From: Richard Lawson, sterman@sprynet.com
Harold Ancell wrote:
You too, Harold? :) I haven't had this violent reaction to a 'fic
since I had Kasumi call Nabiki "Oneechan".
I'd noticed. <wry g>
Sorry, I grew up in the Midwest, studied expedient nucler war survival
back when the Cold War was rather hot---this is so far removed from
reality that I can't.
Well, I could understand how studying nuclear war can prepare you for
the loss of your cattle. :) And I'm sorry you couldn't enjoy the story
- maybe I won't post in on r.a.a.c if this is the reaction it will get -
focussing so much on arguing the plot that the story gets lost. That's
not the effect I was hoping for. :)
That seems to be what's happening, but so far it only seems to be a
couple of people. For what it's worth, I not only liked the story, I
liked the idea. I didn't have any trouble accepting the virus, possibly
because I'd read a similar treatment in one of my favorite SF works...
hmmm. Has anyone in this debate read David Brin's SF novel _Earth_? It's
one of my favorite SF books, set about 50 years in the future, and does
one of the best jobs of near-future worldbuilding that I've read -- very
rich, highly detailed, with lots of little touches (and one of the best
descriptions of the 'Net I've read -- several years before it became The
Hot Thing. :) It came out in 1990).
One of those small touches (very minor, really, only making 3-4
appearances in a 600 page book) was a breed of goat genetically
engineered to eat kudzu vines that were choking off waterways... and the
later extinction of those 'gloats,' along with all other goats, by an
ecological terrorist group that blamed goats for turning arable land into
desert. The method used there was also a genetically engineered virus.
Admittedly, that's a lot more plausible for something set 50 years in the
future than 10 years in the future. Hmmm. How hard would it be to set
this further in the future, Richard?
It would be *real* hard to create just one that's this specific.
Also, create that much viri, and the possibility of a mutation that
includes humans as a host is---frightening.
I'll throw the same argument at you that I did at John - in the future,
anything is possible (I mean really, how can we possibly exceed the
speed of light?). I admit to having thoughts about mutation myself but
decided not pursue them - again, if I had to examine every ramification
of the disease, I'd lose the story very quickly.
Now, if you'd write a *novel* on the subject, you'd have plenty of room
to go over 'em... <g,d,r>
You could adjust it thus:
Moderate the speed of the plague, but keep it's eventual affect
(basicly wave your hands here).
Turn our favorite couple into the heroes who kept variety in our diets;
meat and leather *are* important.
That's possible. It would also lessen the impact of the virus, and the
necessity of Akari's contributions; she would no longer be the "Savior
of the World", just "The Kawaii Woman Who Gave Us Back Our Bacon".
<Sigh> And that would lessen the fic, I think; 'Savior of the World'
sounds a lot less crass. :)
Still, if this is the trade off I need to make to the story believable,
it may be worth it. I'll wait to see other people's reactions before
making a judgement; so far I've heard two "It's great!" and two long
essays from pedants. :)
As I said, I like it the way it is -- though setting it somewhat later
would make the 'engineering' more plausible.
I'd also shorten the manifesto; you aren't the Washington Post or NYT
publishing the Unibomber's ravings (at the FBI's request---and the
ploy did work).
You won't belive how much I did shorten it; I basically cut and pasted
>from a couple of web pages and tried to cut down on a lot of the
ranting. I'll look on tightening it up; maybe I should just rewrite it
>from scratch. I'll get better prose that way.
I think it does need to be a certain length to get the full effect --
after all, which of these has the greater impact: "I'm going to kill you"
or "You have made my life a living hell! I will destroy your happiness,
shatter your body, and deliver you to the devil through an eternity of
pain!" (Of course, with the right context, either one could be made
convincing or laughable... but this seemed to be a 'cold reading'.)
And I don't think you want to clean it up too much, either; a somewhat
disjointed manifesto can lend an air of fanaticism. Also, this was
supposedly typed in a hurry, as the federal agents were pulling up
outside; the author wouldn't have much time to clean it up, either. ;>
Travis Butler
(The Professor, formerly of Myth and Magick!, Lawrence, KS;
tbutler@tfs.net, now from the Wandering Powerbook;
<http://www.tfs.net/personal/tbutler/>;
Mac page <http://www.tfs.net/business/tbutler/>)
...Cats are the proof of a higher purpose to the universe.