Category Archives: Blog

Blog

The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 1: Reputation, Lockdown, and Excuses to Leave

The foggy scene outside my apartment on day one of the Indiana lockdown. (Photo by Nathan Marchand).

As I mentioned on my social media, with my home state of Indiana in lockdown and my university going to online only classes, I’ve decided to increase my creative output to entertain (and hopefully enlighten) all of you True Believers while in quarantine. We could all use some relief, and this is one way I can help with that.

When I wrote my blog last week, I hesitated to put in my political commentary. I make no secret of my political leanings (I’m a conservative), but I don’t make a habit of broadcasting them to the world because it always invites trouble. That’s the climate we live in now. But I left it in because it was part of my frustration. Predictably, I was accused of being flippant, propagating misinformation, and not taking the situation seriously. I ended up adding a “retraction” of sorts to the blog and posting it as an addendum. This came after I did some more reading and learned a few things I didn’t know before about coronavirus.

The criticism ignited an old fear that has dug deeper roots in recent years: perception is reality when it should be truth. In other words, the actions and decisions of others have more control over my life than I do. I could be objectively qualified for, say, a job, but the employer could still not select me. In the case of my blog, I didn’t mean to spread misinformation or offend anyone. Given that I’m something of a public figure (and the internet is vicious), damage to my reputation could cost me big time. I’ve seen the destruction wrought by gossip. I know firsthand how ungracious people can be. That’s why I went into “damage control mode” to mitigate the problem. I should’ve known everyone, including myself, is on edge with everything happening. It’s only natural to respond defensively. I stay up-to-date with the latest reports on the crisis, but there’s a lot of unknowns out there. Humans fear the unknown more than most things. That’s why coronavirus is terrifying but the flu isn’t.

Sadly, I saw the internet tear someone else apart this week over this. J.D. Lees, the editor of G-Fan magazine and the organizer for G-Fest, sparked the controversy of the week in the kaiju fan community when he posted coronavirus stats on the event’s Twitter page. Yes, it was a bad PR move, but I’ve rarely seen such instant hate in this fandom. People called him a “clown” and a “villain” and said they would cancel their magazine subscriptions and their G-Fest tickets. I know J.D., so I know he meant no harm, which is why I did try to stem the hate. That and my recent experience made me sympathetic to his plight. At least no one bit my head off for it.

So, now almost everywhere I would go is closed. School, the dance studio, bookstores. Heck, even my church had to start livestreaming services. To say I feel isolated would be an understatement. It makes me glad my brother Jarod moved in with me or else I would die of loneliness. I’ve distanced myself from online communities to focus on real-life relationships, and now they’re all I have for the time being.

At least I was able to do some work for InstaCart, and they seem to be staying in operation. At this point, I’ll take any excuse to go outside.

On my first day of quarantine, I drove to BioLife to donate plasma like I normally do. The stuff is desperately needed, and it’s good money. Appropriately, fog as thick as peanut butter blanketed the city at 9AM. It made me think of the people’s blindness and how fog would deter travel. Beyond that, I spent the day raiding my overfilled cupboards, watching UltraSeven with Jarod, doing schoolwork, catching up on my TV viewing, and gaming online with my friend Bill.

One of the goals on my whiteboard is, “Add more adventure to your life.”

That just got more challenging.

What are you doing to pass the time in self-quarantine? Comment below!

Blog

Coronapocalypse Now

EDIT: This blog has been edited since it was first posted. After some discussions on social media and a little more research, I realized it had some inaccuracies. The blog was also meant to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, and once again I’ve learned that doesn’t always communicate on the internet. The biggest deletion pertained to the hysteria being manufactured to hurt the Trump Administration going into the election. I had no idea this was something started by President Trump on Twitter. It was a conclusion I came to on my own. I am a self-proclaimed “Trump agnostic,” meaning I’m not part of either the Never Trumpers or the president’s cult of personality, which is why I tick everyone off. (I do think someone needs to take Twitter away from him, though). However, I do stand by my assertion that the media is stoking the hysteria because, as Tim Constantine wrote for The Washington Times, “fear sells.” Since this is new (“novel,” which means “new,” is part of the disease’s name, after all) and relatively unknown, people fear it even though there are diseases out there that are far more common and far more likely to kill someone. Humans fear the unknown. However, I also know human nature well enough to know that there will be those who will try to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit, and that’s especially true for those in power. That’s the big reason why I think the hysteria needs to stop, which is the point I wanted to make with this blog. We need to be safe and watch out for those who are the most vulnerable among us (my younger brother has a form of asthma, so I know), but turning the world upside down like the Black Plague has suddenly returned is an overreaction. My apologies for not making that clear in the first published draft of this blog. (EDIT ENDS)

