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devandahlcourte-work-in-progress · 2 years

Text

Section 22. 3 chapters, ending with chapter 82

I am reposting these first eighty-two chapters (in 22 sections) plus the prologue and the preface.

These posts will be the updated versions from my DeviantArt account, and since Tumblr may not display all the text correctly (it destroys anything I had in italics or underlined) I would still recommend reading everything there, on DeviantArt. They will also include internal links that navigate between the chapters on DeviantArt and will take the reader off Tumblr if clicked.

This came about because I noticed search engines were finding random sections of my book and displaying them along with some other people’s blog posts.

Okay, so that’s why I installed those internal links in each one… so that if anyone gets to a random section by way of a search engine and would like to read the story from the beginning, they can.

Only then did I realize that it wasn’t getting it’s search results from DeviantArt, but from old Tumblr.

There’s another problem at work here besides unrefined searches…

There is a new species of virus on the internet that likes to eat ancient Tumblr posts and barf them back up infested with adware - spyware - malware etc. The virus goes by names like TumGIR, TumBIG, TumPIK, or Tum(anything else but ‘blr’). The caps were added by me for emphasis so that maybe you can double check in case you’re not looking at an actual Tumblr post right now but one of these so-called “mirror” sites.

If you’re looking at this text through one of the counterfeit Tumblrs that I mentioned, then no link you click (assuming it even copies it with my links intact) will take you out; it will redirect you and show you all of the spam ads it wants to. So read carefully what url is showing on your browser right now.

If it is one of the untrustworthy ones I would suggest closing your browser window and doing whatever else you normally would in order to reset settings.

As far as my science fiction novel entitled “If And Only If,” the safest way to find it is by going to my Instagram:

@michelle.de.vandahlcourte

From there you can click on the link in my bio. It will take you to the beginning of the story on DeviantArt… the safe one! No malware.

P.S. None of this is Tumblr’s fault! It’s the malware/adware/spyware developers who are stealing people’s tumblr posts.

The actual content of this page appears below here👇

Section 22. 3 chapters, ending with chapter 82

↩️return to previous section, section 21

↩️↩️…and if you arrived here because of a search engine and you would like to read this story from the beginning, click here.

Madhvi

The girl caught her eye not so much because of her physical appearance, but just because of a demeanor that said she was in charge. The business suit helped though, she supposed. Only after a few minutes of shuffling around and trying to calm people down, as well as encouraging small groups of them to board the VSTOL-type aircraft, did Madhvi get close enough for a look at her face. And in fairness she felt that she should classify her as “woman,”not “girl.”

The experience was obviously important enough to record. She had one of her old deactivated phones and was running the audio recording app. Hopefully it wouldn’t screw up too badly and she could later make sense of it. In nail polish last week, she’d carefully painted on the back: $5000 reward if found, along with a current phone number & email for her and for one other friend who wasn’t in attendance at the Stalko-Taco conjuration of course.

If what she thought was about to happen did happen, this might be her only hope of “remembering” any of the experience.

So right away, photos, video, and an audio recording of the basics. And next...

“Woman like one of us” she realized.

And “Women like us” may tend to look like kids from a distance – just due to our smaller stature – for those of us who are smaller, and when standing next to large Americans. Average for our women was 152.6 cm and for men 164.9 cm, depending on which source you believed. So just a smidgen over 5 foot zero for the average woman. But did that extend to American-born (like her) Hindustani people with Indian expatriate parents living here? In other words how much was environment versus how much was inherited?

She caught her mind doing that measuring and categorizing mentality thing again and made an effort to purge it as she walked, also getting control of her breathing. The situation was curious. She was so thoroughly convinced that it absolutely positively had to be “The Government” doing this. But a young, barely college-aged woman, whom she could now be sure was somehow from the subcontinent? Her whole presence just screamed “not U.S. Government!”

It was VTOL and not just VSTOL, she observed as the thing took off straight up with no runway whatsoever – a white European dude who could have been Italian or related to Borat, but one who also looked like a casually dressed teenager, was piloting the thing. It reminded her of the Draconian Marauder from the late 1970s Buck Rogers.

The two who stayed behind with her also looked younger – like early to mid 20’s at most. She continued to catalog them: A South Asian man who reminded her of her physics lab TA back in San Luis Obispo, and the other a WASP-ish, short-haired male who could’ve passed for an establishment or government agent-type were it not for the outrageously short shorts he was modeling.

No heterosexual male in America since the days of Three’s Company, she was pretty sure, would choose to be sporting this look in public. And even if a gay government agent were starting out in the service, no way would the current (hopefully soon to be outgoing) administration leaders have allowed such a choice as work attire.

The “screaming we’re not with the government” thing could all be an act. They call it “undercover” work for a reason, Madhvi, she thought to herself as she finally dropped her zip-lock-bagged old phone into a crevice between some big tree roots.

Something about her opinion of government intelligence in general, though, just said “no way!” There is no way a bunch of left-brained code monkeys from NSA, charged with coming up with good undercover looks could pull off “hip young university students“ with this level of success. Rather she thought the result might be, at best, Anthony LaPaglia as “an undercover cop tryin’ to look hip.”

That, and her intuitive radar just told her to trust them. Especially the Hindustani woman. As she at last closed the distance, the girl... um, woman, looked so familiar. “Got it!” She recollected. “When we went to visit family in Philadelphia.” A second cousin on her mother’s father’s side. The mnemonic floating to the surface: a businesswoman feeding papers into an office shredder. Shred. Shrada. No, Shraddha! That was it; Shraddha. She’d only met Shraddha briefly during that week. This one was truly a dead ringer for Cousin Shraddha.

But it couldn’t possibly be her; her cousin had been in grad school in physics and already had chosen her specialty area within astrophysics when Madhvi was 12. If it was her, then maybe she’d met some aliens through the SETI program who’d provided her with a fountain of youth. But seriously there’s no way. This girl looks a few years younger than me she mused. It wouldn’t be her.

Time to introduce herself: “Madhvi,”

The woman’s shocked expression stopped Madhvi as she extended her arm for a proper handshake, and then it was her turn to be shocked: by the response that business-suit woman managed to stammer out.

ℏ♄

“It’s their own fault they’re in a loop. If they had gone straight back to the Puget Sound area to take care of business like they were supposed to, they wouldn’t be stuck. Furthermore,” the liaison officer droned on – how in the hell could a short being like him look up at her and adopt a condescending manner?

She wondered.

Moreover, he was just plain wrong; they weren’t necessarily “supposed to.” He was twisting the wording of regulations to make it seem like Prajina’s decision to go help Eric and Padmanabhan first was a violation of some procedure.

“...they are immortal as long as they are in that loop. There is no particular hurry; so relax,” he continued talking down to her as if she was a child. “We can literally take forever to mount our rescue operation and they’ll still end up back home, safe and sound, in whatever universe they want at whatever time they like.”

The captain felt it extremely difficult to avoid exploding in laughter. Few beings who were not from her empire of worlds had ever heard a member of her species laugh. Most who did found it terrifying and usually thought they were under some kind of attack.

She barely kept herself composed as she continued imagining him saying something like “good nyborg!”

The humans who drew that cartoon had unknowingly managed to do an uncanny rendering of the liaison official. Pudgy. Purple. Lumpy. Nose and ear tubules that were extendable, etc. She also resisted the temptations to tell him to go “snort” some more nyborg or anything to that effect.

After making it to the lift, and waiting until she was down to about the one-hundred-fifty-somethingth floor, she let loose her pent-up laughter and with that some of her stress. The humans’ art and literature and cinema was really starting to entertain her more and more these days. One reason the member species of the amphictiony had yet to appreciate much of their art was that they failed to comprehend how the human emotions worked. She was only a tad closer than her fellow citizens were to such a comprehension. And though the humans were perhaps a bit closer still, even they didn’t usually understand themselves. Which, in turn, factored into their art.

Going over Nyborg-Dude’s head would require contact with possibly two committees – only one of which contained a member of her own species. Even so, while telepathy with that being would be possible and make communications simpler, it didn’t guarantee anything. Since it wouldn’t be possible for either committee to get everyone needed for a quorum and thus to convene – not for another two thaumas cycles – and since she didn’t feel like sulking idly in her quarters…

A diversion through the office complex led her to Barney. The ICL lab could do probably the closest thing that existed to what ancient humans thought “divination” was supposed to be. They could in fact accurately foretell “the” future (stifling a mild urge to laugh again, she thought to her self how delightfully simple their worldview could be – as if there was only one “future”). Barney was in charge here. So while several other employees looked up from the work, they saw him escorting ℏ♄ through the lab complex and thought nothing of it. There wasn’t anything wrong with her looking into possible future outcomes. It was just unusual for a police captain to be doing it herself since it was more of a job for administrators.

She had previously told him of his resemblance to the Earth-kid’s-show character called “Barney.” Although he didn’t have the body of a dinosaur from mid-thorax on down, he understood what she was seeing. ɚ໘ᚣ፮ၕ, (name unpronounceable, even by ℏ♄) was used to going by nicknames since most beings massacred his real one, and had a sense of humor about the Barney thing.

Furthermore, his native language was very tonal and inflected. Even otherwise intelligent beings who would make an honest effort to read and pronounce all the characters would invariably get it wrong. Their mispronunciations, at best, might’ve sounded like they were making fun of the way he dressed; at worst it could sound like they were calling him some kind of creepy pervert. For the record, his name in fact translated roughly as: “stand-up guy who has always got your back,” and had been seeing a resurgence of popularity for baby boy names in their society for the last several millennia.

He also thought it was nice that the Barney character was sweet and lovable. ICL section-chief-Barney, as a being who had an actual dinosaur head, complete with dinosaur mouth – featuring a combined total of four meters of sharp teeth – as well as retractable claws that could rip through many types of metal, was accustomed to being thought of as a fearsome, violent creature. Other citizens secretly worried that he and others from his civilization could bite smaller beings’ heads clean off. This was an unfair stereotype of course.

Perhaps having people watch a loving, happy character who looked like one of his own kind would alleviate their preconceived notions. “We are civilized just like the rest of you now. We don’t go around biting heads off of and ripping sentient beings apart. Anymore. All that often…” he’d joked with ℏ♄ in their youth.

Although, upon seeing the Earth-kid’s show, he insisted that the dude more closely resembled his daredevil older brother ໘ᚣ፮໑ꏃ who rode with a plasma-jet-cycle gang back home and was always jumping over wampano bampos or some other crazy dangerous stunt. Since ℏ♄ had never been to his home world or even to his galaxy, she carefully examined the home video he was trying to show her – immediately seeing why the crowd of Barney-like beings was going wild and cheering Brother Knievel on.

Looking back it was to be the last time that day, or for several t-f periods thereafter, that she would honestly feel good about anything.

The “videos” disturbed her profoundly. Not the ones of Barney’s motorcycle stunt man daredevil brother who supposedly looked even more like Barney than Barney, but the ones from the “PC” department. Barney, the local supervisor of this precinct’s Probability Continuum Department, had done his sincere best to show her the whole subset of outcomes that get Prajina and friends out of the time loop they were currently stuck in.

And as she scrolled down to the outcomes that were, maybe, not so bad… she could see that the probabilities we’re becoming small enough as to be irrelevant. Just as the thought was solidifying in her mind: “Someone. Is. Going. To – – ” Barney interrupted with a look of... amazement? If it were possible for a member of a species with a dinosaur-head to look amazed, he certainly pulled it off.

“I am authorized to show you this, control freak, as it does not create a paradox that will influence anyone but possibly you. And damn! You should see the way you’re going to handle yourself when you speak in front of the Dimension and Energy committee next thaumas.” He grinned amiably while calling her “control freak” so as not to offend her. But she wouldn’t have minded anyway since they had known each other since their academy days – plus, he had taken her side in all of the incidents in question.

Of course she agreed that she’d like to watch herself address, and to some extent debate with the D&E committee members in the near future. She’d opted to wear her dress-magentas and not a regular uniform for that session; curious, since she’d left hers at home – leading her to wonder how she would go about getting… Never mind, she thought. Her speech was truly riveting as Barney had promised.

Her blood began to boil as she noted the laid-back indifference of some committee members. Barney asked if she would have liked the thermostat set lower and she immediately noticed the polymer sanitation bag starting to shrink and wrinkle up next to his desk. She’d failed to keep track of the effects of all the steam coming off of her body, and at once performed a quick meditation exercise which her family doctor back home had taught her to get her blood temperature down below the boiling point of water, to roughly what Prajina would’ve ejoyed for “coffee.”

Right as the “unauthorized future projections” warning timer came on, she watched herself finish: “The humans have an organization among them that adheres to a very important rule: You Never Leave A Man Behind. This committee could Learn something from those ‘simple creatures’ whom you so easily dismiss!” As she abruptly stood up to punctuate her last remark, her chair went toppling over in one direction while she stormed out of the conference hall in the opposite direction. These beings were neither in her chain of command nor in any positions of authority to influence the Temporal Constabulary, so they couldn’t really do much but gasp by the various mechanisms that their respiratory tracts allowed.

The unauthorized future projections timer ended and Barney’s screen went blank; evidently no one was allowed to see ℏ♄’s actions after she angrily stomped out of this meeting. She already had a pretty good idea what she would do. For Barney’s protection she mislead him a bit and said she’d be back the morning after the meeting to see if any more developments were available. She couldn’t let him get wind of what she’d really be up to organizing – because that daredevil streak his brother had also ran through him and he would want to help. That would make him an accessory and likely a co-conspirator.

Her next lift ride from PC analysis back to her room and the bachelor officers living quarters did not and could not include any laughter as she silently contemplated their possible fates. She kept her most serious demeanor, which those who worked with her would merely read as ℏ♄ going about her business. But inside, something else was building up.

“The” future. In their cinema a character called Lord Elrond tells his daughter “that future is almost gone now” when she asks about her potential child that she might have. This suggests some understanding of the time-tree; an attitude the deviates somewhat from their usual linear time perception. And the wise human Richard Linklater also outlined such a tree-like theory of time at the beginning of Slacker while talking to an unresponsive cab driver. So they were starting to comprehend.

Now it was as if a massive branch of the time-tree was being cut off and fed into a wood chipper. These ᢈᯒၔ᎘, or darkworlders as some humans called them, had a profound understanding of the continuum. They were particularly nasty adversaries, but they could, and would, be defeated. At a tremendous cost though.

Once in the billeting wing, she passed the room of the one other being of her species who was currently on base – a childhood friend whom she had known since they were at applied astrophysics camp together – without stopping in to say hello as she normally would. This feeling was overpowering her and chatting with ६ಌ⟂Ə (or “Jingles” as she was affectionately known around the 517th precinct) was going to have to wait.

Back in her quarters ℏ♄ replayed what Barney had shown her in the lab, analyzed everything with all her logical abilities, and came to the same unmistakable conclusion. All at once she started to make a sound which no other being who was not of her World had ever heard before. Much later on, when Barney time traveled to Earth’s past to help a skater kid named Keith, the kid remarked on seeing and hearing “the video” (actually an image that Barney placed in his mind telepathically) just how much it sounded like the end of Yngwie’s long intro to “Hot on Your Heels” from about 2:55 to 3:33. Barney then listened and agreed. For all the species present that night however, who had never had the pleasure of hearing Yngwie’s music, it was one of the most bizarre sounds they’d ever recall and would remain inexplicable for several more centuries.

Only her old friend Jingles reacted immediately: dropping what she was doing, darting across the hall, and entering ℏ♄’s quarters without knocking… To see why her friend was crying!

Hadar

“It sounds like kind of a generalized name for a doll that talks” she ventured politely while avoiding the word generic and hoping not to hurt her hig- her priestess’s feelings. “You were a kid when you came up with the name Voxdol?”

Her priestess carefully finished wrapping the deck in it’s special consecrated cloth that was only set on the table for readings, “I was 13,” Amber more or less absentmindedly replied “and obtained her name through a thing that I used to call scry-writing.” She was now lowering the wrapped deck into its box. Hadar had searched for one like it at all the head shops where Amber thought she might’ve gotten the thing – an engraved wooden box with an intricate carving on its lid of a standard-looking Rider-Waite-ish Lovers tarot card. There was nothing standard about that deck she kept in it though.

She had a pretty good idea of what Amber meant by scry-writing: get in a trance-like or meditative state, take a pen and paper, and without looking – let your hand(s) randomly make shapes. Ouija boards actually started out as a supposed advancement over a technique like this wherein the planchette contained a writing implement and the user’s hands would be guided over a paper. Then Amber surprised her: an intro-level book on Enochian that got mixed reviews in the comparatively small community of Enochian adepts, and one which Hadar hadn’t thought it necessary to bother with. Amber opened it right up to the page with the name of the angelic being.

“Oh, okay. The Earth-of-Fire Angel of the Calvary Cross.” Hadar knew that the letters didn’t have to be in order to represent (spell out) the name of the angelic beings in Enochian. So she thought she’d invoked VOLXDO.

“Yes Amber, you can re-order the letters. And on top of that, as long as you’re transliterating it into English and not pronouncing them in Enochian with corresponding vibrations, there should be no unintentional manifestations of anything.” Yes, Hadar reflected, the order didn’t matter as much. The gematria counted for a lot more. Supposedly John Dee and associates had deliberately scrambled some of the spellings to avoid accidental invocations. She always thought that was dubious.

But to conjure up a being like He Whose Name Is Annihilation, by accident? Rather, since Amber believed in assigning female gender only to all of the Enochian hierarchy in her peculiar practice, it was “She Whose Name Is Annihilation.” Whatever. The question of what gender they were may likely be as a irrelevant as going down a list of Spanish conquistadors and asking what was each dude’s favorite breakfast cereal. It seemed unlikely – the accidental conjuration thing. However, what had Timothy Ferris said in The Creation of the Universe about vacuum genesis? It’s not very likely, but then it only had to happen once.

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“We are astral projecting! The entire Crannog!”

I’d only rarely heard that level of excitement from Ambe. This was bordering on glee. The things she saw gazing into cards rarely made sense the first time around to everyone else. After extensive explanation they would start to get it.

And it was unusual for Amber to use the tarot cards for divination; something that they considered to be a base or mundane use. The invocations were more important to them - the manifestations and outright spellcasting using the cards. For the most part she regarded the cards as magical instruments for making things happen, not as some kind of portal for viewing what might happen.

This reading was different. Ambraluxia had felt compelled to do divination in the early evening prior to their observance of this esbat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Getting her thoughts onto paper. Or into a text file, better yet. Of course that was the problem that every creative had. “I think you may have something like ADHD, like Keith, but undiagnosed. Did you ever think about seeing a doctor and asking them?”

Hadar didn’t feel as much like she was walking on eggshells anymore with Amber. Obama was getting inaugurated again and everyone was taking time off to watch – she reflected that they had first met after Obama inauguration number one. Wow, she thought, it’s really been four years! Back then she would’ve worried about offending Amber; people throw around terms like ADHD in an unprofessional way, along with OCD, almost jokingly. As she predicted the Amber of right now was not offended and simply answered that she didn’t want to be put on drugs that would stifle her creativity.

Evidently she thought the ADHD drugs would cause her to go the way of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. Hadar made a note to herself to look it up; she was pretty sure they didn’t work that way. The white elephant in the room that both were reluctant to talk about was rape of course. Amber really should have gone to college. The rape and all the ensuing chaos in her life had kind of stalled her. As a rape survivor herself, Hadar would not say anything to that effect- they both got enough of that from their families, friends, and even coworkers and casual acquaintances who had found out. The “snap out of it” crap. The “get over it” crap. The “time to move on” crap. Did people not understand that, over time when PTSD is left untreated, it gets worse not better?

She could’ve done well as a creative writing major. Or technical writing if she wanted. It was still possible some day; perhaps some online courses? Maybe starting out at some community colleges. Maybe a combination of both, just to get the ball rolling, rather than jump right into the circus of a bachelors-degree-granting institution or so-called four-year college, which Hadar knew would be too overwhelming for her.

Amber had so many brilliant ideas... Innovative ones.. but needed to get better at expressing herself. So that’s what Hadar was trying to be: college. She was trying to be Amber’s substitute for college.

Well, to that end, she read her synopsis of the notes she took on “Does Astrology Work?”

To paraphrase from that beautiful mind movie she led with “you realize this flies in the face of not only science but a few hundred years of thinking by learned astrologers?”

