109. Science Fiction Vs. Fantasy

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The title of this post may be a little misleading. If you were expecting an epic death battle between two literary genres, I’m afraid you will be disappointed. The purpose of this post is to take a quick look at why science fiction and fantasy—two literary genres often associated with each other—are different.

There are similarities, of course. The most striking is that fantasy and science fiction aren’t realistic. Fantasy is unrealistic because of supernatural elements such as magic and monsters. Science fiction, however, doesn’t involve the supernatural. Its unrealism comes from scientific discoveries or developments in technology, society and history that haven’t occurred.

Let’s start with science fiction.

Since the emphasis of science fiction is naturalistic, the genre focuses on the development of human society. Robots, spacecraft and laser weapons reflect the evolution of the human race.

The lack of supernatural elements in science fiction precludes any kind of divinity or absolute morality. Because of this, the genre doesn’t usually depict struggles between good and evil. The ultimate goal of characters in science fiction is usually survival, not moral triumph. What matters is the continued existence of the human race.

Due to this lack of absolute morality, the themes of science fiction are usually psychological, ethical and existential, not moral or religious.

Although it’s often paired with science fiction, fantasy is fundamentally different.

Since the emphasis of fantasy is the supernatural, the genre traditionally places little importance upon the development of human society. Cars, computers and guns are replaced with horses, scrolls and swords.

The supernatural elements in fantasy often indicate some kind of absolute morality, whether a standard good-versus-evil morality (e.g. The Lord of the Rings), a morality based upon maintaining cosmic balance (e.g. A Wizard of Earthsea) or some other moral system. The typical goal of fantasy characters isn’t merely survival, but moral or cosmic victory.

Due to the presence of absolute morality, the themes of fantasy are usually philosophical, moral and religious, not psychological or ethical.

In a previous post presenting a short, untidy and highly idiosyncratic history of fantasy, I made the observation that many of fantasy’s greatest authors have been Christians: George MacDonald, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle, among others. I think it’s no coincidence that Christians, who believe in the existence of the supernatural and an absolute moral law, should leave such a profound mark upon a literary genre defined by supernatural phenomena and moral struggles.

Science fiction and fantasy are both unrealistic, but for opposite reasons. Fantasy is characterized by the supernatural, science fiction by a naturalistic worldview. These genres are opposite sides of the same coin.

What about stories like Star Wars or Star Trek that are considered science fiction and yet involve the supernatural? Consider the Force in Star Wars. It isn’t merely a scientific phenomenon, but a spiritual force. The Jedi aren’t scientists, but monks. Even so, Star Wars is usually considered a science fiction franchise. It has aliens and space battles, after all.

I think stories like these are sort of a hybrid genre. Let’s call it science fantasy. Stories in this mixed-up genre tend to demonstrate the outward characteristics of science fiction—advanced technology, space travel and so on—while expressing the moral and philosophical themes typical of fantasy fiction. Final Fantasy is a fine example of science fantasy: magic, lasers, swords, spacecraft and an unmistakable struggle of good against evil.

In the end, I believe science fiction and fantasy belong together. These genres represent radically different approaches to the same concept: a world unlike our own.

Which genre do I prefer?

Fantasy, of course. It has dragons.

108. Life until Further Notice

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I’ve decided to take a post simply to mention some of the things going on in my life at the moment. My life isn’t just severed arms and giant mutant killer jungle ants, you know. Normal things happen to me occasionally.

I’ve settled in Indiana and found a job working with mentally handicapped men. Eight men live in the house in which I work. The other staff and I assist them with their day-to-day activities, from eating meals to taking medicine. There’s also paperwork. Tons of paperwork. Thousands of pounds of paperwork. (I exaggerate for effect, but you get the idea.) Other responsibilities include cooking, cleaning and making sure the residents stay out of trouble.

The job is proving to be satisfying and interesting. It’s definitely never boring!

In the long term, I hope to find work as an editor or a professional writer. Teaching English is another possibility, though I’d prefer to write. Words, unlike students, usually do what I tell them to do. In addition to professional writing or editing, I’d love to write short stories and novels.

