tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79553448333087644842024-03-14T04:20:15.794-04:00The Wrong SwordTed Rabinowitz' Blog for All Things Nerdy, including "The Wrong Sword," "Conjure Man," and "Hero's Army."Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger600125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-62986515098801342922021-12-15T23:39:00.004-05:002021-12-15T23:39:55.824-05:00The Big Day<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUibf89aY_VY4alElqI5QExnzeYwMzJ5VoCF8N5s-M2VvNWND1mixGfUgc2dGb09IYMUxVCNmaTOuOg2VCuKXj2chCbvRP9hCLG4xRH31vq59vz2WApgzGmsCNnHOUuijAOfM2rGWVk30jZIRLu2zgiw6ca7Y9m3ljQsovgdPsWY_n0RI-ZvT68RqD=s612" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="423" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiUibf89aY_VY4alElqI5QExnzeYwMzJ5VoCF8N5s-M2VvNWND1mixGfUgc2dGb09IYMUxVCNmaTOuOg2VCuKXj2chCbvRP9hCLG4xRH31vq59vz2WApgzGmsCNnHOUuijAOfM2rGWVk30jZIRLu2zgiw6ca7Y9m3ljQsovgdPsWY_n0RI-ZvT68RqD=w138-h200" width="138" /></a></div>It's here, it's here! The Jan/Feb 2022 issue of <i>Analog</i> is here, available. Go <a href="https://www.analogsf.com/current-issue/table-of-contents/" target="_blank">here</a> for the <a href="https://www.analogsf.com/current-issue/table-of-contents/" target="_blank">table of contents</a> with Yours Truly on it.<p></p><p>If you don't want to subscribe, you can find it at newsstands and Barnes & Noble. Waiting for that flight home for the holidays? Nip into Hudson News and get your mind expanded. Doing some gift shopping at B&N? Don't forget to gift yourself.</p><p>And now that the shilling is out of the way, next week we'll have an interesting post or two...</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-71087334372820759592021-10-08T19:39:00.002-04:002021-12-01T13:20:53.788-05:00NEWS! NEWS!<p></p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgYM5BmvOhmkpipxXT2p89q2q0kzeDmazR5_vt5eabMr1pZfKNIJlwXaRHqzrs7hqTT4KTBKuR6Cm1vfwmGKSBV91zoeGTJ7Gl8qxRwpbeKILDocddLDIzu_vXoyxPEEmYlyKMK3udZGs/s612/FFYbZOpXIAQEQGe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="423" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgYM5BmvOhmkpipxXT2p89q2q0kzeDmazR5_vt5eabMr1pZfKNIJlwXaRHqzrs7hqTT4KTBKuR6Cm1vfwmGKSBV91zoeGTJ7Gl8qxRwpbeKILDocddLDIzu_vXoyxPEEmYlyKMK3udZGs/s320/FFYbZOpXIAQEQGe.jpg" width="221" /></a>If I haven't told you already: My short story, <i>Charioteer, </i> will be published in <i>Analog</i> next year - the Jan/Feb 2022 issue. You'll find it at Barnes & Noble, any good newsstand, or digitally.<p><a href="https://www.analogsf.com/store/">Here's the link</a>.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-41213785417437576882021-10-05T06:00:00.005-04:002021-10-07T17:13:59.155-04:00Super-Important Thoughts About Foundation So Far<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lWT8pWezbhH2Hi1LdTb9NWXih-DDgsJeOI0o8-pliDJXFQQFK_raoyssdih3f7AfvEBFaW2BBuDGD2QisvZdTthV1qZagheDBJYDLc85hfni2qknSAbgj70dFwwH9rDpup3cmDn5OMk/s2018/screen-shot-2020-06-23-at-9-46-09-am-1592920514.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="2018" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9lWT8pWezbhH2Hi1LdTb9NWXih-DDgsJeOI0o8-pliDJXFQQFK_raoyssdih3f7AfvEBFaW2BBuDGD2QisvZdTthV1qZagheDBJYDLc85hfni2qknSAbgj70dFwwH9rDpup3cmDn5OMk/s320/screen-shot-2020-06-23-at-9-46-09-am-1592920514.png" width="320" /></a></div>This is not Isaac Asimov's <i>Foundation</i>. <p></p><p>That's not necessarily a bad thing. The original trilogy is clunky. Most of it is characters plotting at one another in rooms of different sizes: Courtrooms, boardrooms, groundcars, abandoned factories, starship cockpits, hotel rooms, apartments. It's often hard to conjure up an image of what's happening, because Asimov provides so little descriptive detail. Until <i>Foundation and Empire,</i> its characters are mostly default white guys. Asimov's prose is workmanlike, but nothing exceptional (although he does have a gift for the occasional character detail - the "pudgy hands" of a man feigning murderous outrage, for instance).</p><p>So why is the trilogy considered a masterpiece? </p><p>1. It starts with a grand idea, and <i>sticks with it.</i> For the first one and a half novels, everything is about how Seldon's Plan works out its psychohistorical necessity. In the second half, everything is about restoring the plan after it's fractured by a literally unforeseeable event.<br /></p><p>2. It works beautifully in terms of the nuts and bolts of craft. There are no idle characters or story elements in these books: Every character has a purpose, and they work ruthlessly toward it without hesitating or whining or pondering their place in the cosmos. If you're looking for stories that drive forward like clockwork, <i>Foundation</i> is your SF go-to.</p><p> 3. It conveys a sense of historical time. Better, it has the <i>audacity</i> to try to convey a sense of historical time. </p><p>So far, AppleTV's <i>Foundation</i> is none of this.</p><p>Positives: When it comes to lush physicality, Asimov was lacking, but the TV series is not. In fact, the opening episodes are the most gorgeous SF I've seen on TV in...maybe ever. The decadence of the Empire is laid out on the screen in saturated red, blue, and black with glittering gold and silver highlights. Architecture overwhelms people. Every space, every costume, is crammed with detail. It has grandeur. Also, the people of the Empire are all the colors of the rainbow, and not uniformly male.There are some interesting ideas that could have been the bases of their own series [like the "genetic dynasty" of the Cleons].<br /></p><p>BUT...</p><p>The TV series seems to have abandoned the fundamental rules of psychohistory...and those are the core of the trilogy. Real quickly, here they are:<br /></p><p><i>1. Psychohistory can predict the future, but only the futures of large groups, like nations, empires, planets, or galaxies. The larger the group, the more accurate the prediction.<br /></i></p><p><i>2. Psychohistorical predictions don't work if those groups are aware of the laws of psychohistory or the predictions themselves.</i></p><p><i>3. </i><i><i>As a corollary of #1, the actions of individuals almost never have
much impact on major events. The best they can do is facilitate matters
that are already inevitable.</i> </i></p><p>Anyone who has tried to write a story can see the trouble with these laws when it comes to narrative: If a character's actions don't matter in the grand scheme, why should a reader care? Asimov finessed the problem with stories in which the protagonists had foreground goals, while larger events took place in the background; with stories in which the characters' actions were full of derring-do but proved fruitless; with stories in which the characters take decisive action while fretting about the consequences of knowing too much about the future; with stories...well, you get the idea. He was brilliant at squaring the circle, and that's part of the fun of the trilogy.<br /></p><p>The TV writers are less audacious, less interested in the idea, and more driven by Hollywood tropes that have been used a <i>lot</i>. In the TV version, psychohistory has devolved from a mathematical tool to an oracular power, a magical way of predicting the future. There is still lip service paid to the idea of math, but characters "see" the future basically by staring into a cloud of light motes which is meant to represent a mathematical display. [In the books, this "Prime Radiant" is just a convenient way of portraying complex formulae, the 20th century foreshadowing of a PowerPoint deck; on the TV show, it's portrayed as a semi-magical scrying device that can only rarely be activated except by those who are worthy.] At one point one character activates the display and asks her daughter if she can understand it. The daughter says "no," but this should never have even been a question: At least in theory, anyone with sufficient mathematical training should be able to figure it out, and no one without training should be able to. It's math, not magic; you shouldn't have to be a Chosen One to make it work...but you can see the Chosen One trope tugging at the writers' subconscious all the time.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduMe62BbAvY5qtPA8a4bn9D4RDU3q0u8xavi7JP-zEFdIa9SLFzJpZDxolDmh3bOfg1RB-4qlaFlrFyhaKUgFHMt1xYPmasRaB0YJRC1rLC-V5EaKBBkHdktNgc7tmovRFA50mPIJbeE/s318/Unknown.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="318" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgduMe62BbAvY5qtPA8a4bn9D4RDU3q0u8xavi7JP-zEFdIa9SLFzJpZDxolDmh3bOfg1RB-4qlaFlrFyhaKUgFHMt1xYPmasRaB0YJRC1rLC-V5EaKBBkHdktNgc7tmovRFA50mPIJbeE/s0/Unknown.jpeg" width="318" /></a></div>They've also taken one of my favorite characters and changed him from a cigar-chewing pacifist politician based on Fiorello LaGuardia to a moody young "warden" with an enormous gun who knows she is "different" from the other settlers. Sure, not a Chosen One at all.<p></p><p>The series has not veered irreparably away from the Seldon Plan yet. But the primary indices don't look great.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-29998798741296986802021-10-04T14:49:00.001-04:002021-10-04T14:49:07.009-04:00Facebook Is Down<p>Put away the cigarette </p><p>Breathe deep</p><p>Perhaps you do not need the nicotine</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-16224254860479724212021-10-03T11:04:00.000-04:002021-10-03T11:04:15.775-04:00The Wider World of Historical Fiction<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNAeaU3XQ-ttD9-lerCLarCd0SKdZayLpes57BuV-FJ69p3yxvkCE9-BETIR6r6Ybyh5ROdFZnujrJkyeTKoRKG0OEa4OhyphenhyphenJ40SITWJhxnRvNs6WxFpthEEJZCcAHqdONgtjaOSEPbPRk/s843/Eleusinian01.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="403" data-original-width="843" height="153" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNAeaU3XQ-ttD9-lerCLarCd0SKdZayLpes57BuV-FJ69p3yxvkCE9-BETIR6r6Ybyh5ROdFZnujrJkyeTKoRKG0OEa4OhyphenhyphenJ40SITWJhxnRvNs6WxFpthEEJZCcAHqdONgtjaOSEPbPRk/s320/Eleusinian01.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br />What do we want when we read fantasy? For a lot of readers, it's the chance to identify with powerful characters. Wizards, warriors, angels, aristocrats, vampires, demigods, one of the most popular tropes in fantasy is the powerful figure with a deadly flaw. We love characters who may have something to fear, but who are nevertheless able to influence the world around them in ways that are often impossible for us.<p></p><p>For others, fantasy is comfort reading. They want the tropes they grew up with, familiar settings and characters: school stories, noble elves, adventurers in a dungeon.</p><p>But there's another, more interesting urge: The desire for a wider world, a bigger, stranger place than our familiar neighborhood. The chance to explore. Places that are weird but make sense, that have stories to tell other than the ones we've heard. You can fill that urge with good historical fiction. Sometimes, in fact, it fulfills that need better than fantasy.</p><p>Consider the opening lines of Mary Renault's novel <u>The Last of the Wine</u>: <i>When I was a young boy, if I was sick or in trouble, or had been beaten at school, I used to remember that on the day I was born my father had wanted to kill me. You will say there is nothing out of the way in this. Yet I daresay it is less common than you might suppose.</i>..</p><p>"Yet I daresay it is <i>less</i> common than you might suppose." Did that grab your attention? It's not there just for shock value. It's a fair representation of an attitude common to an entire society. Renault goes on to build out that society, a genuinely civilized world with values profoundly different from our own - the world of Classical Athens, at the height of the Peloponnesian War. </p><p>In the next chapter, the protagonist Alexias has a religious experience while standing in the temple of Athena Parthenos, the Parthenon, and looking out over his city. Renault describes in gorgeous, goose-pimple prose a moment of worship that no Christian or Muslim would ever have; an experience that is completely pagan, but no less valid for that.