Winsome

Science fiction is a genre whose founding fathers and mothers tended very often (though not exclusively, of course) to be the sort of people who were hard-boiled atheists of the Arthur C. Clarke/Isaac Asimov mold — people who spoke the word “Science” either with a sort of religious reverence or with the sort of stentorian triumphalism of a Thomas Dolby tune (“SCIENCE!”). Some of them, like H.G. Wells, managed to achieve both science worship and stentorian triumphalism in their work, writing books which were combinations of fun narrative and some of the preachiest, creakiest, most antiquated prophecies in print. Somebody, somewhere, has a doctoral dissertation practically written for them comparing the hilarious naïve socialist utopian optimism of Wells (who was hailed as the Voice of the Future in his day) and the disturbing prescience and truly prophetic work of his contemporary G.K. Chesterton, who was thought to be archaic by Progressive types, yet who foresaw many of the catastrophes his clever contemporaries would unleash by their inhuman theories. Simply reading Chesterton vs. almost the entire weight of pre-Holocaust Enlightened Opinion on Eugenics is enough to cure a person forever of any faith in Enlightened Opinion.
 

Likewise, new converts like the inimitable John C. Wright have a jolly time meeting the fans (a big percentage of them non-Christian with a formidable background in the sciences, philosophy, and literature) and speaking to them in their own terms. Wright, a convert to the Catholic Faith from atheism via non-denom Christianity, is a winsome fantasy writer, an original thinker, and a man bubbling with creativity. He is also just plain funny and equally at home in discussions of artificial intelligence and the need for more Space Princess pulp fiction. He has the knack of empathy and remembers his own difficulties with the Faith well enough that he can speak to those who still have them, while believing very deeply in the teaching of the Church and articulating it clearly.

 

cur·mud·geon (noun) origin unknown. 1 archaic: a miser 2.  crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man.

 

 

Well, I know which one I would have picked to describe me.