For the first few months of 2020, the coronavirus (or Covid-19 as the media is now calling it) was China’s problem. It was nasty, but it was “over there,” to quote a goofy Superman comic. It was an issue for the elderly and immunodeficient (spellcheck doesn’t like that word for some reason), but so was the flu.

But like black mold creeping along your floor, the disease kept spreading until it hit the U.S. California, if I remember correctly. Then Washington State. I figured it would be contained. The CDC reacted quickly. But then it cropped up in other states. Again, I didn’t think much of it. Until a man in Indianapolis was diagnosed with it. Within a few days, another man in the county next door to me was infected.

By that point, as the old saying goes, all hell broke loose.

State and local governments started mandating that large gatherings be postponed. Restaurants and schools closed. Movies had their releases or productions delayed. Sporting events were canceled. People were told to stay home in self-quarantine.

Businesses are losing gobs of money—unless you’re Clorox or Netflix. They’re swimming in money. Hand sanitizer is liquid gold now. I saw a listing on eBay where someone was selling four 30-ounce bottles of the stuff for $500. If I’d known, I’d have stockpiled it and started a black market.

At least The Babylon Bee has had a heyday with this pandemic panic.

Not only am I going to Walmart and grocery stores and finding the shelves empty (thankfully, I have enough toilet paper to last a while), but it has affected my schooling and my job. My university has decided to extend its spring break a week and make all classes totally online for the rest of the semester. I’m taking two as a grad student and teaching two as a graduate teaching assistant. I’ve taken a few online classes before (and didn’t like it), but I’ve never taught one. Now I have to find a way to adapt for the last six weeks or so of the semester. And I’d just started to get to know my students and looked forward to seeing them. So, my extended spring break has become an extended working spring break since I now have to figure out how to re-jigger my classes. Meanwhile, I don’t know what the classes I’m taking will look like. One professor is totally old school, with the only online stuff he does being e-mail. The other professor has one foot in old school and one in new school. I’m more confused than a dog after he catches a car.

Elsewhere, the ballroom dance studio I attend has started making students not touch each other in group classes and has canceled their Friday night parties until further notice.

Now I don’t know if I’ll make it to G-Fest or Gen-Con this summer.

I thought my small church would be fine, but Gov. Holcomb has decreased the size of allowed public gatherings from 250 to 50. Now President Trump is recommending it be limited to 10. Even my church wouldn’t be able to meet if that was in place.

With all this mandated “social distancing,” I’ve joked this is introverts trying to get revenge on extroverts. Or its social engineering to wipe out extroverts.

You’d think I’d revel in that, but I’m a freak among the freaks: I’m an extrovert. I drive my fellow nerds and writers crazy.

Now when I make jokes about this or point out the hysteria, I get pushback on social media. Someone even said I was being flippant. All I could do was shake my head.

I’m not saying people shouldn’t be concerned. I’m not saying they shouldn’t take precautions. But this is a disease that, at most, has a 3% fatality rate (and that’s if you’re old or have an outstanding medical condition). If this was something both highly contagious and truly deadly, I could understand the fear, but people are treating Covid-19 like it’s the T-virus. I get it: hospitals could be overwhelmed with an influx of patients. However, I’ve heard most people who get it don’t show symptoms. That being said, it doesn’t justify all the freaking out.

Well, that’s enough of me complaining about my unimportant first world problems.

In the meantime, if you want some new books to binge read while in self-quarantine, I have plenty. They’re all on Amazon, which means they can be delivered to your door so you won’t have to go out. (Although, one features a bio-weapon plague, but maybe it will be cathartic for you).

Also, I have 12 episodes of a kaiju (giant monster) podcast you could binge listen. It’s called The Monster Island Film Vault.

