It's been a while since I've posted here. Not a short while, either. It's been a long while. I feel guilty for that.

My apologies. There's nothing wrong with disappearing without explaining why. There is, however, a certain amount of rudeness in disappearing without warning or explanation. Since I didn't give you warning, I probably owe you an explanation.

I have long held that there's no such thing as fiction and no such thing as non-fiction. You can't write either, no matter how hard you try. It's always a blend of the two.

Names Changed, To Protect The Guilty

And in my case, I've used a lot of phony names, composite characters, and deliberate misstatement of fact in order to protect the privacy of people who matter to me. Maybe I mean "people I love" but I'm not sure what definition of "love" you would use if I made use of that term, so I say "people who matter" instead.

Otherwise, though, I've tried to make this a non-fiction blog. For a long time, that served my purpose well, but for a while now, I've been trying to develop my fiction skills. I'm a piss-poor liar.

And I thought for a long time that I was going to start posting a few fiction posts, with a notice that the posts were intended to be fiction (even though fiction doesn't exist), and let it go at that.

It didn't work out that way. Fiction has proven a harder nut for me to crack than I anticipated.

Not Family-Friendly

This has never been a "family-friendly" blog. It's been intended for adults. I don't think there's anything in the blog that's harmful for kids, but if kids read it, they are probably going to have questions, and parents knowing that they're reading the blog probably ought to talk to their kids about the subjects covered, in order to help the kids form good values.

Kids not receiving such supervision may not comprehend that certain comments are sarcastic in nature. I've been known to make comments approving of highly antisocial behavior, when it would be obvious to most adults that I mean exactly the opposite. A child reading it might assume otherwise.

For instance, I might point out that there is noting in the Bible that is critical of slavery, and indeed, slaves are ordered to mind their masters. Obviously, God approves of slavery, right? And when God etched ten rules in stone for our guidance, he wasted one of the commandments on coveting, but he didn't write a commandment about rape.

Rape Is OK In The Good Book

Well, obviously God thinks that women should lie back and enjoy it, right?

That's probably a more dangerous assertion to make. There are feelings of pleasure experienced by a rape victim. Nerve endings are, after all, nerve endings. Part of the horror of rape is experiencing pleasure and revulsion at the same time.

In any case, I'm going to start posting again. I won't be labeling the posts, either, as to whether they're fiction or non-fiction. You'll have to decide for yourself. I've already told you the answer: there ain't no difference.

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
apology - family-friendly - fiction - guilt - love - non-fiction - rape - slavery