Here there be Dragons
When times are evil, we need the courage to be dragon slayers
"Here there be dragons" is a phrase found on some old maps indicating dangerous, unknown, or unexplored territory. It was a symbolic warning of perils, though it was rarely meant to be taken literally by medieval mapmakers.
It’s not stretching things in the least to say we’ve entered very dangerous and unknown territory since Rump took office. We’re returning to a ‘might makes right’ ethos in international relations, were strong nations feel they have the right to do what they want to smaller countries, simply because they can. As one of Rump’s minions recently gloated, power is the only thing that matters. Everything else are just ‘legal niceties’. Worthless, in other words.
Here there be dragons indeed.
I’ve been writing sci-fi for twenty years now, mostly light-hearted escapism that’s definitely not serious. It’s meant to give people a break from reality, to provide a mental and emotional reset. I have an awful lot of fun writing these kinds of stories, and it gives me an important break from the daily barrage of unrelenting horrid news. I hope my readers find the same respite in them as I do.
Because somehow, every day the news manages to be worse than the day before. This past weekend my wife asked me, in all seriousness, when WW3 was going to start. She’s a very down-to-earth, gentle soul, who is not given to hyperbole. I’ve often asked myself the same question but never gave it a voice until last weekend.
The monsters are loose on the world stage, and, as predators will do, they glory and luxuriate in their power to crush those who are weaker. And in the minds of men like Rump and his sycophants, weaker people and nations simply aren’t worthy of respect, life or liberty, for no other reason than they are simply weaker.
That’s why I believe we need fantasy stories and good satire now more than ever before. G.K. Chesterton said that, “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed”.
This is what Astrid Lindgren did during WW2. Lindgren wrote Pippi Longstocking stories to fight fascism. Her beloved children’s books about the free-spirited Pippi were written in response to the darkest days of the Second World War.
One of Lindgren’s goals was children’s education – how kids could be brought up “not to be psychopaths like Hitler or authoritarians, dictators and so on”. Bringing Pippi to life was part of this mission.
Read the Guardian article about Lindgren: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/dec/15/pippi-longstocking-astrid-lindgren-nazism-documentary
Dragons symbolize real-world evils, fears, or cruel enemies. We know “dragons” exist. We see their monstrous, evil words and deeds every day in the news. Stories tell us that they should be confronted and can be defeated. In essence, good fantasy can prepare children for reality, showing them that even the most terrifying “dragons” of life can be overcome.
A classic example of this is, of course, The Lord of the Rings, much of which was written during WW2. C.S. Lewis also included evil creatures and monsters in his tales, arguing that it prepared children for real-world hardships and offered hope against cruelty, seeing these stories as vital for building heroic spirit.
It’s been said that the pen is mightier than the sword. As a writer, I certainly hope so. I believe it’s one way to be a real-world dragon slayer. Imaginative fiction can play a vital role in fighting fascism today. Fiction, like all the creative arts - music, film, photography, painting - is a way to keep kicking at the darkness until it bleeds light.
This is why I wrote Wally & the Anti-fascist Fairy. I started writing it last fall after another one of Rump’s insults against my country, Canada, and his threats to annex us. Like the vast majority of Greenlanders, Canadians don’t want to be American. If it came down to it, I’d leave Canada and move pretty much anywhere else on the planet rather than be a part of a nazified, broken, racist Amerikkka.
Using rich humor, Wally & the Anti-fascist Fairy is a bold and satirical tale against fascism and those in power who seek to destroy democracy.
When a thin-skinned and orange-faced tyrant in the White House feels threatened by protesters wearing fairy costumes, he lashes out by designating them all as Antifa and domestic terrorist threats. He then uses this imaginary threat to scare voters into letting him become King for Life.
Agents of NICE – National Interspecies Costume Enforcement agency, the Gestapo arm of the Regime – start arresting anyone caught in fairy or animal costumes. But they can’t build concentration camps fast enough, so the president decrees another Executive Order: detain the protesters in zoos. They’re dressed up as animals, after all, so we’ll treat them like animals.
Zoo officials, however, aren’t so sure it’s a good idea to put people in the zoo, even if they are dressed like animals, and are faced with a terrible decision: follow the orders of a deranged president, or disobey and join the resistance.
We need imaginative fiction and satire to resist authoritarians. When times are evil, we need the courage to be dragon slayers.