I hope to move into an apartment of my own within a few weeks. After so many months in transition, it will be a relief to be settled in one place until further notice.

When I checked out apartments, I forgot to ask whether typewriter monkeys are allowed. Are they technically considered residents or pets? I’ll have to ask.

107. Things I Don’t Talk About

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There are things I don’t talk about.

Some of these things are trivial. I enjoy watching a television show about magical rainbow ponies, for example. I sometimes make faces at myself in the bathroom mirror. I also think Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA” is pretty darn catchy.

I’m not ashamed of these things, but they’re a little embarrassing, and so I keep them to myself.

Then there are the other things I don’t talk about—things that are anything but trivial.

I’ve suffered for years from serious depression. It comes and goes more or less at random, and robs me of the ability to do much of anything except breathe. When I’m depressed, all I can do is pray, retreat to my bedroom with a cup of tea and wait until my depression goes away.

I struggle with insecurity. Although I try not to let it show, I often wrestle with doubts and worries about my future, my faith, my writing and pretty much everything else.

I worry too much about my reputation, and show too little care or concern for the needs of other people.

I don’t feel particularly at home anywhere in the world. Even though I grew up in Ecuador, my Spanish is pretty weak. The culture of the United States is still strange to me. Every country feels like a foreign one.

Why don’t I ever talk about these things?

Well, it’s embarrassing and awkward. These things tear apart the bookish, cheerful, slightly eccentric impression I wish to make on people. Being vulnerable is hard. Sharing my insecurities feels too much like complaining or making excuses. It’s easier to reminisce about crazy high school teachers or grumble about how modern worship music is badly written.

I think other people would be more patient with me if they understood my struggles.

Do you know what else?

I would be a dashed lot more patient with other people if I understood their struggles.

My closest relationships are those in which the things we don’t talk about have been talked about. Some of the best discussions I’ve ever had were the ones in which the masks came off. These discussions were uncomfortable, but they built up stronger friendships.

There are times when revelations of a personal nature aren’t appropriate. There is a very, very fine line between being vulnerable and complaining about personal problems. It takes discernment to know when to speak and when to remain silent.

The problem is when I simply remain silent, hiding my struggles, refusing to acknowledge I’m not perfectly self-sufficient.

Uncle Iroh and the Apostle Paul—a fictional tea-drinker and a famous missionary, respectively—seem to agree on certain issues, and this is one of them.

Uncle Iroh once said, “There is nothing wrong with letting people who love you help you.”

The Apostle Paul wrote, “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”

Maybe we should talk about the things we don’t talk about.

106. How to Make Christian Media Awesome

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Today’s post was written by Paul McCusker, veteran writer and director for Adventures in Odyssey and Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, and author of numerous books and plays. (For more from Paul, check out his website!) Since his work in Christian media has been phenomenal, I could think of no better person of whom to ask the question: “Why does Christian media so often fail, and how can we make it better?”

In the thirty years I’ve spent as a writer I’ve often heard Christians complain about the sub-standard quality of the Arts in modern Evangelical Christendom. The lament is that films, novels, plays, music and all other forms of Art seem to suffer at the hands of well-meaning Christians. I have launched this complaint myself at one time or another. And some might argue that I’ve contributed to the problem, considering my varied career as a writer in some of those fields.

Before we complain too much or too often, I think it helps to ask a few questions just to clarify what we’re talking about. What do people mean by “sub-standard quality”? Sub-standard compared to what? Are we measuring against the secular realm, which certainly has its share of flops (maybe even more if you consider the percentages)? Or are we measuring against something else? If so, what?

If nothing else, we need a coherent definition of success. For example, how do we measure artistic success? Is it based on a sense of fulfillment and experience—a story or song hits in all the right ways for the audience? Or maybe it’s the fulfillment and experience of the artist, somehow shared with others? I once read how the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams stated that he wasn’t sure if he liked it one of his symphonies, but it was certainly what he meant to say when he wrote it.

Are we measuring according to financial success? Is a great story something less than a great story if a lot of people don’t buy it? Or maybe we’re creating sub-standard art because we don’t have the right level of investment at the start? More money means better effort? Or does it?

