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‘One Piece’ Manga Reaches Chapter 1000: How Did This Pirate Become King?
Articles | L. Jagi Lamplighter, Jan 20, 2021

To Shape a Story is to Shape a Soul
Articles | L.G. McCary, Jan 18, 2021

Author Ted Turnau Finds The Hidden Grace of Pixar’s ‘Soul’
News | E. Stephen Burnett, Jan 15, 2021

Introducing Thriller Novelist and New Lorehaven Writer L. G. McCary
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News | Lorehaven, Jan 14, 2021

How Political Punditry Has Taken Over Christian Popular Subcultures
Articles | E. Stephen Burnett, Jan 14, 2021

TheOneRing.net Reveals Synopsis for Amazon’s Middle-Earth Streaming Series
News | E. Stephen Burnett, Jan 13, 2021

One Month Left Until the Realm Makers Virtual Retreat, Feb. 11–13
News | E. Stephen Burnett, Jan 11, 2021

Thomas Kinkade Studios Now Making ‘The Mandalorian’ Products
News | E. Stephen Burnett, Jan 8, 2021

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’ Collides with Itself
Articles | Josh Hugo, Jan 8, 2021

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The Terran Summit, Anna Zogg
The Xerxes Factor, Anna Zogg
The Paradise Protocol, Anna Zogg
The Awakened, Richard Spillman
The Ascension, Richard Spillman
Love's Sacrifice, Kelsey Norman
Unbroken Spirit, Kelsey Norman
Seed: Judgment, Joshua David
The Rooster and the Raven King, John Paul Tucker
Brimstone 1, Jasom William Karpf
The Horse Queen, Lavay Byrd
King of Aethon, Lavay Byrd
Tales of Elhaanai, Nicole Thomas
Still Small Voice, Allen Brokken
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Flight of the Raven
“Exciting twists make Morgan L. Busse’s Flight of the Raven, book 2 of the Ravenwood Saga, a very enjoyable read.” —Lorehaven

The Eternal Struggle
“Esther Wallace’s novel The Eternal Struggle forms a dark sequel that brings hero and heroine into close fellowship with loss and brutality.” —Lorehaven

Dark is the Night
“Mirriam Neal’s vampire novel Dark is the Night keeps the punches and the fangs rolling.” —Lorehaven

Blood and Bond
“This book is brilliant and engaging, expanding on the series’ world and characters while building its own plot.” —Lorehaven

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48. What Were the Top Seven Issues for Lorehaven Readers in 2020?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 19, 2021

47. Why Do Some People Long for Escape to a Galactic Community?
Fantastical Truth, Jan 12, 2021

46. Ten Years Later, Why Did ‘Dawn Treader’ Sink the Narnia Movies? | with Rilian of NarniaWeb
Fantastical Truth, Dec 22, 2020

45. How Can a Wingless Piskey Learn to Fly? | The Flight and Flame Trilogy, with R. J. Anderson
Fantastical Truth, Dec 15, 2020

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What Tolkien Taught About Fighting Evil
Travis Perry, Jan 21

The Messages of Black Horror Films
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The Worldview of Biocentrism–You Are One With The Force
Travis Perry, Jan 14

Who Can Put a Price on Daring Love, Loyalty, and Swordsmanship?
Azalea Dabill, Jan 12

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‘Fatman’ Offers The Santa Claus That 2020 Probably Deserves

Fatman gifts us a violent yet fun Christmas movie, even if most of the characters get coal in their stockings.
L.G. McCary | Dec 28, 2020 | 2 comments

When my husband suggested we watch the new Mel Gibson movie Fatman, I rolled my eyes.

I said, “That sounds campy and dumb.”

“Exactly.”

I settled in, ready for MST3K-style heckling of my television. But it turned out I was wrong about this darkly funny dystopian take on Santa Claus.

First things first: Fatman is rated R for a reason. There is language, violence, and gore throughout, and Kris Kringle is in the thick of it, guns blazing. If he was in the army, he’d owe a pretty penny to the chaplain’s cuss cup.

The North Pole is in the red. Santa comes home from his big sleigh ride with buckshot wounds and complaints about how kids these days don’t respect authority or have any Christmas spirit. This Santa is a sour old cuss, not a jolly happy soul. Then when one of the sociopathic kids Santa visited gets coal instead of toys, he calls in a hit on the Fat Man. Things get even more complicated when Santa takes on a contract with the U. S. military to keep the lights on.

If it sounds bizarre, it is. But Fatman somehow manages to fully commit to a dystopian Santa Claus while not taking itself too seriously. If you have a dark sense of humor (and I do), there is much to chuckle about. The fact that this hardened Kris Kringle can see you when you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake is terrifying and played up for great comic effect.

In one of my favorite moments, Santa is confronted by a crazed lunatic yelling, “I’ve come for your head, Fatman!”

Santa replies in a comically bleak tone, “You think you’re the first? You think I got this job because I’m fat and jolly?”

It’s so ridiculous that it works. This is Santa as avenging angel, or maybe a funny but horrifying Santa/Krampus hybrid.

Another favorite part was Mrs. Claus. I’m a fan of Marianne Jean-Baptiste ever since I saw her in Broadchurch, and she has an excellent turn as the stress-knitting wife who can handle a pistol as easily as a tray of cookies. In Hollywood’s sea of broken onscreen marriages, the relationship between Santa and his missus made me turn to my husband and say, “This is how marriage ought to be shown in movies.” The sweet concern the Clauses had for each other gave the movie a note of warmth underneath the chilly storyline.

Look at it this way: If you rant that Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie so someone will watch an action movie with you during Yuletide, you have an alternative no one can argue with. Fatman is definitely a Christmas movie, even if most of the characters get coal in their stockings. And it has about the same level of mayhem, violence, and dark humor as Bruce Willis’s classic movie.

I was pleasantly surprised that I liked Fatman. It managed to mine laughs and even a little sweetness from the bleak tundra of a dystopian North Pole. After the wild ride of 2020, Fatman feels like the Santa Claus movie we should expect.

L.G. McCary
L. G. McCary is an old-school Whovian and a lifelong Trekkie. She has a bachelor's in psychology which means she knows enough to mess with readers' heads but not enough to diagnose their problems. She is the wife of an Army chaplain and the homeschooling mom of four rambunctious kids. She writes supernatural and dark science fiction on topics as diverse as artificial intelligence, ghosts, sentient snowmen, and space hotels. Her first novel, That Pale Host, releases October 2021 from Monster Ivy Publishing. Her short story, "Rendering," appears in Havok's Rebirth anthology.
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  1. tt_perry says:
    December 30, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    Sounds hilarious!

    Reply
  2. Darrick Dean says:
    January 5, 2021 at 8:03 am

    Fatman was a throwback: Not overblown, or as action heavy as the trailer suggests, but enjoyable. The great cast really carries it.

    Reply

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