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Footnote and exculpatory aside: The first

Some of us enjoy a good supernatural or paranormal thriller, laced with (pseudo-)religious or mystical or conspiratorial overtones, or with major chunks of science fiction. I do, for several reasons. They are entertaining, diverting, and (occasionally) mind-stretching. But it is fiction -- story-telling and movie-making. Perhaps based on a true story (feel free to cringe here), or containing factoids and serendipitous circumstance -- but nonetheless, clearly fiction. Stretching one's mind and experience does not automatically leave the residue of belief. But stretch marks? ... who knows?

One of the enduring fascinations with fantasy is the persistent, niggling wish "that if" -- but the borders between reality and fiction are (usually) clearly delineated, even if those between belief and fiction occasionally less so. One does not have to think (or believe: substitute your least favorite verb) that earth is being visited by aliens, to enjoy the story of a stranded humanoid befriending a human child. One does not have to believe (or think: substitute your most favorite verb) that convoluted and secret Templar and Masonic conspiracies rooted in dim history really exist and are based on factual events, to enjoy a novel by Umberto Eco or Katherine Kurtz (probably one of the few times those two authors are linked in a single sentence!). It's entertainment, word-play, story-telling, and movie-making -- a cultural art form, not a scientific research endeavor.

Know the difference.

And enjoy.

Greg Paris, 13-Apr-2002