Yes, I’m not beyond using this for shameless self-promotion. That’s why it’s shameless. 😛

What do you think of the whole situation? Is it legitimate or is it hysteria?

Blog

Writing, Podcasting, and the Shiny New Thing

The pen or the microphone?

This week I begin my penultimate semester of grad school. Part of that will be writing a brand new standalone novel as my creative writing thesis. Amidst all of that, though, I am also producing a twice-monthly podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault. The irony is I’ve noticed for a while that it’s become easier for me to do anything related to the podcast than my writing.

I’m annoyed by this. Some of it is a time management issue, but I think it goes deeper than that. It certainly isn’t a lack of passion or ideas (heck, both of my grad school classes this semester are writing classes). I’ve long joked that I have more ideas than I have years left to write. I think this shift happened for two reasons: imminent deadlines and immediate praise.

My podcast’s episodes drop on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. Yes, that’s a self-imposed schedule, but from what I’ve read, the audience comes to expect one to keep his schedule. This keeps me on my toes and makes me carve out time for research, recording, and editing. Do I perhaps try to get each episode finished sooner than it needs to be? Oftentimes. Part of that comes from overestimating how long it will take. Other times I make excuses like, “I can get more done editing an episode for 30 minutes than I will writing for 30 minutes.” It’s illogical, but humans aren’t always logical. (Sorry, Spock!). It simply feels easier at points to podcast than write (despite the podcast requiring a lot of writing). I’ve found myself worried that I’ve lost my first love as a creative.

The second reason is harder to shake off: immediate praise. That isn’t to say that glowing reviews started coming in within an hour of my first episode dropping or whatnot. However, as more episodes were posted and I promoted the show, more people listened and told me they loved it. The positive reviews came faster and more frequently for the podcast than for any of my books (and it’s not like I don’t promote the heck out of my books and don’t have readers wanting more of them). There’s a lot I could say about why my podcast seems to be making a splash in the kaiju/Godzilla fandom, but those ultimately feed into my need for affirmation. I don’t consider this a weakness; no, it’s one of the famous “5 Love Languages.” Hearing and reading positive feedback with every episode incentivizes me to continue. I think this is why I eventually burned out with my YouTube channel: I wasn’t getting that feedback as fast or frequently. The challenge now becomes making sure the praise doesn’t become like a drug. I want to make this podcast because it’s fun and because I want to be a positive and unique voice in the kaiju fandom. I can’t let this—or anything, for that matter—become a crutch for my ego.

Aye, there’s the rub.

All of these combine to make something that’s new and exciting, so I’m still in the thick of the novelty of this project. That amplifies the excitement: it’s my “shiny new thing” right now. Lord help me when I come off that high!

There is something to be said about writers doing podcasts, though.

As a creative, what do you do to keep your work from becoming a crutch for your ego? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!

Blog

The Rise of Skywalker: A Lesson in People Pleasing

The poster for the film.

Happy New Decade, True Believers!

Between grad school, my podcast, and writing, it’s been a challenge to blog consistently. I’m still endeavoring to amend that. Regardless, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about a certain little movie called Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? This won’t be a review, though.

I was one of the fifty percent of Star Wars fans who liked The Last Jedi. I wrote a blog refuting some of the often outrageous criticisms the film received. Little did I know that the movie would shatter the fandom.

Again.

Except this time it was like an atomic bomb.

The people who hated The Last Jedi hated it with the burning passion of a Sith. Anyone who dared like it or defend it was declared a “filthy casual.” I’ve written on the cult-like nature of the “hardcore fans,” so I won’t rehash it here, but suffice it to say, it seems Disney and J.J. Abrams listened to those angry fans, and because the studio likes money, those complaints influenced some creative decisions. As a result, Rise of Skywalker’s score on the (infamous) Rotten Tomatoes is the opposite of The Last Jedi: critics are lukewarm while users are praising it.

Did I hate it? No, I didn’t. I was thrilled seeing it the first time despite some concerns it would retcon The Last Jedi, but after seeing it a second time, the luster has faded. It has its problems, for sure, and while I don’t think it undoes The Last Jedi, I can see what Abrams and Disney did to placate the Star Wars mob.

(WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Emperor Mastermind: Palpatine did it. Yep. He was behind the First Order. He created Snoke in a vat and used him as a puppet ruler, I guess. Most likely he used the same technology to keep himself alive by cloning bodies. Maybe. It’s more implied than explained. As has been common with this trilogy, this is similar to the original Expanded Universe (now Legends), wherein the Emperor transferred his soul into cloned bodies using the Force. The problem is, while I knew going in that Palpatine would be back, he appears within five minutes instead of building toward the reveal. Giving that time to develop would’ve helped to make his involvement more natural. As it stands, he seems to come out of nowhere despite the opening crawl telling the audience his voice was heard a year before. It could be argued his inclusion was an appeal to nostalgia.

Rey (Skywalker): I said before that I liked that Rey’s parents were nobodies. Rise doesn’t walk that back, per se, but it clumsily qualifies it. They chose to be nobodies. Rey’s father was Palpatine’s son (which raises a slew of questions about what woman would be crazy enough to have his child), and they hid Rey to protect her from the Emperor. While it isn’t one of the theories many fans espoused—like that she was Luke’s daughter, Han and Leia’s daughter, or Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter—it could still be argued that it plays into the old attitude that one must have a special lineage to be special. Admittedly, the same could be said of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, who were a slave and a farmboy, respectively, and learned later of their special heritage. This trope is also used in other fantasy stories. That being said, it almost seems like a concession to fans who didn’t want to accept the fact that their theories about her parentage were wrong, and that the Force chose her and empowered her. It sounds a bit elitist, honestly, for them to think only certain families can use the Force. If anything, this may have been done in response to the criticisms that Rey is a Mary Sue (which I will admit is a bit difficult to refute). However, it does work as a character arc for Rey because she is trying to form her own identity throughout the Sequel Trilogy, so I’ll give Abrams and company credit for that.

Rose Tico: This character was sidelined in this story. Maybe the filmmakers weren’t sure what to do with her (although I heard one YouTuber suggest that she should’ve become an ambassador for the Resistance), but on the surface it seems like they gave her the Jar-Jar Binks treatment by keeping her out of most of the movie. Many in the fandom branded her the face of The Last Jedi, calling the character a “diversity hire,” and harassed actress Kelly Marie Tran so much, she deleted all her social media. (This isn’t the first time this has happened: the fandom gave 10-year-old Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin, and Ahmed Best, who played Jar-Jar, the same treatment after The Phantom Menace). I’ve no way of knowing for sure, but again, it sure looks that way.

(SPOILERS END)

These were a few things that came to mind. I may think of others later. It doesn’t ruin the film for me, but honestly, my favorite of this trilogy is still The Last Jedi for its boldness. (You can stone me later). Admittedly, Abrams was in an unenviable position with the end of the previous movie. Maybe he was trying to do the best he could. Much like George Lucas, they made it up as they went. There are famous writers who’ve made careers out of that (like Stephen King), but it does come with its own perils.

Unfortunately, the reactions to this is yet another sign that no one hates Star Wars like Star Wars fans. Any new media in the franchise is automatically divisive.

(Unless it’s The Mandalorian, for whatever reason. I guess Baby Yoda fixes everything).

I get it: it’s Star Wars. It’s a big deal to many people. Some even say it’s modern mythology, and by messing with it, it’s doing harm to the culture psyche. But perhaps we’ve elevated this franchise a bit too high. It really is to the point of being a religion. Given that ancient mythologies were originally religious tales, that’s not surprising. Perhaps this is a sign that people need to find their meaning in something that isn’t controlled by the whims of a corporate entertainment empire. Just sayin’.

What did you think of The Rise of Skywalker? Did it continue the ruination of Star Wars, or is it a case study in people pleasing? Why or why not?

Blog

What I’m Thankful for (2019)

Happy Thanksgiving GIF - Thanksgiving Chase Turkey GIFs

I neglected to post my annual “thankfulness” blog last year for Thanksgiving. It wasn’t because I wasn’t thankful; I just forgot to do it. I’m remedying that this year. So, here are 100 things I’m thankful for in 2019.

