“Here there be dragons” is a phrase found on some old maps indicating dangerous, unknown, or unexplored territory. It was a symbolic warning of perils, though it was rarely meant to be taken literally by medieval mapmakers.
It’s not stretching things in the least to say we’ve entered very dangerous and unknown territory since Trump took office last year. We’re returning to a ‘might makes right’ ethos in international relations, were strong nations feel they have the right to do what they want to smaller countries, simply because they can. As one of Trump’s minions recently gloated, power is the only thing that matters. Everything else are just ‘legal niceties’. Worthless, in other words.
Here there be dragons indeed.
I’ve been writing sci-fi for twenty years now. My personal favorite is a series centered on aliens who love coffee and visit our planet to trade for it. It’s light-hearted escapism and definitely not meant to be taken seriously. It’s meant to give people a break from reality, to provide a mental and emotional reset.
I have an awful lot of fun writing these kinds of stories, and it gives me an important break from the daily barrage of unrelenting horrid news. I hope my readers find the same respite in them as I do.
Because somehow, every day the news manages to be worse than the day before. This past weekend my wife asked me, in all seriousness, when WW3 was going to start. She’s a very down-to-earth, gentle soul, who is not given to hyperbole. I’ve often asked myself the same question but never gave it a voice until last weekend.
The monsters are loose on the world stage and, as predators will do, they glory and luxuriate in their power to crush those who are weaker. And in the minds of men like Trump and his sycophants, weaker people and nations simply aren’t worthy of respect, life or liberty, for no other reason than they are simply weaker.
That’s why I believe we need fantasy stories and good satire now more than ever before. Chesterton said that, “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed”.
When the monsters are loose and the times evil, we need imaginative fiction to remind us that dragons can be defeated.
Thanks for visiting today. This is the first part of an article I wrote on Substack. You may read the full article for free here:
