I think we are all wasting our time and our words on ready now. He is just not going to change his opinion and it really is like talking to a brick.
For all those who really are interested, I once asked a teacher of mine in sem what was her position on literature (her being well-read and also a writer), as I have always enjoyed writing, yet it is difficult for someone with a wide reading background to break into the Jewish literature market since my English is too good for them and also there are really only three main storylines that are used (shidduch, someone off the derech or finding out they are Jewish, or the holocaust).
She told me: it doesn’t have to be set in a Jewish community, or have protagonists with Jewish names to be a kosher novel. It just needs to follow basic Jewish values and not have Apikorsus. Let me define ‘Apikorsus’ – this means that if it speaks of so called other gods (plural) and this can be taken seriously by the reader, or if the author is trying to put his own atheistic views heavily into the storyline (think Dark Materials trilogy) then it is Apikorsus. If there is only a single deity ever referred to in the story (whether it is called Hashem or God or something else) then it is acceptable. Monotheism doesn’t care what name you call it, as long as it is recognised as being only One, Who created everything.
Magic and the likes: Rabbi YY Rubinstein has an excellent shiur called ‘Harry Potter and Torah’. The fact is that many people today don’t realise that magic exists, and is forbidden to us. That does not mean we should not read stories about it – as long as the magic involved does not come with paganism or Apikorsus added into the story. In many fantasy stories (including Lord of the Rings) magic is merely an ability that some people have and most of them are trying to use it for the good. Referring to above example, there are no pagan rituals involved in the using of Gandalf’s magic, no animal sacrifices or dances round a fire. He simply waves his staff. Also in Harry Potter (what on earth is Hairy Porter? – Never heard of that book!) they wave their wands and say a few words, which by the way have been taken from Latin. There is no connection between the magic portrayed in these books and the black, pagan magic that is forbidden to us. I doubt anything would happen if I took a bit of wood, waved it and said ‘wingardium leviosa’.
Food for thought…