Or are we measuring according to spiritual success, tallied by the number of people who are drawn closer to Christ in one way or the other?

These are the kinds of questions we must ask before applauding or dismissing the efforts of Artists. I’ve been moved by stories that I knew were not very well-made. Equally, I’ve been unmoved by stories because the flaws were impossible to look past. I’ve shrugged at big-budget films that should have gotten it right and didn’t. And I’ve watched in wonder at low-budget films that combined plot, character and theme in near-perfection.

All these questions aren’t meant to evade the issue. I’ve wrestled with them repeatedly over the years—from project to project, and audience to audience. There are so many factors an Artist in any discipline has to consider. But those factors aren’t always clear to the unwary. And success may only be an elusive hope, no matter what we do. But let’s allow that we should always do our best. Here are a few suggestions how.

I would suggest that any Artist—Christian or otherwise—must know the disciplines of Art. We must learn the craft. Master it, as much as it can be mastered. Do our very best while recognizing our limitations and the limitations of the Art we hope to master. Understand the objective rules of Art while appreciating the subjective experience people will have of it. Learn, learn and keep learning.

We must never do, nor accept, less than the very best, even if people seem to grow closer to God because of it. Well-intended rubbish is still rubbish. God can redeem our very worst efforts, but we mustn’t keep putting Him in a position where He has to. Yes, we can be forgiving about poorly crafted Art, but we mustn’t let that forgiveness excuse the flaws in a poor effort.

We have to remember that every Artistic effort has its own choices and challenges and opportunities for mistakes. The goal is to learn from those mistakes this time in the hope we won’t repeat them again next time. We learn—and we learn again.

It’s not popular to suggest it, but I believe we must understand for whom we write. Who are they? What are they expecting from us? (And if we don’t like the answer to that question, then we may be writing for the wrong audience.) It’s easy to look down our artistic noses at the very people we want to communicate with—especially when they’ve rejected us. Personally, I’m inclined to want to assume the best about my audience. I suspect that they are a lot smarter than me—and haven’t been proven wrong—and try to write accordingly.

None of this has to do with being “successful” in media, by the way. It’s only part of the equation. Our “success” as Artists is often determined by sales-people, distributors, producers, marketers, and a large number of professionals who will impact what we do and how we do it. In that world, we have to learn their rules—and try to play by them—until someone creates new rules for us to learn and follow. That’s yet another reality.

Even as I guest-write this blog, I’m aware that there’s someone looking over my shoulder, representing his audience, determining whether or not I’ve come close to what he asked me to write. And as I wind up, I have to paraphrase Ralph Vaughan Williams once again: I don’t know if I like what I’ve written, but it’s what I meant to say.

105. Of Coffee and Castaways: Five Poems

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Dirge to Poor Verse

Alas! I suffer from this awful curse.

No matter how I try it always seems

I simply cannot write successful verse

And poetry is just an empty dream.

Pen bleeding ink, my fingers sore, I write

As crumpled papers clutter up the floor.

The wet ink glistens in the fading light;

I scratch out lines of verse—one paper more.

My epics are not epic, just absurd.

My limericks are pretty bad, I think.

My sonnets are the worst you ever heard

And all my free verse hardly worth the ink.

I hate to say it, but I think this shows

That I ought really just to write in prose.

Lamentation of a Tired Student

As ages pass this wretched class

Drags on and on till hope is gone

And joy departs from students’ hearts.

Then in the text I turn the next

Redundant page. Words stale with age

Stare up at me. But all I see

Are blots of ink. I cannot think,

For in my skull these lessons dull

Collect like dust: a mental rust

To choke and blind my drowning mind.

Ode on a China Cup

A gilt-rimmed vessel, lustrous pearly white.

Within the halo of the rim we see

The glint of coffee, dark as velvet night

Or possibly the amber gleam of tea.

Upon its side are painted roses red

And lilies gleam the shade of fallen snow:

A garden grown in fragile glass instead

Of earth from which such blooms most often grow.

