I think I spent my whole childhood diving out of haylofts with my BB gun and coming out shooting.
Kids have always play-fought, but I think my generation had a particularly privileged cultural fantasy surrounding military violence.
We make dream fights all the time.
For me alone Don Quixote was born and I for him. His was the power of action, mine of writing.
Children play soldier. That makes sense. But why do soldiers play children?
The war imbued my tin soldiers with quite a new interest. It was impossible to have boxes enough of them.
I grew up playing war. We threw dirt and rocks at each other. We'd lead attacks. We'd break up into squads. It became a neighborhood thing for a while, our neighborhood against the other neighborhood. There was always a war breaking out somewhere.
I spent a good amount of my time - like a lot of guys my age - obsessing and blowing things up with G.I. Joes. I know it well.
I'd have all these crazy sort of 'who would win battles' with my friends who were big fans of other comic book characters, and I'd always find a way for Batman to win. It was deep for me, man.
My son loves swords and shields and dragons.
Children's books are full of violence.