“I hope so,” was all Amber said, smiling wryly.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The next section will be posted later this year. Thanks for reading this far!

If And Only If

by Michelle Viviénne de Vandahlcourte

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

First Edition. © December 16, 2015.

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heywriters · 2 years

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What's your thoughts on New Weird fiction? And do you have any advice on how to write in that genre?

(If the second answer is against your ask policy, it's alright if you only answer the first one. Thank you.)

"New Weird"?

Didn't know that term, so I had to look it up. Turns out, that's the genre of one of my favorite book series, The Southern Reach Trilogy!

It's like nightmare fiction. Trippy, angsty, which-way-is-up fiction. I could not put the first book, Annihilation, down. When I did, my brain was messed up, I felt abnormal and unsafe, convinced my reality was actually crawling with strangely hostile energy. It was awesome. However, I would have to prepare for the melancholic anxiety it put me through if I chose to read it all again.

I know it's "new" but tons of old weird stuff is coming to mind now. First, stuff from the '60s my mother would describe as "nightmarish" or "you had to be high to enjoy it." Then the grim nightmare of Metamorphosis by Kaftka, the opium-addled adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Can I throw "Miss Peregrine's Home..." into the new weird pile? It is perhaps more fantasy than new weird, but it's also more horror/freak-show than magical. Plus, I loved the first book and my tastes are apparently quite weird.

There are so many movies I'd label new weird too, like Jupiter Ascending. So much stuff I can classify now!

Advice for Writing New Weird

It's described as a genre that flips science fiction and fantasy tropes on their heads, sometimes satirically. From that, I say be a reader of spec fic first. Know your tropes so you can twist them into terrifying and absurd shapes. Be willing to commit to the most ridiculous, strange ideas that come to mind. Then take them seriously (or ridiculously).

Be comfortable with discomfort. New weird is often dark and disconcerting. Establish an air of eeriness that will have no rational solution. Unlike horror and thriller where we know we will see the monster at the end or that the trauma will be resolved, new weird stays weird and rarely supplies a come-down. If anxiety is something you struggle with, have ways to come down yourself after each writing session.

New weird stories do not need to explain why they are weird. They use logic sparingly to suspend disbelief in places where reality must be hyperreal to contrast the dreaminess that will follow. Places that hold the story and theme together may need a semblance of stability and relatability to the reader, but mostly the point is that there is no logic, at least not a familiar one. Logic in new weird is entirely up to the author, like their own private language. The reader has to accept that there may never be a satisfying resolution, and be satisfied with open endings and unexplained phenomena.

Emotional catharsis is in high demand. At least, that's what I enjoy about new weird. Experiencing intense, galaxy-brain-meme levels of emotion seems to be a thing for new weird characters. Describing those emotions and what causes them may be difficult for some writers, or great inner exploration for others. When logic, reality, and other factors normally used to tether readers to a story/character are missing, emotion becomes the most relatable tool a writer can employ.

There are worse things than death. Characters in new weird typically go through bizarre transformations, horrifying circumstances, and mind-altering states. The question is often asked, "Is it worse to fall asleep in death, or to live forever as a lonely, deformed monster with warped memories of being human?" and the answer is always "Deformed monster of loneliness! With tentacle wings! And a drinking problem! And distant memories of a happier life where they were a human mother! And those aren't even their memories!" (Now I'm thinking of Lily from Fallout: New Vegas and it's making me sad).

TL;DR --- Be prepared for anxiety and chaos and strong emotions. Stick to a storyline, please, but overall go where the weird takes you.

—

+ Please review my pinned Ask Policy before sending in your ask. Thank you.

+ I'm moving to another state and the process is taking up all my time and money 😥. If you'd be so kind as to Buy Me a Coffee on ko-fi, I'd really, genuinely appreciate it. Trying my best to stay on top of this blog, but might need to take a break for a while...

#writing #writeblr #writing tips #genre #new weird #creative writing #writing blog #writing advice #writing help #spec fic #nanowrimo #writer help #answer #writing question

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shezzaspeare · 4 years

Text

Pilot/Episode 1: Patching Things Up With Pastiche & Fanfiction

Hi, hello, and the wait is finally over! My name is Blessie, and welcome to the first episode webisode log installation I've decided to call these things an episode for now because why not also let me know what do you actually call these things episode of The Science of Fanfiction, where we take a closer look into our beloved works of fanon because we've all got plenty of time to spare till Season 5. Before I continue, I would like to thank everyone who's liked and reblogged the last few posts before this one. It means a lot for a small and growing Tumblr user like me, and your support is something I cherish more than my modules. You guys rock!

Anyways, like with most things, we have to talk about the boring and bland stuff before we proceed with the fun stuff. For today, we are going to settle the difference between a couple of things: first being the confusion between pastiche and fanfiction; then the distinctions between tropes, clichés, and stereotypes, which we'll tackle the next time. It's important for us to establish their true meanings in order for us to really understand what fanfiction truly is, even if it's merely just a work done for the fandom. I know – it's boring, it's something that shouldn't be expounded that much, but I believe that all forms of writing (unless it's plagiarised) is a work of art — and fanfiction is not something we always talk about. I hope that by the end of this, you'll learn about what they really are as much as I did. Let's begin to talk about the—

[Image ID: A flashback of John (left) and Sherlock (right) finding an elephant (not in the screen) in a room in The Sign of Three. End ID]

. . . I did say that this GIF will always have to make an appearance here, didn't I?

So, just as with Sherlock Holmes, all other works of fiction have their own pastiches and fanfiction, and many more original works out there have taken inspiration from them to create their own books. Although they've gained popular attention, this will not be possible if they did not have taken inspiration from the materials their writers had at the time.

[Image ID: Various actors as Dracula. Jeremy Brett in 'Dracula' (1978) (upper left), Adam Sandler in a voice role for 'Hotel Transylvania' (2012) (upper right), Gary Oldman in 'Dracula' (1992) (lower left), and Bela Lugosi in 'Dracula' (1933) (lower right). End ID]

For instance, Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' (the second most adapted literary character, next to the consulting detective himself) has been portrayed on the screen over 200 times — from Gary Oldman to Adam Sandler — and has spawned off numerous books and pastiches of its own such as Stephen King's 'Salem's Lot'. Its cultural impact served as a basis of how we see vampires today, since some characteristics of the Count were made by Stoker himself. Stoker's creation is the brainchild of his predecessors and inspirations.

[Image ID: Vlad the Impaler (left) and a book cover of 'Carmilla' by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (right). End ID]

Other than the ongoing hysteria over dead back then and the existing vampire folklore, Stoker also took his inspirations from the published books on vampires he had at hand. He is said to have taken inspiration from Vlad the Impaler, a Romanian national hero known allegedly for having impalement as his favourite method of torture. He is also said to have been inspired by the J. Sheridan Le Fanu's 'Carmilla', a Gothic lesbian vampire novella that predates Dracula by 26 years. I could go on, but hey, we're going back to Sherlock Holmes now before I deviate any further. However, if you want to know about Dracula's literary origins, I suggest you watch Ted-ED's videos about the subject matter such as this one or this one.

Very much like Stoker, ACD didn't just conceive Holmes on his own. He took his own inspirations from what he had available at the time.

[Image ID: Dr Joseph Bell (left) and Edgar Allan Poe (right). End ID]

As we all know, ACD's biggest inspiration for Sherlock Holmes was one of his teachers at the Edinburgh University, Joseph Bell. He was famous for his powers of deduction, and he was also interested in forensic science — both characteristics which Holmes is greatly known for. He also drew inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's sleuth, C. Auguste Dupin ('The Purloined Letter' & 'Murders in Rue Morgue'). As ACD himself has said at the 1909 Poe Centennial Dinner: "Where was the detective story until Poe breathed life into it?" Some other writers he took after are Wilkie Collins, Émile Gaboriau, and Oscar Wilde.

Now, what does this say about us Sherlockians/Holmesians (depending if you're the coloniser or the one that was colonised)? Basically, ACD laid the groundwork for us with Sherlock Holmes: his humble abode 221B that he shares with his flatmate Dr. John Watson, his adventures, memoirs, return, casebook, last vow, and all that. Now that we have this material at hand, we can now make our own versions, takes, or even original stories featuring the characters of the Canon. Our inspiration comes from ACD's Sherlock Holmes, and we now get the chance to make our very own stories/conspiracy theories about them.

As I have mentioned earlier, Sherlock Holmes is the most adapted literary character in history. He has been adapted in over 200 films, more than 750 radio adaptations, a ballet, 2 musicals; and he's become a mouse, a woman, a dog, even a bloody cucumber. On top of all that are numerous pastiches and fanfics, and finally, we have arrived at the main topic of our post!

Fanfiction and pastiche are often confused together since they have three common elements: they take after the original work, they usually use the characters in that original work, and more often than not do are they set in that same time frame/period or not long after that. The common misconception is that pastiche are printed fanfiction, which is only partly true. While pastiche is definitely fanfiction in some ways and vice versa, there are fanfictions out there that aren't necessarily classified as pastiche that have been published.

Let's get on with our definition of terms to clear up the confusion a little more. Pastiche, according to Literary Terms, is:

. . . a creative work that imitates another author or genre. It’s a way of paying respect, or honor, to great works of the past. Pastiche differs from parody in that pastiche isn’t making fun of the works it imitates – however, the tone of pastiche is often humorous.

A good example of a pastiche is Sophie Hannah's 'The Monogram Murders', which is her take from Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.

[Image ID: A book cover of 'The Monogram Murders' by Sophie Hannah. End ID.]

Although this was a commission from Christie's estate, it's still considered as a pastiche as:

It's takes after Christie's writing style;

It is set in the early years of Poirot's career (1929), which is still within the time frame that the author wrote him in;

It features Poirot and;

It pays respect to Christie in a sense that it stays true to her (Christie) characters and way of storytelling.

Meanwhile, our good and slightly unreliable friend Wikipedia defines fanfiction as:

. . . is fictional writing written by fans, commonly of an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted characters, settings, or other intellectual property from the original creator(s) as a basis for their writing. [It] ranges from a couple of sentences to an entire novel, and fans can both keep the creator's characters and settings and/or add their own. [ . . . ] [It] can be based on any fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) subject. Common bases for fanfiction include novels, movies, bands, and video games.

To avoid any copyright infringement issues if I ever use a popular fanfic in the fandom, we'll use my (unfinished and unpopular) Sherlock Wattpad fic, 'Play Pretend'. You can read it here.

[Image ID: The second self-made book cover of Blessie/shezzaspeare's 'Play Pretend'. End ID]

Why is it considered a fanfiction and not a pastiche?

It takes after an adaptation of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock) which is a TV show, not the ACD canon itself;

The author (in this case myself) uses her own writing style and does not take after the original story's style;

Although it is set well in modern-day London and after Season 4, it also features scenes decades before the actual fanfic is set and outside of London;

I added a considerable number of characters, i.e. siblings to canon characters;

I had my own take some of the canon characters' personality especially after the events of Sherrinford;

It is written by a fan – myself. It is a work of fan labour and;

It is only a work of fanon, and isn't likely going to be considered by the show as its writing style is different from the actual show.

To put it simply, you can have more freedom in a fanfiction as it does not necessarily restrict you to follow or take after the original stories. Alternate universes (AUs) such as Unilock and Teenlock are perfect examples of this thing.

So can a pastiche be classified as fanfiction? Yes.

Can a fanfiction be classified as pastiche? Not all the time.

What's the difference? While yes, they share the basics, pastiche is technically leans more onto the original work's fundamental elements whereas fanfiction is a broader range of works inspired by the original work but doesn't necessarily follow all or any of its fundamental elements.

In order for us to understand it more, I'll give another example.

[Image ID: The 'Enola Holmes' title card (upper left) and Henry Cavill as its Sherlock holmes (upper right). Underneath it is a a scene from the opening titles of BBC Sherlock (lower left) and Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in A Scandal In Belgravia. (lower right) End ID]

Most of you are familiar with these 21st-century adaptations of Holmes: the 2020 adaptation of Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books and BBC Sherlock, which needs no further explanation – but for those who don't know, it's basically Holmes and the gang if they were alive today. I specifically chose these two as they are the ones that I believe would get my points across best. Though both are considered as wonderful pastiches with a well-rounded cast and awesome visuals, if we break them down bit by bit, we'll see which one is more of a pastiche and which one is more of a fanfic. (Yes, I know they're both screen adaptations. However, as Enola Holmes was based on the books and BBC Sherlock's fanfiction has the show's scenes written out in most fanfics, hear me out.)

They share these characteristics of a pastiche:

They feature characters from the Canon (Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, and Lestrade);

They have additional characters added by the writers (Including but not limited to Molly Hooper, Eurus Holmes, and Philip Anderson for BBC Sherlock while Enola Holmes has Lord Tewkesbury, Eudoria Holmes, and Enola herself) and;

They pay respect to the original Canon as their stories are based on the cases (BBC Sherlock) or simply what was going on around them (Enola Holmes).

They also share these characteristics of a fanfic:

They are made by enthusiasts of Sherlock Holmes (Moffat has called himself and Mark Gatiss 'Sherlock Holmes geeks', while Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes books are not just one or two but six);

They follow a common trope (we'll discuss these tropes in the following episodes) that goes on in the fandom (Sherlock's Sister & Modern AU)

They are based on a fictional subject (Sherlock Holmes);

They used characters and story elements that are copyrighted by the author/author's estate (fun fact: prior to the production of Enola Holmes, the Conan Doyle Estate filed a lawsuit against Springer & Netflix over Sherlock's emotions since he was more 'sympathetic' than he was portrayed in the Canon – this was later dismissed by both parties) and;

Their writing styles don't necessarily follow ACD's.

Despite these similarities, there are very obvious differences between the two that separates them from being a pastiche and a fanfiction.

Enola Holmes embodies pastiche more as it doesn't stray far away from the original elements of the Canon. It's still set in Victorian England. While Springer added characters of her own and definitely twisted the Canon to suit her series, she didn't necessarily place them out of the social construct that was going on around the characters. It follows ACD's writing style more as Enola Holmes' setting still remains within the Canon's original setting.

Meanwhile, we can safely say that BBC Sherlock is a work of fanfiction. While it did give us The Abominable Bride, the main series focused on Holmes and Watson in 21st-century England, which is drastically different from Victorian England. There are phones, black cabs, and cellphones — things which ACD Sherlock Holmes doesn't have. It also diverted from the Canon in the characters themselves, which is mostly seen in the names: Henry Baskerville became Henry Knight, Charles Augustus Milverton became Charles Augustus Magnussen, the H in Dr Watson's name stood for Hamish and Sherlock's full name is actually William Sherlock Scott Holmes. They also changed the personalities of some Canon characters: Mary was actually an ex-assassin, Mrs Hudson was an exotic dancer who drove a kick-ass sports car, Irene Adler is a dominatrix, to name a few. Moffat and Gatiss created a world of their own featuring the characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which is really what most of us fanfic writers do with Mofftiss' rendition of Holmes.

In conclusion: while pastiche and fanfiction could have been the same thing, they're actually not. There's more to them that just printed fanfiction or pastiche e-books, and we all should take some time to see and observe them in a closer perspective.

And that's it for our first episode! I hope you enjoyed it. It was a lot fun for me to write this, especially now that I'm only starting. I would also like to note that while intensive research has been done on this series, some parts of this comes from my own observation and opinion, which may vary from yours. I am very much open to criticism, as long as it is said in a polite and civil manner. I'm still young, and to be educated as I go is something that could really help me with this series.

Like and reblog this you like it. It helps out a lot. Be sure to follow me as well and the tags underneath if you want to see more of TSoF.

See you soon!

Blessie presents – The Science of Fanfiction: A Study In Sherlock (2021) • Next

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SOURCES • Pinterest, Google Images, Wikipedia, Literary Terms, Conan Doyle Estate, Definitions, The Sherlock Holmes Book, and Google

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wiypt-writes · 4 years

Text

Stark Spangled Banner

Ch 28- Crossbones

Summary: The Avengers uncover the identity of the mysterious Crossbones and mount a mission to apprehend him in Lagos.

Warnings: Bad language, Smut! (NSFW, Under 18s) Bad Language words.

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OFC Katie Stark

A/N: NEW BANNER ALERT @angrybirdcr has made a DOOZY for the Civil War part of the Story.

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Katie Stark and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Chapter 27

Stark Spangled Banner Masterlist // Main Masterlist

January 2016

“Are you sure this isn’t a team call?” Katie asked Steve, watching as he picked up his shield.

“No.” He shook his head firmly as they walked down the corridor. “We don’t even know if he will be there.”

“But…”

“Katie, stop!” Steve chuckled, pushing the door open to enter the hangar. “We’ll be fine. This is intelligence gathering, I’ve no intention of heading straight off after this guy, not until we find out what his play is.”

“His play is arms trading.” Nat interjected dryly as she appeared at the side of the jet.

“Which we are going to gather intelligence on.” Steve looked at her sternly “Nothing more.”

Katie bit her lip, she wasn’t convinced.

“We’ll be fine.” Steve continued, putting both his hands on her shoulders before he deftly changed the subject. “Don’t you have an interview to be getting ready for?”

He watched as the gentle smile spread across her face, a surge of pride flooding his system. She’d recently found out that the author of one of the books SIP had published last year had worked their way onto the Pulitzer Nominee list for fiction. The book itself held a plot centred around a War Veteran and the letters he wrote to his girl back home, and she’d roped Steve into helping the author keep it as factually correct as possible, something he had found strangely nostalgic yet enjoyable. Upon publishing it had flown off the shelves, the original five hundred copies went within three hours causing a mad scramble for a second run and downloads had been off the scale. Other than the Thrombey book they had published, it was their biggest seller to date, shifting almost half a million copies in a month, and with a foreword from Steve Rogers, critics had raved about how poignant it was.

Whilst it hadn’t won the prize, simply being a nominee was an honour in itself according to Katie. The Publicists at SIP had arranged for the author to be interviewed in a few newspapers and magazines along with one of them also requesting Katie, to discuss the launch of her new charity The March Foundation, which would sit alongside Tony and Pepper’s latest initiative- The September Foundation, but instead of focusing on inventors and science, it would instead be centred around authors and the arts.

The name was a play on words, not only being another month to compliment Tony’s, but also to honour both the War Based fiction that had inspired it and the man who had saved her life as March was the month of Bucky’s birth. A decision that had really touched Steve.

She took a deep breath and sighed, as she eyed Natasha heading up the ramp into the jet.

“Just be careful…”

“I’m always careful.” Steve kissed her gently.

“Liar.” She mumbled against his lips. He grinned and pulled back, pecking her mouth once more before he started up the ramp. He paused at the top and turned to face her. “We’ll be back late tonight. Don’t wait up.”

“I won’t!” she teased.

He flashed her another smile and then he hit the button and the ramp started to close. A loud siren told Katie that the hangar door was opening and that was her cue to leave. She headed back over to the steps at the side, leading up to the mezzanine, and as she watched through the window she saw the jet fly out of the side and over the frosty compound grounds. It up through the clouds and gone from sight before she had reached the double doors at the top.

The base was a hive of activity already, despite it being little after seven am. Katie was heading for an hour or so in the gym before her day began properly. She stuck her Bluetooth headphones in, selected the usual work out play-list and began to run on the treadmill, slowly at first to ease herself in- she was a little bit stiff and sore from her sparring session with Natasha yesterday. Nat had really upped the ante on Katie over the last month or so, which was good as Katie was now pretty much on a par with her when it came hand to hand, something Steve had been completely astonished to see after walking in on the two women just as his wife floored Natasha with a well-placed leg swipe the red head didn’t see coming.

Forty minutes later, Katie swapped to the rower to finish off, and was approximately half way through the three-kilometre distance when her music cut off and the screen to the right of the machine switched over from the play-list to a visual of Rhodey.

“Hey Kiddo,” He smiled as she stopped rowing to look at him. “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve had a sensor trip on the outer perimeter of the facility.”

“You send someone out there?” She frowned, catching her breath as she picked up the bottle of water that was to her right.

“Yeah, Sam is currently out there looking for it, just thought, well seeing as Cap and Nat are out, you’re technically the one in charge so…”

She let out a snort as she swallowed a mouth full of her drink. Being third in command was something she didn’t really care for, knowing full well it was Steve’s way giving her some kind of authority over simply being the Captain’s Wife, but she’d accepted the gesture simply because he’d been so excited when he had asked her she couldn’t refuse.

