I'm guessing when you have to beg your cohorts not to celebrate the assassination of a political foe, you're losing the argument.

‘Snowplow Parents’ Overreact to Angel Studios’ New Family Horror-Comedy Childhood is full of horrors. Which is why the horror genre is full of children. Films like It, the Babadook, The Sixth Sense, Poltergeist, and many more, all feature children grappling with real, …

mikeduranauthor

The backlash to Angel Studios' latest "family film," Sketch, provides a unique window into contemporary Christian art and evangelical culture.

www.mikeduran.com/2025/08/30/s...

Bluesky: The Online Cone of Silence Do you Bluesky? If you are a COMMENTARY reader, the odds that you’re also a user of the alternative social-media site are slim. Bluesky began as an experimental side project

@bsky.app Where Leftists go to "kettle."

www.commentary.org/articles/jam...

The Dangers of Christian Mysticism This summer, at a writer’s conference I attended, popular Christian author Ted Dekker described himself as a “Christian mystic.” During that weekend, both in public sessions and p…

While the Bible frames a world steeped in mystery, it also describes a world where said mystery can become a doorway to deception and damnation.

The Dangers of Christian Mysticism www.mikeduran.com/2017/11/27/t...

Is Donovan’s ‘Hurdy Gurdy Man’ about the Antichrist? It’s a question that could only be borne out of some paranoid evangelical fever dream. Which it partly was. I graduated high school in 1976. The 60’s counter-culture movement was windin…

A deep dive into a rather peculiar subject. rockmusic #hinduism #LSD #occultism #HurdyGurdyMan #jimmypage #Donovan

www.mikeduran.com/2025/03/08/i...

Rhetorica Christiana

Fun announcement! This Fall I'll be the guest presenter at the Rhetorica Christiana forum at William Carey University. Been invited to talk about "Christians & Conspiracy Theories." (Also I may host a separate session on "Christian Horror.") Stay tuned!

www.wmcarey.edu/arts-and-let...

Last night I had a dream that Reagan Moon encountered a one-legged prostitute. She helped him and somehow he helped her out of the trade and back into normal life. I woke up wondering what the woman's name was and how I could fit her into my WIP. #writerproblems

Top 35 Social Media Platforms (September 2024) Stay up-to-date with our curated list of the top social media networks, updated regularly.

Remember all that buzz about @bsky.app surpassing X? Well recent data reveals that the app does not even appear in the top 35 social media platform.

explodingtopics.com/blog/top-soc...

How Should Christian Novelists Portray LGBTQ+ Characters in Their Stories? LGBTQ+ characters in film and novels have skyrocketed over the last several decades. Some of this is simply representative of a growing cultural acceptance of gay lifestyles. However, part of this …

Tackling an incredibly sticky subject.

How Should Christian Novelists Portray LGBTQ+ Characters in Their Stories? www.mikeduran.com/2025/02/05/h...

Writing the “Other” or Writing “Us” In Storytelling, Portraying Universal Human Experience is Superior to Emphasizing Identity Particulars My first novel featured a female protagonist. Being that my then writing group consisted mainl…

"Standpoint Theory" is a flawed paradigm for writers. Scripture affirms diversity, but never at the expense of Universal Truths. Individual experiences drive us to universal truths. For it’s these truths that bring meaning to our individual experiences.

www.mikeduran.com/2021/07/20/w...

"Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it." -- Blaise Pascal, Pensees

Exploring Christian Horror with Mike Duran: Faith, Fiction, and Fear YouTube video by Michael Tolosa

Had a fun podcast interview with @michaeltolosa concerning Christians and the Horror genre. Anyone who subscribes to his free blog is entered into a chance to win an autographed paperback copy of my book "Christian Horror." #horror
#HorrorMovies

youtu.be/hG4wcPjNhWU?...

The Battle Hymn of the Republic (sung at Trump's inauguration):

"In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on."

Wow.

Although I don't label my stories as "Christian," my novelette "Requiem IV" may contain one of the most forthright "Christian" messages in any of my fiction. It's a futuristic military sci-fi that will be available for 99 cents in Kindle this weekend.

bit.ly/4g3fZao

Courtesy of the tolerant folks at @bsky.app

Christian Horror (2nd Edition): On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre Amazon.com: Christian Horror (2nd Edition): On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre (Audible Audio Edition): Mike Duran, Randy Streu, Blue Crescent Press: Audible Books & Originals

"Christian Horror: On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre" is now available on audiobook. #horror #horrormovies #christianhorror #audiobook

amzn.to/3C6VP1A

Against Echo Chambers (or How to Curate Ideological Diversity on Your Social Media) The re-election of Donald Trump was a national trigger for many Americans. Days after the election, Washington, D.C. Pittsburgh, New York City, Portland, and Seattle saw hundreds to thousands of pr…

Echo chambers can perpetuate emotional fragility, an inaccurate view of reality, and reinforce misinformation and confirmation bias. B/c of this echo chambers require vigilant content screening, enforcement, and enforcers.

www.mikeduran.com/2024/11/26/a...

CHD.TV Exclusive With Brett Weinstein From the COVID Roundtable Bret Weinstein has a striking message for viewers on CHD.TV: “They are sabotaging all of the mechanisms that we would normally use to figure out what’s true.” He joins Mary Holland, reporting in at th

"Our regulatory agencies work exactly in reverse. They protect regulators from from citizens, not the other way around."

rumble.com/v4hsxft-chd....

Religious Themes in Horror Films 2024 Religion continues to be a prevalent thematic element of many contemporary horror films. 2024 was no exception. There are many possible reasons for the intersection of horror and religion, which I …

As usual, religion was a recurring theme in horror films this year. Here's a brief look at some of those films.

www.mikeduran.com/2024/12/27/r...

Go figger.

The "Disney Gospel" veers from the biblical Gospel in significant ways. One is its absence of human depravity. Rather than repentance of pride, self-righteousness, or self-reliance, the Disney Gospel frames the soul as inherently good, and its redemptive efforts as noble.

House Report Finds (Nearly) Every COVID-19 ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Was True A House subcommittee's report reveals shocking truths about COVID-19 policies long branded as "conspiracy theories."

The most thorough report ever released on America’s reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic has concluded that virtually everything that would have gotten you banned from social media for spreading “misinformation” was true.

www.dailysignal.com/2024/12/06/c...

Ridiculous overreach by RNS once again. Everything must be filtered through identity politics and Trump Derangement Syndrome.

6 am in the Crow's Nest sailing into Mexico. Hoping to get some decent writing time in the next week or so. #amwriting

The offending quote.

Welp. That didn't take long. lol

More Bluesky civility and vibes.

Grand Canyon University Wins Appeal Over Nonprofit Status Grand Canyon University, the largest Christian university in the country, has won its case pertaining to its nonprofit status at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The court ruled on N...

Great to see.
religionunplugged.com/news/2024/11...

Against Echo Chambers (or How to Curate Ideological Diversity on Your Social Media) The re-election of Donald Trump was a national trigger for many Americans. Days after the election, Washington, D.C. Pittsburgh, New York City, Portland, and Seattle saw hundreds to thousands of pr…

The liberal migration from X to Bluesky is evidence of a growing polarization and dangerously cultish filter bubble.

www.mikeduran.com/2024/11/26/a...

Apparently I've already made a blocklist.