The handle curves, its gentle form a grace,

A charm, a strong and undulating limb.

As airy as a piece of twisted lace,

Its splendid curve outstretched from base to rim.

A fine cup—but the truth of it remains:

The beauty is in what the cup contains!

The Coffee Song

O coffee, sweet dark nectar of the bean!

O wondrous draught of heady midnight black!

Thou art a staff on which I gladly lean,

For by thy warmth the chill is driven back.

O wondrous draught of heady midnight black,

Thou art a steady friend through morning hours!

For by thy warmth the chill is driven back,

And vigor given by thy subtle pow’rs.

Thou art a steady friend through morning hours,

Thy strength bestowed in wake of dreary night

And vigor given by thy subtle pow’rs:

To dim and bleary eyes restoring sight.

Thy strength bestowed in wake of dreary night

Renewing strength in bodies frail and old,

To dim and bleary eyes restoring sight,

O cup whose worth surpasses that of gold!

Renewing strength in bodies frail and old,

Thou art a staff on which I gladly lean.

O cup whose worth surpasses that of gold,

O coffee, sweet dark nectar of the bean!

The Castaway

A man adrift on swelling sea,

As lost as he could ever be,

One day looked up and chanced to see

A boat—

A mighty ship with billowed sail,

A sturdy craft of wood and nail,

Upon the misty ocean pale

Afloat.

This creaking ship at length drew near.

The castaway cried out in fear.

A sailor on the deck appeared

And said,

“O castaway! O drowning man!

I pray you, reach and take my hand.

This ship toward safety of dry land

Is sped.”

The castaway did then reply,

“Your offer is, I think, a lie.

So thanks, but I would rather die

At sea.”

“But if you die then you will sink

To churning depths as black as ink

Where horrors that in darkness slink

There be.”

“I see no nameless horrors dim.

I will not drown, for I can swim.

Your warnings of a future grim

Are wrong.”

“Then see this ship! None can deny

It is, at least, both safe and dry.

Please come aboard, or you will die

Ere long!”

“It seems to me naught but a wreck

Of rotted wood. To board your deck

Would be to put about my neck

A rope.

And on your deck are men who seem

Quite idle, wrapped in drunken dreams.

In consequence your ship I deem

False hope.”

“O castaway! Your words are true,

This ship is flawed, and in its crew

There are the idle drunken few.

But wait!

I beg you, hearken unto me!

Our noble captain saves, and he

Will help! Now act or it will be

Too late!”

But castaway, with many sighs,

Dismissed the sailor’s words as lies

And put his hands over his eyes

In pride.

The ship sailed on. Its course it kept

As captain and his sailors wept.

And castaway sank to the depths

And died.

104. Jesus Was an Introvert

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During his life on Earth, Jesus was an introvert.

I don’t have any concrete proof to back up my claim. However, I’ve read enough courtroom mysteries (and played enough Ace Attorney games) to know that evidence is everything in a court of law (or a blog of typewriter monkeys).

Unlike extroverts, who enjoy being with people and dislike being alone, an introvert is a person who prefers solitary activities over social ones. Introversion shouldn’t be confused with shyness: an introvert prefers being alone, whereas a shy person avoids social events out of fear.

Now for the evidence!

The Lord Jesus often withdrew to solitary places. Mark informs us, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (1:35). Matthew points out that the Lord’s response to the death of his cousin John was to get away from people: “When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” (14:13). Luke confirms that Jesus went off alone early in the morning (4:42).

Introverts are sometimes viewed with suspicion, as though their love of solitude were a deficiency that requires a cure. That’s nonsense. Personally, I think introverts are awesome.

Granted, I’m sort of biased.

As an introvert, I find the passages describing the Lord’s preference for solitude encouraging. If Jesus Christ could get away with being introverted, then so can I!

I think both introverts and extroverts can learn something from Jesus.

Extroverts must try to be sensitive toward introverts. For example, introverts sometimes turn down invitations or leave social events early: not to offend anyone, but simply because they feel overwhelmed.

