I Am Not a Gun

Reclaiming Manhood with the Iron Giant and Mr. Darcy

“What is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me.”

— Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2.

When I was in college I decided to start a faith-based discussion group for men, about well, being a man. For some strange reason, I felt that it had to be very early in the morning, because getting up early was manly. In my campus-wide emails I also resorted to tasteless jokes about going out to chop down trees and break rocks with heads. Whatever this says about my social development is less relevant than the question that I was attempting to answer, however foolishly, with that group and those jokes: What does it mean to be a man?

This is a question that has tortured me since my adolescence, and tortures me still. Whether this essay will provide any relief remains to be seen. My small group, unsurprisingly, was not very popular, even with my Christian friends. Not many undergraduate guys were willing to get up for a discussion group that started at 6:30am on Friday mornings; or if they were willing, the flesh was weak. This does not mean that the group was a failure, because I had one regular attendee who I was able to talk quite deeply with, and I still think about him today. I was also told by a few people that they would have attended if it was at a less inconvenient time. This showed me that I was not the only one tortured by the question.

So, what does it mean to be a man? We will find out together, dear reader, whether I am any better equipped to answer this question than I was over a decade ago. But first I must define exactly what is meant by it. We could try to answer it by taking a survey of the men in our lives, and saying, “These examples show what it is to be a man.” But despite confounding us with wildly different conclusions, this method also reveals to us our bias. I think that most of us, consciously or unconsciously, have already taken a survey of the men in our lives, and the results have made us uneasy. That the question occurs to us reveals an insecurity about manhood that cannot be assuaged by the simple truth that no men are perfect. We would not be asking if there wasn't something resembling a real crisis. What I believe we really mean to ask is, “What does it mean to be a good man?”

[...]

https://blog.hdansin.com/i-am-not-a-gun

In my forthcoming novel, Aether and Ego, they leave Earth in 1821 and because they didn't have the technology at the time to be absolutely air-tight, Charles Babbage invents the "airator." When the one in her room stops ticking, the silence wakes her, and she goes downstairs to find Mr. Collins talking to her mother about courting Jane. People who know the original will remember this scene, but it all happens differently in my version.

Excited to turn this bit of wooden clockwork into an airator - a fabulous prop for readings!

Pre-orders are available here:
* Canada only (signed): https://halifax.bookmarkreads.ca/item/vMQnshzt5ubbm9QKkWp_Hw
* All other options: https://joannemerriam.com/books/aether-and-ego/

#PrideAndPrejudice #JaneAusten #Austenesque #Austenite #AetherAndEgo #ROKR #ROKRDIY #Miniatures #bookstodon #books

This is perfect. 😆 I thought I was getting a Jane Austen documentary to knit to. Not quite, but very Jane Austen'ish.

It is sooo well done! So funny

Jane Austen's Period Drama

#JaneAusten #WomensHealth #Humour

https://youtu.be/dxpjzOLVRR0

51.45649, -0.96681

#ReadingAbbey #ReadingUK #JaneAusten #Photography

Stuck: Further thoughts on Pride and Prejudice

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a character must grow over the course of a novel.  Dramatic conflict, by definition, means your main character faces and overcomes challenges.  When those challenges are internal as well as external – when they have to face their flaws – you leave your readers feeling they’ve gone on a meaningful journey with a character they sympathize with.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/17/stuck-further-thoughts-on-pride-and-prejudice/

#CRAFT #Editing #characterization #growth #JaneAusten

‘I’m a living relative of Jane Austen – taking her off the £10 note is a real shame’

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://metro.co.uk/2026/03/16/im-a-living-relative-jane-austen-taking-off-10-note-a-real-shame-27467373/

Who plays Mr Collins in The Other Bennet Sister?

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/who-plays-mr-collins-bennet-36874573