological ramifications of myth in relation to meaning, imagination, reason, and truth.

Solomon Star, Imperial Expatriate, found his way out of darkness into light on a paradise planet, only to leave it behind. Drawn into a war neither wanted nor deserved, Solomon must lead an army of millions to conquer billions while saving as many on both sides as he can. Whether aboard a World Ship whose AI consciousness, Addy, has her own ideas about the human heart, or deployed on exotic terrains--the windswept plains of New Edda, the floating jellyfish filled countryside of Madria, the storm-buffeted cities of Thorsfeld, the caves and mountains of Ramah--Solomon must navigate a maze of political intrigue, personal regret, impossible military objectives, propaganda machines powerful enough to destroy planets, and the plots and twists of a distant Despot whose lust for revenge has not died.

Solomon Star, one time personal bodyguard of the Galactic Empress, journeys through the primordial jungle of a distant planet. He is guided by a mysterious native woman whom he knows only as "the Savage" to find a man who holds the fate of a planet in his hands - his father. Moving toward an encounter with the Heart of Light, Solomon journeys backwards into the darkness of his past, a killing dark that follows him even now in the form of a twice-living madman: Lazarus - the puppet instrument of Janis IV, ruler of the galaxy, who could neither govern nor love the one man closest to her heart.