  1. God the Father
  2. Jesus Christ
  3. The Holy Spirit
  4. My salvation
  5. The Bible
  6. My wonderful family
  7. My two nephews
  8. My amazing friends
  9. My equally amazing writer friends
  10. The Fort Wayne Ballroom Company (FWBC)
  11. My “dance family” at FWBC
  12. That I continue to perform at FWBC’s showcases and other events with wonderful instructors/partners
  13. Ballroom/social dancing
  14. For all the conventions I attended this year
  15. Tatsumaki (my car)
  16. My new church
  17. My gaming consoles and video games
  18. My book collection
  19. My movie collection
  20. My laptop
  21. My music collection
  22. My new podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault
  23. For being a PFW grad student
  24. My graduate teaching assistanceship
  25. My cosplays
  26. That I’m a published author
  27. Hades Publications, which published my first novel and still has me under contract
  28. CreateSpace, which publishes my self-published books
  29. That I have some exciting writing projects in the works
  30. My strong sense of justice
  31. The Fortress of Solitude (my apartment)
  32. My talent for writing
  33. all for One Productions
  34. Volunteering for afO
  35. My YouTube channel
  36. For being part of the team writing at Children of the Wells
  37. That I’m creative
  38. My intellectual mind
  39. My poet’s soul
  40. My warrior’s heart
  41. That I can read
  42. My iPhone 11
  43. That I’m an American
  44. That I’m a Hoosier
  45. Summertime
  46. October (the “sweet spot” of autumn)
  47. Changing seasons
  48. Christian Gamers Guild
  49. Nerd Chapel
  50. Theology Gaming
  51. My sense of humor
  52. Allen County Public Library
  53. The Constitution, which lists my unalienable rights.
  54. My “superpowers” (rarely get sick, my “BS” sense, look much younger than I am, heal fast from injuries).
  55. My health
  56. Netflix
  57. Disney+
  58. My RodeCaster Pro
  59. My knack for photography
  60. Pretzels
  61. Exercising at the gym.
  62. My comic book collection
  63. Chimp’s Comics
  64. B.E. Comics
  65. My board game collection
  66. My nerdiness
  67. The police and their service
  68. The military and their service
  69. My journal(s)
  70. My website (www.NathanJSMarchand.com)
  71. My fandoms
  72. Gen-Con
  73. The family pets
  74. Bookstores
  75. Spaghetti
  76. Highland toffee (the family recipe)
  77. www.Amazon.com
  78. Movie theatres
  79. My college degree
  80. Running water
  81. That I’m tall
  82. That I still have all my hair
  83. Football
  84. (Most of) My coworkers
  85. The generosity of others
  86. The TUFW Alumni and Friends Center
  87. That I attended TUFW
  88. That I moved to Fort Wayne
  89. For living in the countryside
  90. Plumbing
  91. The Internet (though I sometimes wonder if it’s that great…)
  92. My gig with InstaCart
  93. Facebook (again, sometimes I wonder if it’s worthwhile…)
  94. Holidays
  95. Family reconciliation
  96. My intelligence
  97. Arizona Tea Herbal Energy Tonic (cheaper than any energy drink!)
  98. YouTube (though again, it’s merits are often debatable)
  99. Candy
  100. And finally…MORE STAR WARS!

What are you thankful for this year?

Blog

Grad School Update: My Ishiro Honda Independent Study

Honda on the set of 1962’s King Kong vs. Godzilla.

One unique and unusual aspect of my current semester of grad school is I’m doing my first ever independent study. Specifically, a study on several films directed by Ishiro Honda, the lauded director of many Godzilla films. It took a little work to convince my university’s resident film professor (and most reclusive man in the English department) to do this with me, but he agreed. Not only that, but he actually liked the first film I wrote about in this study, 1955’s Half Human, and said the cinematography reminded him of Akira Kurosawa! I’m excited to be introducing him to films he isn’t familiar with.

One fun thing about this is I got to write my own syllabus for it. Here’s an excerpt:

Objective: The goal of this study is examine six films directed by Ishiro Honda and connect their stories to contemporaneous cultural and historical events in Japan. Films are never made in a vacuum, and knowing and understanding their original contexts is vital to appreciating them.

There will be a special focus on discriminated people groups in this study since half of the films being covered will involve such groups.