Introverts mustn’t use their liking of solitude as an excuse for being lazy or avoiding people. The Lord Jesus may have been an introvert, but he spent countless hours teaching, preaching, healing the sick and comforting the discouraged. For every hour he spent alone, he spent many more helping people. Introversion mustn’t become a license for selfishness.

Now I’ll withdraw to a solitary place to enjoy a solitary activity.

To wit, I’m off to my bedroom to drink some coffee.

103. Elite Beat Agents

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I don’t think it’s possible to play Elite Beat Agents and be depressed at the same time.

Released for the Nintendo DS, Elite Beat Agents is a rhythm game that features one of the strangest (and most brilliant) premises of any video game ever.

A specialized government agency is devoted to helping desperate people through the inspirational power of song. When a person reaches a point of critical distress, three agents in black suits and sunglasses arrive on the scene and…dance. Motivated by the agents and their fabulous performances, the person overcomes all obstacles and succeeds.

The gameplay in Elite Beat Agents consists mostly of tapping spots on a touchscreen to the rhythm of the music. In spite of its simplicity, the gameplay is engaging and satisfying.

Elite Beat Agents uses a bright, exaggerated, comic-book style. Its humor is quirky, and some of the situations from which the agents rescue hapless people are delightfully absurd.

Sure, they start out innocently enough: a babysitter struggles to keep three kids under control, for example, and a lost dog tries to find his way home.

Then the agents find themselves helping Leonardo da Vinci convince the Mona Lisa to become the subject of his next painting—and motivating white blood cells to cure an athlete before an important competition—and inspiring an ex-baseball star to rescue kids in a theme park from a fire-breathing golem.

The game becomes steadily weirder, and proportionately more awesome.

Each scene is set to a popular song, such as “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire or “You’re the Inspiration” by Chicago. If the colorful visuals, goofy humor and compelling gameplay were not enough, the catchy music settles it: Elite Beat Agents is an excellent game.

It’s also a fine way to beat depression. Apart from its jolly, silly style, the game takes a good deal of concentration. It’s awfully hard to be depressed and keep the beat.

That’s just the inspirational power of song.

102. About Writing: Knowing How Language Works

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There’s more to writing than understanding the mechanics of language. Grammar and spelling are no substitute for imagination, humor or a really good story.

All the same, serious writers should make an effort to understand their language. Only naïve writers think spelling, grammar and usage aren’t important. Even writers who use language inventively should know the rules before they break them!

Here are a few miscellaneous pieces of advice about spelling, grammar and proper usage of the English language.

Will and shall mean different things

Knowing the difference between will and shall could save your life.

Well, not really, but my grammar professor in college once told a story that illustrates the importance of understanding the difference between will and shall.

Two men fell into a swift river. The first man shouted, “Nobody will save me! I shall drown!” The bystanders immediately threw him a rope and rescued him. The second man shouted, “Nobody shall save me! I will drown!” The bystanders did nothing, and he drowned.

In the first person, will indicates intention and shall indicates inevitability. If I say, “I will drink coffee,” I mean, “It is my intention to drink coffee.” If I say, “I shall die someday,” I mean, “I’m going to die someday whether I like it or not.”

This pattern is reversed in the second and third persons. In the second and third persons, shall indicates intention and will indicates inevitability. If I say, “You shall bring me some coffee,” I’m issuing a command. If I say, “You will die someday,” I’m simply stating a fact.

According to these patterns, the first man who fell into the river expressed his fear that no one would save him, and the second man stated his intention to drown without anyone’s interference.

Remember the difference between will and shall. It might save your life someday.

Never, never, never use alot

It’s two words: a lot. You don’t use abunch, ahouse, acoffeecup or atypewritermonkey. Please, for the love of language, don’t use alot.

It’s improper to split infinitives

What is an infinitive, and why shouldn’t we split it?

To put it simply, an infinitive is a form of a verb consisting of to followed by the present tense of the verb: to eat, to drink, to be (or not to be) and so on.

It’s messy to split infinitives—that is, to insinuate other words into infinitive phrases. Consider the infinitive to drink in the phrase “to drink coffee happily.” I split the infinitive by moving the adverb happily into the middle of the infinitive phrase: “to happily drink coffee.”

