Standing FOR something

In “Heretics” Chapter 2, GK Chesterton writes: “Every one of the popular modern phrases and ideals is a dodge in order to shirk the problem of what is good. We are fond of talking about “liberty”; that, as we talk of it, is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “progress”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “education”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. The modern man says, “Let us leave all these arbitrary standards and embrace liberty.” This is, logically rendered, “Let us not decide what is good, but let it be considered good not to decide it.” He says, “Away with your old moral formulae; I am for progress.” This, logically stated, means, “Let us not settle what is good; but let us settle whether we are getting more of it.” He says, “Neither in religion nor morality, my friend, lie the hopes of the race, but in education.” This, clearly expressed, means, “We cannot decide what is good, but let us give it to our children.”

I note this is a common problem in modern heroic literature. We have the Jedi knights who fight against the ‘evil’ galactic empire. But what’s evil about them? What do the Jedi stand FOR? The Avengers avenge but what are they avenging? It seems not even Captain America stands for ‘truth, justice, and the American way” anymore. The whole DC comics CW has a real problem in defining what they stand for. It’s clearly not traditional sexual morality. But what is it? This has led to DC comics vigilantes complaining about other vigilantes. Why? You don’t like them because they don’t have your budget? That’s absurd. If anything the fact that ordinary citizens are putting their lives on the line to fight crime and injustice (in the shadow of a corrupt police force) makes them MORE heroic than Batman, not less.

In the Tales of Tiberius, it was important to me to get a grip on what we are fighting for. I think every group of heroes needs a code. If it’s honor, what is honor? The bushido code may be imperfect, but at least it’s a code. I came up with the Imperial Ranger’s code of chivalry by looking at traditional historic codes of chivalry. I think it gives a good idea of what is expected of heroes. I’d love to see the Justice Society and the Avengers start coming up with oaths. What do you stand FOR? The classic boy scout oath could teach our modern politicians something.

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Santa Claus is NOT a lie

Santa Claus is not a lie. He’s a parable, a model. If you are saying Santa is a lie you are also calling Jesus a liar as he routinely taught in parables. There is a good reason for this. Fiction is a tool for disseminating the truth. A lie is something where, when you look behind it, you see nothing. With Santa when you look behind the curtain, you see something bigger more wonderful than you ever could have imagined or that could ever have been contained in a mere toy.

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Author Richard J. Stuart’s fantasy novel predicts the future

A year ago I published “Tales of Tiberius, the Christmas Adventures,” Featuring a novella “The Secret of Santa Claus.” In it a fictional psychologist argues passionately against the ‘lie’ of Father Christmas, trying to be helpful to children. I wish I could say that I was surprised when, a year later, I ran into a newspaper article in the Telegraph making exactly the same argument. The real psychologists could have been quoting from my fictional lecture.

Here are some excerpts from the fictional Edward Johnson.:

“I want to say in conclusion how vitally important it is at this time of year to keep children grounded in reality. I’m pleased to say that we are making progress keeping nonsensical religious displays off of public property. None the less, many people at this time of year insist on filling children’s heads with nonsense.”

“…the story of Santa Claus is nothing but nonsense. The sooner they stop believing in Santa Claus, God, the tooth fairy, and,” he paused frowning at the front row, “most especially elves, the better. Scientific thinking is the only path to truth. The sooner they accept that the better off they will be. They will be better children for it and you will be better parents.”

Here are some comments from the actual articles highlighted in the recent Telegraph article:

Writing in the respected journal The Lancet Psychiatry, they argue: “If they (parents) are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?”

Defending the claims, Prof Boyle, from the University of Exeter, said: “The morality of making children believe in such myths has to be questioned.

“All children will eventually find out they’ve been consistently lied to for years, and this might make them wonder what other lies they’ve been told.

“Whether it’s right to make children believe in Father Christmas is an interesting question, and it’s also interesting to ask whether lying in this way will affect children in ways that have not been considered.”

Is there really any difference here?

Where these professors go wrong is in assuming that Santa Claus is a lie and once that lie is discovered, the children will be left with nothing. The novella “The Secret of Santa Claus” makes it clear that nearly the opposite is the case. The Secret of Santa Claus is that the truth is greater than the story, not smaller. Santa Claus is a model not a lie. When we tell our children that Santa Claus brings them toys on Christmas day we are making the complex simple for young minds. After all, what child under five would really prefer eternal life and an end to suffering and disease, than a toy? But someday they will be old enough to understand the truth and on that they, our children should be overjoyed with happiness, not disappointed. The true story of Christmas is, as John 3:16 puts it, that God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. What has happened is far greater and more wonderful than any toy could ever be.

It’s hard to say in a sound bite what you’ve spend years working to explain in an carefully crafted novella. I hope if you are reading this you’ll pick up a copy of Tales of Tiberius the Christmas Adventures and get the rest of the story.

https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Tiberius-Adventures-Richard-Stuart-ebook/dp/B00QFRWVR2/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

 

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On Dragons

I’ve been watching the previews for Pete’s Dragon. I haven’t seen the film but it looks like the local police and or angry mob is going to try and kill this Dragon with shotguns. I have to wonder if anyone has explained to them what “Dragon” means. Especially a dragon that shows any signs of all of using magic. Elliot can turn invisible. So we are talking about a 10 ton wizard who can breath fire, is in all probability impervious to shot gun fire, except perhaps a direct hit by a shotgun slug and may be able to do things like summon warriors, throw lightning, do mind control, etc. And you want to go after him with the locals armed with shotguns?! Are you out of your mind?!?