“Okay, I’ll go and check it out. “

Standing up she left the gym and moved quickly to the armoury, grabbing a gun, a coms piece and a fleece jacket before quickly making her way outside.

“What’s going on up there, Sam?” Rhodey spoke in her ear as she walked into the cold air, spotting Sam circling above.

“I’m at the location of the sensor trip, but I’m not seeing anything.” He said. “Oh, hang on…”

“What is it?” Katie asked, watching him as he circled above her.

“Roof top…”

“Gimme a lift?”

Sam swooped down from the clear, winter sky and she grabbed his arm as he effortlessly pulled her up, dropping them both onto the flat roof of one of the buildings.

“I can see you.” Sam called out loudly as they landed.

Katie frowned, as she didn’t know what Sam was talking about until out of nowhere a man in a red and silver suit, with an insect like helmet suddenly appeared. Katie cocked her gun and aimed it at him.

“Who the hell are you?” she questioned. As they watched the man started to awkwardly introduce himself to Sam, his mask lifted to reveal a shaky smile as he waved.

“Hi, I’m Scott. I know who you are, obviously, you’re Katie Stark, I mean Rogers…” Scott started trying to hold back his enthusiasm and motioning towards Sam and Katie with a chuckle. "I’m a big fan.”

"Appreciate it. But like the lady asked, who the hell are you?” Sam echoed Katie’s earlier sentiments.

“I’m Ant-Man.” Scott or Ant-Man answered confidently. Sam and Katie shared an incredulous look and Katie mouthed the name back to him and he shrugged. Katie lowered her gun slightly.

“Wanna tell me what you want?” She questioned Ant-Man as the man tried to explain why the two Avengers hadn’t heard of him.

Scott pointed towards a building to their left, maintaining eye contact with Katie as he spoke “I was hoping I could grab a piece of technology. Just for a few days, then I’d return it. I need it to, uh, save the world- you know how that is.”

“Yeah, we know exactly how that is,” Sam said to Scott and Katie felt her mouth twitching into a grin.

“What piece of technology, and what do you mean saving the world?” she asked.

“I’d love to tell you but Hank Pym said never to trust a Stark.” The man called Scott, or Ant-Man was almost apologetic. “Even though you’re technically a Rogers now.”

Katie frowned, she’d never heard of a Hank Pym before, but that was irrelevant now. Sam gave a sigh besides her and stepped forwards.

“We’ve located the breach.” he spoke “Bringing him in…”

“I’m really sorry about this.” Scott rushed out and as Sam reached out to him he vanished.

“What the…” Katie spun round and felt something hit her, hard in the back. She fell forward onto the gravelled surface of the roof before rolling onto her back, gun raised again just in time to see Sam flying backwards off the edge, tumbling through the air and grappling with something whilst flying over the lawns of the facility.

Katie could do nothing but stand and watch from her vantage point as Sam continued to wrestle with, then shoot at the man who could shrink and grow seemingly at will. And if she was completely honest, it was kind of entertaining to watch.

“This guy would actually be pretty useful.” Katie mused into the coms, trying but failing to hide the amusement in her voice “Are you recording this? For future, recruitment purposes obviously.”

“All over it.” Rhodey responded, a slight chuckle punctuating his confirmation.

It was when the two men crashed into the storage unit that Ant-Man had wanted to break into in the first place that she started to get concerned.

“Err do we have cameras in there?” she questioned Rhodey.

“Uh… negative.” Rhodey answered after a short pause.

“Shit.” Running to the side of the roof she scaled down the metal ladder at the side, dropping the last eight feet or so, landing gently before she ran towards the storage building. At that point Sam came crashing backwards through the metal door and Katie flung her arms up to shield her face from the debris before glancing up. Sam’s flight pattern was jerky and off and he was gripping at his pack on his back.

“He’s in my pack!” Sam shouted before he landed hard in the dirt and with a groan, pulled himself into a standing position, yanking off his goggles.

“You okay?” Katie asked as she ran over to him.

“Yeah, fine…” He sighed before he looked at her. “You know, it’s really important to me that Cap never finds out about this.”

Katie grinned and the pair of them scouted around but to no avail, there was no sign of Ant-Man, or Scott anywhere. Katie instructed Rhodey to get the door fixed and lock it down again and said she would speak to Tony to find out what was in there. Sam was luckily not hurt, just a slight bruising to his pride so Katie left him at the lab with Lawson to look at making the repairs to his pack before she headed off to get changed.

*****

Steve and Natasha landed in Sadove, Crimea and were instantly greeted by the man who was leading the investigation into the raid on the local police station. The last three out of six hits the guy had made had been on small, local outfits with less resistance than the other places he had hit but that was hardly surprising. The former SHIELD base he had hit in Mexico had been heavily guarded, which made Steve think that he had perhaps suffered losses to his team which was making him rethink his strategy. As Natasha chatted to the man in his local language, Steve hung back before the man nodded to Natasha and strode towards him.

“Captain Rogers.” he said, English thick with accent “Inspector Chernov.”

Steve shook the man’s hand “Pleasure to meet you in person Inspector.”

“So you are interested in the man who raided our local station?” “He’s been on our radar for a while.” Steve said, choosing his words carefully “But we don’t have much to go on.” “Well, I’m not sure we can help but I can take you down there and you can see for yourself.” Steve nodded. “That would be great, thanks.”

It wasn’t a long drive, and once they arrived Steve and Natasha were allowed to wander round the scene undisturbed, providing they didn’t interfere with the police and teams already swamping the area. Their search showed them nothing new and they moved to watching the CCTV which the Authorities had refused to send them. They could have hacked into it, but Steve was keen to keep the tentatively growing communication lines with Crimea and Russia as amicable as possible, especially in the light of Sokovia. The Avengers were not a political party, so by remaining respectful of their requests to meet only in person he hoped it went someway to proving they were here to help and had no ulterior motives.

As such they sat in the mobile control centre, scanning the CCTV. Steve watched the footage and sighed.

“This isn’t HYDRA.” Nat concluded and Steve agreed.

“I know, it’s not their MO. This guy is too haphazard.” Steve pondered. “Just wondering why, considering how well organised he is, he is leaving so much devastation behind.”

“Minimum effort leaving maximum casualties.” Natasha said, watching the footage “He simply doesn’t care who he takes out.” “Well he’s hardly gonna care about that if he’s dealing black market arms.” Steve sighed.

They watched the footage some more and Steve held his hand up to Natasha to play it at normal speed when they reached the bit where the key perps were on screen.

“What’s he doing?” He frowned, looking at Crossbones. The man was stood in the middle of the room, looking around.

“He’s scanning for Cameras.” Nat answered as they both watched.

There was something familiar about the way the man walked and held himself, but Steve couldn’t quite place it. As they continued the footage, Crossbones located the camera they were watching through and looked directly up at it, pulling his mask up a little to reveal his mouth, clearly saying something.

“Can you enhance that?” Steve asked. Natasha tapped at it.

It zoomed in on the man and Natasha spoke “looks like something about it being personal…”

She held her phone up to the footage and then pressed something, and the phone spoke to her in a robotic voice.

“Big Guy…I just want you to know, this aint personal.” Steve’s gut clenched. The last time he had heard those words were in an elevator in the Triskelion.

“Rogers?” Natasha looked at him, noticing the nerve which was twitching in his jaw “What is it? Does that mean something to you?”

“In a fashion.” He turned to face her. “It’s Rumlow.”

****** The interviews went well and once the photos etc were done Katie and Tony retreated to the living area of the Tower for a well-earned drink as they put the final touches of their tour together. They were to start visiting various Universities across the US to roll out their foundation grants. To ease them both in gently, the first University they were going to was Columbia, so not far from home. Tony and Pepper would be presenting and discussing to students within the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Katie in the School of the Arts for Students on the Writing Programme.

Their chatter moved from work to Tony asking how the Compound was going, and Katie remembered the events of that morning.

“You ever heard of a bloke called Hank Pym?” she asked suddenly.

Tony paused for a moment, frowning at her sudden change of subject, but something stirred in his mind. “The name rings a bell, hang on…FRIDAY, search all files reference Hank Pym.” He instructed, tapping at something on his tablet.

After a few seconds something flashed up in the corner of the screen.

“Yeah, here you go.” He pressed another button causing the image to reflect in front of them as a hologram. “He worked with Dad and SHIELD on a programme called Project GOLIATH.”

“What the hell was that?” Katie asked, taking a pull from her bottle.

“A research programme into some kind of Nano particle.” Tony said as the pair of them simultaneously ran through the information on the screen.

“Ahhhh.” Katie nodded, “makes sense…” “What does?”

Katie explained about the encounter with Scott and Tony gave a hum of agreement.

“That could actually be kinda useful.”

“I know.” she agreed “But he vanished after he got whatever he wanted. Any thoughts on what it could be?”

“That facility holds a load of crap that was Dad’s” Tony said simply “Could be anything.”

“Well, nothing we could see was missing, but it might be worth you taking a look.” she suggested.

He shrugged “I can do, but there was nothing remotely dangerous in there. Was just a load of old signal jammers and code breakers we don’t really need anymore.”

“Well, I did try and ask what him what it was he wanted, you know, on account of him saying he was saving the world, maybe we could have helped with that, being the Avengers and all, but he simply turned round and said ‘Hank Pym told me never to trust a Stark’.”

She drained her bottle of beer as Tony did the same and he stood up, taking the empties to retrieve 2 more from the fridge.

“Clearly one of many in the long line of people dad pissed off.” Tony rolled his eyes as he popped the lids, before he sighed “I’m actually surprised no one tried to kill him before, you know, he rammed their car into a tree.”

Katie looked at her brother and swallowed. Tony had no idea how close to the truth he was.

“Sorry.” he slid the beer across the bar, mistaking her guilty silence for one of upset “That was out of order.”

“For all his faults I don’t think Dad was a bad man.” Katie spoke quietly “And he did love us.”

“I know.” Tony nodded, squeezing her hand.

She stayed for another drink and then headed home. She had checked in with Sam before heading back to their apartment and she was settled on the couch with a glass of wine when Steve called.

“Hey Soldier.” she said, smiling at the screen as she flicked the phone to project the image in front of her, muting the TV.

“Hey Darlin’.” He smiled back

“So, how was it?” she asked

“Well we got the intel.”

“Solid?”

“Pretty solid yeah.” Natasha spoke, appearing by his side. “We think we know who he is anyway.” “Who?”

Steve sighed. “It’s Rumlow.” “What?” Katie spluttered into her wine glass. “Are you sure?”

“Oh pretty sure.” Steve nodded. “He left me a clear message.”

“Steve recognised him on the Video so I ran a crosscheck.” Nat picked up. “Turns out he was listed as severely injured and was taken to the hospital. After that, our trail runs cold.”

“Until now.” Katie sighed.

“We’ve also got a list of his associates, some known faces he’s been seen with.” Steve shrugged “So we’re putting out an alert.”

“Doesn’t give us much to go on though.” Katie rubbed at her temples.

“When have we ever had much to go on?” Natasha asked and Katie shrugged

“Fair point.” she conceded as Natasha moved off out of sight.

“So how has your day been?” Katie looked back at Steve as he spoke.

“Not bad actually.” she said, “Interviews went well, oh, and we had a bit of an incident at base before.” “Incident?” he frowned, “What kind of incident?”

“Attempted break in, nothing major.”

“Everyone ok?”

“Yeah, honestly it was no big deal, I’ll fill you in on when you get home. For the rest of the day once the interviews were done Tony and I drank beer.”

“Sounds pretty productive.” Steve raised an eyebrow, smile playing on his lips.

“Beer is always productive.” Katie informed him and he chuckled.

“We’ll be airborne in thirty minutes and then we should be home in about four hours.” He said, as Katie looked at her watch. It was almost 8:30 pm.

“Alright, I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you.”

“And you.” She blew him a kiss and cut the call with a yawn. She was tired. Really tired, so she headed off for a bath. After soaking and listening to music for forty minutes she dried off and shoved on one of Steve’s T-shirts before climbing into bed and laying there for a moment, flicking through the TV channels. She settled on an episode of Family Guy and snuggled down into the large bed, wrapping herself in the soft covers. It always felt odd sleeping without Steve being there. Sometimes she quite enjoyed being able to starfish in the middle of the Emperor sized bed but tonight she wasn’t enjoying being alone.

****

Steve was whacked when they arrived home. Bidding good night to Natasha, instead of changing in the armoury he headed straight back and let himself into their quarters. Crossing the hallway he made his way into the bedroom he paused, a gentle smile spreading on his face. Illuminated in the light from the hallway he could see Katie was curled up in the middle of the bed, using his pillow as a hugging buddy. He quietly crossed the room and perched on the bed, stripping off his boots and uniform top. He paused slightly as Katie stirred and he turned to look at her, gently brushing her hair of her face. He glanced down at the freckles he knew by memory, long thick lashes, soft pink lips, that familiar Stark nose…she looked so peaceful asleep.

She stirred again, and that nose he adored wrinkled in the way it did when she was waking up and she cracked an eye open before her face split into a smile at the sight of her husband.

“Hey.”

“Hey, baby girl.” He smiled, his hand cupping her cheek. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you”

“It’s Okay.” She yawned, leaning into his touch.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you are?” He asked, and through the tiny sliver of light coming from the hallway Katie could see his eyes were full of their usual warmth.

“I don’t think you did today, no.”

“Well in that case, you’re beautiful” He smiled and she chuckled slightly as he dropped a soft kiss on her head. “I’m gonna take a shower and then I’ll be right with you.”

She watched him appreciatively as he stood up and pulled his compression-shirt over his head, leaving him bare form the waist up as he headed into the en-suite. For a moment she was tempted to join him, but then decided against it, laying back onto her side, dozing.

It wasn’t long before the bed dipped and she felt him slide under the covers next to her. She turned over to snuggle up into the crook of his shoulder, her head laying on his chest.

“So, you wanna tell what the incident was today?” he asked, his right hand reaching up to play with the strands of her hair that fell over her shoulder.

“Oh yeah.” she grinned before she launched into an explanation about Scott-slash-Ant Man. He fell silent for a moment but in the end came to the same conclusion as Tony had, there was nothing in there that was dangerous so they just needed to remain vigilant.

“Yeah, well Sam seemed to be taking vigilant to the extreme as he’s already been on the phone to numerous contracts, trying to track him down.” she said “I think he’s a bit annoyed the guy basically kicked his ass. Rhodey caught it all on video but Sam told me never to tell you about it. He’s taken it quite personally.” “I’m not surprised, he had his ass kicked.” Steve sniggered. “Where do I get a copy of the CCTV?”

Katie grinned, “I have it on my phone, Rhodey sent it to me.”

“Play it.” he instructed.

“What now?” “Yes, right now.” he nodded, moving so he was sat up, jolting her off his chest.

“No Sam will kill me!” she laughed, propping herself up on her elbow

“Screw Sam!” he snorted “He plays those damned Phys Ed videos every chance he gets.”

“That’s true.” Katie pondered “Ok, hang on…”

She turned, reaching over for the phone and the TV remote. Blinking at the sudden light, once her eyes were accustomed to the change she pressed a few buttons on her phone and beamed the footage to the TV on the wall. She had to admit, it looked even funnier from the video play back than it had when she had been there.

Steve let out a huge, genuine laugh, his head thrown back, banging against the headboard, arm clutched across his chest as he laughed, and laughed.

“I’m so showing that at our next briefing.” he said, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

“You can’t…” “Oh, I can!”

****

The next morning the pair of them made their way to the briefing room both munching on a piece of toast and each carrying a mug of coffee. It was early, before 8, but Steve wanted the team to be prepared. Everyone filed into the room along with some good humoured grumbling about the time before they dropped into their preferred seats and looked to the front of the room.

“I know it’s early and I’m sorry…” Steve held his hands up, looking round at the team assembled in front of him “But this is important.”

“More important than sleep?” Sam yawned.

Steve ignored him. “Alright, here’s what we already know.” Steve began to explain how they believed Rumlow to be Crossbones, the masked man who had been causing a whole lot of chaos in the wake of what happened at the Triskelion. Katie knew he was annoyed at himself for not realising he had survived sooner, but even if they had, they’d so much going on, not to mention Ultron had been a much bigger threat in the immediate future

"He’s been targeting former SHIELD labs and police stations all over the country and selling products on the black market.” Natasha spoke.

“Police stations?” Katie asked.

“We think he suffered heavy losses at the raid prior to the last three, so he’s going for easier targets whilst he regroups.” Natasha answered.

“Still no intel on who his buyers are?” Wanda asked.

“No.” Steve shook his head, “He seems to have become an independent terrorist, and doesn’t appear to be working for anyone”

“Our recon yesterday told us that Rumlow seems to be operating with this guy.” Natasha explained as the photos flashed up “He’s known as the Black Mamba…” “Black Mamba?” Wanda deadpanned. “Cross Bones and Black Mamba?”

“NATO has every available pair of eyes out looking for them.” Steve ignored Wanda and looked at Rhodey.

“Soon as they break cover, we’ll know.” Rhodey nodded

“So then what?” Sam frowned

“More recon?” Katie asked

Steve looked at his wife and nodded. “Possibly, but for now we need to let intelligence do their job. But be prepared, when we get a lead I want to be ready to go.”

There were mumbles around the room and Steve let the team lead the discussion. Sam commented on the crap code names again, causing Wanda to laugh. Katie suggested they should compile a detailed profile on Rumlow, see if they could find a pattern to his behaviour, nodding to Vision. the AI had a knack for it as did Katie, so Steve and Natasha nodded, both agreeing it was a good idea.

“We need to be vigilant.” Steve instructed. “Keep our eyes open for anything that’s out of the ordinary.” He caught Katie’s eye, a wicked smirk crossed his face and she shook her head smiling as he continued “Speaking of which…FRIDAY, play the video”

“Certainly Captain Rogers.” The pictures of Rumlow and Black Mamba disappeared from the screen and suddenly the footage of Sam spiralling through the air started to play. The room started to snigger as Sam looked at Katie who held her hands up in an “it wasn’t me!” gesture.

“Oh come on Man!” He groaned as the room gleefully watched the film, laughter ringing round the room.

******

The next four months ticked by with no further information on Rumlow. They pulled together a potted history which tracked the hospital he had been in, when he had escaped (the local authorities had been searching for him for ages since he threatened his nurse upon waking before violently breaking out) his movements since (ones they knew about and some they hadn’t) but it didn’t give them anything new.

Katie and Tony were buried deeply in their Foundation work, which was taking up a lot of Katie’s time so she wasn’t as close to the investigations as she could have been. Steve was fine with that though, the further away she was from Rumlow frankly the better, but he still made sure she was involved with what they had found and she attended the briefings as best she could when she wasn’t travelling the country. Steve’s chest burst with pride every time he saw his girl on the news, in papers, as the press seemed to be lavishing praise upon the siblings for what they were doing.

Then, one day in the middle of May, they struck gold when one of the Facial Recognition Alerts they had set up pinged to Black Mamba being spotted in a Lagos, Nigeria. As a result Steve had scrambled them all to attention as soon as he could, which was four am. But there were no complaints about the time, not when they knew this could be their chance to bring him in. They all pitched round the screen as Steve and Natasha identified the local police station that they suspected of him hitting, given where the FR had pinged several times.

“We think they are scoping this area.” Nat said, drawing a red circle round a part of the town.

Katie moved the screen with her fingers, enlarging the aerial shots as she looked at them, her analytical brain going ten to the dozen.

“Layout looks pretty standard.” she said, scanning the map, frowning slightly. Something was nagging at her. And as she looked, she realised what it was.

“What is it?” Steve asked, recognising the tone of her voice and frown on her face.

“The Science Institute.” She nodded towards the screen. “Big white building at the end of the road.”

“Biological weapons are big on the black market.” Sam cottoned on, nodding slightly.

“Yeah but his recent previous hits and our pattern analysis don’t give us any reason to believe that’s what he’s going to be aiming for.” Nat suggested

“You said yourself that you suspected he was going for easier targets whilst he regrouped.” Katie bit her lip. “What if he has?”

