SUPERVERSIVE: Storming the Moral High Ground
Sarah Hoyt hosts a significant announcement by my lovely and talented wife:
“Why can’t we have more stories that don’t involve poop?
“You know, good stories? No anti-heroes. No dour nihilism. No descriptions of gross stuff for no particular reason except to produce a mood we didn’t want to read anyway. Just…action, adventure, heroism, even perhaps a few…I realize this is going way out on a limb and no one else wants to read this but me but…good Christians, or something really outrageous like that.
“But not pious stories mind you. I’ve never found those entertaining. No stories where good guys are squeaky clean, and only very, very obviously evil people who cackle and have warts are allowed to use magic.
“Why can’t we have good stories and good messages. The dreary, depressed literary crowd have held the moral high ground for far too long, I think some people have forgotten that good stories can get there, too.”
“So you want good stories? Heroism? Christian values? What we need is a literary movement.”
There was a pause in the moving car.
“Why don’t we start one. Let’s storm the moral high ground!”
This conversation happened a bit over a year ago. Well, all right, it didn’t really happen quite like this, but this is the spirit of what occurred.
John and I were driving home from Balticon 2013. We had just had a great time at the convention and were fired up with new ideas for stories. And we talked for a long time about the state of stories today. What we liked. What we missed.
Both of us were impressed with a story a friend had invented that was clearly heroic and Christian but had not even the slightest whiff of Sunday Morning piousness about it.
We wanted to write stuff like that.
“If we are going to have a literary movement,” John stated. “It needs a name. All the best ones have names. We could call it the Space Princess Movement…but that already exists and had to do with Space Princesses.”
“Nah, that won’t work,” I said.
So we discussed names for some time.
“What about the Superversive Movement?” asked John.
“You mean like Superversive on LiveJournal? That gentleman who writes those excellent essays?” I asked. “What does it mean?”
“You know how subversive means to change something by undermining from below? Superversive is change by inspiration from above.”
“Perfect! When we get home, let’s invite Dan Lawlis*. We know he’ll be onboard.”
And so, the Superversive Literary Movement was born.
It took over a year, but as of next week, the Superversive Literary Movement will have its own web post. Once a week, on my website and Glipho account.
Our opening post will be, God willing, an essay by Tom Simon, Mr. Superversive (from LJ) himself, on the nature of what Superversive means.
After that, the sky’s the limit.
Come on by and see what we’re up to!
(And let me know if you’d like to participate!)
We’ll be the ones storming the castle.
*Dan Lawlis—the cover artist for Jagi Lamplighter’s Roanokean novels and the author of a Christian allegorical comic called Orange Peel 3.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
