Been Workin' On Other Things
It is a strange thing to say when I have been on vacation all week but ever since getting back from New Orleans, I have been workin'. I guess it is not so strange when you realize my second job is one from which I cannot readily take a vacation. I am a writer, after all.
I have been editing some of my older stuff, things I haven't worked on since I started the 'Wolf Stuff' (as I call it) back in 2000. Oh, I have worked on the first two books that were published and even a third one that got held up because of the 'Wolf Stuff' and some rethinking of strategy with the publisher. But mostly I have not touched One Over X for years.
Frankly, I felt the older stuff was garbage when compared to my newer stuff. I am a realist and so, I figure that I get better at writing all the time, right? I have made it through to what used to be book 5 in the original scheme of things. I am actually very impressed with the story. The writing is also on a par with some of my newer stuff. It was a pleasant revelation as I had been concerned that everything might require major and extensive revisions.
Some of you who know me personally have heard bits and pieces of the background stories. You also know that all the books have connections one to another. A few of you have even asked me about 'the rosetta stone' - how everything fits together.
I write series of books. I tell people the reason for that is that I am not good writing endings. Of everything that I have written I personally feel that Spectre of Dammerwald is the best story overall. Ironically it is almost a childrens story but my children have never read any of it - my kids have read much of One Over X and based on that have decided that they need to keep a close eye on me, just in case I lapse into another aspect of reality.
Spectre of Dammerwald is a book that I have always needed to write but never had found the time to devote to it, until about two years ago (spring 2003). In the summer of 2000, I wrote the foundation material that has since become One Pack. That story has grown in the revisions and such but the core of the storyline was composed over a 13 week period between May and August of 2000, while I was waiting for the editors to finish their work on the first book in the One Over X series and send it back to me so that we could debate the necessity of their suggested revisions. The notes and such that I had used in writing One Pack had come from my personal scribblings regarding online chats with a group of old D&D people. In the spring and summer of 2000, we had created a fantasy world on the fly where we played out the roles of members of a wolfpack. Ela'na, the Wolfcat was our leader and from her I obtained the character profiles that a good number of people who were designated 'wolves' had submitted to her. Although the server that we had used for our chats and role playing went down in August of 2000, some of the wolfpack pledged to be ever faithful and keep the pack alive. I do not give my word or make pledges lightly. And for the record some of the original wolfpack still remained connected through Ela'na.
I had already begun writing One Pack, although at the time I considered it more of a nice, exciting story to present to the Wolfcat Ela'na. At some point in the many conversations with her and the other members of the wolfpack I had promised her such a story. It seemed appropriate as I was the only one of the pack who was a writer and Ela'na had even designated me as the Scribe.
Later on the pack tired to re-form on other servers without Ela'na. It was never quite the same. The magic was gone. Regardless how much we wanted to make it happen again, it never did click without Ela'na. Still I had the notes. As we had become fast friends, Ela'na had shared with me everything that she had regarding the pack. I used the information that I gleaned to enhance the depth of the story that I had already written. A single book expanded and became what is now five novels in a series.
All along I wanted to write a story at least regarding the earlier times, before the somber events portrayed in One Pack. We had a lot of fun in chat being wolevs and doing all sort of amazing and sometimes funny things. One Pack was a very serious story. And then at the end of One Pack it was clearly not a conclusion to the whole story - I suck at writing endings as I have said before.
I continued to write about the two characters Rotor and Mang, they were left hanging at the end of One Pack. It had to be written. It was a natural thing that needed to be. So falling back on the original notes and the One Pack story I generated another story, in the course of thirteen weeks that has since expanded and been embellished beyond the original text to encompass three additional books called The Last Wolfcat.
It seems ludicrous how this story was assembled until you really think about it and in the context of One Over X that I was working on in revision during part of the time. In One Over X Andy Hunter spends some time in a fantasy world called Anter'x. I decided that Anter'x was the base world for the wolfpack as well. As a result everything that I had written upto that point was suddenly connected. The thread of continuity was the fantasy world and the strange constructs of the universe that the world of the wolfpack and Andy Hunter shared.
Writing the prequel to One Pack was a necessary element to the entire puzzle. Using the same notes and elements that were the foundation for the other two stories I was able to assemble a cast of characters that were members of the wolfpack and create a foundation story that established a historical context for the origins of the wolfpack of Anter'x, in Dammerwald.