“We have to assume Rumlow will go for the police station, it’s the best intel we have.” Steve looked at her and he noticed the expression on Katie’s face as she crossed her arms and opened her mouth to argue. “But we should be vigilant, keep alert.”

She exchanged a glance with Sam, who simply shrugged

“We do this with stealth.” Steve continued, “I want us on the ground and out of sight, we need to catch him with as little fuss or danger to civilians as possible”

"Yeah, and with that in mind Viz you may need to sit this one out.” Nat tossed out and Vision nodded deprecatingly

“We’re still working on him blending in.” Wanda added.

“Same for you too Rhodey.” Steve looked at him “We need someone back here, we could be gone a few days.”

Rhodey nodded. “No problem Cap.” “Get what you need. Wheels up in twenty.” Steve dismissed everyone who immediately went their separate ways to prepare for the upcoming mission leaving Katie, Natasha and Steve alone

“You think she’s ready?” Natasha looked at Steve, nodding to Wanda. He took a deep breath, staring at the door through which she had just left with Vision.

“You say she’s been training hard.” He spoke after a moments pause, looking at Nat.

“Yeah, she has but her powers are still largely impacted by her emotions.”

“Aren’t everyone’s?” Katie asked. “I mean I’m angry or upset I fight harder, as you know.” “Yeah but,” Nat sighed “It isn’t the same, she can do a lot of damage.”

“We have the bare bones of a team as it is.” Steve shook his head and Katie looked down, feeling slightly guilty. She had discussed this with Steve, she wasn’t going. The Stark Foundation Tour had another few visits to Universities this week. Steve spotted the look on her face and he gently nudged her arm “That’s not a criticism honey…” “I know…” she bit her lip. Maybe she should postpone…

“Throw in the fact that this is the first full team mission we’ve had since Ultron and I don’t see any choice but to take Wanda” Steve shrugged, ending the conversation.

Nat took a deep breath and nodded “You’re right. And maybe being in an actual mission environment might help her gain some control, I mean practice makes perfect.”

“You trying to convince me or yourself?” he asked, eyeing her

“Both.” she drawled, heading out of the door.

Katie took a deep breath as Steve turned to her. “You best go.” she smiled softly. Steve bit his lip before he pulled her into an embrace, kissing her softly.

“I’ll call as soon as I can.” He promised, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Stay safe, please.” She whispered as he kissed the tip of her nose and hurried out of the door.

Once he was gone, Katie sank onto a chair, her head in her hands. She was torn, really torn. For the last year or so, post Ultron, they’d had a pretty quiet time of it, mopping up any stray Hydra operatives that strolled into their patch. But this, this was big. Was the Foundation really more important than putting a halt to whatever shitty plan Rumlow was trying to pull off? She was still an Avenger after all, she’d never quit that, and would never quit that.

She’d always be Supernova, whether she wanted to be or not.

“I’m gonna regret this.” She groaned to herself as she jumped up, and headed after the rest of the team.

*****

Steve, at first, had tried to argue against her coming but when Natasha had pointed out they could do with the support he had relented and the team had been bolstered by Supernova’s return to active duty.

Their support staff had done a great job on such a short time, and rented the group a four bedroomed apartment overlooking the street the Police Station was on. It wasn’t fancy, but it was the last place anyone would think would house Avengers. They spent their first day setting up a command centre, with coms links back to base and the next morning they began their recon.

The first two days were completely uneventful. No sign of Rumlow or any of his associates. Nat was the expert at covert ops and so she took the lead, directing them to all the right places coaching Wanda along the way and Steve was pleasantly surprised to see how well the younger girl took to the task, blending in with the locals. Katie took to observing from up high with Sam, her attention on the Biological Institute, unable to shake the nagging feeling she had about the place. She hadn’t mentioned it since their brief a few days ago, but Steve knew when she had an idea in her head she wouldn’t rest so he left her to it. Between them they had the area covered, which was good enough.

On the evening of the fourth day Wanda, Sam and Natasha headed out for a little undercover work in the bars at night, “So you guys can have a little undercover activity of your own” Sam teasingly stated, patting Steve on the back as he left, drawing an exasperated sigh from the Soldier. Nevertheless, the door had hardly clicked shut before Steve had his wife pinned up against a wall, hands wandering all over her body, lips and teeth clashing, her hand fisting in the slightly longer strands of hair at the top of his head as they’d furiously taken advantage of their first time alone in days.

The next morning Katie woke at about five-forty-five am and rolled over only to find the bed empty besides her. Steve could never rest when they were in the middle of a case like this. The clothes they had shed and left scattered all over the floor the night before were now folded and placed on top of the dresser, and she had to smile. Even now he was a total neat freak. Knowing full well where he would be she climbed out of the bed, pulled on Steve’s T-shirt and a pair of shorts before making her way into the dark corridor. She stopped in the doorway of the small dining room which was functioning as a makeshift office and sure enough, there he was, the lamp softly illuminated his handsome face as he flicked through a file, crease evident between his brows.

“Soldier, you’re up so early.” She said gently. Steve had heard her coming of course. Smiling softly, as he was always pleased to see her, he turned to face her as she crossed the room.

“Yeah, sorry, I woke about half an hour ago and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

“You know, I get that you’re fed up of just waiting but sitting here re-reading all this isn’t going to help you know.” Katie sighed, taking the file off him and dropping it onto the wooden table, before she perched on the edge.

“I know, it’s just so goddamned frustrating.” Steve ran his hand over his face. After pondering for a moment Katie stood up and walked behind the chair and placed her hands on his shoulders. He let out a groan of satisfaction and leaned back in his seat as she kneaded the muscles with her hands. She found a particularly bad spot just under his shoulder blade and began to push harder with her thumb. Steve, unable to decide if it was pleasurable or painful, made a little noise which was half way between the two.

“God your shoulders are so knotty.” Katie mused and he left out a breath through his nose moving his head to the side.

“Yeah well, I did a lot of exercise last night.” He quipped back as her hands continued to work at his shoulders.

“I’ll say.” She grinned. “You know that thing you did with your mouth is actually illegal in several countries.” “Good job we live in the land of the free.” His voice was low as he fully relaxed under her touch. Katie carried on working at his muscles in silence for a moment, happy to let him bliss out.

“So… answer me a question?” She spoke after a short while, rousing him a little, and he hummed, unable to bring himself to be bothered to talk.

“If you couldn’t sleep why didn’t you wake me to help you?” Her voice was loaded as she leaned forward to wind her arms around his neck, running her hands up and down his chest from behind. Steve loved it when she touched him like that which was why he pouted slightly when she pulled away, but the pout didn’t last long and a smirk crossed his face as Katie walked round to the front of his chair

“And how, exactly, would you have done that?” His hands moved to rest on her hips as she lowered herself so that she was straddling him. She slid one of her hands around the back of his head to tangle in his hair the other settling on his chest.

“Reckon I can think of a few ways.” She smirked slyly before using her hand in his hair to pull him forward and connect their lips. Steve kissed her back immediately as one hand crept up the back of her top, the other on the side of her thigh, sliding up her shorts.

“Sleepy yet?” She murmured.

“Not exactly the word I would use.” Steve raised an eyebrow.

She grinned and then began to rock her hips on top of him grinding down on his growing hardness and he sighed slightly, kissing her harder as she pushed down again. With an automatic reaction he raised his hips, rocking up to meet her and this time she groaned as she could feel the friction of their clothes grinding against her clit. His hands were now firmly holding her hips underneath her, no, his top, and he sat forward so his mouth could cover the spot under her ear that drove her wild. With a soft sigh she titled her head to the side as he trailed kisses across her jaw until his mouth met her lips again. His hands reached down to grasp the hem of her top and he had just begun to slide it upwards when they were interrupted by a raspy voice.

“I thought all the making out fully clothed supposedly stopped when you reached the age of seventeen.” Natasha scoffed from the doorway. Katie looked up over Steve’s shoulder as he sighed, dropping his head onto her chest, letting out a groan of frustration.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Katie sighed.

“Don’t you know how to lock a door?” She retorted, dryly.

“I take it this isn’t a social call?” Steve’s voice was muffled as he spoke into his wife’s chest, not bothering to move his head. Katie chuckled a little, her hand running through his hair.

“Half and half.” Natasha arched an eyebrow, “Unsociable hour it maybe but Wanda’s already up and wants breakfast, she was going to head out to the local bakery but I thought it might be an idea to start the re-con early.”

Steve’s head looked up to Katie’s as she shifted off his lap and straightened out her clothing and hair. Steve glanced down at his crotch and Katie raised an eyebrow slightly as he stood up and adjusted his sweats in an attempt to hide his slowly ebbing arousal before he turned to face the red head.

“Well, you’re the expert in this covert stuff.” He raised his brow. “What have you got in mind?”

*****

“All right, what do you see?” Steve was coaxing Wanda, as ever, to observe her surroundings, see and hear everything, on the job training he supposed you could call it.

Meanwhile, Katie glanced down from the rooftop on which Sam and her were currently stood, her scanners doing their usual work. No weapons spotted yet.

“Standard beat cops. Small station. Quiet street. It’s a good target” Wanda’s voice came through the ear piece Steve was wearing.

“There’s an ATM in the South Corner.” he replied “which means….”

“Cameras” Wanda said instantly.

“Both cross streets are one way.” He carried on

“So, compromised escape routes.”

“Means our guy doesn’t care about being seen, he isn’t afraid to make a mess on the way out.” Steve concluded. “You see that Range Rover halfway up the block?”

“Yeah, the red one? It’s cute”

“It’s also bulletproof,” Katie cut in as FRIDAY completed a scan on the vehicle “Which means private security…”

“Which means more guns, which means more headaches for somebody. Probably us” Nat finished

“You guys know I can move things with my mind, right? “ Wanda replied

“Looking over your shoulder needs to become second nature.” Natasha continued

“Anybody ever tell you you’re a little paranoid?” Sam asked and Katie turned to look at him, retracting her face plate to give him a grin.

“Not to my face. Why? Did you hear something?” the exchange continued.

“Eyes on target, folks” Steve spoke firmly with an air of authority, bringing them back to the job in hand. “This is the best lead we’ve had on Rumlow in six months. I don’t want to lose him.”

“If he sees us coming that won’t be a problem. He kind of hates us.” Sam replied

As Steve watched he noticed that a garbage truck was slowly pushing its way through traffic, with no regard to pedestrians or other vehicles. He frowned and kept his eyes on it as it continued to gather momentum as it went.

“Sam, Katie…see that garbage truck? Tag it.”

Sam’s small drone launched, swooping down to scan the vehicle as Katie instructed FRIDAY to do the same.

“Give me X-ray.” Sam spoke. There was a pause before he gave a little moan. “That truck’s loaded for max weight.”

“And the driver’s armed.” Katie concluded.

And in that second it dawned on Steve that his wife had been right all along. The Institute was the target after all.

“It’s a battering ram.” Katie’s voice mumbled on the coms, clearly having realised the same thing he had, and with that Steve turned from the window, running for the door.

“Go, now!” He yelled into his coms as he sprinted down the stairs. “There not hitting the station…” “The institute…” Sam spoke as Steve burst onto the street looking up in time to see Falcon and Supernova spiralling into the air.

And once more the fight was on.

**** Chapter 29 Part 1

**Original Posting**

#stark spangled banner #steve rogers #Katie Stark #steve rogers x ofc #steve rogers x original female character #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers smut #mcu #mcu fanfic #chris evans #chris evans characters

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loopy777 · 3 years

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Do you think that magic exists in the world of Avatar? I mean magical kung-fu aside. I’ve always wondered if some people from the four nations believed in curses (and that people can learn how to perform them) and things of that nature. I don’t see why not, since they’re common enough in our world. Though I’m mostly interested if you think that those things are actually real in Avatar and not just superstitions/the work of charlatans.

I guess it depends on what you mean by 'magic.' Sokka was probably just using it to mean "weird stuff that doesn't obey the laws of physics that I don't like" when he called Katara's Waterbending "magic water." Obviously, to us, the magic kung fu is magic. To the people of the Avatar World, it's fairly natural.

Some works of fiction just go with magic being something that breaks or circumvents the laws of physics. However, there's some fiction that applies tries to make magic work with our known science, with a hard set of rules that can be sussed out by experimentation, and even attempt something like the conservation of matter and energy.

Other fiction goes with the idea that magic is a force with a demand for balance that verges on intelligent. You can get anything from that kind of magic, with seemingly no limits to the powers and boons it offers, but it always comes around for a price that corresponds to what was given. Sometimes this is a literal trade, and sometimes it's just 'blowback' that winds up taking something equivalent from the practitioner. Someone who has mastered such magics is simply a person who understands the give and take, who feed victory with their long-term health, who shrug off a wound but know to offer blood at a more convenient time, who accept great fortune but understand that it's going to disappear some day. Sometimes this magic appears in the form a literal bargainer, a demon or wizard or somesuch who makes the deal, other times the magic is simply the stuff the universe is made off.

And then there's the everyday magic. You know, the kind Arthur C Clarke famous described: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." So when the local wise person knows how to cure an infection by applying a salve made from rare plants, that looks like magic to people with no knowledge of natural antibiotics.

I'd say the first kind of magic appears in Avatar in the form of Bending and Spirits. Bending is more of the science-y magic, with rules and reproducible techniques and measurable power-levels and a level of familiarity that makes that makes it as reliable as the rain. Spirits are a bit more unknowable, but they're not without their own limits. I'd say the people of the Avatar World would consider Spirits to be magical. They all seem to have their own weird powers, looks, and limits. They can disappear and reappear at will. And they definitely break the laws of physics.

The 'balanced' magic could be said to underpin the whole Avatar World, too, although it's not treated as mystically as in most fiction. Balance is a key theme of the story, and it's reflected in the physical world.

I'm not sure how to classify stuff like Spirit Vines that function as laser batteries. That seems to reverse Clarke's axiom: "Any sufficiently mundane magic is indistinguishable from technology." XD Actually, what's up with the Foggy Swamp in general? Is that just 'spirit stuff?' Is it some other supernatural force created by the concentration of life there?

As for curses curses, I think what Kuruk suffered from in his later life (according to the Kyoshi books) could be classified as a kind of curse. Granted, it wasn't created by an intelligence conducting a ritual, but in terms of effects, I think it could qualify.

But when it comes to what the people of the Avatar World believe, I think the sky's the limit. Curses? Sure. Witches? Why not? Reanimated corpses that want to suck your blood and maybe seduce you if they're in the mood? Absolutely. Rituals to summon spirits and bind them to your service at the cost of your soul/karma/blood? I can't keep them on the shelves.

Why am I so certain? Well, none of that stuff exists in our world, and people believed (or still believe) in it. People are dumb and superstitious, and real explanations for things are hard work.

But I don't think we're going to see wizards or anything like that as long as the Mike and the Bryan are in charge of the franchise. We'll probably get increasingly wild spirits, and some spooky stuff every now and then with no clear explanation, but they seem to want to avoid classical depictions of magic. Spirit Stuff is a convenient enough excuse for any weird (or wyrd) things they might want to do, and people waving around magic wands doesn't really fit the mood and aesthetic they seem to want.

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qqueenofhades · 4 years

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How was yellow journalism at the turn of the 19th century different then the fake news and media insanity we see today? Do you know? It seems like this has been going on for a really long time.

And you would be correct, because this has in fact been going on for a very long time (indeed, much further back than the 19th century) and is essentially the basic practice of history: figuring out how to understand, vet, classify, believe, and treat the stories that humans tell about themselves. Or as that musical that came out the other day put it: “you have no control who lives, who dies, who tells your story.” We’re all just telling stories about things constantly, and we all want people to believe our story and treat it as the best version. Some of these stories are more fictional (and more harmful) than others, but it’s been going on for as long as there have been people.

(Or: “A Brief History of Fake News” follows below. If it doesn’t make sense, blame the fact that I had to rewrite half of it after Tumblr ate it.)

Globalization and the 24-hour news media has made it possible for “fake news” narratives to become transnational: in other words, no matter where you are in the world or what country you’re originally from, you can use some of the same content, techniques, arguments, or beliefs. For example, coronavirus deniers, no matter where they are in the world, can use the same stable of arguments: it’s fake, it’s a Chinese lab conspiracy, it’s a political stunt, it’s not that bad, you shouldn’t wear a mask, etc. They are drawing from the same essential pool of content and replicating the same themes in their particular contexts. Obviously, everyone has instant access to these narratives now and we are seeing the large-scale and damaging effects, because they can be amplified to a degree unheard-of in human history thanks to social media, TV, phones, etc, but also: it’s what humans have been doing since, well, forever.

A caveat I often have to give undergraduate students, when introducing them to medieval chronicle sources, is that they’re subjective -- that is, they’re more interested in promoting one individual, kingdom, religious viewpoint, version of events, etc, rather than aiming for an inclusive and “real” version of how things went by taking into account the experiences and arguments of all sides. This is obviously disingenuous, because it suggests that modern historians don’t do this, that they just objectively report “real facts” and there is no human bias or agenda at work in producing the result. This reflects the influence of Leopold von Ranke, a 19th-century German historian who is often viewed as the founder of the modern critical source-based historiographical method. He was a proponent of the idea that historians had to “describe the past as it actually happened,” i.e. they had to select the correct facts and build an objective narrative so that people could discover the One True Version of reality. Of course, you may realize that you.... can’t actually do that.

Historians still have to select which facts they report, how a “fact” is constructed to start with, what methodology they use, what conclusions they draw, what they focus on, what moral lessons or overall takeaways they present for their audience, etc. This reflects the 19th century’s effort to make history similar to hard science: they liked the idea that there was one single methodology that would reveal an empirically provable single ideal, that there was no human agency or bias that would influence this narrative, and the facts would magically assemble themselves into one central version that everyone would agree upon. Except this still isn’t and has never been the way it works. Historians, as human agents, mediate and manage and influence the facts they use and the conclusions they draw from sources, and it’s our job to figure out which ones are more valid and which ones are not. It’s a system of collective memory, and as I’ve said before, that collective memory is always particularly susceptible to what people (especially the rich and powerful people, who install the version of history that the rest of us learn) want to remember. This rarely includes their flaws, or things that show them to be wrong, or any challenge to their status.

Prior to the invention of film/TV/audiovisual methods in the 19th century (and since they didn’t become commercial or widespread until the 20th), everything we know about human history before that, we know because someone wrote it down. In the Western tradition, the ancient Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides are often viewed as the “fathers” of history, because they deliberately assembled a curation of (allegedly) empirical facts in a constructed narrative with a self-stated historiographical purpose. They also make use of what, in fancy academic-speak, we might call the “topos of authority.” Every single historian has been aware that they have to provide some way for their reader to independently verify their content, or decide to believe what they’re saying against a competing version. In the olden days, they often did this by self-certifying: “I swear that everything I write here is true/I heard only from wise and trustworthy people/I spoke to an eyewitness of these events/I read a book by such-and-such authority.” But just because they SAY these things doesn’t mean they’re true, and no modern historian can take this at face value: they can’t just say, “well, my source said they were telling the truth, so that’s good enough for me.” They have to supplant with other accounts, they have to perform textual criticism and close reading, they have to find other pieces of evidence to compare. Because in a sense, all of history might be fake news. We just have to figure out which parts those are, and sometimes that’s not even the point, because it’s impossible.

For example: take the sixth-century Byzantine court historian Procopius, who wrote about the reigns of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian (r. 527-65) and Empress Theodora (r. 527-48). All of his official accounts of them are largely positive and flattering. But Procopius is probably best known for a work called the Secret History, where he rips into them as horrible awful people, relates lurid sexual scandals (especially about Theodora), dishes on all the bad things they did behind the scenes, so on and etc. This means that historians have been arguing ever since about which versions of Justinian and Theodora -- indeed, Procopius’s own versions of them -- we’re supposed to believe. If you want to read the Secret History, which you can do at the link above and which you should because it has amusing chapter titles like “Proving That Justinian and Theodora Were Actually Fiends in Human Form” and “How Justinian Killed a Trillion People,” you’ll come across this unrelentingly negative depiction of them, and... what? Is this a (somewhat) accurate account of the darker side of Justinian and Theodora’s bad behavior, written by an embittered Procopius after he fell out of royal favor? Is it just a total hatchet job? Was it written purely in case there was a palace coup, so Procopius could hand it to the new emperor and be like “see, I totally didn’t like those losers either, you can rely on me” and didn’t represent his actual views on the imperial couple at all? You can already see the problem if the idea is, a la von Ranke, to prove “what really happened.” Almost nobody treats the Secret History as a straightforward factual document, but they also disagree about how truthful it is, why, for what reasons, and whether it is, in fact, even a History per se.

