A smaller installment; first of two, actually. ~550 words is too small but ~1200 was too long… broke it in half, anyway. A look into the Hartmann’s home: the Domestic Church. If I get it edited before bed, I’ll post part 5.
They seem like really nice people!
A cracked open door about the culture in Knoxville, some ten plus years after the Breakup. And more Faustina.
I have to be careful here, too. I’m already interested in who Faustina is and what her relationship with MC is. I’ve only known her for three days but I bet I could build a novel around her.
I just might!
Not too much… really just wrapping up Gary’s day I started awhile ago. The ‘problem’ is what I saw next: just as I feared, I’m sorely tempted to start talking about the Hartmann’s and how life has changed in Knoxville over the past ten years.
Deep breaths: let’s try to stay focused on our happy couple…
This is going to be based on an idea I had almost three weeks ago. You don’t have to go back and read it – in fact, I’d rather you didn’t, as a better, edited, version is in a blockquote below the fold.
Henge (“hen-geh”) first made an appearance toward the end of The Fourth Law. I was playing with the idea of how AIs could make children; not just copies of themselves, but children, and she showed up. In the last scene of my second novel, Echoes of Family Lost, Henge meets Gary when everyone is taking some well deserved R&R on her beach. They make some connexion I still don’t understand and announce to both Families, human and machine, that they’re getting married.
The trick for me is to not get sidetracked on what’s happened politically and/or socially in the intervening ten years. I’m going to have to say something, obviously, but I’ll try to confine myself to culture. What I want to accomplish here is a love story between two very different people, who are united by their deep orthodox Catholic faith.
Let’s go!
Over 7200 total words. A writing exercise, he said. Not that long, he said. Good Lord; the plot hasn’t even shown up yet!
I laughed when they showed me the incident with Tommy!
Not knowing much, well, anything, about international copyrights, this could best be called fanfiction. The main character here, Nike, plays a not-insignificant role in my forthcoming novel, Defiant.
This story takes place in a world created by Yoshitoshi ABe nearly twenty years ago. It yielded an anime that – while dated – is one of the most powerful and compelling stories I’ve ever experienced. For a non-Christian, ABe had an amazingly Catholic vision.
And yes: I do know who’s in the cocoon.
Going back to leap forward: from the end of “Echoes of Family Lost”, when a certain character declares his love for another (are there not Spoiler Tags in WordPress?), we find ourselves ten years in the future, on the beach, but around the dinner table just a few minutes before.
This not the short I originally saw. After last night’s tragic news, I wanted to a little more about the West’s current attempt at suicide. But, there’s still hope. Hope, much like Evil, can often be found in the most unlikely places.
Thanks, everyone, for reading this story. I think I’ll try to make ‘Defiant’ into a proper novel, but I’m taking the rest of this weekend off.
Back to normal, really. After nearly a 4-week hiatus getting “Cursed Hearts” released into the wild and dealing with some RealLife issues, things will be getting back on track here.
Yesterday was Matsuricon in Columbus, Ohio, the second biggest animecon in this area. Unlike making it a long family weekend as we do for Ohayocon, we just drop by on Saturday. Got there around 1030; was surprisingly empty, so Registration was a breeze. Suddenly filled up around 1200. Was everyone hungover and sleeping in?
Caught a panel about buying odd stuff from Japan, the creator of the Monogatari series, and a short performance by Kazha (they were okay). Also hit the Dealers Room and got some Angel Beats artbooks and a Saber Lily figurine for my wife.
Later, was chilling at the bar in the Hiatt. After determining that the kid next to me was 1, a girl and not a trap, and 2, legal, I started a chatting her up. A 20-something year old pastry chef, she was also part Hungarian, which I IMMEDIATELY brought up when my wife appeared, before she yelled “Lolicon!” and clouted me. We secured a table just as Friend Will made his appearance. Sometime during the next five Martinis I know my daughters dropped by, but reality was rather ephemeral at this point.
Even so, and even being a Race Realist, there was a moment when I looked about the table and thought, counterclockwise: me (pasty old white guy), 1/8 Jewess (half my age), Black guy (half my age), two Chinese girls, and my Central Asian wife, all there to celebrate and have a good time over Japanese comics and animation. What an amazing and too-short moment of Western Civilization!
Wow. Never killed a guy during a blowjob. The guy, not me. Well, I was doing the killing… it was Maya…. Never mind; just never mind. Obviously I shan’t be having my teenage daughters proofing that part.
Maya’s at Vancouver International Airport, waiting for one of the rare flights to San Diego. Time to flick back to Chris and Cat (and Anton, too, I guess). Need a double-helping of Relationship Development before a certain someone’s plane touches down. As I learned from “Defiant,” every time I start writing romance, a battle breaks out; so, I’m not sure what’s going to happen, but I know it will.
Below the fold is Maya taking leave of the acquaintances she made on the freighter, Jodhpur, as it crossed the Pacific. Machine Civilization: it’s one, big, dysfunctional family!
machciv 