The very first thing I ever wrote with the hope of publication involved a god-like entity fooling a mortal. It was a 12-page comic book story for an anthology.
Nine months into Not About Lumberjacks, I shared a story called The Weight of the World, which also dealt with gods.
So, I suppose, “Dear God” is in the spirit of those earlier stories.
“Dear God” was another story to come out of an old writing group I once belonged to. I can’t remember the terms of the challenge. (Each meeting, one of us would come up with a person; another a place; and the last one a thing.) I can’t even remember if “A stamp that reaches God,” or “A postage stamp…” was the thing for that meeting.
Hell, for all I know, I just came up with the story and shared it with the group and my brain is laying the old challenges over my memory.
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I’ve always been an atheist, but I’ve always been fascinated by things like gods and ghosts and other things of the sort. With gods, I think much of it goes back to my mom supporting her little atheist kid, but also letting me know there were OTHER gods than Christianity God. Throw in discovering the old Deities and Demigods resource book for Dungeons and Dragons in the early 80s, and the thought of gods swaying the fates of mortals has always been a story gold mine.
In gods, all that is good and bad about humans can be pulled out of our everyday existences in the hope of living better lives. Granted, many twist lessons meant to enhance our lives in the hope of controlling others or getting ahead, and that’s why I think stories like “Dear God” are interesting.
Jimmy Mack/James Ingersol cheats to get ahead. It’s nice seeing someone like that getting caught by the law; it appeals to an ingrained sense of justice most humans seem to have. Bad people get caught, and good people get rewarded. And when a bad guy is caught by a god, there’s an even greater sense of justice occurring.
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A friend (Laura Lange, host of the Peaceful Life podcast), mentioned that she envisioned Tom Hiddleston as Loki and Chris Hemsworth as Thor. While the story was written well before the Thor Marvel movies were filmed, I definitely envisioned the two actors as well as I narrated the story.
Loki and Thor are two characters I’ve always liked. They may have been the first Norse gods I knew about. They complement each other well, and are ripe for stories.
Add to that how popular they are right now in the minds of many thanks to the Marvel movies, and it was definitely the right time to record “Dear God.”
Until next time, be good…because you never know who’s watching you…
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Thank you for listening to Not About Lumberjacks and Behind the Cut. Theme music for Behind the Cut is a tune called Reaper by Razen. Visit nolumberjacks.com for information about the music, episodes, and voice talent.
As I mentioned at the end of “Dear God,” I’m working on wrapping up a novel, so I’m not sure when the next episode of Not About Lumberjacks will be released. It might be the post-apocalyptic office story I’ve mentioned for MONTHS, or it might be a story older than any I’ve ever shared on the show…
Until next time: be mighty, and keep your axes sharp!
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