To return (belatedly) to the idea of newspapers and yellow journalism particularly. I would say that there was no more significant event in all of human history (well, maybe a few, but not many) than the invention of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century. It instantly and permanently transformed the way humans acquired, stored, recalled, and learned knowledge, and it lasted (and is still lasting) even in the face of smartphones and internet. Once books were no longer rare, labor-intensive, and expensive, their use exploded, it became standard practice to publish your research (by the sixteenth century, this was already happening), to learn from a book, to use other books in constructing your knowledge, and thus to encounter these narratives. The other architecture of a culture of public and general literacy developed along with it, until it was the primary medium in which all people, not just the rich and educated, learned about things. Newspapers and books and pamphlets and other printed material intensely drove the revolutions of the eighteenth century, both in America and in Europe. And obviously, these weren’t trying to tell “both sides of the story.” It became standard practice to publish your manifestos, your papers, your essays and arguments, all your supporting documents, and you were trying to convince people to your side for concrete political reasons.

So by the time you get to the 19th century, you’ve had literal CENTURIES of people deciding what they want to believe, what’s beneficial for them to believe, their viewpoint on the world, etc. Except as we discussed above re: our friend Leopold von Ranke, the 19th century develops the idea of “scientific objectivity.” Of course, in the social sciences, this often gets applied (pause for sighing) to support the idea that there is a real racial hierarchy, that western European white men are the best not because they said so, but because it’s science, it’s provable, it’s not just an opinion, It Is Trufax. Newspapers, books, and other printed material are widely available to everyone, and the 19th century is making claims to universal truth that can be discovered and applied in all disciplines, but which is just a continuation of the same subjective storytelling as before, now elevated to the status of Unimpeachable Truth. Yellow journalism isn’t really that different from what humans have always done in crafting a narrative that supports their purposes and the story they want to tell (or that they think will sell papers, because people have an endless appetite for secrets, scandals, and drama, especially if they think there is a conspiracy, real or fake, to hide it from them). They just have different tools for doing it. Of course in the 21st century, we now have journalistic ethics and a set of standards and codes of conduct for how you’re supposed to write these things, and we have respected publications that do all that, but we also still have tabloid media, when the relationship with the facts is... tenuous, at best. These institutions and tendencies never go away. They just evolve.

I realize that this was a long and rather dull ramble about the origins of historiography, but the point is this: “fake news” is literally as old as humanity and history itself, and humans have always been predisposed to select and believe the narrative that personally benefits them, fits with their ideology, makes sense of events in the way they feel is most compelling, and so on. It’s just now in the hyperconnected 21st century, “fake news” can go instantly around the globe and be exposed to anyone with an internet connection. This is not helped, as I talked about in my “death of expertise” ask, by a public forum where everybody’s contributions supposedly have to be treated “equally,” in the name of “fairness,” no matter whether someone knows anything about the topic or not. So the impact of this tendency to believe whatever the hell anyone wants has been magnified far past what has ever been the case in history before, because no matter what someone wrote or believed in the pre-internet era, they didn’t have the multi-million-exponential ability to reach absolutely everybody at once. Even print books have to be printed, circulated, purchased, read, etc, and that takes time and money, rather than just instantly having it appear on your smartphone. And we are obviously seeing the real-world consequences of that as a result.

#history #medieval history #historiography #history of literacy #long post #anonymous

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valeriethepussycats · 4 years

Text

I’m Only Human

Chapter 6

Pairing- Loki x Reader, Thor x Reader( Best friends)

Warning- cursing

Your thoughts in italics.

texts messages are in bold.

Heimdall stands at his post, watching the scene. He lowers his head.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Jane stands with Selvig and Darcy in the empty lab. Darcy picks up the book Selvig checked out of the library, looks through it.

“I can't just leave him and Y/n there.” Jane scolded herself.

“Why not? Y/n can take care of herself.” Erik told Jane.

“You didn't see what happened.” Jane murmured.

Darcy points at an illustration of Thor's hattmmer in the book. “Hey! Myeu-muh!”

Jane looks at the illustration in the book, turns to Erik knowingly.

“Where did you find this?” Jane Asked.

About the illustration Darcy was talking about Erik grabs the book from them, quickly closes it.

“In the children's section. I wanted to show you how ridiculous his story was.” Erik replied.

Jane is unconvinced by this. She knows he wants to believe.

“Aren't you the one who's always told me to chase down all leads, all possibilities?” Jane commented.

“I was talking about science, not magic!” Erik voiced.

“Magic's just science we don't understand yet. Arthur C. Clarke.” Jane informed.

“Who wrote science fiction.” Erik told Jane.

“The precursor of science fact.” Jane Corrected.

“In some cases.” Erik agreed somewhat.

“If that's really an Einstein-Rosen Bridge out there, then there's something on the other side. Advanced beings could have come through it before.” Jane pointed out.

“Jane...” Erik trailed off.

“A primitive culture like the Vikings might have worshipped them as deities.” Darcy Chimed in.

They give her a look, surprised by her unexpectedly insightful input. Darcy shrugs. Jane points at her, grateful for the support.

“Yes! Exactly! Thank you!” Jane cheered.

Darcy beams.

“Jane, if you do this, you'll find yourself in a situation that I won't be able to get you out of this time.” Erik remarked.

“I'll help you.” Darcy declared.

Jane looks grateful. Selvig looks at her, sees there's no stopping her. He sighs.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n checks her phone and see there’s a texts message from Erik

Shield came and took everything do you think you can do something?

Y/n text Erik back

Thor got Capture and I’m gonna need you to make him profile I’ll come up with the rest. And I’ll see what I can do about getting everything back.

Y/n heads to The entrance to the base

“I’m Agent Munroe here to see Phil Coulson.” Y/n told the guards at the entrance of the base.

“We will need to check.” Said one of the guards.

“Sure. That’s fine I can wait.” Y/n said calmly.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Thor sits in a chair, staring forward blankly, hands cuffed behind him. Coulson stands across from him.

“It's not easy to do what you did. You made us all look like a bunch of mall cops. That's hurtful.” Coulson started. “The men you so easily subdued are highly-trained professionals, and in my experience, it takes someone who's received similar training to do what you did to them. Would you like to tell me where you received your training?”

Thor sits silently.

“Pakistan? Chechnya? Afghanistan? Then again, you strike me more as the soldier of fortune type. What was it, South Africa?” Still no answer. Coulson leans in close to him. “Certain groups pay well for a good mercenary. Especially HYDRA.” Coulson remarked. Coulson waits for a response, but gets none.

“Who are you?” Coulson questioned

“Just a man.” Thor answered.

“One way or another, we find out what we want to know. We're good at that.” Coulson noted before walking out the room.

An agent walks up to Coulson and notifies him that Agent Munroe is here. Coulson walks over to where Y/n is waiting.

“Agent Munroe?” Coulson questioned. “What are you doing here your tracker has your location in New York at your apartment.”

Angrily gets up from her sit. “Trac- tracker there’s a tracker on me. What the hell Phil.” Y/n swore.

“Agent Coulson.” Phil corrected Y/n.

“Ok We’re being formal what the hell Agent Coulson.” Y/n replied.

“All agents have a trackers Directed Fury makes it an requirement.” Coulson answered.

“Oh really so show me yours.” Y/n insisted.

“That’s classified.” Coulson replied.

“Oh that’s Rich he has a tracking device on me is he worried November 18th is gonna happen again?” Y/n Asked.

“We don’t speak of November 18th you know that.” Coulson told Y/n. “What are you doing here.”

“Where is Donald Blake.” Y/n Asked.

“Who?” Coulson asked.

“Oh you know built real nice, pretty eyes, blonde hair, beard.” Y/n replied.

“He’s in shield custody he broke into our facility and beat up most of our man.” Coulson informed.

“I could’ve took him down easy but you want to watch the show.” Clint Chimed in.

“Clint you’re here?” Y/n said “shock” walking over and hugging her longtime friend.

“Director Fury assigned me along with Coulson to this assignment it’s kind a like sword in the stone.” Clint answered. “I told you that she was near by. Was that your doing with the rain.

“Sadly no that wasn’t my doing. I just got here when I found out my base was rated by Shield.” Y/n lied.

“So your here with Erik Selvig?” Coulson questioned.

“Yes.” Y/n answered. “And so is Donald Blake. I just want my friend back ok if you would so kindly release him in my custody we will be on our way.” Y/n claimed.

“How does he know how to fight like that?” Coulson questioned.

“I’ve been teaching him and he had some lessons when he was a kid and he’s my friend.” Y/n told a half lie half truth.

Well Thor was taught how fight to fight when he was younger so am I really lying.

“All right fine you want him to be released he would be released to you and your custody.” Coulson announced.

“Thank you Agent Coulson.” Y/n said with a Controlled smile.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Thor hangs his head low.

“I thought he'd never leave.” Loki said appearing before Thor. Thor looks up, shocked to find Loki standing there, dressed in 21st century attire.

“Loki? What are you doing here?” Thor Asked.

“I had to see you.” Loki replied.

“What's happened? Tell me! Is it Jotunheim? Let me explain to father.” Thor urged.

“Father is dead.” Loki lied.

Thor stares at him, stunned. “What?”

“Your banishment, the threat of a new war, it was too much for him to bear.” Loki started.The implications of Loki's words dawn on Thor -- he's responsible for his father's fate. Loki draws close to him, looks in his eyes, consolingly. “You mustn't blame yourself. I know that you loved him. I tried to tell him so, but he wouldn't listen.”

“It was cruel to put the hammer within your reach, knowing you could never lift it. Thor stares ahead, falling deeper into the abyss. “The burden of the throne has fallen to me now.” Loki finished.

“Can I come home?” Thor wandered.

“The truce with Jotunheim is conditional upon your exile.” Loki explained.

“But couldn't we find a way to--“

“Mother has forbidden your return. Thor nods, lowers his head, beaten. This is goodbye, brother. I'm so sorry.” Loki Noted.

“No, I'm sorry. Loki... thank you for coming here.” Thor said sincerely.

“Nothing could have stopped me.” Loki Told Thor. Coulson enters the room, but seems to take no notice of Loki. “Fare well, brother.”

“Good-bye.” Thor replied to his brother.

“Good-bye? I just got back.” Coulson announced.

Thor looks up to see that Loki is gone. “Now. Where did we leave off?”

Agents and Scientists work to repair the damaged area around Mjolnir. They take no notice of Loki as he steps up beside the hammer. He stares at it -- intrigued, wondering. Can he do it? He reaches down, tries to lift it -- but can't. He lets it go, eyes it with contempt, then steps away. He gestures with his arms. An odd green and gold light rises from the ground, enveloping him, then he disappears. Just as Loki disappears Y/n looks over at Thor’s hammer.

I could’ve sworn there someone just there. Maybe it’s my imagination.

Y/n walk to The entrance of the beast and see Erik.

Perfect timing.

Sitwell enters the room and speaks to Coulson.

“Sir... he's got a visitor.” Sitwell informed Coulson.

Coulson and several other Shield Agent stand across from Erik Selvig and Y/n.

“I’ve already told Agent Munroe that I will be releasing Donald Blake but I want to know do you have to say.” Coulson told.

“Doctor Donald Blake. He's part of our team. MD turn physicist. He's quite brilliant,really.” Erik explained.

“Uh-huh. You mind if we take a moment to verify his identity?” Coulson told them not really asking.

“Certainly.” Erik replied.

The Techie at a computer nearby runs the name.

On the Techie's monitor, a DMV record from the State of New York pops up reading "Dr. Donald Blake". The license photo is indeed a picture of Thor -- the one Darcy took with her cellphone.

“Release Dr. Blake to Agent Munroe here.

The Techie looks to him, surprised. “Make sure he stays in town for the next few days in case we need to talk to him again.” Coulson told Y/n.

Erik shakes his hand. “Thank you.”

Y/n bursts into the room with a to find a seated Thor.

“Donny, Donny, Donny! There you are!” Y/n beamed.

Just Go with it. Y/n Broadcast her thought to Thor.

Thor looks up,and see Y/n. She pulls Thor to his feet, gives him a warm hug. “It's going to be all right, my friend. Come on, I'm taking you home.” Y/n promised. Y/n leads the bewildered Thor out the door.

As Thor, Y/n and Erik make their way past the Shield Security Room, Thor notices Jane's possessions and equipment from the Smith Motors lab stacked under a tarp. He spots Jane's hand- written journal among them. As he passes, he quickly takes it from the pile and pockets it.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Coulson looks at the computer bearing Donald Blake's DMV record. A security warning over the image clearly reads "SECURITY ALERT: FALSIFIED DATA." He knows it's been a ruse Pall along.

He looks to Y/n,Erik,and Thor heading away from the Security Room, then follows them outside. Coulson and two SHIELD Agents watch as Y/n walks with Thor away from the base to the SUV. Coulson calls to Y/n. “Just keep him away from the bars.”

“I will!” Y/n lied.

“Where are we going?” Thor asked Y/n and Erik.”

Erik rops his cool demeanor.

“To get a drink.” Erik told Y/n and Thor.

Y/n, Erik, and Thor climb into the SUV.As they drive off, Coulson turns to the other two agents -- Garrett and Cale.

“Follow them.” Coulson ordered.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Loki, looking apprehensive, walks alone across the icy surface of the planet. Darkness shrouds the ruined temple, save for the shafts of light which knife their way in through the damaged ceiling. Loki enters. Frost Giant guards surround him on all sides. Laufey approaches, towers over him menacingly.

“Tell me why I shouldn't kill you.” Laufey commented.

I've come alone and unarmed.” Loki replied.

“To what end?” Laufey wondered.

“To make you another proposition.” Loki answered.

“So you're the one who let us into Asgard.” Laufey realized.

“You're welcome.” Loki grinned.

“My men are dead, and I have no Casket. You are a deceiver.” Laufey declared.

Laufey lashes out, grabs Loki around the throat, but Loki voiced. Calmly stands his ground. “You have no idea what I am.” The blueness spreads across his face, as Laufey and the guards stare in shock. Loki grins.“Hello, Father.”

Laufey releases him. Loki's body turns back to normal. Intrigued, Laufey sizes up his son.

“Ah, the bastard son. I thought Odin had killed you. That's what I would have done. He's as weak as you are.” Laufey told Loki.

“No longer weak. I now rule Asgard, until Odin awakens. Perhaps you should not have so carelessly abandoned me.” Loki remarked.

This gives Laufey pause.

“Or perhaps it was the wisest choice I've ever made. I will hear you.” Laufey grinned.

“I will conceal you and a handful of your soldiers, lead you into his chambers, and let you slay him where he lies. I'll keep the throne, and you will have the Casket.” Loki explained.

Laufey studies Loki's face.

“Why would you do this?” Laufey questioned.

“When all is done, we will have a permanent peace between our two worlds. Then I, the bastard son, will have accomplished what Odin

and Thor never could.” Loki noted.

“This is a great day for Jotunheim. Asgard is finally ours.” Laufey answered.

“No. Asgard is mine. The rest of the Nine Realms will be yours, if you do as you're told.” Loki disclosed.

Laufey considers the proposition.

“I accept.” Laufey told Loki.

Loki turns to leave. As he goes, the slightest trace of a smile crosses his face.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Loki emerges out of the Bifrost, as Heimdall steps away from his controls. Heimdall glares at Loki. Loki notices.

“What troubles you, Gatekeeper?”

Part 7

#loki x reader #marvel x reader #thor x reader #loki x black!reader

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bluewatsons · 4 years

Conversation

Philippe Mikriammos, A Conversation with William Burroughs, 4 Rev Contemp Fiction (1984)

Philippe Mikriammos: To what extent is the prologue to Junky autobiographical?

William S. Burroughs: Largely.

Philippe Mikriammos: Several people have mentioned a text of yours called Queer, which would be a continuation of your Mexican adventures and of Junky. What has become of these pages?

William S. Burroughs: It’s in the archives. Now, the catalogue of the archives was published by the Covent Garden Bookshop. It took us five months to get all the manuscripts, letters, photographs, etc., from fifteen, twenty years. And the archives are in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Whether they will let it be transferred to Columbia University in America, I don’t know. But Roberto Altmann, who has the archives at the present time, has not made them available yet. He is setting up something called the International Center of Arts and Communication in Vaduz. But they had a landslide which destroyed part of the building, and they haven’t opened it yet. The catalogue’s a very long book; it’s over three hundred pages. And I wrote about a hundred pages of introductory material to the different files, and where this was produced and so on and so forth. Literary periods, what I wrote, where, and all that, is in the catalogue, and the material itself, including this manuscript Queer, is in the archives.

Philippe Mikriammos: Did you use parts of the Queer material in other books?

William S. Burroughs: No, no. Frankly, I consider it a rather amateurish book and I did not want to republish it.

Philippe Mikriammos: In The Subterraneans, Kerouac spoke of “the accurate images I’d exchanged with Carmody in Mexico.” Does this sentence refer to experiences in telepathy and non-verbal communication between you and him?

William S. Burroughs: Well, I think we did some elementary experiments, yes.

Philippe Mikriammos: Have you been influenced by Celine?

William S. Burroughs: Yes, very much so.

Philippe Mikriammos: Did you ever meet him?

William S. Burroughs: Yes, I did. Allen and I went out to meet him in Meudon shortly before his death. Well, it was not shortly before, but two or three years before.

Philippe Mikriammos: Would you agree to say that he was one of the very rare French novelists who wrote in association blocks?

William S. Burroughs: Only in part. I think that he is in a very old tradition, and I myself am in a very old tradition, namely, that of the picaresque novel. People complain that my novels have no plot. Well, a picaresque novel has no plot. It is simply a series of incidents. And that tradition dates back to the Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter, and to one of the very early novels, The Unfortunate Traveler by Thomas Nashe. And I think Celine belongs to this same tradition. But remember that what we call the “novel” is a highly artificial form, which came in the nineteenth century. It’s quite as arbitrary as the sonnet. And that form had a beginning, a middle, and an end; it has a plot, and it has this chapter structure where you have one chapter, and then you try to leave the person in a state of suspense, and on to the next chapter, and people are wondering what happened to this person, and so forth. That nineteenth-century construction has become stylized as the novel, and anyone who writes anything different from that is accused of being unintelligible. That form has imposed itself to the present time.

Philippe Mikriammos: And it’s not vanishing.

William S. Burroughs: Well, no, it’s not vanishing. All the best-sellers are still old fashioned novels, written precisely in that nineteenth-century format. And films of course are following suit.

Philippe Mikriammos: Would you say that Kerouac also belonged to the picaresque novel?

William S. Burroughs: I would not place Jack Kerouac in the picaresque tradition since he is dealing often with factual events not sufficiently transformed and exaggerated to be classified as picaresque.

Philippe Mikriammos: Isn’t it a bit striking that a major verbal innovator like you has expressed admiration for writers who are not mainly verbal innovators themselves: Conrad, Genet, Beckett, Eliot?

William S. Burroughs: Well, excuse me, Eliot was quite a verbal innovator. The Waste Land is, in effect, a cut-up, since it’s using all these bits- and-pieces of other writers in an associational matrix. Beckett I would say is in some sense a verbal innovator. Of course Genet is classical. Many of the writers I admire are not verbal innovators at all, as you pointed out. Among these I would mention Genet and Conrad; I don’t know if you can call Kafka a verbal innovator. I think Celine is, to some extent. Interesting about Celine, I find the same critical misconceptions put forth by critics with regard to his work are put forth to mine: they said it was a chronicle of despair, etc.; I thought it was very funny! I think he is primarily a humorous writer. And a picaresque novel should be very lively and very funny.

Philippe Mikriammos: What other writers have influenced you or what ones have you liked?

William S. Burroughs: Oh, lots of them: Fitzgerald, some of Hemingway; “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” was a great short story.

Philippe Mikriammos: Dashiell Hammett?

William S. Burroughs: Well … yes, I mean it’s of course minor, but Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler in that genre, which is a minor genre, and it’s not realistic at all. I mean this idea that this is the hard boiled, realistic style is completely mythologic. Raymond Chandler is a writer of myths, of criminal myths, not of reality at all. Nothing to do with reality.