</p><p>Harlan Ellison once said, "Reading is about drinking strange wine" - finding the stuff that challenges you, that is alien to your experience, that opens your eyes. I write fantasy and science fiction, but I'm telling you, you don't have to read SFF to drink strange wine.<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-47442358273056678282020-11-26T11:58:00.001-05:002020-11-26T12:01:18.576-05:00Here's a Thanksgifting. You're Welcome!<p>First published in 1970, <i>The Eye of Argon</i> may be the worst fantasy novella ever written. For decades, reading it out loud was a convention ritual across the United States - a ritual so cherished, there are<a href="https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/eyeargon/argnrule.htm" target="_blank"> even rules for it.</a> It is what Dino de Laurentiis would have used to make barbarian movies if <i>Conan</i> hadn't been available.</p><p>Read, and enjoy, and never say I don't get you anything...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/sf/eyeargon/eyeargon.htm" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="255" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0fJxoVxkp8CUweutz_QPSGBxvW1rSoCvL31mRgfeirJhES3vpujEe0fYcgjM_MliXExYc67d_uHgzAipqrqg28sgn8NlWFCH8xyeRZ6L5Pxk-6xkiNnkHQcEMpdV79ujLwIQ4ZGpcPBc/s320/FoxAcre_SOCRE_ARGON_thumb.jpg" /></a></div><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-32038278710774424782020-11-24T13:26:00.002-05:002020-11-24T13:26:25.812-05:00Thanksgiving<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8hioCsEqGEE8OPCdVxDNhh3jckt-Z5dr8Pg3KFPU6JFa07FS_ZhcBW1hia8zv6ILl_gBksHQiWbROmKdP6GwVefT6w6T4-efSWXak2zLhgaYIQPtlZ_ZO1c0pFaS9NtoMyFiTHfICv0/s293/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="172" data-original-width="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn8hioCsEqGEE8OPCdVxDNhh3jckt-Z5dr8Pg3KFPU6JFa07FS_ZhcBW1hia8zv6ILl_gBksHQiWbROmKdP6GwVefT6w6T4-efSWXak2zLhgaYIQPtlZ_ZO1c0pFaS9NtoMyFiTHfICv0/s0/Unknown.jpeg" /></a></div>I never liked the Pilgrim stuff for Thanksgiving. It puts a pretty glaze on a dark portrait: Tisquantum [Squanto] was one of the few survivors of a plague unknowingly introduced by the Spanish; the Pilgrims adhered to a brand of Protestantism that implied the wealthy and powerful were favored by God; and there was a <i>lot</i> of starvation going on. <p></p><p>Meanwhile, 250 miles to the south, New Amsterdam was already a going concern and they could have landed there, prepared, and headed north...but <i>nooooo,</i> the Dutch weren't pure enough for the Pilgrims. Neither were the English. Neither was anyone, really. So half of them died in the first year, and they created a government so restrictive it forced people to pilgrimage away from <i>that</i> community and invent stuffies and coffee milk.<br /></p><p>However, there's no reason in the world not to have a holiday just dedicated to being thankful and hanging out with friends and family. That's a pretty darned good holiday, in my opinion. So that's my Thanksgiving, and it can be yours, too.</p><p>Also, after you've cooked the turkey, dip a cheesecloth into the drippings and drape it over the bird while it stays warm in the oven. Keeps it moist. <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-63850689320561812332020-11-06T09:48:00.007-05:002021-10-03T15:56:29.956-04:00Election Thoughts on Friday, November 6, 2020<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8rOxBLtyfwELPMg8ZxgdRGEXMnsDtmg84etYxYNkCyl_521_boPFpPw3YAJSwQkUrgAhU736U8sX9eAoSRi7sSGP2zyWfPEHoTDPLVHmqp3JJ52fKpkmMQ7ziU0uX1d4UzINr6OZrjMY/s419/41MyWg9tTIL._SX248_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="419" data-original-width="250" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8rOxBLtyfwELPMg8ZxgdRGEXMnsDtmg84etYxYNkCyl_521_boPFpPw3YAJSwQkUrgAhU736U8sX9eAoSRi7sSGP2zyWfPEHoTDPLVHmqp3JJ52fKpkmMQ7ziU0uX1d4UzINr6OZrjMY/w119-h200/41MyWg9tTIL._SX248_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="119" /></a></div>I had a friend in Los Angeles. Long time friend. I was there when his mom passed away. And somewhere, somehow, he got Fox-washed and then Trumpified. Looking back, I can trace the process, but that's for another post, maybe. <p></p><p>He is one of those "I will still be your friend whether you vote for Trump or Biden" people. But I haven't spoken to him since December 2015...because, well, don't do me any favors, buddy. When you say that, you imply that Biden and Trump are both just politicians. That they're equal somehow. </p><p>But they're not. Biden is a politician. Trump is a grifter, a liar, a rapist, and a sociopath. None of that is my opinion; all of it is fact, either admitted by Trump himself, proven in a court of law, or widely diagnosed by America's medical community.<br /></p><p>So I will not accept that "difference of opinion" trivializing okey-doke. And once more, I go to <i>Lord of Light:</i></p><p></p><blockquote><p></p></blockquote><blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 800.72px; transform: scaleX(1.00211);">So they play that on their <span class="highlight selected">fascist</span> banjos, eh?"</span> <br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 819.82px; transform: scaleX(1.00935);">"You choose the wrong adjective."</span> <br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 839.02px; transform: scaleX(1.00731);">"You've already used up all the others."</span> <br /></span></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 858.22px; transform: scaleX(1.00067);">"It appears that our minds will never meet on this subject."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 858.22px; transform: scaleX(1.00067);"> </span><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 113.999px; top: 877.32px; transform: scaleX(1.00197);">"If someone asks you why you're oppressing a world and you re</span><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 542.599px; top: 877.32px; transform: scaleX(1.00135);">ply with a lot of poetic crap, no. I guess there can't be </span><span style="font-size: 16.7px; left: 83.9987px; top: 896.52px; transform: scaleX(0.998873);">a meeting of minds."</span></span></p></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.7px; left: 83.9987px; top: 896.52px; transform: scaleX(0.998873);"></span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: serif; font-size: 16.7px; left: 83.9987px; top: 896.52px; transform: scaleX(0.998873);"></span><i> </i></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-53780944448186324312020-11-04T09:31:00.005-05:002020-11-04T09:31:48.515-05:00Election Thoughts on Wednesday, November 3, 2020Whenever an important outcome is unclear, I'm reminded of Roger Zelazny's <i>Lord of Light.</i> On a theocratic colony world, a revolutionary named Sam has taken on the identity of the Buddha Siddhartha to oppose the rulers who have styled themselves on the Hindu pantheon. At one point there is a battle that seems to be a climactic defeat...but it ends with this passage:<br /><br /><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"> <i>"The Buddha has gone to nirvana," said Brahma. "Preach it in the Temples! Sing it in the streets! Glorious was his passing! He has reformed the old religion, and we are now better than ever before! Let all who think otherwise remember Keenset!" <br /><br /> This thing was done also. <br /><br /> But they never found Lord Kubera. <br /><br /> The demons were free. <br /><br /> Nirriti was strong. <br /><br /> And elsewhere in the world there were those who remembered bifocal glassees and toilets that flushed, petroleum chemistry and internal combustion engines, and the day the sun had hidden its face from the justice of Heaven. <br /><br /> Vishnu was heard to say that the wilderness had come into the City at last.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: left;">As Berra, the great yogi, once said - "It ain't over till it's over."<i> <br /></i></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-36218160642224027852020-09-11T12:58:00.000-04:002020-09-11T12:58:00.884-04:00September 11 [CW: Language, imagery]<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiXtcxDzkvGeZq3_TDIsz1zL1q-9K4GBKJk0ltZPwYiS2vboR-Cn_psPvjr-2IV9TvhX0OLv3SPFdGFN2vQH-TIlv7tIDvcnOpNMBm4WmnuoGoHR-PlEaDQUmrSkH3Z-M-VTx49UA2no/s5184/IMG_2321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="I will not show the Towers today. Here's a pic from the city Trumpo says is "in flames"" border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOiXtcxDzkvGeZq3_TDIsz1zL1q-9K4GBKJk0ltZPwYiS2vboR-Cn_psPvjr-2IV9TvhX0OLv3SPFdGFN2vQH-TIlv7tIDvcnOpNMBm4WmnuoGoHR-PlEaDQUmrSkH3Z-M-VTx49UA2no/w320-h240/IMG_2321.jpg" title="I will not show the Towers today. Here's a pic from the city Trumpo says is "in flames"" width="320" /></a></div>A lot of people want to commemorate 9/11 today. I won't deny them that. I won't downplay it. But - as a New York City native - I wanted to give you a little perspective.<p>For most people 9/11 is a disaster. But for some people, it's porn. I don't mean they're fapping to falling bodies. I mean it's an opportunity for them to get weepy or to get angry without any personal loss. It's as real to them as John Wick's dog or Inigo Montoya's father - no more, no less. And politicians use it for their personal gain.</p><p>I remember when the 9/11 anti-terror funding bill was pushed through to give the states money to protect themselves against terrorism...<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/01/nyregion/wyoming-insists-it-needs-its-share-of-terror-funds.html" target="_blank">BECAUSE EVERY STATE GOT AN EQUAL SHARE</a>. Wyoming, population 492,976, got the same amount of money as New York - the center of the tragedy, with a population of 19 million and more high-profile terrorist targets than any other state in the union. <br /></p><p>I remember the same politicians, who wept crocodile tears about the tragedy of 9/11 at every hoedown and country fair, fighting tooth and nail, year after year, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uz_UWVqgTdg" target="_blank">against the reauthorizations of the Zadroga Bill</a> - which mandates lifesaving money for the healthcare of the 9/11 responders who suffered permanent, chronic damage from smoke inhalation, injury, and exposure to toxic chemicals in the poisonous smoke of the towers. [In case you're curious, here are three of them: Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz.]<br /></p><p>And I remember those politicians using it as an excuse to invade two countries that had nothing to do with 9/11. [George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Ari Fleischer, David Frum, Karl Rove.]<br /></p><p> Now I'm watching the GOP mouth platitudes about 9/11 again, and I have to ask - which of them will actually do something about what's happening <i>right now</i> - something that has already killed sixty times as many Americans as al-Qaeda? Because they have done nothing...</p><p>...except try to distract us.<br /></p><p> <br /></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-59513070318788864662020-09-07T23:15:00.005-04:002021-09-30T10:29:59.473-04:00Research for "Hero's Army," the Sequel to "The Wrong Sword"<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVdn4SWWBMA8R4T2nN2RUC3hmcK7iePmySdoD1PJcFOBxCjgLsgR9lgFWHkRgmdhLUiXjWR3yOGo_eh5R_JoqGsvyzFGVjfG_tUhmq0y5YJ_28xuTvHbm8HkXsg5897iSw6AalYzOn7Q/s1024/1024px-Konrad_von_Gru%25CC%2588nenberg_-_Beschreibung_der_Reise_von_Konstanz_nach_Jerusalem_-_Blatt_35v-36r.