How to Train Your Dragon and the Presentation of Family in Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pgfmui3xxk For those who may not have followed the film trilogy, How to Train Your Dragon* is based on a book series by Cressida Cowell. In the course of this saga, Ms. Cowell tells how Vikings – better known to history as Norsemen – trained, rode, and hunted using dragons. Her final book ends with…

In Defense of Happy Endings – Are They Unreal, or Are They the Ultimate Reality?

Alex over at Amatopia published a very interesting article a month or so ago. In it, he made mention of a topic that has occupied my mind on and off for several years: the modern conception of happy endings in fiction. In his piece, Alex rightly points out how finales where the heroes and heroines…

Why Science Fiction Lacks Mothers and Fathers – and Why This Trend Needs to Change

There was (and may still be) a series of articles going around the WordPress blogosphere that points to a lack in science fiction I have been aware of for some time. These articles began after Mother’s Day of this year, and they came to this author’s attention a couple of weeks ago. Several people, authors…