Philippe Mikriammos: You have developed a personal type of writing called the “routine.” What exactly is a routine?

William S. Burroughs: That phrase was really produced by Allen Ginsberg; it simply means a usually humorous, sustained tour de force, never more than three or four pages.

Philippe Mikriammos: You read a lot of science fiction, and have expressed admiration for The Star Virus by Barrington Bayley and Three to Conquer by Eric Frank Russell. Any other science fiction books that you have particularly liked?

William S. Burroughs: Fury, by Henry Kuttner. I don’t know, there are so many of them. There’s something by Poul Anderson, I forget what it was called, Twilight World. There are a lot of science fiction books that I have read, but I have forgotten the names of the writers. Dune I like quite well.

Philippe Mikriammos: There is no particular science-fiction author that has notably influenced you?

William S. Burroughs: No, various books from here and there. Now, H. G. Wells, yes, The Time Machine, and I think he has written some very good science fiction.

Philippe Mikriammos: What about the other Burroughs, Edgar Rice?

William S. Burroughs: Well, no. That’s for children.

Philippe Mikriammos In The Ticket That Exploded you write: “There is no real thing— all show business.” Have Buddhism, Zen, and Oriental thinking in general exerted a strong influence on you?

William S. Burroughs: No. I am really not very well acquainted with the literature, still less with the practice of yoga and Zen. But on one point I am fully in agreement, that is, all is illusion.

Philippe Mikriammos: Has the use of apomorphine made any progress that you know of since you started recommending and advocating its use?

William S. Burroughs: No, on the contrary. Too bad, because it is effective.

Philippe Mikriammos: In a recent interview, you said that apomorphine combined with Lomotil and acupuncture was the remedy for withdrawal. What was wrong or insufficient with apomorphine to require the combination of two other elements?

William S. Burroughs: I found out about Lomotil in America some time ago, and then doctors have been using it here with pretty good results. The thing about apomorphine is that it requires pretty constant attendance. In other words, you’ve got to really have a day and a night nurse, and those injections have to be given every four hours. And it isn’t everybody that’s in a position to do that. But at least for the first four days, it requires rather intensive care. And it is quite unpleasant.

Philippe Mikriammos: And it’s emetic…

William S. Burroughs: Well, no, there’s no necessity; see, it’s not an aversion therapy and there’s no necessity for the person to be sick more than once or twice when they find the threshold dose. They find the maximum dose that can be administered without vomiting, and they stick with that dose. You’ll get decreased tolerance; sometimes the threshold dose will go down. Usually, almost anyone will vomit on a tenth of a grain. So then they start reducing it, but as the treatment goes on, you may find that a twentieth of a grain or even less than a twentieth of a grain produces vomiting again. You may get decreased tolerance in the course of the treatment. So it’s something that has to be done very precisely, and of course people must know exactly what they’re doing. It’s very elastic, because some people will take large doses without vomiting, and some people will vomit on very small doses. Continual adjustments have to be made.

Philippe Mikriammos: And acupuncture?

William S. Burroughs: Well, I thought immediately when I saw these accounts, as well as a television presentation of operations with acupuncture, that anything that relieves intense pain will necessarily relieve withdrawal symptoms. Then they started using it for withdrawal symptoms, apparently with very good results, and are using it here, I think.

Philippe Mikriammos: Most of your books definitely have a cinematographic touch. The Last Words of Dutch Schultz actually is a film script, and The Wild Boys and Exterminator! are full of cinematographic details and indications

William S. Burroughs: That’s true, yes.

Philippe Mikriammos: Why haven’t we seen any film made from one of your books?

William S. Burroughs: Well, we’ve tried to get financing on the Dutch Schultz script, but so far it hasn’t developed. Very, very hard to get people to put up money for a film.

Philippe Mikriammos: What films have you liked recently?

William S. Burroughs: I like them when I go, when I see them, but it’s rather hard to get myself out to see a film. I haven’t seen many films lately. I saw A Clockwork Orange; I thought it was competent and fun, well done, though I don’t think I could bear to see it again.

Philippe Mikriammos: Do you write every day?

William S. Burroughs: I used to. I haven’t been doing anything lately because I gave a course in New York, and that took up all my time; then I was moving into a new flat there, so that during the last five months, I haven’t really been doing much writing.

Philippe Mikriammos: When you write, how long is it each day?

William S. Burroughs: Well, I used to write… it depends … up to three, four hours, sometimes more, depending on how it’s going.

Philippe Mikriammos: What is the proportion of cut-up in your recent books, The Wild Boys and Exterminator!?

William S. Burroughs: Small. Small. Not more than five percent, if that.

Philippe Mikriammos: Parts of Exterminator! look like poems. How do you react to the words poem, poetry, poet?

William S. Burroughs: Well, as soon as you get away from actual poetic forms, rhyme, meter, etc., there is no line between prose and poetry. From my way of thinking, many poets are simply lazy prose writers. I can take a page of descriptive prose and break it into lines, as I’ve done in Exterminator!, and then you’ve got a poem. Call it a poem.

Philippe Mikriammos: Memory and remembrances of your youth tend to have a larger and larger place in your recent books.

William S. Burroughs: Yes, yes. True.

Philippe Mikriammos: How do you explain it?

William S. Burroughs: Well, after all, youthful memories I think are one of the main literary sources. And while in Junky, and to a lesser extent in Naked Lunch, I was dealing with more or less recent experiences, I’ve been going back more and more to experiences of childhood and adolescence.

Philippe Mikriammos: Parts of Exterminator! sound like The Wild Boys continued. We find again Audrey Carson, and other things. Did you conceive it that way, as a continuation of Wild Boys, or is it just a matter of recurrent themes?

William S. Burroughs: Any book that I write, there will be probably…say if I have a book of approximately two hundred pages…you can assume that there were six hundred. So, there’s always an overflow into the next book. In other words, my selection of materials is often rather arbitrary. Sometimes things that should have gone in, didn’t go in, and sometimes what was selected for publication is not as good as what was left out. In a sense, it’s all one book. All my books are all one book. So that was overflow; some of it was overflow material from The Wild Boys, what didn’t go into The Wild Boys for one reason or another. There are sections of course in The Wild Boys that should have gone into Exterminator!, like the first section, which doesn’t belong with the rest of the book at all; it would have been much better in Exterminator!, the Tio Mate section. There’s no relation really between that and the rest of the book.

Philippe Mikriammos: There was the Egyptian Book of the Dead, and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and then The Wild Boys, subtitled “A Book of the Dead.” Am I stupid in seeing a connection between them.

William S. Burroughs: Oh no, the connection I think is very clear: everyone in the book is dead. Remember that Audrey is killed in the beginning of the book, in an auto accident.

Philippe Mikriammos: Did you inspire yourself from the old books of the Dead?

William S. Burroughs: To some extent, yes. I’ve read them both; not all of the Egyptian one, my God, or all of the Tibetan one, but I looked through them. In other words, the same concepts are there between birth and death, or between death and birth.

Philippe Mikriammos: You have kept an unchanged point of view about the origins of humanity’s troubles. In The Naked Lunch you wrote: “The Evil is waiting out there, in the land. Larval entities waiting for a live one,” and in Exterminator!, “The white settlers contracted a virus,” and this virus is the word. But who put the word there in the first place?

William S. Burroughs: Well, the whole white race, which has proved to be a perfect curse on the planet, have been largely conditioned by their cave experience, by their living in caves. And they may actually have contracted some form of virus there, which has made them what they’ve been, a real menace to life on the planet.

Philippe Mikriammos: So the Evil always comes from outside, from without?

William S. Burroughs: I don’t think there’s any distinction, within/without. A virus comes from the outside, but it can’t harm anyone until it gets inside. It is extraneous in or??ìp

Philippe Mikriammos: Speaking of coming in and out, as you were arriving in London for a visit late in 1964, you were allowed only fourteen days by the authorities, without explanations. Have you had to suffer from a lot of harassment from authorities?

William S. Burroughs: Very little. That was straightened out by the Arts Council and was of course prompted by the American Narcotics Department. Allen Ginsberg had the same difficulties. The American Narcotics Department would pass the word along to other authorities. Well, I got that immediately straightened out through the Arts Council; I’ve never had any trouble since.

Philippe Mikriammos: May I ask the reasons for why you are moving to New York?

William S. Burroughs: Well, I like it better. New York is very much more lively than London, and actually cheaper now. I find it a much more satisfactory place to live. New York has changed; New York is better than it was; London is worse than it was.

Philippe Mikriammos: You have always described the System as matriarchal. Do you still have the same opinion?

William S. Burroughs: Well, the situation has changed radically, say from what it was in the 1920s when I was a child; you could describe that as a pretty hard-core matriarchal society. Now, the picture is much more complicated with the pill and the sexual revolution and Women’s Lib, which allegedly is undermining the matriarchal system. That is, at least that’s what they say they’re doing, that they want women to be treated like everyone else and not have special prerogatives simply because they’re women. So, I don’t know exactly how you would describe the situation now. It’s certainly not a patriarchal society—I am speaking of America now—but I don’t think you could describe it as an archetypal or uniform matriarchal society either, except for the southern part of the United States. You see, the southern part of the United States was always the stronghold of matriarchy, the concept of the “Southern belle” and the Southern woman. And that is still in existence, but it’s on the way out, undoubtedly.

Philippe Mikriammos: You call for a mutation as the only way out of the present mess. Right now, what positive signs, factors, or forces do you see working toward such a mutation?

William S. Burroughs: Well, there are all sorts of factors. Actually, if you read a book like The Biologic Time Bomb by Taylor, you’ll see that such mutations are well within the range of modern biology, that these things can be done, right now. We don’t have to wait three hundred years. But what he points out is that the discoveries of modern biology could not be absorbed by our creaky social systems. Even such a simple thing as prolonging life. Whose life is going to be prolonged? Who is to decide whether certain people’s lives are going to be prolonged and certain other people’s are not? Certainly politicians are not competent to make these decisions.

Philippe Mikriammos: You hate politicians, right?

William S. Burroughs: No, I don’t hate politicians at all, I’m not interested in politicians. I find the type of mind, the completely extraverted, image-oriented, power-oriented thinking of the politicians dull. In other words, I’m bored by politicians; I don’t hate them. It’s just not a type of person that interests me.

Philippe Mikriammos: What are your methods of writing at present?

William S. Burroughs: Methods? I don’t know. I just sit down and write! I write in short sections; in other words, I write a section, maybe of narrative, and then I reach into that, but if it doesn’t continue, I’ll write something else, and then try to piece them together. The Wild Boys was written over a period of time; some of it was written in Marrakech, some of it was written in Tangiers, and a good deal was written in London. I always write on the typewriter, never in longhand.

Philippe Mikriammos: What is, in The Wild Boys, the meaning of sentences like “A pyramid coming in…two…three..four pyramids coming in…”?

William S. Burroughs: That is an exercise of visualizing geometric figures which I have run across in various psychic writings.

Philippe Mikriammos: Would you be interested in testing psychotronic generators too?

William S. Burroughs: Yes, the various devices described in Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. They have now come out with another book called A Handbook of PSI Discoveries, which is a how-to book telling just how to do Kirlian photography how to build all these machines and generators and so on. I’m very interested in experimenting with those if I have the opportunity, time, and money.

Philippe Mikriammos: In the mid-seventies, you write that you wanted to create a new myth for the Space Age. Is it what you are still trying to do, and do you use the word myth in a particular sense?

William S. Burroughs: I feel that I am still working along the line of a myth for the Space Age and that all my books are essentially one book. I use myth in the conventional meaning.

#interviews #writing #greats #writers on writers #literature #william s. burroughs #contemporary fiction #critique #drugs #drug addicts #science fiction #space age #mythos #matriarchy #society

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katiewattsart · 5 years

Text

25/03/20 : A RECAP

- Who Watches the Watchmen? - Power, Discourse, The Other

- Ever Tried. Ever Failed - Failure, Resilience, Sustainability

- Teddy Boys and Haul Girls - Subcultures, Resistance, Commodification

- Utopia and Dystopia - world-building, social justice

- Nothing is original and that’s ok - The Copy, Remix Cultures, Bricolage

- Hauntology and Nostalgia - Political Nostalgia, Subversion,

- Telling Stories - Narrative Theory, Narratives in practice, storytelling

Who Watches the Watchmen?

Power

Theorists Include:

Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Laura Mulvey,

John Berger

Moral Panic

The Panopticon

Surveillance

Feminism

Sex/Gender

The Gaze

The Power of Looking

“Looking involves learning to interpret and, like other practices, looking involves relationships of power....

To be made to look, to try to get someone to look at you or at something you want to be noticed, or to engage in an exchange of looks, involves a play of power.”

Sturken, M. Cartwright, L. (2004) Practices of Looking

The Panopticon

Designed by British Jurist and social reformer Jeremy Bentham in 1791, as an architectural system of control and surveillance.

Used by Foucault to analyse systems of power, and the self-regulating society.

Section and plan of Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon penitentiary, drawn by Willey Reveley, 1791

- Power is reinforced through language

- Bodies act under strict constraints of power exercised by institutions

- The Power of Subversion

- Gender is a social construct and is performative

- The structure of power is Patriarchal

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Drawing Power: How depictions of superheros have changed in the Marvel Universe from the 1960s to the present day

A post-structural analysis of Power and Illustration in the graphic novels of Frank Miller

Power Play: A history of Alan Moore mocking authority

Imbalance of power: Becoming Unbecoming and readdressing female histories

Chintz and power: Jim Shaw’s anti-fascist wallpapers

Political cartoons and the British Establishment, from William Hogarth to Steve Bell

Ever Tried. Ever Failed.

Trying and failing as art

Experimentation

Sustainability

Social Justice

Capitalism

The Process

Resilience

Artists Include: Beckett, Smithson, Ono, Signer, Banksy, Wei wei

failure:

1. Lack of success.

2. The neglect or omission of expected or required action.

3. The action or state of not functioning.

Oxford living dictionaries

Guerilla Design

Chapitre Zero (2013)

Furniture designers Duccio Maria Gambi/Mattia Paco

Salvages wooden pallets, unwanted furniture, and assorted pieces of wood

Create urban public furniture to create ‘social spaces’ in Paris.

Sustaining Culture?

Justin Gignac, New York City Garbage (2001)

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Tru Try and Try again: why those who keep going get the most done

From one to many: how Greta Thunberg’s perseverance made a difference in a world of indifference

Resilience and Sustainability are the tools we need for surviving the future

We Make Our Luck: the aggregation of Marginal Gains

Say Nothing, Do Nothing, Be Nothing: the purpose of the Crit in Art and Design

Teddy Boys and Haul Girls: Subcultures

Subcultures

Subversion

Bricolage

Youth Culture

Dominant/Deviant culture

Conspicuous Consumption

Punk

Culture Jamming

Utopia/Dystopia

Theorists/ Artists Include: Hebdige, Williams, Leckey, Banksy, Warhol, Adbusters

Dominant culture: a dominant culture is one that is able, through economic or political power, to impose its values, language, and ways of behaving on a subordinate culture or cultures. This may be achieved through legal or political suppression of other sets of values and patterns of behaviour, or by monopolizing the media of communication.

Dominant culture. A Dictionary of Sociology. . Encyclopedia.com.

ubculture: Subcultures are smaller groups within the larger culture that have slightly different—or additional—traditions and ideas. They tend to share much in common with the larger culture and typically interact with members of the majority on a regular basis. Most people belong to at least one group that can be classified as a subculture.

Feminist Critique:

The role of women/girls is largely ignored.

The experience of youth is gendered.

Wider gender politics can be investigated through the study of youth subcultures.

This is England (2007) Shane meadows:

youtube

Haul Girls

“In fact, the closest thing to the old model of a subculture I've come across is Helina and the haul girls. Their videos are about conspicuous consumption: a public display of their good taste, carefully assembled with precise attention to detail. When you put it like that – and at the risk of incurring a fatwah from middle-aged Paul Weller fans – they sound remarkably like mods.”

-Alexis Petridis

Conspicuous Consumption:

..is a term introduced by the Norwegian-American economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his book "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899). The term refers to consumers who buy expensive items to display wealth and income rather than to cover the real needs of the consumer.

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Cosplay and the Carnival: Counter culture as the World Turned Upside Down

Representations of Subculture in Film, Theatre and Costume/Illustration

England’s Dreaming: Punk as a critique of Thatcherism and the rise the Me Generation

Dressing/Drawing Working Class Subcultures from 1950 to 2000: An Artifact

This Is England: From Skins to The Inbetweeners, a cultural reading of England’s youth culture

Art & Artifice: a discussion of representations of young people and material culture from Annie Swynnerton to Andy Warhol

Utopia and Dystopia

World-Building

Social Justice

Critiques of culture

Art and Crisis

Transformative design

Theorists include: Thomas Moore, Philip K. Dick, Ernst Bloch..

Sir Thomas More 1477-1535

- First person to write about Utopia - a perfect imaginary world

- Greek - Ou-topos - No place, or Nowhere

- Eu-topos- A good place

Can a perfect place ever be realised?

Utopia means nowhere or no place. It has often been taken to mean good place, through confusion of its first syllable with the Greek eu as in euphemism or eulogy. As a result of this mix up, another word, dystopia, has been invented, to mean bad place. But, strictly speaking, imaginary good places and imaginary bad places are all utopias, or nowheres.

- John Carey

The Garden of Earthly Pleasures -Hieronymus Bosch circa 1490-1510

UTOPIAS IN FILM

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

I Am The Architect: The Role of the Designer in Dystopia

Fashioning Utopia: How costume design in Science Fiction helps us reimagine the world

Interior Identities: How the inner spaces of our lives tell the narrative of our times

Digital Dystopia: How the Ghost In The Machine Became A Trope of the Internet Age

The Perfect Palette: The search for Utopia on the canvases of the Stanley Spencer

NOTHING IS ORIGINAL - and that’s ok!

The Remix

Hauntology

Appropriation

Nostalgia

The Copy

Sampling

Theorists/Artists Include: David Lynch, Kenneth Goldsmith, Simon Reynolds, Mark Fisher.

WHAT IS ORIGINALITY?

How would you define originality?

Should we try and pursue originality?

Does originality exist?

If so, what does it look like?

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Steal Like an Artist: How Our Influences Make Us Who We Become

Copy Paste Culture: How Rap Reflects the Wider Art World of the 1980’s and Beyond

Youtube Made Me Hardcore: How Access to Everyday Editing Software Made Everyone an Artist

Hauntology and Nostalgia

Nostalgia

Hauntology

Politicisation

Style and Aesthetic

Commodification

Reflexive/restorative

Theorists include: Svetlana Boym, Mark Fisher, Jacques Derrida

NOSTALGIA AS DOMINANT MODE

How do explain the large number of works based on pre-existing work?

Why do you think that adaptations are the dominant product in today’s media market?

Two Types of Nostalgia

estorative:

“puts emphasis on nostos (returning home) and proposes to rebuild the lost home and patch up the memory gaps.” (Boym)

Reflective:

“Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, “dwells in algia (aching), in longing and loss, the imperfect process of remembrance.”

“Personal nostalgia can be used therapeutically to help individuals move beyond trauma” (Batcho, 2017)

Historically being nostalgic or using nostalgia as a form of expression in art or literature has not been seen as a good thing, rather it’s been viewed as the antithesis of progression and innovation. Miuccia Prada once said ‘nostalgia is a very complicated subject for me. I'm attracted by nostalgia but I refuse it intellectually.’

Definition of Hauntology

Hauntology is a philosophical concept referring to the return or persistence of elements from the past, as in the manner of a ghost. The term was coined by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1993 book Spectres of Marx.

Broadly speaking, the notion that the present is haunted by lost futures

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The Machine in The Ghost: Digital and Analogue Traces in the Art and Films of David Lynch

Breaking the Future: How Nostalgia and Hauntology has Led to an Influx of Genre Movies and Remakes, and What Can be Done to Change It

The Effects of Nostalgia: Instagram and the Filter

Telling Stories

The Mainstream

Narrative

Provocation/Disruption

Street Art

The Spectacle

Theorists/Artists include: Kruger, Banksy, Warner, Anderson, de Certeau, Georges Perec,

Texts’ that could hold a narrative?