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1024" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLVdn4SWWBMA8R4T2nN2RUC3hmcK7iePmySdoD1PJcFOBxCjgLsgR9lgFWHkRgmdhLUiXjWR3yOGo_eh5R_JoqGsvyzFGVjfG_tUhmq0y5YJ_28xuTvHbm8HkXsg5897iSw6AalYzOn7Q/s320/1024px-Konrad_von_Gru%25CC%2588nenberg_-_Beschreibung_der_Reise_von_Konstanz_nach_Jerusalem_-_Blatt_35v-36r.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Right now, I'm at a scene in which my protagonist, Henry the Rat, is about to enter the city that everyone covets but him - Jerusalem. <p></p><p>This is Jerusalem at a very specific time in history. It's 1191, the tail end of the Third Crusade, in which Saladin, sultan of Syria and Egypt, faced against Richard I, King of England. Saladin had wrested Jerusalem from Crusader control four years before and captured, exiled, or ransomed the entire Latin-speaking Christian population [as opposed to Greek Christians - Byzantines and others - who were allowed to remain]. It should be noted that when he allowed the Crusaders/Franks/Latins to surrender, Saladin was being considerably more merciful than the Crusaders had been 88 years before, when they had massacred Moslems and Jews until the "streets were knee-high in blood."</p><p>The big problem for a writer is that the histories of the time - at least, those available in English - are good when it comes to politics, armies, and trade, but less so when it comes to descriptions of daily life. You want to be able to describe the sights, the smells, the sounds. What people are wearing, how they're talking, what they're eating. How the streets are built, how the houses are constructed and why.</p><p>Basic histories tell you none of this. So you go looking for telling details - bits you can use to suggest a bigger picture - in primary sources: documents and artifacts created at the time.</p><p>Which is to say I found two tonight. YAY!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Q6oXs1ZS11jtJuQ1-Kl5uUGNe0K97RNjXxleqiceXw9HSQoAOWRNahYG94-i7L5PWQF0p0HAj2Dt089IB-U2c8MAORVwwd6lihgpYJHzSLUldu8YlrpsyvrfksWHtKzx0bv9lfX4SWI/s551/2018-12-22%252B22_01_58-benjamin%252Bof%252Btudela%252B-%252BGoogle%252BSearch.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="354" height="105" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Q6oXs1ZS11jtJuQ1-Kl5uUGNe0K97RNjXxleqiceXw9HSQoAOWRNahYG94-i7L5PWQF0p0HAj2Dt089IB-U2c8MAORVwwd6lihgpYJHzSLUldu8YlrpsyvrfksWHtKzx0bv9lfX4SWI/w68-h105/2018-12-22%252B22_01_58-benjamin%252Bof%252Btudela%252B-%252BGoogle%252BSearch.png" width="68" /></a></div><p>1. <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14981">The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela</a> - tbh, I already knew about this, but I'd forgotten it. Benjamin was an Andalusian Jew who kept a journal of his travels across the Mediterranean and in the Levant. Full of little tidbits, like the story of two workmen who accidentally uncover the tomb of King David, which reads like the Tale of Aladdin. <br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_QsiFU-R0p-X35aKMeALWuY-8x_ucrYHeHKzdA961FZ7CAHT0N6i_UMKmxaSXuxR9pQr0seRg7mcn6a1frjULyk8H7UXPntAKUTxmcvwCwF7saerJ6_XLnrjLaWmHEFbKbsRfWmwUQ8/s1200/main-image.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="967" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3_QsiFU-R0p-X35aKMeALWuY-8x_ucrYHeHKzdA961FZ7CAHT0N6i_UMKmxaSXuxR9pQr0seRg7mcn6a1frjULyk8H7UXPntAKUTxmcvwCwF7saerJ6_XLnrjLaWmHEFbKbsRfWmwUQ8/w132-h164/main-image.jpeg" width="132" /></a></div><br />2. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition "<a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/objects?exhibitionId=3e2bd038-7aea-4779-9951-2974efca566d&pkgids=372">Jerusalem 1000 to 1400: Every People Under Heaven</a>." Because, you know, ARTIFACTS. <br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-44561931058745408872020-05-01T10:47:00.003-04:002020-08-23T13:27:29.812-04:00Writing for TelevisionA few years back, <i>Creative Screenwriting</i> magazine had a column called <i>Know Your Show.</i> It was targeted to TV writers trying to "spec" [write unsolicited screenplays for] different TV series. Spec scripts are a way to showcase your work for agents and showrunners.<br />
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One of the most important rules for specs is to know the story rules that govern the show you've chosen. <i>Know Your Show</i> was designed to make those implicit rules explicit, breaking down the requirements for different shows by talking to the showrunners themselves. It was a great column. Here's one I wrote for it.<br />
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<u><span style="font-family: Courier;">KNOW YOUR SHOW:<o:p></o:p></span></u><i><u><span style="font-family: Courier;">TRUE BLOOD </span></u></i><u><span style="font-family: Courier;">AND <i>BURN NOTICE</i></span></u><span style="font-family: Courier;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">by<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Ted Rabinowitz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Spec for TV long enough, and someone will tell you to "fill the gap." If you've written two killer procedurals, that means write a <i>Gossip</i> <i>Girl</i> or <i>90210</i>. If your portfolio bulges with twisted but critically praised fare like <i>Dexter</i>, then try a <i>Psych</i>. With that in mind, we've chosen to examine two popular shows that differ from each other in virtually every way: <i>True Blood</i>, HBO's vampire serial; and <i>Burn Notice</i>, the action-oriented spy procedural on USA Network.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">True Blood</span></i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> offers a Deep Southern look at issues like drugs, sex, dysfunctional families...and vampires. It's a good way to showcase your (melo)dramatic chops. <i>Burn Notice </i>is a tightly plotted, high-testosterone action series with a lighter feel. It emphasizes con games, plot twists and authenticity in its covert-ops sequences.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Both shows are internationally distributed, with a deeply loyal fan base. <i>True Blood</i> has received several WGA, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, and a Golden Globe Best Actress win for Anna Paquin; <i>Burn Notice</i> has won an Edgar for Best Screenplay, received a WGA nomination, and inspired two novelizations so far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">TRUE BLOOD<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Created by Alan Ball, <i>True Blood</i> is based on Charlaine Harris' <i>Southern</i><i>Vampire</i> mysteries. With a weekly audience of 6.8 million, it is now one of the most critically acclaimed series on HBO.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Ball, the creator of <i>Six Feet Under </i>and <i>American</i> <i>Beauty</i>, read the first <i>Southern Vampire </i>novel while waiting for a dental appointment. "It was an impulse buy," he says. "And it was so entertaining, I immediately ordered the rest of the series on Amazon. The world was already so complete; I liked how funny it was, how scary it was, and how romantic."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The first episode premiered on September 7, 2008; the series just ended its second season, and the third will air in the summer of 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">PREMISE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">With the creation of synthetic human blood, vampires no longer need to hunt humans or hide from them, and they have become one more minority in America's melting pot. When Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) a telepathic waitress in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), the town's first Vampire-American, she's immediately attracted to him; as a vampire, Bill is the first man whose thoughts Sookie can't read. Sookie and Bill become lovers, despite the disapproval of Bon Temps' human citizens and the contempt of Bill's vampire community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"Sookie is a strong young woman who felt that she was a freak, alone in the world," says Ball. "Now she's found love with someone like her."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Meanwhile, Sookie's best friend Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley) and her brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten) struggle to find their places in a world that is becoming more and more supernatural. Jason is a "horndog" who never thinks ahead; Tara is smart and tough, but her defensiveness alienates boyfriends, bosses, and anyone who might care about her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Each season is loosely based on one of Harris' books. "It's about 50% us and 50% the novels," says Ball. The storylines center on Sookie, her relationship with Bill, and the lives of Jason and Tara. In addition, there is usually at least one external threat or mystery. In the first season, a string of murders threw suspicion first on Bill, then on Jason; in the second, a maenad gained control over Bon Temps while Sookie and Bill searched for a missing vampire elder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">PRIMARY LOCATIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> Merlotte's Bar<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">THE STORY THUS FAR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">In the first season, Sookie and Bill became lovers. Sookie had to adjust both to her first romantic relationship, and to a vampire world in which Bill has killed other vampires to save her (although she has also saved his life). Meanwhile, Jason's fecklessness led him from womanizing to vampire-blood addiction to prison; and Tara's search for stability was sabotaged by her abusive, alcoholic mother, Lettie Mae (Adina Porter).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The second season has been dominated by three storylines: Sookie and Bill's search for the missing vampire leader Godric (Allan Hyde); Jason's involvement with the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire church and paramilitary group; and the seduction of the citizens of Bon Temps by Maryann Forrester, a maenad who encourages and feeds on violence and sexual frenzy. One of Maryann's key converts is Tara, who falls under her hypnotic influence and begins a relationship with "Eggs" Benedict Talley (Mehcad Brooks).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Ultimately, Sookie and Bill rescue Godric from the Fellowship, only to see him commit suicide as penance for his failures. Sam, Bill and Jason (all in their own ways) try to save Sookie and Bon Temps from Maryann's sacrifice to her dark deity, the God Who Comes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Along the way, there are other developments. The local vampire "sheriff," Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård), connives to feed his blood to Tara's cousin Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis) and to Sookie. This links them to Eric, both psychically and sexually, and makes Eric Bill's mortal enemy. Lafayette, who spent an horrific time as Eric's prisoner for selling vampire blood, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammel), who has carried a torch for Sookie for years, uses his shapeshifting abilities to save Bon Temps from Maryann. While doing so, he's forced to drink Bill's blood, marking a resolution to their conflict over Sookie. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">After Maryann is dispatched, Bill proposes to Sookie. Before she can say yes, he disappears, and the season ends on a cliffhanger.