Fictional Fathers

Father's Day just passed, and so I've been contemplating some of my favorite fictional dads. As with fictional mothers, there are plenty of bad ones that come to mind. Hello, Darth. But I'd like to talk about a few of my favorite, nice fictional fathers.

1) At the top of the list is Atticus Finch from Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. This is one of my favorite novels of all time, and I adore Atticus. He is an easy-going lawyer with a rambunctious daughter. He stands up for what's right, even in the face of adversity. He is quietly righteous, and a good man.

"You never really understand a person until you consider things form his point of view - until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." -- Atticus Finch

2) I adore Charles Ingalls of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. "Pa" Ingalls is a hard working man, devoted to his family, honest, and a lover of music. He faces the hardships of living in the frontier with strength and gentleness. You get the impression that his children feel safe with him around.

3) And finally, Dr. Alex Murry is a physicist as well as a father. I love the family dynamics in A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and Dr. Alex Murry is one of the reasons why. I can't begin to imagine his terror when he realizes his children have come to free him from IT. He's an intelligent man, and part of the glue that holds his family together.

And there you have some of my favorite fictional dads.

Restless Under the Full Moon

I tried several blog topics for today and rejected all of them. I think I'm going through one of my 'picky' phases, probably because I'm in full-on editing mode and doing very little in the way of writing new material at this time. By the time I finish polishing and submitting all of the short stories clamoring at me, I will have inundated the market with more short fiction than I ever have before. Ha, quiver in fear, all ye editors!

Or perhaps it's the weather. New Mexico isn't known for cloudy days, but we've had a couple of Seattle-esque days in a row. It puts me in mind of that line from Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time  in which Mrs. Whatsit says, "Wild nights are my glory!" The rain we got the other day was far from wild, but in this part of the country, it's certainly rare. Add to that a full moon, and maybe my inner wolf is restless.

Perhaps by next week my thoughts will have calmed down and I can find something coherent to talk about.