John C. Wright's Blog, page 211

On Means and Ends in Nature -- or, Why Neo Fights

In a recent discussion in this space, I made the statement that a sexual perversion was when the sexual appetite was not rightly ordered, in much the same way that the appetite for food is not rightly ordered when it takes as its object of appetite something that is nothing like food, a venom or an excrement. The degree and the nature of the deviation would make it not a mere disagreement of taste—preferring venom to mother’s milk is not like preferring pie to cake. Pie and cake share the same e

She Who Must Be Obeyed has Commanded Friday Postings

My beautiful and talented helpmeet, Mrs. John C. Wright, having noticed that I am overdue both for a fiction book and a non fiction book, has conspired with my Jesuit confessor, Father de Casuist that I limit my posting to Fridays.

I react with umbrage! How dare my meek and unassuming wife give me, John C. Wright, absolute lord and master of my own house, an order!

I will go talk with her this instant, and the matter will be drawn to a definite conclusion!


Like all well-domesticated husbands, I

Wright's Writing Corner: Prospero Lost--A Writer's Odyssey: The Great Agent Hunt

For those of you interested in an insider's glimpse into the SF publishing industry, the latest in a series of articles detailing one beautiful and talented author's travail in getting published. This episode is called the Great Agent Hunt.

http://arhyalon.livejournal.com/79729.html

(And she did get a great agent, too. Same guy who represents Harlan Ellison, one of the giants in the field.) 

The earlier postings are here:

Part One: Prospero Lost, an Odyssey

Part Two: The Awful Truth About Publishin

Wright's Writing Corner: Prospero Lost--A Writer's Odyssey: The Long Dark Waiting Of The Soul

Hey Folks,

Jagi here. I have hijacked John's journal to crosspost my latest episode in the saga of how Prospero Lost came to print.

Cheers,

Mrs. John C. Wright
 

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part VI (conclusion)

8 CLOSING REMARKS

8.1 WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH SCIENCE FICTION??

You may be wondering, dear reader, at this point what this argument given above has to do with Science Fiction, or the Sci-Fi Channel?


The short answer is nothing. My objection to the Sci-Fi Channel is that by caving to political pressure, they made my life harder as a science fiction writer, since this would embolden the partisans.


Do I object to gay, lesbian, etc. characters in science

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part V

6. MATRIMONY and FORNICATION

Now we come to a crucial point. What is the magistrate to do in all this? Keep in mind that no magistrate, howsoever wise, can learn and know the private dealings of everyone who comes before the court. The laws must be simple and clear enough for all rational men to be able to conform to them.

Fornication (including adultery) either is or is not against the law, and either it is punished or not. If it is either not against the law, or not punished, no dete

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part IV

5.4 THIRD PARTIES TO MARRIAGE

The Libertine position utterly ignores third parties to the mating. According to the libertine position, if Arthur, with her consent, copulates with Morgan le Fay, it is no one’s business but their own. However since Mordred, the bastard son of Arthur, has a claim on the throne, the fact that he was born has an influence or an effect on Guinevere, and any children she might produce. To minimize the competition between rival sons of different mothers, the Common L

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part III

5. THE ARGUMENT

So much for preliminaries. We have not yet reached the meat of the issue. So far, we have only seen a serious of doubts and questions. Is marriage a contract? Is human nature pliant? Is sex entertainment? Are men jerks?

The axioms of the argument I gave above: the necessity of self-command, the objectivity of morality, the nature of virtue, the role of law and custom. We are now discussing where the boundaries fall.

To answer that, we must ask why have boundaries at all? Th

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part II

4. THE QUESTIONS

4.1 IS MARRIAGE A CONTRACT?

The Libertine position posits that marriage is a contract only, revocable at the will of either party, even if the other party is not at fault. The reason for this is that the licit nature of the sex act rests on the consent of the parties: when the consent is withdrawn, the sex is no longer licit.

As a contract, the terms exist only as what the parties signatory so agree. So, for example, if Ayn Rand wishes to have sexual liaison with Nathaniel Brand

APOLOGIA PRO OPERE SUI part I

As frequenters of my humble weblog may know, in recent days a certain article appeared in this space, where I complained, not without abundant sarcasm and scorn, that the Sci-Fi Channel (or Syfy Channel, if you insist) had yielded to the forces of political correctness, and were persuaded (or cowed) into publically apologizing for their lack of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered characters on their programs, and promised to have writers include more. The express purpose of that inclusion w