Why is it improper to split infinitives? The grammatical rule was adapted into English from Latin, and it’s actually useless. There’s no practical, logical reason not to split infinitives. Some writers, even professional writers, split infinitives all the time.

However, it’s still grammatically proper not to split infinitives. (Notice I wrote “not to split infinitives” instead of “to not split infinitives.”) If you’re composing a formal essay—or writing dialogue for an educated character—it helps to be as grammatical as possible!

It’s improper to split phrasal verbs, but pronouns provide an exception

First infinitives and now phrasal verbs. Why can’t I split things? I want to split things!

A phrasal verb is simply a verb consisting of a phrase instead of a single word. Pick up is a good example. I can “pick up a phone,” but I can’t “pick a phone” or “up a phone.” The verb requires both words to retain its meaning.

It’s incorrect to split up a phrasal verb. I can “pick up a phone,” but I can’t “pick a phone up.”

However—and this is where it gets tricky—pronouns are an exception to the rule. A phrasal verb can be split by a pronoun. Let’s use pick up once more as an example. I can “pick you up from work,” but I can’t “pick up you from work.”

I know, it’s complicated. Welcome to the English language.

All right is more correct than alright

All right is standard. Alright is considered nonstandard and should be used sparingly.

Where indicates place, and in which indicates subject

Where describes a place. “I went to Ecuador, where I drank coffee.” Ecuador is a place.

In which describes a subject. “Going to Ecuador is a circumstance in which I will drink coffee.”

I do not say “a circumstance where I will drink coffee.” A circumstance is not a place. It’s equally incorrect to say, “a case where someone died” or “a situation where I panicked.” Cases and situations are not places. It should be “a case in which someone died” or “a situation in which I panicked.”

Don’t use emoticons, texting lingo, Internet slang or nonstandard abbreviations in formal writing

’Nuff said.

Be wary of common errors

Know the difference between to, too and two, and between there, their and they’re, and between its and it’s. Common errors like these are the fleas that suck out a writer’s lifeblood. (Yes, that was a terrible metaphor, but I’m trying to make a point.)

Things are not always written the way they sound

Don’t ever use of as a verb instead of have: I can write, “I would have drunk coffee,” but I shouldn’t write, “I would of drunk coffee.” It’s not standard to use old fashion as an adjective: I can write, “Typewriters are old-fashioned,” but I shouldn’t write, “Typewriters are old fashion.” The correct way of writing something isn’t always the way it sounds phonetically.

And break the rules when you need to

Prepositions are sometimes the best things to end sentences with. And sentence fragments can be useful.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Why do spelling, grammar and usage matter?

First, readers are quick to dismiss poor writing. A writer’s ideas or stories may be truly amazing, but many readers won’t bother reading them if they’re presented poorly. Writers owe it to their readers to give them their best possible work.

Second, understanding language can be helpful in writing fiction. One character might break all rules of grammar every time he opens his mouth, and another character might use language perfectly. So much can be done to develop a character using the mechanics of language.

Grammar and spelling and usage aren’t as much fun as, say, plot or setting or characterization, but they’re just as important.

No matter how talented a musician might be, her music won’t sound good if her instruments are out of tune. No matter how gifted a writer might be, his writing won’t succeed if his understanding of language is weak.

Even for artists, technical stuff matters.

101. Magical Rainbow Ponies?

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When I took time off from this blog last week, I suddenly had some free time on my hands. I spent some of it researching the unprecedented rise of the brony fandom—to wit, the inexplicable attraction of young men to a television show produced for girls, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

I felt it was my duty to investigate this enigma. For science.

We begin with the visuals. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic uses a vivid color palette. Although the animation looks suspiciously like something made with Adobe Flash, HomestarRunner.com-style, it’s expressive and charming.

The show follows the adventures of six ponies: Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack.

(I can only suppose Applejack is named for the liquor—an odd choice for a kids’ show.)

Following my investigations, I think I may know why magical rainbow ponies are so popular with men in their twenties and thirties.