Here is a tip. If you MUST try and kill a dragon (they are not all hostile), especially a magic using dragon, that is a job for the army, not the police. And by the army I mean ALL OF THE ARMY. Send every A-10 we have!!!! Be prepared to use nuclear weapons. Yes I mean it. This is a job for laser guided armor piercing missiles, not shotguns.

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Constantine, John

I’m enjoying the show, but it raises some interesting points, magically speaking.  I have to agree with Papa Midnight that John is all over the map, magically, and not in a good way.  People wonder why I spend so much time on ‘religion’ in talking about Tiberius.  Truth is, if you are serious about ‘magic’ you can’t avoid the topic.  The ten commandments aren’t just secular laws, they are spiritual laws as well.  John would do well to gain a bit more focus and respect the old laws.  You don’t strengthen your spirit by committing adultery all the time.

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Double or nothing

Inspiration is a funny thing.  I’ve had nothing all week, then this morning I wake up with the second half of a story I’ve been stuck on for years, and a new character for my new project.  Go figure.

Sort of interesting taking on a new project.  It’s coming along a bit slowly, but it’s starting to fall into place.  Almost as if each day I’m meeting a new member of the crew.

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Two Dragons? Me and Anne Mccaffrey?!

This is wierd.  I just found out that Anne Mccaffrey wrote her Dragonrider’s books IN THE SAME HOUSE THAT I LIVE IN?!?!  See her son Todd J. Mccaffrey’s biography.  I’ve never been a particular follower of Anne Mccaffrey, though of course, everyone in the field knows and respects her writing.  I think she rejected one of my short stories one time.  I could be confusing her with someone else, I’ll take a look and see if I still have that rejection letter.  We do both write about dragons, though I don’t think our attitude towards them is quite the same.  (Although not all of my dragons are evil).

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Blame the equipment?

One thing I’ve learned in studying military history: be skeptical when you hear someone lost a battle because of bad equipment.  e.g. you hear a lot about how obsolete the Devastator was and how this lousy plane caused us to lose so many people at Midway.  The same people sing the praises of the Fairly Swordfish, even though the Devastator was obviously the better plane.  Yes the Avenger was an improvement, but a few Avengers were around at Midway and they got shot down too.  The problem was flying torpedo bombers into a hornet’s nest of Zeros, not the airplane.  I also here nonsense about the P-36 being such a terrible obsolete plane fighting against Zeros when French pilots fighting against Me-109’s are on record praising the same airplane.  Yeager notes that pilot quality is a key factor in dogfights, odds are a lot of the problems attributed to aircraft issues are really problems caused by inexperienced pilots having to fight veterans.

That’s not to say that equipment is never an issue.  e.g. the Sherman tank wasn’t upgraded properly and that did cause problems late in the war.  Just be skeptical when you hear someone blame the equipment.  Look around, did anyone else use that equipment successfully?  Does a history writer not want to blame the troops?  Double check.

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Understanding the bayonet

If you want an example of how studying the past can tell us things about the present, look no further than the lowly bayonet.

Many people question the utility of the bayonet in today’s world.  Sticking a knife on the end of an M-16 hardly seems a major increase to it’s lethality.  If anything you’d think it would get in the way, more than it would help.  Bill Mauldin famously had a soldier looking in wonder as he exclaimed “Hey did you know this can opener fits on the end of a rifle?”

But lets look at history.  The bayonet came about after muskets had been around on the battlefield for a while.  Back then people couldn’t fire muskets fast enough to stop cavalry riding them down, so they relied upon pike formations for protection.  Then someone got the idea of sticking a knife on the end of a musket.  Instant spear, yea!  The days of the pike formations were numbered.  A group of musketeers could huddle together behind their long muskets with their attached bayonets and ward of the horsemen.

And that is the key.  A GROUP of musketeers.  The bayonet isn’t designed for individual combat.  It’s designed to be used in a group.  That single knife sticking awkwardly off the end of am M-16 may look a bit silly.  But imagine this.  A group of soldiers line up, the officer shouts “Fix bayonets!” and as one the line of soldiers brings out those knives and attach them to the rifles.  Then they start advancing together towards a crowd.  People are going to run and get out of their way.  It happened in Afghanistan, Iraq, and in the Falklands.

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Work in Progress – Update

The good news is I finally sent a draft of my first “Spy” novel to my editor.  Why a spy novel?  Honestly, not everyone can relate to elves.  I also have friends who are Christian, but just cannot relate to an sort of ‘good’ magic user.  I want to write something that a broader audience can relate to.

It’s difficult writing, not because of the spy stuff.  I’m well read in all aspects of military history, including current day.  But writing in the real world … well . . . things happen.  e.g. there are scenes in this book set in Haiti and I started the outline BEFORE the big earthquake.

Anyway this draft is finally finished and with luck you’ll see it by the end of the year.  Depends on how many rounds I and my editor go through.

Don’t despair if you’re waiting for Tales of Tiberius Volume 2.  It’s in the works.  Right this second I’m finishing up Version 2 of Elvish Christmas (Good news, I have an editor now, bad news, I have an editor now.  More work for me, better product for you.).  Volume 2 is next on the list.  An educated GUESS would be late 2015.  Volume 1 came out in March 14, A year and a half later would be a good target date, but no promises at this point.  It’s still a part time job.

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