Comments on: The Big Idea: Edward Willett

By: Catherine MacLeod

Catherine MacLeod — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:43:18 +0000

I love those fast little writing exercises. They always feel a bit *dangerous.*

By: gtwade

gtwade — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:30:49 +0000

I love how the small details of a small idea can blow up into something big. And if you have the ability to know what to do with it, so much the better.

By: Chadwick Ginther

Chadwick Ginther — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:09:11 +0000

Marseguro and Lost in Translation are fantastic reads, and I have been waiting for Terra Insegura for months.

By: Robert Runte

Robert Runte — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:47:11 +0000

While you are all adding Marseguro and Terra Insegura to your reading lists, don’t forget “Lost in Translation” which was a fabulous read, well worth tracking down.

By: Jim Wright

Jim Wright — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:36:06 +0000

I think that's the best Big Idea piece I've read yet. Thanks, Ed, I'll add Marseguro and Terra Insegura to the list.

By: Adam Rakunas

Adam Rakunas — Tue, 05 May 2009 22:56:03 +0000

I think fundamentalism in any philosophy is going to lead to non-groovy outcomes, as it means an exclusionist world view. Fundamentalist secularists would want to purify the world of religion, not just the interaction between religion and government. Fundamentalist capitalists would crush any workers' rights or consumers' rights, for that matter in the name of share price. Religiosity isn't a bad thing, but when your religion says that I have to submit or be destroyed, then, dude, we've got problems. Sorry for the derail. I'll be adding Marseguro and Terra Insegura to my to-read list.

By: Edward Willett

Edward Willett — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:57:04 +0000

Robert,

I’m sure that risk is there, but I suspect those inclined to look at all religion in that way were already doing so before I came along. I didn’t want to create a new religion for the Selkies because I wanted to emphasize their continuity with regular humanity: those that are religious are religious within the framework of human history.

Terra Insegura also specifically includes members of a persecuted religious minority–Christians–surviving in an isolated location, who stand in sharp contrast to the Body Purified.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:12:57 +0000

This gives me hope that someday, one of the random scenes that I visualize will in fact turn out to lead to a full-length novel. So far they’ve yet to be more than just one scene. I look forward to reading both of these books, though!

By: Robert Runte

Robert Runte — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:58:33 +0000

Interesting discussion. My question would be, in inventing a religion, do you not still run the risk of tarring all religious beliefs — or at least religious institutions –as similarly intolerant? Isn’t it easy for a reader to translate “body purified” for ‘fundamentalist’; So that the equation in the readers mind is that ‘religious’ = ‘fanatic, intolerance, evil’, while secular = democratic, tolerant, good? I wonder if it might have been useful to have invented a corresponding, but more enlightened religion for the Silkies to demonstrate that it is not religiosity per se that generates intolerance.

By: M.A.

M.A. — Tue, 05 May 2009 17:19:26 +0000

Great cover, too. Dang, one more for The List…