…novels, comics, films, tv series, plays, films, children’s books, animation, games, photographs, news stories, magazine covers, folktales and myths, book covers, paintings, editorial illustrations, window displays, packaging, logos…

The Culture Industry

How might film be seen as an ideological tool, then and now?

CRAFTING NARRATIVE

Exploring how makers and designers are using objects and making ,to tell stories.

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Costume as Character in Game Of Thrones

Grayson Perry as Storyteller: Culture Captured in Ceramics and tapestry

Dressing the Window: Narratives on Display

Suffragette Jewellery and the Story of Adornement as Dissent in Early 20th Century Britain

ALL UR VIRAL PHENOMENA R BELONG 2 US

Networks

Collective Understanding

Viral Phenomena

Populism

Digital Culture

User Content

Memes

Satire

Viral phenomena are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. They get their name from the way that viruses propagate

“Breaking the Internet”: The narratives of Viral media

Why do things go viral?

- Relatability

- Empathy

- Irony / irreverence

- Political meaning

- Humour

- ‘Smarts’

The word meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene as an attempt to explain the way cultural information spreads; such as beliefs, fashions, stories, and phrases

POTENTIAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The Viral Marketing campaigns of JJ Abrams

The Meme is Dead, Long Live the Meme! How Do We Keep up with the means of communication when the means of communication change on a Daily Basis?

HASHTAGS: Friends or Enemies?

The Rise of Cancel Culture and Implications for Critical Thinking

ESSAY PREPERATION

What do you want to explore?

theme/idea

artist/designer

object/image

These Questions should now:

- guide your research and keep you focused.

- What information are you lacking, and where do you need to go to get it?

- Brainstorm a list of Questions, considering whether you need to:

Analyse

Appraise

Assess

Compare

Contrast

Criticise

Define

Discuss

Describe

Examine

Explain

Indicate

Illustrate

Interpret

Judge

Justify

Outline

Refute

State

Summarise

Trace

Title/Question

Be concise and explicit. This is a working title/question.

EG. Who Decides Who Decides?

Critiquing power in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Keywords

Include here any words you think will help you identify the research you want to undertake.

EG. Power, Foucault, Surveillance, war on terror, citizen activism, superheroes

introduction/Questions

Use this section to introduce the questions and any issues that are central to your research.

EG. This paper explores the ways in which power is exercised in the MCU, and compares the films to the source comics to see how the two mediums differ

Background

What are the key texts and approaches in the field? How does your proposal extend our understanding of particular questions or topics? You need to set out your research questions as clearly as possible, explain problems that you want to explore and say why it is important to do so. In other words, think about how to situate your project in the context of your discipline.

EG. Watchmen by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons; V for Vendatta etc, Crisis on Infinite Earths

DEVELOPING YOUR RESEARCH QUESTION

5Ws: answer the following questions:

Who does your topic impact?

Who cares about your topic?

What is influenced by or influences your topic?

Where is your topic relevant?

Why is your topic important?

You could try free writing!

Write continuously for a set amount of time without stopping. Ignore grammar and spelling. Write what you know and identify gaps and questions to pursue.

Or mind mapping!

A visual form of brainstorming. Include related subtopics, concepts and words and connect to them to your topic.

TASK

Before next session:

Brainstorm and mind map your ideas

Gather images, quotes

fill in your research proposal for GCOP200

(as much as you can)

Bring it all with you to your seminar

#gcop200

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ladyherenya · 5 years

Photo

Books read in October

Twenty novels (including two audiobooks), three graphic novels, one novella and two rereads: more books than are pictured above. I can’t remember the last time I read so much in a month. Maybe when I was high school?

It was a combination of factors: Rainbow Rowell’s latest books became available at the library, I realised that Meg Cabot’s Heather Wells books are murder mysteries, and I made the very exciting discovery that I could get Ellen Emerson White’s previously-out-of-print novels as ebooks.

Favourite cover: Life Without Friends.

Reread: Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher, Hold Me by Courtney Milan (and then The Road Home).

Still reading: Mapping Winter by Marta Randall and When We Were Warriors by Emma Carroll.

Next up: Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan.

(Longer reviews and ratings are on LibraryThing. And also Dreamwidth.)

The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis: Princess Sofia is unimpressed when her sister’s latest plans involve sending Sofia on a diplomatic mission to Villenne. Sofia wants to stay in her room and read, not remind everyone that she struggles to be a perfect princess. But in Villenne she discovers unexpected opportunities to attend lectures and make friends. And when calamity strikes, it’s up to her to save the day. A solid adventure about friendship and what it means to be a princess, a philosopher and a person all at once. It’s the sort of book I’d like to send back in time to my twelve-year-old self.

The “Uncommon Echoes” trilogy by Sharon Shinn: Set in a world where many of the nobility have “echoes” -- identical copies who follow them, more substantial than shadows but not capable of speech or independent action. Or so people believe. Begins with Echo in Onyx.

Echo in Emerald: After a story about an ordinary woman pretending to be an echo, here is a woman pretending her echoes are ordinary people. Chessie has the ability to shift her consciousness between herself and her two echoes, enough to give the impression that they are three different people with different personalities and jobs. Usually she keeps to the lower classes, but one day she’s asked to deliver a message to a noble who is investigating a recent murder.(Another inversion, another case of themes and variations, as the first book is about trying to conceal a murder.)This builds upon the first book, deepening our understanding of the political context and of echoes. Chessie’s experience of identity is fascinating.

Echo in Amethyst: A story about echo who slowly gains sentience and independence from her original is a good idea in theory, a logical progression for this trilogy. But it turned out to be a massive misstep. The echo belongs to a woman who is abusive towards her echoes and rude towards nearly everyone else. The echo spends a long time incapable of being anything other than a passive observer of unpleasant people. I skimmed bits and seriously considered abandoning this. Not recommended -- but the first two books standalone sufficiently that you could read just those without this series feeling naggingly incomplete.

Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks: Super cute! All through high school Josiah and Deja have worked together at the pumpkin patch every September and October. Tonight is their last shift. Deja is determined that Josiah is finally going to speak to the girl he likes. Nothing goes to plan. This is a story about changes, chances and choices. It’s also a love letter to everything Josiah and Deja love about the pumpkin patch -- which includes their relationship. I really liked the characters, and the artwork does such a wonderful job of bringing them, and this place, to life.

The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan (narrated by Jayne Entwistle): Unexpectedly entertaining, a cosy mystery full of excitement, danger and character growth, set against the backdrop of the London Blitz. Mrs Braithwaite, divorced and deposed from her position as head of the village Women’s Voluntary Service, tries to find her missing adult daughter. Mrs Braithwaite is a very forceful personality. I really liked that she is not only challenged to reevaluate her attitudes, she discovers that qualities like bossiness and tenacity can be great strengths. Large, loud and assertive middle-aged women are so often been relegated to irritating or comedic minor characters, rather than getting to be protagonists.

An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson: Isobel has spent years painting portraits of the fair folk. She knows to speak courteously, make bargains carefully, and avoid jeopardising her family’s safety. And then she meets the prince of the autumn court. I have mixed feelings. I really liked Isobel, with her practical streak and her passion for painting, and liked the way she describes her experiences. The people she’s closest to are quickly established as interesting, complex and individual. However, this story leans heavily into a portrayal of the fair folk which I don’t find very appealing. A matter of personal taste rather than quality.

Artistic License by Elle Pierson (aka Lucy Parker): I wasn’t sure what to expect from an early self-published novel about an art student and a security guard in New Zealand, especially as the London theatre world is a big part of why Parker’s other books appeal to me. But Queenstown is such a scenic setting and the characters immediately felt like the sort of people Parker writes about. I particularly enjoyed Sophy’s internal dialogue, and how she and Mick become very protective of each other. They’re so mutually caring! In hindsight, this book could have been stronger... but I liked the characters and their interactions. Sometimes that’s enough.

The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay: A story about cross-age friendship and forgiveness, about three different women working together in a bookshop. Madeline, a lawyer, has inherited the bookshop from her aunt. Janet is angry and has an ex husband, adult children who rarely speak to her and old friends she wants to avoid. In the middle is Claire, aware of the shop’s precarious finances and trying to juggle work with motherhood. I’d nearly finished this when I realised it’s classified as “Christian fiction”. I really liked how it is about forgiveness and messy, complicated relationships. Not a perfect book, but it surprised me.

The “Heather Wells Mysteries” by Meg Cabot:

Size 12 Is Not Fat: I discovered that this series isn’t just chick lit, it’s murder mystery chick lit about a former pop singer now working as an assistant director for a college dorm. (Talk about misleading covers!) When a student is found dead, Heather is convinced that it wasn’t an accident but murder. At times Heather reminded me of Mia from The Princess Diaries, which I found fascinating and frustrating (some attitudes are more understandable coming from a teenager than from a woman approaching thirty). Anyway, Heather is kind and humorous, I liked the setting, and the mystery had enough twists to satisfy me.

Size 14 Is Not Fat Either: More of the same, except that this time when a student turns up dead, it’s obvious to everyone that she has been murdered. Instead of trying to convince everyone of the need for a murder investigation, Heather is trying -- unsuccessfully -- not to get involved in it. I like how supportive Heather’s friends and colleagues are. Her father has been absent (in jail), her mother and her manager ran off with Heather’s money, and her long term boyfriend was unfaithful, but she’s still got people in her life who care and who are there for her. And I did enjoy some of her song lyrics.

Size Doesn’t Matter (US title: Big Boned): I was relieved that this time round the murder victim is not another female student. Yes, murder is horrible regardless, but there can be something particularly unpleasant if a story keeps only killing young women. I definitely don’t want murder mysteries to be all grim and bleak, but I prefer it when murder mysteries aren’t this light-hearted. This isn’t a criticism, just a realisation about my personal taste. I kept reading to see some resolution in Heather’s love life. (I know, priorities). I’ve no idea the woman on the cover is wearing a wedding dress. Marketing is weird.

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell: Simon, Baz and Penelope set off on a roadtrip across America to see Agatha, who Penelope is convinced is in trouble. Rowell is so good making me care about her characters and their relationships. I liked how this is a journey of discovery -- exploring a new country, finding out things about the world they live in and learning more about themselves. I enjoyed reading this but wasn’t so enthusiastic about the final act (it becomes a story about vampires) or the conclusion (busy setting up for a sequel, it leaves emotional arcs unresolved). Expectations and personal preferences, I guess.

Life Without Friends by Ellen Emerson White: I was so excited when I discovered that this had been released as an ebook. A decade of wanting to read something may be an unfair amount of pressure to put on any book, especially on a teen novel from 1987, but I was not disappointed. White is so good at writing smart, acerbic teenage girls dealing with trauma and intense emotions, like guilt and grief. And Beverly’s relationship with Derek is so believably awkward and tentative and hopeful -- two people with their own flaws and fears making the effort to get to know each other. It’s, like, everything I want from teen romance.

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers: A team from the 22nd century explore four habitable worlds in orbit around a red dwarf star. It’s a fascinating glimpse into what the future might be like -- what space travel and other worlds might be like -- and a thought-provoking meditation about space, science and life. When it comes to the characters, there’s something quite elliptical about it -- which is fitting, given that Ariadne is writing this account for a specific purpose. It left me feeling unsatisfied, but I think that’s because there are particular things I’m looking for and this novella intentionally -- and effectively -- focuses on something else.

The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl by Theodora Goss (narrated by Kate Reading): The Athena Club return to London from one extraordinary adventure and are plunged into another. Their teenaged kitchen maid Alice has been kidnapped, Sherlock Holmes is missing and there is a plot afoot to impersonate the queen. This story has adventure, teamwork, mystery, unexpected twists, more cameos by characters from popular Victorian fiction, and commentary on late Victorian concerns (like empire and eugenics). My favourite part was the Athena Club's interactions when they interrupt the narrative to discuss their lives together, highlight what they think is important or argue about what Catherine included. They’re a team, a household, a family.

All Emergencies, Ring Super by Ellen Emerson White: A teenager asks Dana, a former actress working as a building superintendent, to investigate a building fire. This was curiously lacking in tension --- until things became intensely personal. By the end, I was seriously disappointed that there isn’t a whole series about Dana solving mysteries. I like that Dana investigates by doing research at the library, making use of her acting abilities and enlisting support from friends. Her friendships are one of the highlights -- smart, difficult people who are honest with each other is an interesting dynamic. And the way White writes about the aftermath of trauma is compelling and thoughtful.

The “Echo Company” series by Ellen Emerson White: I read all five books in two days. They’re fast-paced and some aren’t particularly long -- they were published by Scholastic in the early 90s -- but that is only part of why I read them so quickly. They are compelling and unexpectedly fascinating.

Welcome to Vietnam: Eighteen year old Michael Jennings is conscripted to fight in Vietnam -- and I really wanted to see him to find his feet, make friends and survive. I can relate to how much he cares about his dog, and his sense of humour makes him an entertaining character to spend time with, even though he’s been thrown into a terrible, terrifying situation. Even knowing what wars can be like, I was still surprised by conditions the soldiers faced. I was also surprised by how interesting I found it all. It left me thinking about a lot.

Hill 568: Michael has made some friends (and some enemies), he’s grown accustomed to some of the realities of life on the frontlines in Vietnam, and he takes on more responsibility. White’s characters are lively and, in spite of the situations they’re in, often humorous. That humour is a huge part of why this is an engaging story, like an antidote to the horrors of war, but it also serves to emphasise that all those horrible things are happening to a bunch of ordinary young men barely out of school. This book made me laugh, and made me worry about the characters.

‘Tis the Season: Twenty-one year old Lieutenant Rebecca Phillips is a nurse working in the ER of an evacuation hospital in Vietnam. Although already dealing with grief and difficult family relationships and a nightmarish workplace, she’s a bright, upbeat person who goes out of her way to entertain others. Self-appointed “Court Jester”. During the Christmas ceasefire she goes out on a medical helicopter -- and everything goes to hell. There are more medical details than I, a squeamish person, really prefer, but once I got to know Rebecca -- and also once her circumstances became tense and terrifying -- I was very, very invested.

Stand Down: This has some tense moments, but otherwise feels a bit lighter -- a welcome change of pace after everything the characters have been through. Michael spends a lot of time moping over correspondence (or lack thereof) from a nurse he’s met once -- but in context, that’s very understandable. He so desperately needs something positive and hopeful to focus on. I like that Michael’s and Rebecca’s initial interactions aren’t easy, because that feels realistic in the circumstances, and because it’s a positive sign that they’re able to get through awkward conversations; it sets them up to be honest with each other.

The Road Home: I stayed up stupidly late reading this, on a school night too. White is so good at writing about dealing with the aftermath of trauma, and about smart, difficult people making an effort to build relationships -- friendships as well as romances. This follows Rebecca’s final six months serving as a nurse in Vietnam, and the months afterwards. It’s about the things that get her through the war (letters, friendships, alcohol) and the difficulties of adjusting to life back home. I love how this book deals realistically but hopefully with so many things. I have a lot of feelings and favourite passages.

Applied Electromagnetism by Susannah Nix: Two colleagues who travel interstate to do a job with a deadline find themselves under extra pressure due to complications of bad weather. I liked all the references to Olivia and Adam’s nerdy interests, and I thought the discussions of Olivia’s ADHD and her experiences as a woman in STEM were interesting. Otherwise nothing jumped out at me as deserving of criticism or praise, it was all just okay. Less humorous than I expected from something book described as “romantic comedy”, but that was okay. (And maybe someone else would find it funny, humour is such a your-mileage-may-vary thing.)

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill: I love the concept of tea dragons and a tea dragon society. And the dragons are really cute! But the way people’s expressions are drawn in this graphic novel didn’t quite appeal to me and I think that coloured how I felt about the book as a whole. And it’s not a very long story, so it doesn’t have so many opportunities to win over a reader who isn’t enamoured with the illustrations. I’m sorry, book, I’m sure there are other readers out there who will appreciate you!

Runaways: That Was Yesterday (volume 3) by Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka with Matthew Wilson: Follows on from Find Your Way Home and Best Friends Forever and involves the reappearance of someone from the Runaways’ past, the appearance of children of old enemies and Christmas. I read three volumes of the original Runaways comics last year -- and this volume really left me feeling like maybe I’d appreciate it more if I’d read those more recently or else if I’d read more of them. Or maybe it was just that it focused a lot on a character I don’t like as much? But, I still liked it. I definitely would like to read more.

#Herenya reviews books #Sharon Shinn #Rainbow Rowell #Ellen Emerson White #Stephanie Burgis #Margaret Rogerson #Lucy Parker #Katherine Reay #Meg Cabot #Becky Chambers #Theodora Goss #Susannah Nix #Katie O'Neill #Finally posting this

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emptymanuscript · 5 years

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You ever get into something real complicated, ask yourself why the hell you’re doing this, and then realize the simpler version is right there >_<

For some reason I got it into my head to make a hardness scale for magic. And I was piling in all this stuff for a spread sheet, with Gandalf in Lord of the Rings as a control and... why the hell am I doing all that. When if I look along the bottom, there’s a much more usable scale.

So... my noodling for a Hardness of Magic - a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being least hard to 10 being most hard. ...I believe that softness should actually be a different scale instead of 1 being the ultimate softness. I feel like hardness measures a likeness to science while softness measures something like the explorations of psyche or society. But I dunno. I’ll deal with that later. Hopefully much much later or never.

1) INFERABLE - The Magic happens in a way that is inferrable but not observable The phrase “Peice of Cake” in the movie The Labyrinth.

2) OBSERVABLE - The Reader can observe the magic that is cast The Force is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together - and somehow it lets you hear ghosts, predict your enemies, and use telekinesis. You can see it. There is a spell X. How it works or how it relates to other magics may still be unclear.

3) RELATIONAL - The Reader can infer how multiple magics relate Gandalf keeps casting light spells all the time - it’s almost as if light is a theme of his magic. Perhaps his ability to make fire and fireworks is related. But we are never told for sure. X and Y relate, so Z that shares some features may also relate.

4) RUBRICAL - The Reader can observe the rule by which multiple magics fit together Vancian Magic in D&D with its classes and levels of magic or how Voodoo Dolls work in fiction to control a person’s motion or give them pain but can’t hypnotize them - it’s about the explicit rule of spell X fits into magical school Z but spell Y doesn’t because only Z-ish spells fit. The school of Necromancy is the school of magic relating to death. A light spell wouldn’t fit.

5) CLASSIFIABLE - The Reader can observe the reasoning of the operation of the rule by which multiple magics fit together A Voodoo doll works by the laws of contagion and sympathy, what has been a part of someone is always connected to them and what you do to an image of someone is done to the real person. So because a person’s hair is separated from them but on the doll, the doll is now connected to the person by contagion. And because the doll is now a image of that person what happens to the doll happens sympathetically to the person. So the reasoninng of the rules - this connects to that, and manipulating this manipulates that - is explicit. Spell X fits into school Z and Spell Y doesn’t because of principle A. Only spells that directly affect the currently dead fit into the school of necromancy - so a spell that would kill a living person wouldn’t be considered necromancy in that paradigm. While a spell that made a body look alive would still be necromancy.

6) PREDICTABLE - The Reader can use the reasoning to predict another peice of magic that would fit the rule(s) by which the magic fits together Because a doll works in part by the law of contagion, the hair of the victim allowing a connection between doll and person, we can assume that you can use hair as a method for a different spell that connects, like a tracker because the laws of magic tell us that part of a person is always connected to them, and we can guess that before we are explicitly told that ultra-conservative jewish women burned their hair to prevent magic being used against them before they had any contact with the stories of Voodoo because an idea like contagion is in both cultures. The rule is predictive. Because of principle X we can expect magic Y to cause Z effect. If saying someone’s true name gives you power to control them, and you learn the true name of a river, the reader can expect that you can exert control over the river.

7) ASSESSABLE - The Reader can use the essential reasoning of the magic to evaluate different uses in relation to each other - allowing you to judge whether one iteration is better at a goal than another. In Fullmetal Alchemist, the same transmutations cast at the opposite ends of the story have radically different results and the story displays why they are different. Edward has a different understanding of the tools at hand. In such a way that the audience can observe and infer things that make certain transmutations better than others. This is even in the beginning though with Edward able to make a circle with his arms as opposed to drawing a transmutation array on the ground. It’s recognizable as the same basic art, he’s just showing an expertise that others, even skilled others, don’t share. Because of that information, the audience can recognize the power of varying alchemists by the complexity of their arrays and that more complex spells require more complex arrays. A more complex array for a simple spell would show us before we were ever told that the user was an inferior alchemist. X is true, therefore Y is superior to Z for purpose A.