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">RULES<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The target page count for a script is 54.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Minor storylines usually run four beats, with the major story in each episode at six or seven beats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Each episode begins with a teaser that addresses the previous episode's cliffhanger, and ends with another cliffhanger. Story lines are layered – scenes switch back and forth between stories.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The regular characters must be serviced in every episode. Sookie, Jason, Bill and Tara must be at the center of their story lines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">True Blood's</span></i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> vampires are similar to, but not exactly the same as, other vampires. They're inhumanly strong and fast. They have no problems with crosses, holy water, garlic or mirrors, but silver and daylight burn them, and they cannot enter a house uninvited. Drinking a vampire's blood directly from its veins creates a psychic bond between the vampire and the drinker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Vampires are connected to the older vampires who "made" them. Humans hunt vampires both from fear and from greed: Vampire blood, when drained surgically from the vampire, is a powerful narcotic for humans.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The vampire world has its own politics and lifestyle choices. Vampire territories are ruled by sheriffs, who are ruled in turn by kings and queens. Vampires are split between those who "nest" – live with their own kind – and those who are trying to "mainstream" back into the human community. Mainstreamers are trying to fit in; nesters tend to be the nasty, creepy predators everyone knows and loves from horror movies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">CHEAT SHEET<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Characters:</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> The regular characters are the heart of <i>True Blood</i>. Get them right, and the rest will follow. "</span><span style="font-family: Courier;">We try to root the story in the characters," says Ball. "For instance, [in Season 2] Tara wouldn't have fallen under Maryann's influence if it weren't for her mom's interference."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">To nail the characters, you need a handle on the sources of their actions. </span><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"<b>Jason</b> puts on a big macho show, but all his behavior – the horndog aspect, the drug abuse –comes from a deep well of insecurity," says Ball. "He's lost everyone he's ever loved, except Sookie. He wants to feel needed. Deep down, he's a good guy." People think that Jason is stupid. Even though he jokes about it, he's scared they're right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">In her own way, <b>Tara</b> has the same issues Jason does. "But instead of acting out sexually," says Ball, "she's a smart-ass." Tara is smarter and stronger than Jason. Like him, she wants a family. Right now, that family is Sookie and Lafayette – and she is still in love with Jason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Ball's advice on Tara and Jason: Don't push their main attributes too far. "People love it when Tara mouths off, but don't make her too tough. And don't make Jason too stupid. A little bit goes a long way."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">Sookie</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier;"> is strong and moral, but not perfect. "She's a little self-righteous," concedes Ball. This is easy to see when she's in conflict with Bon Temps' good ol' boys and their vampire opposites.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">"Bill</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier;"> speaks very formally, because he came of age in the 19<sup>th</sup> Century," says Ball. Bill's character note is the dichotomy between his courtly, gracious side and his lust for blood and power. He knows the fear he inspires in humans, and he's not above using it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">"<b>Lafayette</b> can play different roles. He's an entrepreneur – that is, an opportunist." As with Bill, there's a useful dichotomy between Lafayette's campy persona and the hard-core fighter and hustler he can be when the need arises. Lafayette is also a fan favorite – although he dies in the novels, he proved to be so popular that he survives in the series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">"</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier;">After Sookie, <b>Sam Merlotte</b> has the strongest moral compass of the regulars," says Ball. "Like her, he's an orphan and, like her, he thought he was a freak." Although he "pretends to be easygoing and gregarious, that's part of his job. He's actually very cautious and very suspicious." He still loves Sookie and tries to protect her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Dialogue: </span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">When it comes to dialogue, less is more. "We'll always choose subtext over something overt," says Ball. "Nothing on the nose. The best writing is when you understand why someone's doing something without having it explained."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier;">Future seasons:</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier;"> The best way to spec a serial is to know what's happening in advance. The next season of <i>True Blood</i> will focus on <i>Club Dead</i>, the third <i>Southern Vampire</i> novel. Consider reading it before you write your sample – but be aware of the significant differences between the book and the series. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">In the third season, we'll see more of the vampires' Byzantine politics. We'll also see werewolves for the first time. "They're kind of like cowboy gang members," says Ball. "Really arrogant."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">TONE</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Southern Gothic melodrama...with fangs. Gritty stories about dysfunctional people trying to be their best selves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"I've seen so many vampires that are 'operatic,'" says Ball. "But Charlaine's vampires are small-town Louisiana. This is not <i>Underworld</i>. This is not Anne Rice. These are Wal-Mart vampires."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">OPPORTUNITY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">True Blood</span></i><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> is a hot series. A good spec will demonstrate your ability to write for premium cable (i.e. to write grittier, more "R" rated material). It will also showcase your chops with vampires, serialized shows, small towns, and (most important) character-driven, atmospheric drama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">CHARACTER GUIDE</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Sookie Stackhouse</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Anna Paquin, <i>X-Men, The Piano</i>): A waitress and a telepath, Sookie has "a strong sense of right and wrong that sometimes makes her a little self-righteous." At the start of Season One, she thought she was a freak, alone in the world; now she's found love with another outsider, Bill Compton.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Bill Compton</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Stephen Moyer, <i>Quills, 88 Minutes</i>): A vampire and a veteran of the Confederacy, Bill is trying to "mainstream" – live as a normal human. His vocabulary is reminiscent of the Old South, and he retains his courtly manners – unless his vampire nature gets the better of him. He would die or kill to protect Sookie. As a vampire, he's immune to her telepathic abilities.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Tara Thornton</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Rutina Wesley, <i>Numb3rs, How She Move</i>): Sookie's best friend. Smart and strong, she has a troubled past that also makes her angry and defensive. Her abusive mother Lettie Mae is a constant obstacle in her life, and she is in love with Sookie's brother Jason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Jason Stackhouse</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Ryan Kwanten, <i>Don't Fade Away, Flicka</i>): Sookie's brother, Jason is a womanizing ex-jock who can't stay out of trouble. Fundamentally good-hearted, he's deeply insecure. He fears that he's stupid – and then acts in ways that confirm it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Sam Merlotte </span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">(Sam Trammell, <i>AVP:Requiem, Going to California</i>): Owner of Merlotte's bar, Sam is friendly, guarded, and in love with Sookie. He's also a shapeshifter – a secret revealed in Season One.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Lafayette Johnson</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Nelsan Ellis, <i>The Soloist, The Express</i>): Tara's cousin, and the cook at Merlotte's. A drug dealer, hustler, and role-player, Lafayette genuinely cares for Tara and Sookie, but he's sold drugs to Jason, and he can be ice-cold when he needs to. He's gay, but not currently in a relationship...with anyone human. After being a vampire's prisoner in Season #2, he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and a psychic link to the vampire Eric Northman.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">BURN NOTICE</span></u></b><b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">In the middle of its third season and returning for a fourth, <i>Burn Notice</i>premiered on June 28, 2007. The premiere episode won an Edgar Alan Poe mystery award for Best Screenplay. Its creator, Matt Nix, was primarily a movie writer before approaching USA Network with the project that became <i>Burn Notice</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Nix's initial vision was for a dark and gritty spy series set in Newark. After meeting with USA Network execs and getting a sense of their programming, he lightened the tone considerably and set it in Miami. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"My friend Michael Wilson" (a producer and consultant on <i>Burn Notice</i>) "was an inspiration for the show," says Nix. "He has a long background in intelligence, but his stories don't focus on danger and violence; they're about things like the sand in Afghanistan screwing up your Walkman. That formed the sensibility of <i>Burn Notice</i>."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">PREMISE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Covert operative Michael Westen (Jeffrey Donovan) is in the middle of an operation in Nigeria when he gets a "burn notice" – someone has tagged him as unreliable. He barely escapes with his life, passes out from his injuries, and wakes up in his hometown of Miami. His accounts have been frozen, and agents follow his every move to ensure that he doesn't leave the city. The only people who will talk to him are his ex-girlfriend and gunrunner Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar), his old spy buddy Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell), and his mom Madeline (Sharon Gless). With no other options, Michael dedicates himself to finding out who burned him and to helping local residents with problems no one else can solve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Episodes usually feature an A and B story. The A story is the "case of the week" in which Michael, Fiona and Sam use their covert-ops skills to help friends, family, and needy strangers defend themselves against the scum of Miami, from hit men to human traffickers. The B story is the "<i>Burn Notice</i> runner," in which Michael tries to salvage his career. In Seasons 1-2, that meant discovering who had burned him and why; in Season 3 the focus is on getting his job back.