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I'm going to recommend an author to you all but I'm afraid that after you read what I've attached below, you might not give him a fair shake. Regardless, Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is one of the best I've ever read. He tackles many of the issues of our time through his writing about Richard and Kaylan in his magical fantasy setting. Moreover, he does it in such a way that enhances the story, deepens the characters, and leaves you begging for the next book (Naked Empire due July 2003), all without being preachy. His sixth book, Faith of the Fallen joins the ranks of Heinlein's Starship Trooper and C.S. Lewis' That Hideous Strength as the only books I've ever read three or more times. In my humble opinion, all three should be required reading at the high school level. Anyway, below is a piece from an interview Terry Goodkind gave back in 1998. It's not a short read but I encourage you all hear and understand the somewhat prophetic nature of his dated comments.

And remember the Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid.

Anyway, for them what care...


Terry Goodkind

When you talk about fantasy, most people associate it with magic, so let me address it from that perspective. In some ways, magic is a metaphor for technology. In much the same way characters in my books have an irrational fear of magic, we live in a world of reflexive, irrational fears. Think of how we fear anything "nuclear." I used to live next door to a model solar home and the builder had a sign in the yard saying the home was powered by solar radiation. People walking by would actually cross the street because they were afraid of "solar radiation." They feared the solar house with the same irrational gut conviction that people in the past feared witchcraft and magic.

The solar house illustration seems funny to us now, but we all have within us the unwavering ability to allow fear to override logic, scientific proof, and truth. I could sit here and give you examples all day long, but let me give you just one to show how easily these irrational fears can be ignited.

Each year in the U.S. more than five thousand people die from food contaminated by dangerous bacteria, yet for many years we have had at hand the means of eliminating these deaths: irradiation. It's a process that has been studied ad nauseam and has time and time again been scientifically proven safe, yet most people would rather risk their children dying a terrible, painful, lingering death than to have them eat safe food that has been irradiated. (The spices in the grocery store have been irradiated for decades, as has much of the grain shipped overseas.) There is no end of people ready to abet such fears with junk science. Many of these people are simply in the grip of these irrational fears, others are cold-blooded users of them.

Most people refuse to hear the truth; in a recent poll three quarters of the population said they would not buy food that has been so treated. Politicians know the poll numbers and so they pass laws against food irradiation--ironically in the name of "public safety"--despite the scientific proof of its safety, despite the truth. These fearmongers stir outcry against the misunderstood solution and insure the continued needless suffering and tragic deaths of thousands-mostly children.

The next time you hear of another outbreak of food-born contamination, and you see a child in the hospital with tubes coming out of her, and you hear that she will be that way for months, and if she lives she will have brain damage, and then the reporter says that it was caused by a dangerous strain of E. coli, they will be wrong; the suffering, the brain damage, the rivers of parent's tears, and the possible death, will be caused by an irrational fear. Yet another child sacrificed on the altar of zealotry.

This is in part what I mean by magic being a metaphor for technology. Irrational human fears and beliefs are little different now than they were five hundred years ago, or a thousand years ago, or two thousand. In that sense, we have not progressed very much at all. Just to say what I just said about the nuclear irradiation of food is to open myself up to a storm of hostile emotions not so very much unlike the hostility directed at supposed witches, which is exactly my point.

There is absolutely no difference between the forensic psychology of "My joints be aching because there's a witch down the road who be casting evil spells on me," and "My joints are aching because the power lines down the road are emitting low frequency electromagnetic radiation." None.

Facts and truth mean as little now as then. It's a timeless human attribute we inherit from our ancestors--like the fear of the dark--and as such, we can instinctively identify with it. It is this kind of conflict between irrational fear and truth that gives me ideas and inspiration. I like to make people think. I also like the one about the witch down the road better.

Now, let's say that in a novel a character has to deal with the fact that she has urgent need to get somewhere--lives are at stake--and her car won't start. Do people summarize it by saying "In this story about technology gone awry . . ."? Of course not. To fail to see the true emotion and story in such a way would be a profound display of stupidity, yet this is exactly what often happens with fantasy-people say "In this story about magic gone awry . . ." I do not write books about magic. I write stories about people who just happen to have to deal with magic as one of the factors in their lives, much as we have to deal with the technology in ours. I'm proud of the stories I write; I feel embarrassed by the ignorance of those who don't get it.

Readers make a huge mistake if they come to my books because they think they will just be reading about magic. That's like going to a rock concert just to see hairdos. To think that these stories are about magic is to miss the true magic of the story. I have yet to receive a letter from a fan telling me they love the books because of the magic. They all say they love the books because they can empathize with the characters and are enthralled with the tale. Readers get it.

I think that recommendations from people who read a book is the best way to break some of these preconceived notions. My hope is to expand the idea of just what fantasy is and have more people come to enjoy it. I pursue this goal by writing the best books I am capable of writing. I'm having a great deal of fun doing it, and I intend to continue doing it with a vengeance.

I know how easy it is for people to put a book back on the shelf.

We live in one of the most politically repressive times in our nation's history. The McCarthy era was small potatoes compared to the thought-police in this dark age of political correctness. Using the wrong words has now become more heinous than murder, and punishment, both social and legal, for those utterances is pursued with more fanatical zeal.

Our legal system has devolved into little more than a lottery where the ability of a lawyer to invoke tears of irrational fear from a jury is rewarded with unimaginable sums. Truth plays only a bit part in the proceedings. Common sense plays none. Because of the astronomical costs associated with the legal system, it has become a sanctioned form of extortion, in which the defense costs against lies are so high that to win is to lose, so people are forced to settle "out of court." Innocent people bear the cost of this use of irrational fear in nearly everything we buy.

Our culture has come to condemn those who produce as heartless. Our society excuses those who steal as entitled, and those who kill as victims.

Knowing well the evils of tyranny, the Framers of the U.S. Constitution divided power among three branches of government-executive, legislative, and judicial-yet three fourths of all our laws are now made by federal agencies. Unelected career bureaucrats write these laws (as regulations), institute them, enforce them, sit in judgment of their violation, and hand down punishment of fines and imprisonment. When a court of law rules against these judgments, the agencies simply declare themselves in "non-compliance" and continue to do as they wish. They cannot be held to account.

Today in America, far more people try hard-core illegal drugs than read books for enjoyment. We have come to tolerate drug use, like so much else, with hand-wringing compassion and understanding.

We have raised a generation of feral children and in so doing have abdicated our society's link to civilization. Gangs now have control of many parts of our cities and towns and rule them as feudal empires. While largely uneducated, these people are far from stupid; they manipulate nearly every institution to their purpose. They have beaten us at our own game.

Francis Lewis, John Hart, and Abraham Clark that I spoke of? They were signers of the Declaration of Independence. How do you think they would view our debauchery? Would they have made the sacrifices they did to gain us our freedom if they knew we would value it so trivially?

It is for the spirits of brave people like Francis Lewis, John Hart, and Abraham Clark that I write.

Readers are rare people. I feel a special connection with them. I try always to do my best for them; I try to write the truth. Fantasy allows me this. The Sword of Truth is a cry of defiance into the descending storm of tyranny. It is a cry for this very special group of people-people able to understand: readers.

My study of history has taught me that no civilization can endure the kind of self-indulgent destruction of social fabric and family structure we are witnessing.

Sooner or later an enemy will come, as they always do, and they will be ruthless. They will hold a blade to our throats. They will pillage and murder and rape us because we have failed to value the hard won gift of freedom and to honor our responsibility to preserve the flame of its true meaning.

As Richard says, anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding.

And you still think I write fantasy?

The barbarians are at the gate, my friends, and they are us.

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