While Honda is best known for his Godzilla films, I will be focusing on several of his non-Godzilla genre pictures spanning a ten-year period that included what’s considered the “golden age” of Toho tokusatsu (special effects) filmmaking. Honda also directed dramas, war epics, and light comedies, but these films are sadly unavailable in the U.S. currently.

The films and related topics I’ll be examining are Half Human/The Ainu; The Mysterians/Japan and the U.N.; Varan the Unbelievable/The Burakumin; Atragon/Japanese WWII holdovers and the resurgence of Japanese nationalism; Matango/Japan’s newfound opulence;and Frankenstein Conquers the World/The Hibakusha.

This came about because I wanted to fill a few credit hours and make the research I’m doing for my new podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault, count as school credit. Because why not?

There are reasons why grad school might be the best thing in my life right now. J

News, Appearances, Announcements, Blog

My Upcoming Book Signings (as of 9-15-19)

I will be tabling at a small convention, and I have applied to table at another local author event. Both will be in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The first will be Fantasticon Fort Wayne, which is being held September 21-22, 2019. Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel and my co-author on the 42 books, will also be there, but we’re not tabling together. The con announced that they would be selling five heavily-discounted tables last week, so I jumped at the opportunity. I wasn’t sure I’d snag a table, but I got lucky (or was “blessed,” if you’re the religious type). I’ll be selling and signing my books (although Eric will be selling the 42, so get them from him) and promoting my upcoming podcast The Monster Island Film Vault, which is launching September 25.

According to the convention’s website,

Fantasticon is a mid-size show created for true comic book and pop culture collectors and fans. The fans that come to our shows are true collectors that are looking for those rare items for their personal collections. Most leave very satisfied as we pride ourselves on having great dealers and artists at our shows. If you collect it, you will find it at a Fantasticon Show.

Fantasticon is proud to have a presence in multiple cities throughout the mid-west. Currently we are in five different cities, in three different states including Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.

We also, are very proud of the fact that our admission price is the lowest of any other comparable shows. And the cost for being an exhibitor or artist at the Fantasticon is far less than any comparable comic cons out there.

While I haven’t received a confirmation yet, I have applied to table to table at the annual Local Author Book Fair, which will be held November 30, 2019, from 10am-4pm at the main branch of the Allen County Public Library. Find out more info here on ACPL’s blog.

Be there or be square!

Blog

Year 2, Week 1 at Grad School

Image taken from www.centsai.com.

Last week saw the start of my second year of grad school. It was also the start of my third semester as a graduate teaching assistant (a very different GTA). I’m taking two classes and an independent study (well, one of the classes was turned into an independent study). These are Writing for Multimedia, Survey of Children’s Literature, and an independent study on director Ishiro Honda (hey, it lets me get school credit for the research I’m doing for my new podcast). This makes my schedule a bit odd, but I’m getting used to it.

This was the best first week of teaching I’ve had. Admittedly, I’ve only been doing this a year, but it was still the best. I’m more confident as a GTA and trying some new methods that should encourage my students to be more engaged with the material. That’s hard to do when it’s a gen ed freshman composition class. My students are the liveliest I’ve had yet, which is exciting, but it does present its own set of challenges. Now instead of trying to make them talk, I have to keep them quiet. It’s almost like me a substitute teacher again.

I might be having too much fun. But you can never have too much fun, right?

Right?!

Have you gone to grad school or worked as a teacher? What are some fun experiences you had?

Blog

Joshua Harris Kisses Christianity Goodbye

Today’s blog will be a little personal and a lot theological. This isn’t new for me, but if you’re not interested in such things, I won’t mind if you skip it. However, it’ll tackle a cautionary tale of a writer’s influence. In this case, Joshua Harris.

For those who don’t know, Harris wrote and published an infamous book at age 21 in 1997 called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It was an instant sensation, selling over a million copies. Unfortunately, as the trailer for Harris’ recent documentary on the book’s influence says, “The best-seller became the Bible for Christian romance.” He wrote a follow-up a few years later titled Boy Meets Girl since by that point he’d gotten married.

The cover to his infamous book, which was published in 1997.

Fast forward two decades. In 2016, Harris announced that he regretted writing the book because of the influx of letters he’d received from people who were hurt by his advice. He realized, among other things,

In trying to warn people of the potential pitfalls of dating, it instilled fear for some—fear of making mistakes or having their heart broken. The book also gave some the impression that a certain methodology of relationships would deliver a happy ever-after ending—a great marriage, a great sex life—even though this is not promised by scripture.