8) VALIDATABLE - You can determine relevant or true information from irrelevant or false information. Let’s take FMA again. The power level, sophistication of magical array, and knowledge of the subject are all important to the ability to transmute. But the fundamental driving force of magic is the law of equivalent exchange, you cannot create something that requires more than what is put into the exchange. This is the real reason why resurrection spells fail, because no one puts enough in to the exchange to equal what they want out of the exchange. Life is more than matter. And because of that principle we can spot improper spell use without being told it is improper spell use. If someone does something that otherwise looks completely correct but violates that most relevant piece of information, we know that something else besides just transmutation is going on. Which is also why some of the later big twists in the series make perfect logical sense, the fundamental relavence of information has been shown, so we have been prepared to logic out truth from appearances. If X is absolutely true and Y contradicts X, we can expect Y to be false even if Y feels generally right.

9) MODIFIABLE - The principles are understandably transposable for use in different expressions. This is a little like #6 in that it is predictive. But more than being predictive it is showing an underlying core principle of multiple effects. In the same way that light is different colors for the same reason that sound comes in different pitches and also that if you drop a rock in water you will get ripples. While they might appear on the surface to be very different, the fundamental way things work is the same - disturbing a fluid causes a wave, bigger disturbances cause bigger waves, more waves in a given period produce higher frequency phenomenen, less waves produce lower frequency phenomenen. And yeah, that’s science but I can’t think of a book that does this. Avatar the Last Airbender brushes against this with the idea that the principles of flow mechanics of water bending carry over into the principles of direction mechanics of pure fire / lightning. Energy redirection was essentially the same no matter what element was being bent or what type of bender was doing the redirection. But where this sort of thing is most common is in Role Playing Games where it is possible for the player to design their own powers / magic. Pretty much the entire GURPS Powers book is about using this level of hardness in a single system to produce radically different expressions in a game space that will interact predictably for the purposes of arbitration.

10) PARALLEL - An Alternative Science. At this point there’s not much hardness to be gained anymore. The fiction presents a set of fundamental laws and extrapolates from them to get the effects the audience percieves in the fiction. The laws are identified in such a way that the audience can determine for themselves how magic works in such a way that they can, if they choose, extrapolate and predict powers before those powers appear and are demonstrated because all the tools to do so have been given to them. Character errors in how magic works can be caught because the established rules provide an error-check framework. If a reader knows fire can only be created or controlled with a magic word that starts with an I because human magic was stolen from a latin speaking demon, we know the guy who promises a village an ever burning bonfire by speaking the word Aeternum into the bonfire pit is either a charlatan or an idiot. But he may possibly be an immortal charlatan or idiot since he knows the latin word for eternity.

Or, in nice chart form for my Mohs sci-fi scale rip off:

A Proposed Hardness Scale for Fantasy

I think this would make most fantasy hang out around hardness 3 to 7 with a few outliers which seems like the way things should be.

And... what a waste of time, oy.

#writeblr #fantasy #fantasy fiction #speculative fiction #sci-fi #watch me not work #rambling

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6stronghands · 5 years

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Goodreads interview with Seanan McGuire

Author Seanan McGuire is the busiest person you know, even if you don't know her yet. She's that busy. McGuire has 33 novel-length works currently listed on her bibliography page, and that's not counting her pseudonymous acquaintance, Mira Grant. Scroll down and you'll find short fiction, essays, comics, nonfiction, and poetry. The crazy part? She didn't turn to full-time writing until about three years ago. Along the way, McGuire has won several marquee book prizes, including Hugo and Nebula awards for speculative fiction. Her series of fantasy novellas Wayward Children was recently picked up by the TV network Syfy for development. McGuire's brain is clearly a restless explorer, and her ambitious new novel, Middlegame, maps out another enormous chunk of notional real estate. In the new book, a pair of separated twins named Roger and Dodger endeavor to solve a series of increasingly sinister mysteries. Why were they separated? Why are they being hunted? Why are they developing world-breaking powers? And perhaps most importantly—why did they get such ridiculous names? The brother-and-sister team find themselves squaring off against a cabal of eldritch predators who have cracked the ancient code of alchemy, the missing link between science and magic. Speaking from her home outside Seattle, McGuire talked with Goodreads contributor Glenn McDonald about the new book, the weird science of alchemy, and the curious case of the prescription typewriter… Your bibliography is really astonishing. Are you just writing all the time? Seanan McGuire: Well, I'm not writing at the moment because I'm talking to you. But yeah, I was writing right up to the point where my phone rang. That's pretty much my life, because I am a workaholic and I enjoy what I do. GR: When did you make the leap into full-time writing? SM: I made the transition around January 2016, I think. The best advice I ever received from anyone, about professional writing, was from Todd McCaffrey. He said: Don't quit your day job until you're reasonably sure you can pay your bills off of your royalties. My last job was for a nonprofit, and I was basically sick all the time because I was writing all these books and I was still working a full-time day job. My friends never saw me. Like, never. Then the ACA happened, the Affordable Care Act. I don't think people realize what a difference that made, for all of us that work in the creative fields, to be able to get affordable insurance. I kept my day job for a few years after I strictly had to, just because I was terrified of dying under a bridge. The attacks on the ACA that are happening now are terrifying. Genuinely terrifying. Especially if they take away the protection for preexisting conditions. GR: Were you into writing as a little kid?

I was. I did not figure out that writing was an option until I was about three. I started reading before I was talking, really. Then I started getting migraines because I was trying to write, but I didn't have the physical coordination to actually write at the speed that I could think. So the doctor prescribed a typewriter. Really. My mom went to a yard sale and got me this gigantic thing. It weighed more than I did. I started writing stories. At the beginning, they were all very factual. I would write stories about going to look for my cat. A lot of my earliest work was what we would classify as fan fiction now. There were a lot of adventures with My Little Ponies. The thing about being a genius when you're a kid is that you grow out of it. I was perfectly average by the time I hit school. But there was that brief, frustrating time when I was so far ahead of where they wanted me to be that they just didn't know what to do with me. I would write until 3 a.m. on my typewriter, which sounded like gunfire. GR: There seems to be some of that experience in the new book, with the child prodigies Roger and Dodger. Their relationship is fascinating; it's a sibling thing but also this deeper connection that suggests they're resonating on the cosmic level. SM: I love that this is my best-reviewed book so far and it's about characters with intentionally terrible names. It's a delight to have people have to try to talk seriously about the relationship between Roger and Dodger. It's terrible, and it makes me so happy. Roger and Dodger really are soul mates because they are functionally the same person. They're one person split into two to embody the Ethos [the alchemy formulation sought after in the story]. I don't think that's a huge spoiler; that's basically the premise of the book. We know that, but they don't for a good part of the story. Locking down their relationship, a lot of that was looking at my own relationships with my siblings and the places where it's good or weird or awkward. GR: For readers who might not be familiar, what do we mean when we talk about alchemy? SM: Alchemy is sort of like magical chemistry. It's this idea that you can transform parts of the world into other parts of the world. You just have to figure out the right combination of elements. The classical example is lead into gold. But alchemists also believed that there were spirits and such that could be called upon to help with these processes. It has some of what we might call sorcerous ideas. They were trying to find the magical formulae for these things, like the panacea, which is the cure for everything. Or the alkahest, which is the universal destroyer, a fluid that could dissolve literally anything. Then there's the Philosopher's Stone, which was said to give eternal life. Harry Potter fans are probably familiar with alchemy, more than previous generations, because of the character Flamel, who was an actual and quite famous real-world alchemist. GR: Did you research the actual history of alchemy?

Yes, this was the first time I really jumped into it. I did a lot of research, and research makes me so happy. I hunted down every book I could find on alchemy; they're all downstairs in the library now. Alchemy was a real thing, even if it never worked, even if they never turned lead into gold with these processes. Really smart people spent a really long time trying hard to make these things happen. I wanted to make sure what I was trying to do would fit into at least one school of alchemical thought—and there were many, many schools of thought. Alchemy sounds a little ridiculous now, but there was a time when it was a commonly accepted belief. GR: In the book you have a great villainous force in the Alchemical Congress, who are modern practitioners of the ancient art. They reminded me of historical groups that purported to be keepers of secret knowledge, like the Masons. SM: Right, or like the Order of the Golden Dawn. I never found a specific historical analog to that in alchemy, but maybe that's because they never got it to work. My Alchemical Congress is a group of people who can actually say that alchemy works. They're able to do all kinds of ethically negotiable things. With that kind of power, you're absolutely going to have a group that locks it down so it stays in what these people consider the right hands. GR: The cover image of the book depicts a delightfully creepy magical item known as the Hand of Glory, which also has a historical basis. Do you recall when you first came across that? SM: I feel like I've always known. I don't remember where I first read about that. I studied folklore in college, and the Hand of Glory was very common in certain parts of Europe. It's amazing. Everyone was chopping hands off for a while there. GR: When did you actually start writing Middlegame? SM: Middlegame is kind of unique. I'd been thinking about it for ten years, but it took me a while to develop the technical skill to tell the story and have it make sense to people who don't live inside my head. My brother must have heard me explain this story 90 times before I even sat down to write it. At this point in my career, I have the enviable problem that, for the most part, I don't get to just sit down and decide that I'm going to write. Everything has been pre-sold. I'm working off contracts until 2023. So I know exactly what I'm going to be writing every day when I get out of bed. GR: Don't you ever just get burned out? SM: Well, I think I'm dealing with ten years of systemic burnout because I'm exhausted all the time. But if you mean: Do I ever get to the point that I can't write? Thankfully, no. I think everybody's wired differently that way. So much of my storage space is devoted to people who don't exist. There's a certain concern that if I leave them alone, those parts of my brain will go offline. GR: There are fictional lives at stake! SM: There are! You don't depend on me for your persistence of existence. If I forget about you, you'll still be fine. GR: Your series Wayward Children was just picked up for development with the Syfy channel. Is there anything you can disclose about that? SM: No, not really. For the most part, for myself and other creators, we can't disclose anything because they don't want to let us know what's happening. We have family members that are going to ask, and they don't want us to be the leaks and endanger the production, so we're frequently not told things. I've basically just sold them my canvas, because I'm a wee baby author from the perspective of Hollywood. I have no properties under my belt, I have no track record. There's not a lot of bargaining power on my side of the table. But I trust the people that are involved in this project. And even if I didn't, honestly, television changes everything. The worst show that absolutely butchers my concepts—which is not a thing I'm expecting with this team at all—but the worst show in the world is going to be seen by more people than have read the first book. So that bumps my book sales, almost guaranteed. That sounds very mercenary, I'm sure, but that's just the math of it. Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, even Neil Gaiman—they weren't household names until they got something on TV. My mother raised three daughters on welfare, and she lives with me. I'm basically her sole support. I worry fairly regularly about what would happen if I get hit by a bus and can't write anymore. But what happens with a successful TV show—or even a failed TV show—is that my mom lives off my royalties for the rest of her life. GR: This is a question we've been polling authors on: When you read for pleasure, do you read one book at a time or do you have several going at once? Some people say it's insane to read multiple books at the same time, but I usually have two or three going. SM: Well, I'm currently reading six. GR: Is there anything else you'd like to highlight or discuss about the new book? SM: Middlegame is currently a standalone, but there are two follow-ups I'd really like to write, so please buy Middlegame from your local bookstore so that my publisher will let me continue!

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scifigeneration · 6 years

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Are we alone? The question is worthy of serious scientific study

by Kevin Knuth

US F/A-18 footage of a UFO (circled in red). Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Parzival191919, CC BY-NC-SA

Are we alone? Unfortunately, neither of the answers feel satisfactory. To be alone in this vast universe is a lonely prospect. On the other hand, if we are not alone and there is someone or something more powerful out there, that too is terrifying.

As a NASA research scientist and now a professor of physics, I attended the 2002 NASA Contact Conference, which focused on serious speculation about extraterrestrials. During the meeting a concerned participant said loudly in a sinister tone, “You have absolutely no idea what is out there!” The silence was palpable as the truth of this statement sunk in. Humans are fearful of extraterrestrials visiting Earth. Perhaps fortunately, the distances between the stars are prohibitively vast. At least this is what we novices, who are just learning to travel into space, tell ourselves.

Cover of the October 1957 issue of pulp science fiction magazine Amazing Stories. This was a special edition devoted to ‘flying saucers,’ which became a national obsession after airline pilot Kenneth Arnold sighted a saucer-shaped flying objects in 1947.

I have always been interested in UFOs. Of course, there was the excitement that there could be aliens and other living worlds. But more exciting to me was the possibility that interstellar travel was technologically achievable. In 1988, during my second week of graduate school at Montana State University, several students and I were discussing a recent cattle mutilation that was associated with UFOs. A physics professor joined the conversation and told us that he had colleagues working at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls, Montana, where they were having problems with UFOs shutting down nuclear missiles. At the time I thought this professor was talking nonsense. But 20 years later, I was stunned to see a recording of a press conference featuring several former US Air Force personnel, with a couple from Malmstrom AFB, describing similar occurrences in the 1960s. Clearly there must be something to this.

With July 2 being World UFO Day, it is a good time for society to address the unsettling and refreshing fact we may not be alone. I believe we need to face the possibility that some of the strange flying objects that outperform the best aircraft in our inventory and defy explanation may indeed be visitors from afar – and there’s plenty of evidence to support UFO sightings.

The Fermi paradox

The nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi was famous for posing thought provoking questions. In 1950, at Los Alamos National Laboratory after discussing UFOs over lunch, Fermi asked, “Where is everybody?” He estimated there were about 300 billion stars in the galaxy, many of them billions of years older than the sun, with a large percentage of them likely to host habitable planets. Even if intelligent life developed on a very small percentage of these planets, then there should be a number of intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. Depending on the assumptions, one should expect anywhere from tens to tens of thousands of civilizations.

With the rocket-based technologies that we have developed for space travel, it would take between 5 and 50 million years for a civilization like ours to colonize our Milky Way galaxy. Since this should have happened several times already in the history of our galaxy, one should wonder where is the evidence of these civilizations? This discrepancy between the expectation that there should be evidence of alien civilizations or visitations and the presumption that no visitations have been observed has been dubbed the Fermi Paradox.

This photograph was taken in Wallonia, Belgium. J.S. Henrardi

Carl Sagan correctly summarized the situation by saying that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.” The problem is that there has been no single well-documented UFO encounter that would alone qualify as the smoking gun. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that many governments around the world have covered up and classified information about such encounters. But there are enough scraps of evidence that suggest that the problem needs to be open to scientific study.

UFOs, taboo for professional scientists

When it comes to science, the scientific method requires hypotheses to be testable so that inferences can be verified. UFO encounters are neither controllable nor repeatable, which makes their study extremely challenging. But the real problem, in my view, is that the UFO topic is taboo.

While the general public has been fascinated with UFOs for decades, our governments, scientists and media, have essentially declared that of all the UFO sightings are a result of weather phenomenon or human actions. None are actually extraterrestrial spacecraft. And no aliens have visited Earth. Essentially, we are told that the topic is nonsense. UFOs are off-limits to serious scientific study and rational discussion, which unfortunately leaves the topic in the domain of fringe and pseudoscientists, many of whom litter the field with conspiracy theories and wild speculation.

I think UFO skepticism has become something of a religion with an agenda, discounting the possibility of extraterrestrials without scientific evidence, while often providing silly hypotheses describing only one or two aspects of a UFO encounter reinforcing the popular belief that there is a conspiracy. A scientist must consider all of the possible hypotheses that explain all of the data, and since little is known, the extraterrestrial hypothesis cannot yet be ruled out. In the end, the skeptics often do science a disservice by providing a poor example of how science is to be conducted. The fact is that many of these encounters – still a very small percentage of the total – defy conventional explanation.

The media amplifies the skepticism by publishing information about UFOs when it is exciting, but always with a mocking or whimsical tone and reassuring the public that it can’t possibly be true. But there are credible witnesses and encounters.

Why don’t astronomers see UFOs?

I am often asked by friends and colleagues, “Why don’t astronomers see UFOs?” The fact is that they do. In 1977, Peter Sturrock, a professor of space science and astrophysics at Stanford University, mailed 2,611 questionnaires about UFO sightings to members of the American Astronomical Society. He received 1,356 responses from which 62 astronomers – 4.6 percent – reported witnessing or recording inexplicable aerial phenomena. This rate is similar to the approximately 5 percent of UFO sightings that are never explained.

As expected, Sturrock found that astronomers who witnessed UFOs were more likely to be night sky observers. Over 80 percent of Sturrock’s respondents were willing to study the UFO phenomenon if there was a way to do so. More than half of them felt that the topic deserves to be studied versus 20 percent who felt that it should not. The survey also revealed that younger scientists were more likely to support the study of UFOs.

UFOs have been observed through telescopes. I know of one telescope sighting by an experienced amateur astronomer in which he observed an object shaped like a guitar pick moving through the telescope’s field of view. Further sightings are documented in the book “Wonders in the Sky,” in which the authors compile numerous observations of unexplained aerial phenomena made by astronomers and published in scientific journals throughout the 1700s and 1800s.

Evidence from government and military officers

Some of the most convincing observations have come from government officials. In 1997, the Chilean government formed the organization Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos, or CEFAA, to study UFOs. Last year, CEFAA released footage of a UFO taken with a helicopter-mounted Wescam infrared camera.

Declassified document describing a sighting of a UFO in December 1977, in Bahia, a state in northern Brazil. Arquivo Nacional Collection

The countries of Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ecuador, France, New Zealand, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have been declassifying their UFO files since 2008. The French Committee for In-Depth Studies, or COMETA, was an unofficial UFO study group comprised of high-ranking scientists and military officials that studied UFOs in the late 1990s. They released the COMETA Report, which summarized their findings. They concluded that 5 percent of the encounters were reliable yet inexplicable: The best hypothesis available was that the observed craft were extraterrestrial. They also accused the United States of covering up evidence of UFOs. Iran has been concerned about spherical UFOs observed near nuclear power facilities that they call “CIA drones” which reportedly are about 30 feet in diameter, can achieve speeds up to Mach 10, and can leave the atmosphere. Such speeds are on par with the fastest experimental aircraft, but unthinkable for a sphere without lift surfaces or an obvious propulsion mechanism.

1948 Top Secret USAF UFO extraterrestrial document. United States Air Force

In December 2017, The New York Times broke a story about the classified Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program, which was a $22 million program run by the former Pentagon official Luis Elizondo and aimed at studying UFOs. Elizondo resigned from running the program protesting extreme secrecy and the lack of funding and support. Following his resignation Elizondo, along with several others from the defense and intelligence community, were recruited by the To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science, which was recently founded by Tom DeLonge to study UFOs and interstellar travel. In conjunction with the launch of the academy, the Pentagon declassified and released three videos of UFO encounters taken with forward looking infrared cameras mounted on F-18 fighter jets. While there is much excitement about such disclosures, I am reminded of a quote from Retired Army Colonel John Alexander: “Disclosure has happened. … I’ve got stacks of generals, including Soviet generals, who’ve come out and said UFOs are real. My point is, how many times do senior officials need to come forward and say that this is real?”

A topic worthy of serious study

There is a great deal of evidence that a small percentage of these UFO sightings are unidentified structured craft exhibiting flight capabilities beyond any known human technology. While there is no single case for which there exists evidence that would stand up to scientific rigor, there are cases with simultaneous observations by multiple reliable witnesses, along with radar returns and photographic evidence revealing patterns of activity that are compelling.

Declassified information from covert studies is interesting, but not scientifically helpful. This is a topic worthy of open scientific inquiry, until there is a scientific consensus based on evidence rather than prior expectation or belief. If there are indeed extraterrestrial craft visiting Earth, it would greatly benefit us to know about them, their nature and their intent. Moreover, this would present a great opportunity for mankind, promising to expand and advance our knowledge and technology, as well as reshaping our understanding of our place in the universe.

Kevin Knuth is an Associate Professor of Physics at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.

#science #astronomy #NASA #UFO #telescope #space exploration #extraterrestial life #Aliens #alien life

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