I have farmed the story out to a number of people. The feedback has been universally positive. Since no one has ever read the One Pack or The Last Wolfcat books, that amazes me. I had to write Spectre of Dammerwald just for those books to feel more real to me.
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V For Vendetta Review
Okay, at my son's behest I went to see the movie. Based on what he had already told me - that did not spoil the experience at all - I knew I would appreciate the movie. Since my son told me that we would be going to see it this week, I had actually been looking forward to it.
You have to go into the movie with a very open mind. It will challenge your beliefs on many levels. It is not a bad thing. It is art. Since when have movies been lambasted for being art?
Yeah, yeah I heard all the first day criticism about the movie glorifying terrorism. If any of those critics payed attention or even stayed for the ending of the movie it was pretty clear to me that short of glorifying terrorism it was more about the people having a voice that needed to come forth to express their desires. That is not a liberal idea or an conservative idea. It is not even an American idea. It is a human idea!
I fully understand the confusion and even the dissing of this movie. However as a cinematic experience it is a damned entertaining film. I found some elements of the Matrix but it was also a very different vision of the world. It is like 1984 but turned on its head.
Natalie Portman shows some acting skills. She displayed them at times during Star Wars but they were well hidden. This is more of the Natalie Portman that was in Closer, a film that proves despite the quality of the actors a bad script can destroy a movie to the point that neither a director or the actors can resurrect it.
If you want to skip this one at the theater, that is fine. The sound is 'dts' and it is very good in the big screen environment but if you have a great DVD system and a 7.1 surround sound experience available, then waiting for the DVD is a viable option.
In sum, this is a thought provoking adventure cast in the often explored post modern landscape. It is not for the weak of mind, as this will challenge many strongly held beliefs. It also presents a few great and memorable quips regarding the power of writers and the power of the word.
I like it. I do not like scales and such but if I had to rate this on 1 to 10, it is a solid 7.
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Home Again - About New Orleans Road Trip
I just returned home last night from a two day road trip to New Orleans (pronounced Nawlins according to a sign my daughter and I saw in the Louis Armstrong International Airport. The purpose of the trip was for my daughter Amanda to visit Tulane University - she is considering attending in the fall
I have to admit that I did not know what to expect. A guy who works for me took leave of absense to resume his part time job with FEMA. He had told me some of what I could expect. My daughter was to stay on campus and experience real campus life in as much as such a thing is possible in a couple of days; I was going to see a good friend who lives sort of between Tulane and the French Quarter.
Like everyone else who was not personally affected by Katrina, I have heard reports and seen images on TV that frightened me and gave me considerable reservations at the prospect of my daughter attending school in the middle of what I perceived a 'war zone'. My friend Grem had told me some good things and bad things about the situation in town but he also assured me that Tulane had fared very well all things considered and that much of the older city weathered Katrina very well indeed. The real devastation as one might imagine was closer to the levee that colapsed and in the lowest lying areas.
We departed Orlando at 6:30AM Eastern. The flighhtime from Orlando to New Orleans (gate to gate) was about 1:40 and there is also a hour time difference, soiIt was about 7:10AM Central time. Nothing is open and very few are awake in the Big Easy on Sunday morning. It was after 9:00AM before we could arrange for transportation to the University.
The drive to campus was hardly shocking but it was enlightening. The Airport is on the northwestern side of the city, so we came in through some of the areas that had been flooded. These were not the worst areas, but these were the parts of town where people had waded in water and used rafts. Some of the signs of the damage are still there, some have been corrected or are still in the process. In the case of the University, the northern end of campuse took on some water damage (around the sportsand recreational complex. Otherwise there was some wind and roof damage.
Tulane is in a fairly nice section of the city. Seven months after Katrina things are largely back together and working albeit not everything is exactly as it needs to be. For some parts of the city it will be ten to fifteen years before the city is fully recovered. In the spare time between events and such we had a lot of time to kill and we also had time to talk to people who have called New Orleans home for much of their lifetime. There is no doubt in any that the city is coming back. They are frustrated with the lack of speed at times but other parts of the recovery are taking on this monumental task with a good deal of careful study and planning which has delayed some parts of the process.