The poster for Harris’ new documentary.

This is prompted him to make the aforementioned documentary, I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and take this book and the sequel out of print.

Things got worse last month. He announced on his Instgram that he was divorcing his wife. A few days later in another post, he confessed,

I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.

There’s been a lot of talk in Christian culture about this, and understandably so. Harris’ influence was pervasive. I myself didn’t read his first book (I thought the idea was dumb), but I did read his second because I thought it had more legitimacy. I’m sure he gave most of the same advice. While I always balked at the idea of “not dating” and letting God providentially give you a spouse, these ideas became so common in the church, I think I absorbed some of them by osmosis. I was young and impressionable and hadn’t yet learned critical thinking skills (well, at least when it came to things espoused by other Christians). Do I count myself as one of the people hurt by Harris’ teachings? Yes, but I was hurt by his “splash damage” (to use a gaming term) and not directly wounded. I’ve been working hard to shed my old thinking for a long time.

Harris has admitted he’s a recovering legalist. He took the strict rules of the crazy, stereotype-creating spheres of homeschooling (#NotAllHomeschoolers) and made them mainstream. Legalism is always destructive. The problem is rules are easier to preach, teach, and enforce than comparatively nebulous principles. Jesus said to “love your neighbor.” That begs questions like, “Who is my neighbor?” and “How do I love them?” Rules regulate behavior. Principles guide motivations. That’s why Jesus spoke against legalism and “religiousness” more than anything else. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. He makes it clear that adultery is an action that stems from lust, which occurs in the heart. It wasn’t enough to stop the actions; the internal sin has to be quelled first.

Legalism frequently drives people away from Christianity. Such an emphasis is placed on rules that it robs churchgoers or young Christians of any joy. I’ve heard countless stories of this. I’m sure the seemingly extreme methods Harris advocated drove people away. It created not only tremendous pressure on young people, but an atmosphere of parental and liturgical tyranny and hypocrisy. Teens weren’t allowed to do the usually innocent things their parents did growing up. “Do as I say and not as I did.” Maybe those parents made mistakes and had good intentions, but as the old saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”

Knowing all of this, it’s no surprise Harris’ life has turned out the way it has. His personal brand of legalism wrecked many people, possibly led to his divorce, and eventually drove him to abandon Christianity. It took twenty years for it to happen, but those consequences caught up with him. Now more than ever the rotten fruit of Harris’ teachings and those of the so-called “Purity Culture” are being reaped. Personally, I think recent events have invalidated all of books (or at least his books on dating and courtship). Regardless, I do hope and pray he finds his way back to the faith.

This should give writers pause for concern. Your words have power. The power to influence. That’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” What we pen will guide and direct the hearts and minds of our readers. This is why parents often attack rappers, filmmakers, and video games after a school shooting: they think their products made kids go on murder sprees. (Perhaps that’s a bad example). My point is the knowledge and advice we share as writers, which in a way makes us teachers, creates culture and thoughts. Yes, we can’t control how people will respond to what we write and say, but we still yield tremendous power on our readers.

And as the late great Stan Lee wrote, “With power there must also come great responsibility.”

What do you think of the Josh Harris news? Are you surprised? Why or why not? Did you read his books? How did they influence you?

News, Appearances, Blog

Gen Con 2019 Post-Mortem

My table at Gen Con 2019.

Another Gen Con has come and gone. As usual, it’s a working vacation for me, but it’s also the biggest show I do every year. I haven’t heard attendance numbers yet, but I’m sure it’s comparable to the years with 60,000 attendees.

Calling it a “working vacation” was more accurate than ever this year. Due to some last-minute financial setbacks, I didn’t have much spending money, so I couldn’t make it to many events or buy new games. Couple that with the fact that I wouldn’t leave my table for more than an hour at a time from 10am-6pm most days, and I spent most of my time in the dealer hall. My friend and co-author Eric Anderson, founder of Nerd Chapel, would slip away and play some games throughout the day. In other words, I did all the work, and he had all the fun. (Just kidding, Eric!)