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Often woven into the A and B stories is a C story that focuses on Michael's relationships with his friends and family, or (rarely) on the status of another regular.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">PRIMARY LOCATIONS<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> Michael's loft (Int./Ext.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> Madeline's house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> Café Carlito<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> Fiona's house<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">THE STORY THUS FAR<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">By the end of Season Two, Michael had escaped the power of "The Organization," the shadowy group that had burned and then forcibly recruited him. Leaving has had consequences, however. Although the Organization controlled Michael, it also protected him from other groups and from old enemies. Now he is "back on the radar"...and still burned. Soon the Miami police, in the person of Det. Michelle Paxson (Moon Bloodgood) are investigating Michael's activities, and old enemies are out for revenge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">After neutralizing Det. Paxson by helping her solve a case, Michael uses Diego Garza (Otto Sanchez), a local operative, to reestablish contact with his old spymasters. Fiona tries to be supportive, but she can't hide her disappointment that Michael still hasn't given up his dream of "getting back in."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Matters escalate when Michael is approached by "agent to the spies" Tom Strickler. Strickler offers Michael money and information if he'll take the assignments Strickler offers. When Michael resists – he feels that accepting will make him a mercenary, not a patriot – Strickler offers the one thing Michael can't resist...a way back in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Michael accepts, only to find that Strickler has arranged for Fiona's death in order to keep Michael focused on the mission. When Strickler tries to stop Michael from mounting a rescue, Michael kills him to save Fiona.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Strickler's death triggers a firestorm. The first nine episodes of the third season end with the killing of Michael's one agency contact by anonymous assassins, and Michael waiting as they come for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">RULES<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Scripts run between forty-nine and fifty-two pages; usually they're at fifty-one pages "packed to the gills." There are four acts, a teaser and a button:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The teaser runs one to two scenes in three pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The first act ends in the late teens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The second act ends in the late twenties (often at 29).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The third and fourth act are ten pages each.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The button is 2-3 pages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Michael's voiceovers on tradecraft must be dry, matter of fact, and impart information that is both true and unexpected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">For the case of the week, Michael will have developed a plan by the end of Act One and will pursue that plan through Acts Two and Three. At the end of Act Three, something unpredictable will disrupt that plan, and Michael will be forced to improvise a new one...and this is the hard part.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"I cannot tell you how many stories die on that particular beach," says Nix. "The second plan cannot be unrelated to the first plan. It must be a logical outgrowth of the first plan that leverages the successes and failures of Acts Two and Three."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Although each episode has at least two storylines competing for time, Nix says the best ones are those where there's "a thematic echo in all three stories. For instance, in the episode "Broken Rules," everything is about rules and breaking them: In the A story, we have two bad guys – Diego (Tony Perez) who follows the rules of the old gangs, and his boss (Idalis de Leon) who breaks them. In the B story, we have Agent Bly (Alex Carter) who breaks the rules by going after Michael's family, so Michael blackmails him by creating evidence that proves he's corrupt. And in the C story Michael and Fiona break their own rules by sleeping together."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">POV rules are strict. The audience can only know what Michael knows, or occasionally what Fiona and Sam know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Finally, there must be a scene in which the case of the week is resolved conclusively, preferably at the moment in which the Bad Guy thinks he's won. "We don't let the Bad Guy go in the case of the week," says Nix. "He can be arrested, intimidated, fled, whatever, he doesn't escape consequences."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">CHEAT SHEET<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Nix and his fellow writers are espionage aficionados who focus on the covert-ops details when writing. "When writing a new episode, we often work backward from a spy technique we like," says Nix. "We copy a lot of 'bad guy' techniques. So we'll say something like 'Here's how Hitler bamboozled Stalin. Why can't we do that?'" If you can pitch an episode based on an interrogation method or covert strategy they haven't used, that's sure to impress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Another possibility is to take a technique that's already been used and "stand it on its head. We do that a lot," says Nix. "If you watch some episodes closely, you can see where they relate on a deep level to other episodes."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">The cases of the week can't be about run-of-the-mill crime solving. "It's important that these are problems that cops or PIs can't solve," says Nix. "Michael is neither, and if the case demands something other than Michael's unique skills, he'll pass." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Solving the problem can involve intimidation, explosions, break-ins, con games, impersonation, interrogation, and gunshots, but not depositions, eyewitnesses, or whodunits. "We have a certain minimum level of mayhem," says Nix. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Michael's motivation is always personal. "Michael has no abstract commitment to justice," says Nix. "He helps individual people with problems. I know a pitch is going to fail when I hear the words 'Michael decides to investigate.'"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Another pitfall: spending more screen time with Michael's clients than with the bad guys who hurt them. "The Bad Guy is usually the guest star," says Nix, "not the Client. Unless the Client is a source of conflict in some way, it's the Bad Guy who's more important."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">TONE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Light and fast, but not frothy and not filled with gags. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"This danger is the water they swim in," says Nix. "So the humor arises from the tonal contrast, from the human side of the dire situation." A bad break up or a smashed loaner car matters as much as the man trying to kill them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">OPPORTUNITY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">A <i>Burn Notice</i> spec is a good showcase for your ability to write believable action and espionage, to generate story twists, and to write to a demanding structure. However, to do it, you must truly enjoy the world of John leCarré and Tom Clancy. Nix advises caution. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">"Everyone tells me this is the hardest show they've ever had to write. I've actually never heard of a completed <i>Burn Notice</i> spec, only abortive specs that were abandoned after ten pages."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">CHARACTER GUIDE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Michael Westen </span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">(Jeffrey Donovan, <i>Changeling, Crossing Jordan</i>): Once a world-class covert agent, Michael now uses his skills to help clients with nowhere else to go. He is an expert in martial arts, surveillance, and undercover tactics. The son of an abusive father, Michael is more comfortable with guns than emotions - especially when it comes to Madeline and Fiona.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Fiona Glenanne</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Gabrielle Anwar, <i>The Tudors, Scent of a Woman</i>): Gunrunner, ex-IRA member, Michael's girlfriend, and practitioner of therapeutic violence, Fiona never holds anything back. She feels that Michael always puts the mission before their relationship, but she also knows that he remains the most important thing in her life, even when they are not together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Sam Axe</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Bruce Campbell, <i>Evil Dead, Hercules</i>): An amiable ex-Navy SEAL, Sam can take a punch, cause a distraction, or run an interrogation. His friends in law enforcement are Michael's primary source of background information. When not helping Michael, Sam successfully pursues his two other vocations: women and beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;">Madeline Westen</span></b><span style="font-family: Courier; line-height: 32px;"> (Sharon Gless, <i>Queer as Folk, Cagney & Lacey</i>): Michael's mom, a chain-smoker and hypochondriac who can still push his buttons. Madeline knows that she did not protect Michael from his dad as she should have, and is trying to reconnect with him. She is also tough and savvy – bad guys underestimate her at their peril.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-22050392737233313332020-03-12T21:06:00.001-04:002020-03-12T21:09:18.000-04:00YOUR OFFICIAL CORONAVIRUS DO-NOT-READ LIST<u>ATTENTION! THIS YOUR OFFICIAL CORONAVIRUS DO-NOT-READ LIST:</u><div>
<br />The Masque of the Read Death, Poe<br />A Journal of the Plague Year, Defoe<br />The Killing Game, Ionesco<br />The Plague, Camus<br /><br />DO NOT READ THESE. THEY ARE SCARY.<br /><br /><div>
