It's rare that I share any direct information on my personal opinions or feelings. A lot of it is easier for me to infer through the characters I create in my fantasy world. It's kind of the mask I hide behind out of my own insecurities and fears. So, before I delve into a deeper discussion, I want to make one thing perfectly clear.
Black Lives Matter!
I honestly and truly believe that. If anything I state subsequently contradicts that, I assure you it is a misstatement on my part. I may be white, and I may be sheltered by a cocoon of white privilege, but I've always believed racism was still alive in our society. I apologize if I haven't spoken out on that before. I'm coming to understand that silence is being complicit. I'm trying to do better. I want to do better. I doubt if I'll ever be perfect. How do you erase being raised and living in this environment for over 60 years? All I can do is try to take it one day at a time.
I probably have covered racism before as it relates to the Verdan Chronicles, but I'm sure its been quite a while. Let me explain how and why I've reflected it to this point. Color of skin is totally irrelevant to my characters. I may describe some characters as being "fair of skin" or having a "dark complexion", but it is only for the purpose of painting a visual image. In my 'fantasy' world, no one cares about color of skin. I explore racism through the dynamics between humans, elves and dwarves.
How do I feel about it? My personal feeling is that racism is stupid. It's a refuge for the ignorant and a security blanket for those not willing to face their own insecurities and fears. In Verdan, a king passes laws to expel elves and dwarves from his kingdom. As a result, he exposes his kingdom to a threat that results in the death of hundreds and possible annihilation of his country. It ends up costing him his crown. You see, there's an internal struggle between powerful vampires for supremacy of their kind. Elves have a natural resistance to vampires and by getting rid of them the humans are left defenseless. All of this is covered in Broken Circle and Against All Gods. The point is that diversity makes society stronger. By confining ourselves to a narrow definition of what and who are acceptable, we are hurting ourselves, as well as others.
I hope this makes my position clear. I support the ongoing protests. Recent incidents are only examples of what has been ongoing for far too long. It needs to stop.
While I'm sharing, there seems to be another recent debate being highlighted in the media. So, I will also make my position clear on that. Transwomen are women and transmen are men. It another struggle that I hope gets better for all the people involved. I still feel "love is love" and people should stop hating on those who don't always act according to past narrow definitions of what is acceptable. It's a subject I'm really trying to deal with sensitively in my latest two books, Whisper in the Universe and Balance of War. I support the LGBTQ+ community.
So, that's who writes this stuff. By no means am I a perfect example of anything. I've said and done things in my past for which I'm now embarrassed and regretful. My belief is that life is about us acknowledging who we are and then striving to be the person we want to be. Growth and improvement is part of that. The day we stop trying to do either, is the first day we begin to die. In the meantime, everyone take care and with Covid-19 still out there, maintain social distance and wash your damn hands. :-)