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A few years ago, when my novel Lightfall was about to street (we cool kids use “street” as a verb), my publisher advised me to cultivate a web presence, starting with this site. Suddenly I morphed from Christian Carvajal to ChristianCarvajal.com, and I’ve had mixed feelings about that ever since. My publisher wanted me on…

I want to turn your attention to a thoughtful blog post by Pastor Tim Brown, aka “the Reluctant Christian.” I agree with everything he says here. His reminder that “Christian” is a noun in the Bible rather than an adjective is particularly insightful. Have you said any of these things? Your heart was probably in…

So I was eating lunch with a friend of mine–Kitzel’s corned beef, delicious–when my friend mentioned a company called MerchantOS. Ever heard of it? If you’re looking for a “No” button to click, don’t bother; I assume you haven’t. That’s because the company is based in Olympia, Washington, and I live in Olympia, Washington, and…

What you’re about to see (should you choose to hit the white “Play” triangle below–you know how this works) is my very first ever video blog. It was recorded in one ad-libbed take and then edited by a total newb (me) in about half an hour…so please, manage those expectations accordingly.

The title above is a lame pun only my Oklahoma friends will get. Everyone else, please accept my apology. I find devotional music beautiful, ironically enough. I enjoyed singing in my college chorale, and I missed it over the years. My wife, a trained alto who sang with Opera Pacifica, inspired me to audition for…

When my book tour passed through Oklahoma in early 2010, I was surprised and delighted when Davee Jones turned up at one of my signings. She was a friend of many friends back in college–I dated several of her sorority sisters–and we’d run into each other again on Facebook. She told me she was looking…

Every year, it seems, I write a new Christmas message, devoid of my usual cynicism and skepticism (they are different, by the way), replacing both with my heartfelt wish that you, Gentle Reader, have a marvelous holiday and a better new year. That was proving to be difficult this time around. I searched for inspiration…

Grammar purists look askance at casual usage of the word “thankfully,” as in, “Thankfully, my car wasn’t damaged.” They point out that my car wasn’t thankful at all, as it’s an inanimate object. (Same goes for “hopefully.”) And given that I’m agnostic, Christians could rightfully ask me to whom (or Whom) I’m grateful in a…

I’ve been thinking a lot about theme parks these last few years. Partly that’s because I love them with all my heart and imagination. I grew up in L.A., and Disneyland was a regular part of my childhood. Years later, when I moved back from Illinois, I held a season pass to Universal Studios Hollywood…

I spent many hours this week on a project to transfer our old, disintegrating VHS tapes onto DVD. I found a tape my mom made of several of my old TV appearances from 1997-98, the year I spent doing extra work in L.A. I wasn’t planning to transfer them, but my wife chided me until…