It’s a while since founding editor Tobbe has been able to take a part in the running the site but it’s great to see his work still has fans. This is what Leila had to say about The Royalists:-

Satire is a difficult thing to do because people do not like having their hypocrisies lampooned. They’d rather you’d attack their neck boils with a dull, rusty spoon than have you cast a jocular light on their bullshit. The best way around this conundrum is to recast the guilty parties with characters of your own invention, and maybe even put them on a different world.

Still, it would be hard to deny the connection between what probably happened on Earth when it became obvious that Organized Religion, if it were to survive, needed to exert control over the unwashed, and Mr. Haglund’s world. And the Hellish thing about it is that The Royalists is probably right on the mark with what happened around here a couple thousand years back.

Q: Not too many writers nowadays have the skill of symbolism and subtext in their arsenals. At least I don’t detect much of it. Satire dates back to the ancient world. Do you believe that classic literary critique, symbolism, satire and allegory are falling aside in modern literature because they are seldom taught in contemporary schools?

Q: Would it be foolish to assume that there aren’t still Royalists gathered at this very moment, each one making a pitch as how to control us?

Leila Allison

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The Royalists