Pure Hero

Recently my son discovered the hobbit, largely due to the current motion picture, which sadly I have yet to see. You cannot imagine how pleased I am to see Jonathan enjoying something which has brought me so much pleasure over the years. Though I was a bit older and read the Lord of the rings first, the spirit of fantasy and adventure is the same. Good versus evil in its purest form, untainted by the cynicism of adulthood and the malcontent that life brings.

In my own writing I tried my best to include the things in fantasy that I've always found to be its best qualities. And though I am by no means Tolkien I have been greatly influenced by his ideas and his views on a pure fantasy world.

I've listened t many critics of Tolkien. Some simply cannot labor through the mountain of description he included into his stories, nor can they relate to his black and white depiction of right and wrong, good versus evil, and that the good guy always wins. In such a cynical world I think these lessons are more important than ever. Every day we are faced with more and more tragedy, combined with an ever growing sense of despair and hopelessness. So what is wrong with the purest version of fantasy?

Without giving the story away, I can assure you that my work will not become a dark tragedy. I have no intention of killing off all the good guys and allowing the evildoers to triumph. I don't believe that I have to darken the plot to make it interesting. The story can be dark and desperate times, and the heroes faced with seemingly insurmountable adversity, but the reader can take comfort in knowing that ultimately good will triumph over evil.

As dark and violent as children's entertainment tends to be today, I can't help but notice my son enjoying it when the good guy wins. So I suppose there's still hope for the future, when the children of this world still seek out and desire a hero in its purest form.