As I have previously written here, I am biracial. One parent is European descent while the other is of African descent. When I was born, I was the first biracial child many had ever seen. Thankfully, it was just the start of a trend, so these days plenty are around for people to notice us.
This morning, I noticed several different book series all with protagonists who are of mixed blood. One even has a character who is half human and half dragon, which ought to be interesting for the parents to explain conception. (For the D&D nerds out there, in AD&D 2nd Edition some dragons could transform into human shape, which is how half-dragons became a thing. I had a few NPCs as a DM who were half-dragons.)
Pretty consistently these half-blood characters found rejection in larger society in not fitting one race or the other. Society wants them to choose. Really, it is a false choice as the characters, like I did, find honoring both is the only real viable path. Rejection of one or the other just leads to painful experiences. The reality is I am neither white nor black and can never be either. So I will always be something in-between. That’s OK.
Well, that’s what I have to explain to some people.
Anyway, fantasy and science fiction novels were a great source of reading about half-anything. Some of my favorites:
- Spock from Star Trek who was half-human and half-vulcan.
- Tanis from Dragonlance who was half-human and half-elf.
- Smash from Xanth who was half-human and half-ogre.
Maybe with these new books I can find a few new favorites.
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