I wasn’t able to get to Indianapolis (or “Indy,” as we Hoosiers call it) until late Wednesday night, which did throw a monkey wrench into the weekend, but that’s what happens when you have other commitments right up to the convention. I stayed at the Sheraton with Eric and his friend Matt Gort (and yes, he has cosplayed the robot from The Day the Earth Stood Still), which was a 10-15 minute walk from the Indiana Convention Center. I went to the ICC to get my event tickets, but even at 11:30pm, the line went on forever. So, I decided to wait until the next day.

I scrambled to get into the dealer hall to set up in Authors Avenue before 9am when I thought the VIGs (Very Important Gamers) would come in before everyone else like in years past, but that didn’t happen. There was no early access; everyone came in at 10am. I realized I could’ve gotten my tickets then. That would’ve been nice to know. I’m pretty sure I was told this was still happening this year. Oh well.

The game Horrified.
Who needs a “booth babe” when you have bearded Waldo? 😛

I spent the whole day in the dealer hall since I was unable to get my event tickets. I joke every year that I need a “booth babe,” but Eric cosplaying as a bearded Waldo might been even better. While financial setbacks left me with little spending money for the show, I did wander into the play test hall and tried Horrified, a new cooperative board game themed around the Universal Horror Monsters. My fellow players and I managed to defeat Dracula and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The day ended with what became my nightly routine with Eric: playing the amazing game Unmatched, which saw an early release at Gen Con. It’s the glorious lovechild of Heroscape and Star Wars: Epic Duels, two of our favorite games.

Eric and I with a fellow Starfleet officer.

Friday was much the same as Thursday, although I was able to slip away for one writing seminar at the Writers Symposium. Eric and I both did Star Trek cosplays, with me as Capt. Kirk and him as Cmd. Riker. That evening Eric and I had dinner with a guy (whose name escapes me now, sorry!) who was curious about Nerd Chapel and our work. I (and eventually Eric) then spent the evening at the Love Thy Nerd meet-up, where I played Dice Throne Adventures. I was a barbarian, so I made sure to crush my enemies and see them driven before me. 😛

Speaking of Star Trek, I met Chris Spurgin from Five Year Mission, who gave me a free copy of their latest album for recognizing him. Score!

The upcoming game Deliverance.

Saturday was all work. I wanted to go to one writing seminar, but I was too busy in the hall. I expected as much. It’s usually the busiest day. Afterward, me and Eric’s friend Darrin joined us at the InnRoads Ministry meet-up. There was food (including homemade pretzel bites that were my crack for the evening), fellowship, prizes, and of course, games. I learned about a spiritual warfare-themed dungeon crawl fantasy game called Deliverance, where players take on the roles of angels fighting demons in a church. However, we spent our time playing Unmatched and showing it to InnRoads’ leader, Michael. The evening was capped with Darrin, Eric, and I returning to the Sheraton for one more game of Unmatched. (By the way, I won every Unmatched game I played and Eric lost all of his. I felt bad).

The banner that welcomed attendees to the worship service.

Sunday began with the Christian Gamers Guild’s worship service, which is always a highlight of the weekend. It’s not often I’m in a room full of fellow Christian nerds worshipping God. I was then in the dealer hall from 10am-4pm. Eric and Gort left early, so I alone was left to tear down and return everything to my car (which was in the cheapest parking garage I could find). The shelving I brought was too cumbersome, so a pair of Good Samaritans from Texas named Jim and Kathy helped me get everything there. I never would’ve made it myself. I gave them free books as a thank you, although Kathy had to insist that they take them.

Trogdor the Board Game!!

Wanting a little downtime before the two-hour drive back to Fort Wayne, I met up with Darrin, his wife Michelle, and one of their friends. We tried to find a meet-up but were unable to find them, so we set up in the lobby and played “Trogdor the Board Game!!” As a fan of the Homestar Runner website, I loved it. I’m happy to say we won—everything was burninated!

With that, I drove home.

It wasn’t the best year of the con (my fellow authors and I have some things we want to discuss with the managers of Authors Avenue), but it was still a good time.

To see more photos and such from Gen Con, check out the Twitter pages for myself and my upcoming podcast, The Monster Island Film Vault.

Did you go to Gen Con this year? What did you see/do/play? What’s your assessment of this year’s show?