{"id":667,"date":"2004-03-23T08:43:53","date_gmt":"2004-03-23T08:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/"},"modified":"2014-10-17T18:20:41","modified_gmt":"2014-10-17T22:20:41","slug":"lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/","title":{"rendered":"L.B.: Rayford “Mary Sue” Steele"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The realm of \u201cfan fiction\u201d is one of the few places one can turn to reliably find prose as awful and implausible as the writing of Timothy LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.<\/p>\n

I have discovered, googling around, that there exists a sub-subculture of fanfic set in the apocalyptic world of L&J\u2019s \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series.<\/p>\n

This is not a world I choose to explore. I imagine that the writers of this fanfic are guilty of the same kinds of aesthetic, theological and political sins that L&J commit in their series of novels, and it is tempting to wade in and begin ridiculing the ridiculous there as well.<\/p>\n

But one must keep in mind that L&J\u2019s disciples are also their victims. The perpetrators of these fanfic horrors do not have the imperial influence of their masters, nor are they making the tons of money that L&J are reaping from the worst books ever written<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So these poor LB fanfic writers deserve pity, not condemnation. In many versions of the vampire myth, killing the head vampire will free their minions of the curse. The best thing we can do for these poor souls writing LB fanfic is to continue trying to drive a stake through the evil, unbeating heart of their masters.<\/p>\n

The sad world of fan fiction does, however, provide some insight into the underlying meaning of the LB series. I am indebted to Teresa Nielsen-Hayden<\/a> for introducing me to the concept of \u201cMary Sue\u201d stories. Teresa provides a helpful definition:<\/p>\n

MARY SUE<\/b> (n<\/em>.): 1. A variety of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal wish-fulfillment fantasies, often involving heroic or romantic interactions with the cast of characters of some popular entertainment. 2. A distinctive type of character appearing in these stories who represents an idealized version of the author. 3. A cluster of tendencies and characteristics commonly found in Mary Sue-type stories. 4. A body of literary theory, originally generated by the fanfic community, which has since spread to other fields (f.i., professional SF publishing) because it\u2019s so darn useful. The act of committing Mary Sue-ism is sometimes referred to as \u201cself-insertion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This wish-fulfillment and self-insertion pervades Left Behind.<\/i><\/p>\n

By page 32, where we left off, readers have been introduced to three of the main characters: Rayford Steele, Cameron \u201cBuck\u201d Williams and Hattie Durham. These three are among the surviving passengers on a jumbo jet piloted by Steele that is about to make an emergency landing in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Buck Williams is a world-famous, universally admired and envied writer, the Greatest Investigative Reporter of All Time. He\u2019s the perfect fantasy stand-in for Jenkins, a veteran ghostwriter and as-told-to hack whose career up until this series consisted mainly of trying to make other people look good.<\/p>\n

Rayford Steele, the mature, commanding presence in the cockpit \u2014 graying, but still attractive to women \u2014 stands in for LaHaye. (Since Jenkins did the vast majority of the actual at-the-keyboard writing for these books, it\u2019s intriguing to consider whether the portrayal of Steele\u2019s warped sexuality was LaHaye\u2019s own idea, or if it reflects Jenkins\u2019 insights into his more-famous partner.)<\/p>\n

And what of Hattie Durham, the servile, \u201cdrop-dead gorgeous\u201d flight attendant? She represents, for the authors, a kind of Everywoman. She is sexually attractive and sexually available, and therefore must be punished for arousing naughty sensations in the hearts and loins of our heroes, who alternately hit on this poor woman, then push her away as a means of asserting their virtue and their authority. For the dual sins of being female and attractive, Hattie will soon find herself enslaved by the will of the Antichrist himself.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m gettting ahead of myself. Now, where were we \u2026 ?<\/p>\n

= = = = = = = = = = = =<\/p>\n

P.S.: From the e-mailbag:<\/p>\n

Steve S. sent along this link to The Door<\/i> interview<\/a> with Jerry Jenkins (sort of).<\/p>\n

And I forget who sent this in, but go see Apocamon: The Final Judgement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The realm of \u201cfan fiction\u201d is one of the few places one can turn to reliably find prose as awful and implausible as the writing of Timothy LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. I have discovered, googling around, that there exists a sub-subculture of fanfic set in the apocalyptic world of L&J\u2019s \u201cLeft Behind\u201d series. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-left-behind"],"yoast_head":"\nL.B.: Rayford "Mary Sue" Steele<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The realm of "fan fiction" is one of the few places one can turn to reliably find prose as awful and implausible as the writing of Timothy LaHaye and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"L.B.: Rayford "Mary Sue" Steele\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The realm of "fan fiction" is one of the few places one can turn to reliably find prose as awful and implausible as the writing of Timothy LaHaye and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-03-23T08:43:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-10-17T22:20:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/\",\"name\":\"L.B.: Rayford \\\"Mary Sue\\\" Steele\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-03-23T08:43:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-17T22:20:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"The realm of \\\"fan fiction\\\" is one of the few places one can turn to reliably find prose as awful and implausible as the writing of Timothy LaHaye and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/03\/23\/lb-rayford-mary-sue-steele\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"L.B.: Rayford “Mary Sue” Steele\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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