It’s January 8, 2026, and I’m back to work on my writing. I got my beta review comments back for Escape from Arzack’s Castle from Entrada Publishing. I’m still searching for a publishing home for Christina’s Portrait. My full request was rejected, but I still have submissions out and a fellow author who offered to look at my manuscript.
And I’m facing a question: How can I write at a time like this? Our country just attacked a sovereign nation and kidnapped their president and his wife. Our president and his administration unveiled a long list of other countries they want to take over, including long-standing allies. And his private goon squad has turned to slaughtering anyone who looks at them the wrong way and claiming they’re domestic terrorists. Why am I just typing on my laptop when I should be marching in the streets?
Then I saw this quote on Threads, “These are the times artists go to work.”
Dictators aren’t satisfied with making you obey. They want you to believe reality is what they tell you it is. That’s why they first take over the media. Then they want you to take on their so-called morals. All immigrants are criminals. People who resist ICE get what they deserve. Compassion is weakness. Cruelty is strength.
It’s our job as creatives to say, “No!”
Books have always been tools for teaching empathy. As writers, we put readers in the shoes of other types of people. That’s why I’ve always included diverse casts of characters in my novels. Not only does this reflect how the world has always been, it’s important for people to see the humanity of those who are different from them. When you start from this worldview, you must show courage and decency triumph in the end. Even if evil comes out on top, we can still show how it can be endured until we have a chance to defeat it. And we will, because evil people eventually fall because of their selfishness, shortsightedness, and stupidity.
This lesson is shown in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, “Chain of Command.” Captain Jean-Luc Picard is captured and tortured by the Cardassians. One of the methods his torturer, Gul Madred, used was to flash four lights at Picard and force him to say there were five. No matter how much Madred tortured, gaslit, manipulated, and brought him to the verge of breaking, Picard kept thundering back, “There are four lights!”
As creatives, we must do the same. We need to keep saying their propaganda isn’t truth, and their immorality isn’t morality. It doesn’t make our job easier. I guess some balk at Christina’s Portrait because of a scene where one my characters rages against Trump. I’m sure publishers run by billionaires might not like how a billionaire is portrayed in Escape from Arzack’s Castle. But tyrants and oligarchs eventually fall. And when our current ones do, I want to be on the side of those who held true to their values when it was easier to roll over and comply. I might not become as famous as Bari Weiss, but I’d rather have a clear conscience and reputation.
I will keep writing from my values and humanity. Every chance I can, I will shout, “There are four lights!”
Related topics:
In praise of female athletes
Interview with Lucy McLaren
“We all have our ghosts.”
Beta for Christina’s Portrait
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