Sitting and waiting was a recurring theme which oddly made the time feel stretched-out. It is very odd int hat there was some interesting events and good times, plenty of food and talking with others that had been wedged between the long intervals of sitting around and waiting. The other all effect was that the two days felt like nearly a week but it was not an unpleasant experience as it offered ample time to rest. That was perhaps more important to me than to Amanda.
There were the requisite speeches from administrators including the University President and a very well done walking tour of campus. One of the highlight of the tour was the Mardi Gras beads still hanging from the trees from a month ago.
A couple of the University's star faculty members gave presentations of classroom like lectures. Amanda and I attended a presentation by Dr. Rosanne Adderley titled "Voodoo and History: The Spirit of African American & Caribbean Studied in New Orleans" and Dr. Bruce Fluery titled "Intelligent Design: Old Wine in New Bottles". Both were intellectually stimulating and thought provoking.
Afterwards there was a nice buffet featuring some New Orleans style cuisine. So it was night time and Amanda went her way and I went mine.
I had intended to ride a bus down St. Charles Ave to Napolean and from there walk to my friend's place. The trouble is that in a city hthat is not quite functioning on all cylinders, the bus service at night is not predictable. Although the fare is free it is not as regular as I discovered later on that it was during the daytime. I hoofed it across campus to St Charles and on down St. Charles toward Napoleon, perhaps 20 blocks.
I am not used to walking,especially when carrying a bag with a change or two of clothing. It was a cool evening but even so I was sweating profusely by the time I made it to my friend's place. On the way I passed some very impressive old houses, even mansions that are well maintained and obviously places where the remaining power brokers of the city reside. As might be expected, not all the street signs are up and so I walked past Napoleon and went way past the Garden District even to the edge of I-10, nearly entering the French Quarter. I had been in New Orleans before and so I knew I was well past where I should be.
I took a cross street north a couple of blocks only to discover that I had entered the twightlight zone. Where St. Charles was nice houses, hotels and restaurants, only a couple of blocks north was a vandalized car, left to remain as a warning. This was no where for someone to be walking at night. I circled back and made it to Josephine. Figuring the Napoleon could not be far away, a headed on. Finally I saw a cab for hire. There were a few in that area. The cab took me the remainder of the few blcosk that I needed to go.
I was very tired but after a shower I spent a couple of hours chatting with my friend who is the inspiration for the Grem character in Spectre of Dammerwald. He has been working on a story about New Orleans for a couple of years. I have helped him with it a time or two and although it is far from complete it is one of the projects I'd like to see complete. It is funny and sarcastic, irreverent and caustic.
The next morning I walked from Grem's place back to St. Charles where two hispanic ladies were waiting for a bus. It came within a couple of minutes and wisked me back to Tulane where a very filling breakfast awaited.
The second day was more for Amanda, so that she could sit in on a couple of actual classes, go shopping int he bookstore and see anything lese that she wanted to see. Then, around noon there was a huge outdoor barbeque to conclude the day's schedule.
We then returned to the north end of campus, called for a cab (something I should have done the night before perhaps) and back to the airport to await (and I mean await) departure.
Somewhere in all that I promoted my books to a few people.
I have some personal opinions regarding the recovery of New Orleans and I may actually expand upon them later on. The simple truth is that the government has thrown money at the local administrators who are doing only a little of what they should be doing. The presense of FEMA funds in the present economy has inflated the price for building supplies. It has also made it difficult for businesses to find and retain employees that they can afford. Burger King is hiring at $12.50/hr but no one wants to work past 5pm. So the Burger Kings close early.
It is hard to know what to do in a situation but it is easy to see what is wrong. I guess the largest frustration that I sensed was not with government but with the opportunists that are taking advantage of the situation. New Orleans will be back but this I a critical time when very lasting decisions have to be made with a sober understanding of the effects on the future of the city. American's most diverse city could become a model of how to integrate a city so completely that the diversity is not even noticed. But at the present each ethnic group seems intent on maintaining a cultural pluralism in distinct isolation that will at best remake the city into what it was before, with all its long standing problems. Let's hope that the people are wiser than the present leadership that is guiding the reconstruction - the very same leadership that failed the people on the city and state level during the disaster.
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