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<u>DO READ:</u><br /><a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23700">The Decameron</a>, Bocaccio - yes, kind of about plague, but also about sexytimes<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Sword-Ted-Rabinowitz-ebook/dp/B012RDRHN0/">The Wrong Sword</a>, by me, because it's funny and good and I don't use Patreon<br />Anything by P.G. Wodehouse<br /><br />You're welcome.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-57990245266027023322020-01-17T12:06:00.000-05:002020-01-17T12:11:30.882-05:00Not Meant To Be MythicI was in Venice the other day, strolling past the Basilica of St. Mark's - as one does - when I stopped in at the Doge's Palace.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DU-613jH7Huif376jnMzLUUL2cn3vSh0fNykVTTDTWWYXNf99qTsv6Pl5Rm7ic-2duODuyjGztSWoJ71DSkTA6pRfkTAavbj8lH-M0O5fN3jvtHyVOHIk0V117W6ejnOU37KiWZB2xk/s1600/IMG_1025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7DU-613jH7Huif376jnMzLUUL2cn3vSh0fNykVTTDTWWYXNf99qTsv6Pl5Rm7ic-2duODuyjGztSWoJ71DSkTA6pRfkTAavbj8lH-M0O5fN3jvtHyVOHIk0V117W6ejnOU37KiWZB2xk/s320/IMG_1025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The place is mind-blowing. Not just for the quality of the decoration, but for the sheer amount of insanely detailed murals that cover the walls, the ceiling, everything.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitZ6_Sz_mWKnTbinIQoyKTRk3YG7Qi3PnkVooyzIFJqrUNl_mTrcGs5GBVJ2ND8wMy0tdbKeHeHWcqxLlAnKKrG9x0j5SiBjBhH2e5FCrbfrpj-PTa2zGinBnbu-ZaqU4xV4pKEJQ1TbU/s1600/IMG_1171.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitZ6_Sz_mWKnTbinIQoyKTRk3YG7Qi3PnkVooyzIFJqrUNl_mTrcGs5GBVJ2ND8wMy0tdbKeHeHWcqxLlAnKKrG9x0j5SiBjBhH2e5FCrbfrpj-PTa2zGinBnbu-ZaqU4xV4pKEJQ1TbU/s320/IMG_1171.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Also, stone filigree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DGawlr4PuvbVOmLDS-A-sWKjC_YCnoDEX7woaAP36OS25uMgOuiUksfgFd2moaMK2h8vdYgEbNHAD_xWsJtQkOK664VqyvmkcogxbadXHPBzDc08YtZUd_s2_-ByCPXEo7C9wkcyngU/s1600/IMG_1230.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8DGawlr4PuvbVOmLDS-A-sWKjC_YCnoDEX7woaAP36OS25uMgOuiUksfgFd2moaMK2h8vdYgEbNHAD_xWsJtQkOK664VqyvmkcogxbadXHPBzDc08YtZUd_s2_-ByCPXEo7C9wkcyngU/s320/IMG_1230.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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But despite the crazy magnificence, the stuff inside is...chilling. Because the Republic of Venice was *not* a democracy, because it invented mass production centuries before the Industrial Revolution, and because this gave Venice control of the Eastern Mediterranean for the next 400 years.<br />
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At the height of its power, Venice was able to produce an entire warship - from hull to sails to oarlocks - in a <i>single day</i>. [For other realms, a warship took months.] Venice had reserved forests on the mainland for timber, mines for iron, copper, and tin, and developed assembly lines Henry Ford would have envied to create hulls, sails, powder, and shot. Its rope-making was so efficient that it sold the excess to other maritime powers. It also locked up residents it considered to be vital to its commercial interests - like glassmakers and Jews. [Venice invented the ghetto as well as the assembly line.]<br />
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And it mass-produced the items that we fantasy writers think of as unique artisanal products: swords and armor. Take a look at the pommels of the swords in the Venetian armory. Look at the black-powder pistols. Look at the helmets. Mass-produced, all of it. No individual flourishes. Not created by some mythic craftsman, but by assembly lines. And all the more deadly for it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ocR_-4B5rbb6FxSeMl8oKdNSm0bz4usVEdHkkX5znTh4qmnr57M_niQRAhrX9XCQeiv38eidG4Z3ARe0lLPI0dsowcJQdoNMwFtKjeVqhQ32yfJt0SqKJRKLVIvApa8_3RFCcIBml0Y/s1600/IMG_1128.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ocR_-4B5rbb6FxSeMl8oKdNSm0bz4usVEdHkkX5znTh4qmnr57M_niQRAhrX9XCQeiv38eidG4Z3ARe0lLPI0dsowcJQdoNMwFtKjeVqhQ32yfJt0SqKJRKLVIvApa8_3RFCcIBml0Y/s320/IMG_1128.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a "helm" - a helmet. They all look like that.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxVa-rX1wwBr_zfXk_8piSQWCLpjzvF3GhvweIqveEfEKb97S20XOK5z8boBgsdKHW59LixuMRGPhTmB3SjbX8kOS8u4I-e8TYayVPhEdNAjh_QZhyphenhyphen_OYAcaRkXEZcl9E7thF4GKQsQXo/s1600/IMG_1135.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxVa-rX1wwBr_zfXk_8piSQWCLpjzvF3GhvweIqveEfEKb97S20XOK5z8boBgsdKHW59LixuMRGPhTmB3SjbX8kOS8u4I-e8TYayVPhEdNAjh_QZhyphenhyphen_OYAcaRkXEZcl9E7thF4GKQsQXo/s320/IMG_1135.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See how all the pommels are the same? Those are VI swords...Venetian-issue.<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c4RJllFeBWjnxQAgDolhqfDelxQ2Yb9DUwYEjDe0bZEj4YiE1F11xdIx95LIRzHtsehkh-wkptXF06WQInitjd8jqVjkTtupimiL7IqcG5zIpVw8OkpnVPMnsbpTsVJU_wdJFKsUIkw/s1600/IMG_1147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c4RJllFeBWjnxQAgDolhqfDelxQ2Yb9DUwYEjDe0bZEj4YiE1F11xdIx95LIRzHtsehkh-wkptXF06WQInitjd8jqVjkTtupimiL7IqcG5zIpVw8OkpnVPMnsbpTsVJU_wdJFKsUIkw/s320/IMG_1147.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not pretty, but effective.</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-28385597223513798212019-12-25T10:14:00.002-05:002020-01-16T08:47:06.250-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKa-V5IGeih1-LuiXeVsI4f8tEkuw0W0fBJcXiWfviBe1PUzhopcifG7naKqH7j8dnUGM4PAgoQKvHjX9KlwH1lUYLzwadH5rb8VKhhFoh13xHD3yoFLBxLor5kNhnwCvN0N0uAnZy7rk/s1600/Unknown.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="264" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKa-V5IGeih1-LuiXeVsI4f8tEkuw0W0fBJcXiWfviBe1PUzhopcifG7naKqH7j8dnUGM4PAgoQKvHjX9KlwH1lUYLzwadH5rb8VKhhFoh13xHD3yoFLBxLor5kNhnwCvN0N0uAnZy7rk/s400/Unknown.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-89765715471703316712019-12-23T09:53:00.004-05:002019-12-23T09:55:42.109-05:00New York Photo Notes1. In New York, even the bathrooms are cinematic.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAdHtagNnf7M5kyBpXnzU0-TeukqX-oaWCaqFXzqcpgrYnhuY_99QjYOiG5MEJ_gZnrfrQUMkhcGfdg_-ZUiDuUjxxAkUGeTkGg9gK9TLx9uwgxQ5tO0TH-PtATqhWG6afindswLfBDI/s1600/IMG_5798.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAAdHtagNnf7M5kyBpXnzU0-TeukqX-oaWCaqFXzqcpgrYnhuY_99QjYOiG5MEJ_gZnrfrQUMkhcGfdg_-ZUiDuUjxxAkUGeTkGg9gK9TLx9uwgxQ5tO0TH-PtATqhWG6afindswLfBDI/s320/IMG_5798.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. Sometimes, we live outside in.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99otCq2PttbtWR3JCj9fVl8nXvCbgVMbh88OLWQFY_jqRb-QblZkPD8e15JG5jUxJw3ttgnVKw8i5N9FVi3zMAYdsIpYPENaBm3OWdo0cXdGV0uYEYMyfFGfk3riHLa5r-zCr8bolyk0/s1600/IMG_5805.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99otCq2PttbtWR3JCj9fVl8nXvCbgVMbh88OLWQFY_jqRb-QblZkPD8e15JG5jUxJw3ttgnVKw8i5N9FVi3zMAYdsIpYPENaBm3OWdo0cXdGV0uYEYMyfFGfk3riHLa5r-zCr8bolyk0/s320/IMG_5805.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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3. Even if you don't have a Christmas tree, you have a Christmas tree.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBDngL27iMgriLoD-Cc7MlyKep-SfIp0Q3etVJroI4KtgspdUf6LnOtjOO7jKBpC7YOXkoJksjq76nMZZEGDKKKGfCXI5kfbBuqa-3tU8iucdbZtQtOVd16Q_sDjNLAn5ylyX3wnin5Eo/s1600/IMG_5800.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBDngL27iMgriLoD-Cc7MlyKep-SfIp0Q3etVJroI4KtgspdUf6LnOtjOO7jKBpC7YOXkoJksjq76nMZZEGDKKKGfCXI5kfbBuqa-3tU8iucdbZtQtOVd16Q_sDjNLAn5ylyX3wnin5Eo/s320/IMG_5800.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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4. Shabby/ornate is what the city's about - but gentrification is erasing that like sea rise on Miami Beach.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNTHmUo_cp_B9fdk5U_DWqK9XORTj634d7JjxUzHxa6iuSPiTZU6Uxvts-U8Y2v1m7cH4dQ85r16X5fjzspATvWw511ZYIJ5HUJrgJYstLV5iB8Kq3Q8UJNzhEy4lalB0bmPXud75nTM/s1600/IMG_5787.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQNTHmUo_cp_B9fdk5U_DWqK9XORTj634d7JjxUzHxa6iuSPiTZU6Uxvts-U8Y2v1m7cH4dQ85r16X5fjzspATvWw511ZYIJ5HUJrgJYstLV5iB8Kq3Q8UJNzhEy4lalB0bmPXud75nTM/s320/IMG_5787.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And here's hoping you don't feel attacked when I say...<br />
Happy Holidays!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-48459278823858442812019-12-15T14:00:00.002-05:002019-12-15T14:50:24.236-05:00I Love New York<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4biFK3Tc5O48fR3XcLVvfjNnt-w_KXdRszSel8U5E27gZgAdNlKxuJ22v8oYzIl6Rvm2OQ4s6q8hIemi6V6DSQnEn9QI4wJGEoyWniZY6pKGc_bFQCnPkwghbcGtGDbPlO-GB0c1cbI/s1600/IMG_5799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4biFK3Tc5O48fR3XcLVvfjNnt-w_KXdRszSel8U5E27gZgAdNlKxuJ22v8oYzIl6Rvm2OQ4s6q8hIemi6V6DSQnEn9QI4wJGEoyWniZY6pKGc_bFQCnPkwghbcGtGDbPlO-GB0c1cbI/s320/IMG_5799.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Actually, I don't. No New Yorker does. It's like loving your blood type.<br />
But I will admit that this city does offer the occasional compensation for the noise, the jerks, the crowds, and the expense.<br />
I'm typing this from the reading room of a discreet midtown hotel that was once home to a famous Jazz Age writer, a five minute walk from the Algonquin Round Table. I'm surrounded by wood panelling and leather chairs, and there's a cappuccino machine bubbling away in the back. The streets outside are packed, but there's a murmuring silence here, and I have the room completely to myself...<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-87172058063168145462019-11-03T13:11:00.003-05:002019-11-03T13:11:16.265-05:00The Exile Returns to New York - WIP Chunk #2<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; line-height: 32px; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Courier;">She took my hand with one almost as grimy and led me to the forward bay, where they let us mingle with the first-class passengers for the landing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“What is that?” she pointed. “And that? Tell me!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“We’re flying over…this water is Long Island Sound. On the left, that’s Queens. It’s part of the city. And on the right, that shore, that’s Connecticut.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“A city?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“No, uh, <i>una regione</i>. Rich people live there. And now - see those towers, with the round plates on top? Those were from the World’s Fair, in your father’s grandfather’s time. They’re defense wards now. And that big wall across the water, that’s the City Island Sea Gate.” Was I tearing up a little? No. I’m a tough New Yorker, see?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“We’re turning!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Yes, south. Look there. Now we’re flying over Manhattan, that has all the fancy tourist stuff.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Is that Central Park?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“No, that’s Fort Tryon. Central Park is coming…”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The exile returns. Yeah, I was getting a little misty. Past the old Lennox Avenue towers, now overgrown like Babylon with 24-story hanging gardens, low over the green promenade of St. Nicholas, soaring above Morningside Heights – hello, 112<sup>th</sup>St! – south past the great, perilous expanse of Central Park, then-<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“See it? See?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Empire State! Empire State!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“That’s right. Empire State.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">There it was, the good old Empire State Building, standing tall in its cloud of circling ornithopters and flying carpets, the air around it a perpetually gentle spring day thanks to the New York Thaumaturgical Board’s weather team. The spire’s landing light went green, and we docked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-7000164900250433662019-10-31T17:32:00.002-04:002019-10-31T17:32:47.812-04:00Happy Horror-ween!Here's a chunk of my #WIP, which I hope is appropriately dark...<br />