There are at least three reasons.

First, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is surprisingly funny in a goofy, geeky, adorably cheesy sort of way. The writing is good, and the show is very self-aware. It never strays too far into ridiculous sentimentality.

Second, the show has become an Internet meme, and it’s therefore socially acceptable for men to enjoy a show about magical rainbow ponies.

Third, the show is pleasant. There are disagreements and arguments and tragic ironies, but things always work out. People—well, ponies—get hurt, but hurts are healed. Lessons are learned. Friends are reconciled. The show’s moral values are remarkably strong.

C.S. Lewis wrote, “A mature palate will probably not much care for crème de menthe: but it ought still to enjoy bread and butter and honey.” Grownups can enjoy complicated dramas or sophisticated tragedies, but there’s no reason they can’t also enjoy lighthearted stories about magical rainbow ponies.

I think a lot of guys are tired of living in a cynical world. There are tragedies on the news every day. Films, novels, video games and music are full of cursing, violence, sexual perversity and bad attitudes. People use these media anyway, but I think there’s still a longing for things like simplicity, goodness, honesty and loyalty.

Guys watch Saw and play God of War and listen to Metallica, but some of them probably miss those Saturday morning cartoons they watched as kids. Shows like My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Phineas and Ferb (another hit with older guys) evoke nostalgia, balancing sentimentality with enough edgy humor to be, well, not lame.

I think that’s why magical rainbow ponies have become so popular with the menfolk. There could be deeper, darker reasons, but I doubt it.

Now I’m going to watch some cartoons. For science.

100. An Important Post

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Typewriter Monkey Task Force has featured one hundred regular posts! Today, my friends, is a great and solemn day. At least it would have been if my typewriter monkeys hadn’t gotten their paws on some fireworks.

This milestone post gives me the opportunity to revisit a few important posts and to make some announcements.

Beginning today, my monkeys and I are taking a week off from TMTF. Regular posts will resume next Monday, July ninth. I’m taking a break in order to focus on a bigger project, which brings us to the next announcement.

The Trials of Lance Eliot—my debut novel—comes out today!

Six years ago, I began working on the novel that would grow into The Trials of Lance Eliot, the first volume of a trilogy titled The Eliot Papers. The project has been my greatest passion as a writer, so I’m excited finally to be able to share it!

The novel is available for purchase!

A few months ago, I published The Infinity Manuscript, a fantasy in twelve parts, as a serial on this blog. The Infinity Manuscript isn’t nearly as polished as The Trials of Lance Eliot, but it’s available to read for free!

I also wrote a short but significant series of posts titled Help, I’m a Christian! in which I shared some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned about relationships, faith and Christian living.

In addition to TMTF and the blog for my novel, I maintain a blog called Solidarity that shares reports of persecution against Christians. Please feel free to check out Solidarity or my explanation of why it matters.

I’d love to feature more guest posts on TMTF! If you’d like to write a post for this blog, check out these guidelines.

I’ve also been privileged to write a few guest posts for other blogs, including Stuff Christians Like, Social Biblia and Thomas Mark Zuniga’s blog. My typewriter monkeys and I are always delighted to write guest posts, so feel free to contact me if you’re ever in search of a guest blogger!

Finally, I need to thank some people for their assistance, encouragement and support.

Thanks to my typewriter monkeys—Sophia, Socrates, Plato, Hera, Penelope, Aristotle, Apollo, Euripides, Icarus, Athena, Phoebe and Aquila—for their work on the blog. I could never have kept up TMTF without you. Thanks, guys. Don’t ever buy fireworks again, okay?

Thanks to my parents for proofreading many of my posts, and special thanks to my old man for providing TMTF’s artwork. You guys are fabulous.

Thanks to the bloggers who have written guest posts for TMTF, and to my younger bro for allowing me to feature his drawings. I’ve been honored to share your work.

Thanks to God, whose love, grace and kindness are rocking awesome.

Finally, thanks to the readers and followers of this blog! Your likes and comments are so much appreciated. There is no greater honor for a writer than having his work read.

We’ll be back!