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****</div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">I stepped inside and swayed. I wanted to hold my breath, but I knew it wouldn’t help. The salty bowel reek of Corruption drifted on the breeze, the product of decades of misery and cruelty and willful blindness. Tonight’s festivities would just frost the cake.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The guests drifted down the crumbling hallway, stepping over years of dead leaves and soil, plaster and broken brick, to an enormous hexagonal atrium with a spiral staircase in the center. I felt wards and sinks under my feet, working overtime to drain away the bad mojo and stop anyone with the power from doing something unwise. Dance music boomed from behind the staircase; in front of it was a low platform lit by spotlights. A magic circle had been laid out around the platform in silver wire, and signs in yellow chalk were scrawled all over the platform itself. I tried to read them, and shuddered. Some looked like gibberish; others were versions of the Angels’ Letters, deformed to facilitate the ritual. The atrium floor might have been a dead zone, but the platform was active – and sick.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">A DJ’s voice boomed out. “First come, first come, here it is.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The lighting shifted to purples and blues, the music became a loud breakbeat, and a quartet swaggered onto the platform like a boxer and his cornermen. But here it was two truck-sized goons in shiny suits, followed by a man in a monk’s robe, and flanking a scrawny boy who looked like a Goth groupie in a long black shift, pallid skin, and teased black hair. The audience applauded and he stared back defiantly before spreading his arms. The goons grabbed his shift and tore it from him, leaving him naked. The crowd didn’t applaud that. They weren’t here for burlesque.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">He was tattooed, and his nipples and penis were pierced. The goons removed the metal swiftly. He didn’t flinch. Then the robed man raised his hand and muttered, and the goons held the Goth’s arms. The boy whimpered and cried out as the tattoo ink leeched from the skin of his arms, feet, and torso, and dripped to the floor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Once the ink was gone, the goons let him sag into the heavy iron chair at the platform’s center. His eyes were closed and he was breathing deeply as the goons strapped him in. The pseudo-monk produced a pot and a whisker brush from inside his robe and drew signs on the boy’s forehead, chest, and belly in black ink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Fake Monk stepped back and spread his arms and invoked…something. It was almost the Tongue of the Gate he used, but blurred and distorted, with different accents and rhythms. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">That fast, Something was in the hall with us humans. Magus or not, you felt it – I could see it on the faces of Vic and my dad and the crowd around us. A presence huge, and inhuman, and…eager.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">It reminded me, a little, of the Mayor of the Second Palace. There was that sense of cosmic distance. But the Mayor had drawn near to humanity like a dolphin in the surf; it had worn our face, out of affection. This thing was from no sunlit bay. It came from the abyss outside the Created Worlds<i>,</i> alien as a sea spider. I couldn’t know its purpose, but I knew it should have had nothing to do with Man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The presence filled the hall, waiting for the chance to manifest. Fake Monk slammed his hands together, mouthing a single word, and Goth Boy screamed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">For half a second.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">Then he rose from the chair, supple and graceful as an octopus in deepest water. His eyes were pure black. His arms reached out, returned, played bonelessly over his legs, his crotch, his torso. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Ask me,” came the voice of the Presence. “Ask me anything.” The words had the lilt of an FM deejay, but the overtones were the inhuman warbles and moans you hear from deep-space radio objects. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The crowd went wild.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The guests crowded up to the line of silver. I worried for a moment that they would break the circle and release the thing, but instead they spread against an invisible wall like a horde of mimes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Let me talk to my dad!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“What will the Exchanges be tomorrow?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Where is the Green Knight of Eris?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Who is the Ruined Child?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">One by one, the thing in the boy’s body would point to a guest. The guest would approach, and they would speak to each other. The words would sound like English, but no one could understand them but the Thing and the guest. Then the Thing would smile and the guest would step back, looking suddenly frail and frightened and old…and another guest would ignore that look and step forward in the first one’s place. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">With each guest that stepped up, the stink in the room got a little worse. With each question, Goth Boy grew weaker. His pallor shaded to snow white. Green-black veins appeared in his arms, his cheeks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“We could stop this right now,” said my father, meditatively. “We could leave the device and go. It would be worth it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Dad? What device?“<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Focus, sir,” said Vic. “It’s only for emergencies.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“I know. I know.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Dad-“<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">“Later,” said Vic. “Let’s spy. That’s why we’re here.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">On the platform, Goth Boy shuddered and collapsed, black bile dripping from his mouth. He twitched as the two goons hauled him upright, wrapped him in a survival blanket, and broke the circle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The Presence was gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Courier;">The crowd applauded wildly and the music started again. Fake Monk stayed on the platform, stretching like a wrestler between bouts. I picked my way carefully around the room, through the alcoves, past the pillars and doors, listening hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-24375622797652960912019-10-18T19:22:00.005-04:002022-05-31T12:57:20.014-04:00A Little Experiment<div>
I'm a member of BSFW, one of the best damned spec-fic writers groups anywhere. I've been providing some content for their Twitter feed, and maybe, just maybe, it might be useful to you blog readers. Let's read, shall we?</div>
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Today, a writing tip about finding material to inspire you: <b>Don't get locked into the familiar.</b></div>
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1. For instance, if you live in North America or the British Commonwealth, see what's happening elsewhere. Not just events and histories, but what <a href="https://qz.com/africa/1717547/science-fiction-explains-evolving-china-africa-relations/" target="_blank">people are writing</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DIwbIJC3v-ZOIoM9YhIK4BW2XnVYgUTu2BweyNhYK0WGDoUVCp4odkaykRYGFQH41-RZIF88LqbJdWTS8LYM4zzSQ8-3mIRHt0Vj-DTGFDdZPyVpZq9A0Y655qQ4MWmeGsQPsRZyD84/s1600/RTS21AMF-1-e1569564929330.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3DIwbIJC3v-ZOIoM9YhIK4BW2XnVYgUTu2BweyNhYK0WGDoUVCp4odkaykRYGFQH41-RZIF88LqbJdWTS8LYM4zzSQ8-3mIRHt0Vj-DTGFDdZPyVpZq9A0Y655qQ4MWmeGsQPsRZyD84/s320/RTS21AMF-1-e1569564929330.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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2. Reexamine things you thought were "dead ends." If you look closer, they might inspire you. For decades, historians wrote off the Byzantine Empire because they thought its influence simply stopped at the Ottoman takeover. Now, they're reevaluating it, and it's a fascinating source of material for writers.</div>
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Hell, even the Burgess Shale might give you something... <a href="https://t.co/N5F72qHWr4?amp=1">https://smithsonianmag.com/history/burgess-shales-weird-wonders-36404411/…</a></div>
<a href="https://twitter.com/BSFWriters/status/1184159644211695617/photo/1"><br /><img height="179" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EG765ZNXkAAkXcF?format=jpg&name=small" width="320" /></a><br />
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3. In archaeology, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. Not every civilization builds in stone and iron. Look past the civilizations you can see to the ones you can't.<br />
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<a href="https://t.co/u6brneCLXS?amp=1">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Builders…</a><br />
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4. Be aware of the gaps in our knowledge. We've been Homo Sapiens for more than 200,000 years; but our written history begins only 5,000 years ago. What happened before? <a href="https://t.co/FRBKQHmR5h?amp=1">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History</a><br />
<a href="https://twitter.com/BSFWriters/status/1184173864437325825/photo/1"><br /><img height="308" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EG8H2HOW4A0mhY-?format=jpg&name=small" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you're feeling uninspired, look where you didn't look before.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-196165398201792772019-05-16T11:02:00.000-04:002019-12-15T14:52:03.949-05:00Imagine There's Religion...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6OLK1woDUiZiDfQ_mguieXyytgCqox04eA9T3t7-U3sOa4l_mJe3hKjTyAO8GZ5yh7JK1QjlReHBt9umHKEZg7gQWbQIGJb8Wgd2RxWxsOwTT9dAe1DQC5BDcmZDkcmVjBVvKCVj7as/s1600/41%252BGY6Q3fqL._AC_SY400_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="500" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhA6OLK1woDUiZiDfQ_mguieXyytgCqox04eA9T3t7-U3sOa4l_mJe3hKjTyAO8GZ5yh7JK1QjlReHBt9umHKEZg7gQWbQIGJb8Wgd2RxWxsOwTT9dAe1DQC5BDcmZDkcmVjBVvKCVj7as/s200/41%252BGY6Q3fqL._AC_SY400_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Time for another thread on worldbuilding in fantasy and science fiction. And oh my gods, this time it's about religion! [But religion in writing, not worship. No value judgments.]<br />
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Religion are important - they influence worldview, education, and personality. So what kind of religions do you want in your worldbuilding?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJBpSVhdws4NbczvRSHbkw4EDZO1YDoz0c8enCpijcjYBVw4OGSD0OZs0WDDfe79ePe54uXxquwYbHlPweovqQBF54z7PsBUohNxFHgieVd6Rf_4oKgIrqxOc4VHQxAdTjvYgzn2Mav8/s1600/Unknown-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJBpSVhdws4NbczvRSHbkw4EDZO1YDoz0c8enCpijcjYBVw4OGSD0OZs0WDDfe79ePe54uXxquwYbHlPweovqQBF54z7PsBUohNxFHgieVd6Rf_4oKgIrqxOc4VHQxAdTjvYgzn2Mav8/s200/Unknown-1.jpeg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shinto shrine</td></tr>
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1. <b>Universal vs. ethnic religions</b>. A universal religion is one that claims it applies to all people <br />
everywhere - like Christianity, Islam, or Buddhism. An ethnic religion is the religion of a specific group of people - like Alawites, Jews, or the Japanese [Shinto]. Sometimes one kind of religion can evolve into the other.<br />
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Universal religions often have an imperative to proselytize. This can be anything from publishing tracts to LDS missionaries knocking on your door at 8:00 AM all the way to inquisitions and holy wars. Ethnic religions...not so much, although there are exceptions.</div>
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2. <b>Syncretic vs. discrete religions</b>. A discrete religion is one that seems to have only one source. If it has more than one, those others are lost in time. Syncretic religions have combined and drawn inspiration from several faiths that have come before.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shrine to Oshun [Lukumi]</td></tr>
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For instance, syncretic religions like Voudoun and Lucumi [Santeria] combine aspects of Roman Catholicism with West African [esp. Yoruba] religion. Bahai'ism does not consider itself to be syncretic, but some religious scholars think it is. Some scholars make the case that Christianity is a syncretic religion, combining Hebraic elements with Hellenistic ideas of a god who dies and is reborn and is consumed, like Zagreus or Attis.</div>
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Important: Syncretic or discrete is not a value judgment; it doesn't reflect on the truth or authenticity of the faith.<br />
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3. <b>Polytheistic vs. monotheistic religions</b>. This distinction is fuzzier than it looks. For instance, a polytheistic religion may consider its pantheon to be different aspects of a single ultimate deity. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pantheon of Rome</td></tr>
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Polytheistic religions are often ethnic ones, but that's fuzzy too. Gods can be adopted, abandoned, <br />
even created. The Romans were famous for importing gods from other cultures, and discarding ones they considered scandalous. They even made Julius and Augustus Caesar into gods postmortem, and deified the city of Rome itself. They also adopted Greek gods and identified them with Roman ones. </div>
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People can think of gods - and saints, and <i>orishas,</i> and <i>loa</i> - as mascots. A Catholic might wear a St. Anthony medal just as a Santéro might wear the red and white colors of Shango.<br />
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4. <b>Mystery Religions/Secret Societies</b> - religions that test applicants before they are accepted, and maintain secrecy about their rites. In the Greco-Roman world, these included the Eleusinian and Mithraic Mysteries. We don't know much about them because they kept their secrets very, very well - but their influence was undeniable.</div>
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5. <b>Hierarchical vs. congregational</b> - some religions maintain a hierarchy that determines dogma, chooses priests, and enforces religious law. Other faiths are "bottom up" - local congregations make decisions. Roman Catholicism is hierarchical; Judaism is congregational.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRDRSggcD1nzI0z8gwNS-Vvd1iVZmO0Y6V09fognjjuVNhHmmw0vIae68B9Yg2c9uLl-bfOzaphkzRkTkl8fRVxXcWEMvLYd_P-qtkr-4zDlMAke3Q2xbc3I5Lc8PrZLO9roMw56k4iA/s1600/double_headed_eagle_byzantine_empire_coat_of_arms_clip_art_7112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="600" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFRDRSggcD1nzI0z8gwNS-Vvd1iVZmO0Y6V09fognjjuVNhHmmw0vIae68B9Yg2c9uLl-bfOzaphkzRkTkl8fRVxXcWEMvLYd_P-qtkr-4zDlMAke3Q2xbc3I5Lc8PrZLO9roMw56k4iA/s200/double_headed_eagle_byzantine_empire_coat_of_arms_clip_art_7112.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Byzantine eagle - the two heads symbolize <br />
power over religious and secular affairs</td></tr>
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6. <b>Caesaropapism</b> - the state controls the religious hierarchy. The Emperor of Byzantium was also <span style="text-align: center;">the head of the Orthodox Church, and Queen Elizabeth is officially the head of the Church of England. With Caesaropapism, universal religions shade closer to ethnic ones.</span></div>
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7. A religion doesn't HAVE to have gods in the traditional sense; or it can have deities that do not require worship. A case can be made that Soviet Marxism was a religion, despite its materialism. Confucianism is focused more on right action in this world than on supernatural questions. Many schools of Buddhism acknowledge the existence of gods, but consider them a distraction from enlightenment.<br />
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8. The distinctions between religion, philosophy, and magic are fuzzy.<br />
Treat the worldview of others with respect.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-55670109044177305362019-05-09T09:17:00.002-04:002022-03-07T22:57:25.711-05:00Give Your World Layers!<br />
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Civilizations are built in layers. Any town more than a hundred years old will have layers - buildings, customs, and infrastructure of different eras.<br />
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Plaques! Another example of world building in layers. If your characters have a sense of history, so will your readers.<br />
<img height="150" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6EhBUNXoAERGvf.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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Statues. Plaques. Shrines. Cemeteries. Buildings of different eras. Old structures that have been repurposed. All of these will give your city the feeling of life, of a past - and that will be reflected in your characters.<br />
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A common practice in pre-industrial societies is to use cut stone from other structures. There are Byzantine and Nabatean stones in the walls of "old quarters" throughout the Middle East.<br />
<img height="103" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6ElvnVXoAc4rlR.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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In London, you can walk past at least one Victorian structure built over an ancient Roman bath<br />
<img height="132" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6EqpDVW0AAeNO5.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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And of course, the excavation of Troy at Hisarlik, in Turkey, revealed the ruins of SEVEN complete cities, built one on top of another.<br />
<img height="132" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D6ErUaWWkAcq6ao.jpg" width="200" /><br />
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Layer example 1: In LOTR, the characters live in and travel through dozens of places that are relics of those who came long before: Moria, Weathertop, the Argonath. These convey a sense that Middle Earth is a place with its own history - one that would exist <i>even if the reader wasn't reading about it</i>.<br />
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My own novel, "<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Sword-Ted-Rabinowitz/dp/0692500898/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+wrong+sword&qid=1557407888&s=gateway&sr=8-1" target="_blank">The Wrong Sword</a>," takes place in medieval France. The castles are new, but there also Roman roads and ruins already more than 1,000 years old.<br />
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Give your world history.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-61177212172035435872019-04-17T13:14:00.000-04:002019-05-09T09:11:38.666-04:00Unexpected Places<br />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="336" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPipHpoLrX0N4BuI2wD2iUr35B2C3QUvE5_1ATYl3HDbkOrbB9fUoxvt18gNhaeakUgWZw5DDeY0DpCJWkumjV48F8v2_RAX_aGQpbhLV-gXwfj2SpwC2ut7CYWGM5HTXt6tZPMIoyZQg/s200/51zwTpGPWGL._SX334_BO1%252C204%252C203%252C200_.jpg" width="134" /></div>
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It seems that my story, <span style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(29, 33, 41); color: #1d2129; font-family: , , "blinkmacsystemfont" , ".sfnstext-regular" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/toc1803.htm" style="background-color: white; font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">"A Dog Of Wu," [@fandsf March/April 2018] </a></span><br />has been cataloged at libraries for Laredo College in Texas [under "dystopias"] and Universided del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico [under "master-servant relationships"].<br />Stories are like beach sand. They get everywhere.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-90008939318923252032019-04-15T21:51:00.000-04:002019-04-15T21:51:05.297-04:00Another Human Species<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJTR72ti8LXGJ-nvs8f6w_4PfpRgISCLHPbQ44NWH1dLcohxrRl2SscHkX5mfZv3MJIKqmUzFR8d9D9ia10uFUqlCJJ0VvM9AE6a8__VRCtCtrGlDayE4NSavrh6oX3IXUZHLM9EFmTvQ/s1600/homo-luzonensis-teeth-banner-l.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjIPpAO4yB-dBABexPilUCzE93fgiqgvpLRmwr1vaJGooXS-lVFYgO5RFJLwQM_anvww7lgQdZtUXRZ7POexqc5JvGJ7QTPcwqjVPDRWAbouClYlrwDGID8iDWFSIIT32Apy1t7EIX-o/s1600/d41586-019-01152-3_16646704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="800" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAjIPpAO4yB-dBABexPilUCzE93fgiqgvpLRmwr1vaJGooXS-lVFYgO5RFJLwQM_anvww7lgQdZtUXRZ7POexqc5JvGJ7QTPcwqjVPDRWAbouClYlrwDGID8iDWFSIIT32Apy1t7EIX-o/s200/d41586-019-01152-3_16646704.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1067-9" target="_blank">They've found new bones in the Philippines</a> - maybe a new species: <i>Homo Sapiens Luzonenis.</i><br />
Add it to <i>Homo Sapiens Denisova</i>, <i>Homo Sapiens Floriensis, </i>and <i>Homo Sapiens Naledi.</i><br />
All recent [geologically speaking] and all...extinct.<br />
We <i>Sapiens Sapiens</i> are the only ones left. The sole survivors. The...<i>murderers????</i> [Cue terrifying Hitchcockian music]<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7955344833308764484.post-20012094089757478972019-04-10T19:49:00.001-04:002019-04-10T19:52:13.491-04:00WARNING!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJKgJsWuQx74pfhdedeiSYtL7hDwIRYn72wgMsbXWxoQbh4GQw3fBFLnWzOVV26JEWAVMLjwMv7F8DrS-8FcmF4ad-lbQt9g8lvAyg3_-XUiXOBhoRdTDegzCxKnRs7sXPbn0sW7hkzM/s400/eso1907a.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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<br /></div>
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WARNING: YOU ARE NOT SEEING THE <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873592" target="_blank">ACTUAL BLACK HOLE</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
IF YOU THINK YOU ARE SEEING THE ACTUAL BLACK HOLE, YOU ARE EITHER </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
1. WRONG </div>
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-OR- </div>
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2. CAUGHT IN A MOMENT THAT WILL SEEM ETERNAL TO US, </div>
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BUT TO YOU WILL BE ONLY AN INSTANT OF AGONY </div>
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BEFORE YOUR BODY IS TORN INTO ITS COMPONENT ATOMS. </div>
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THANK YOU AND HAVE A HAPPY SINGULARITY. </div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0