Fantasist's Scroll

How cool is this?!
The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society has produced a “silent” film, much like would have been produced in the 1920’s, of Lovecraft’s most famous work, The Call of Cthulu. The movie is done in the classic style of the silver screen and has “mood” music background. Also, the DVD has a “making of” documentary and other bonuses. I can’t believe I haven’t heard about this soon, considering how much I love HPL and his work. Anyway, it exists and now the word is out.
The trailer is here and the DVD available for purchase is here.
Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Not “laws of magic” but laws governing magic.
I’m reading a book called Industrial Magic at the moment and the author has some interesting ideas that she tosses around. What interested me the most, however, was a secret justice system for magic. Well, more specifically, for people who use magic or “are magic”. And that really makes sense. After all, would a “normal” court, who has no real concept of how magic works or what is magically possible, be able to effectively render judgements that involve magical crimes? I don’t think so.
So, if you have magic in your created world, whatever its purpose, have you thought about this issue? How do courts deal with curses? Or the withholding of a blessing? Or “unfair competition” that was aided by magic? How about murder that involves magic? These are important issues. And, of course, all potentially important plot devices. Do lawyers have to go through a special school before they can work in courts that involve magic? Does every court use magic to determine the facts of even mundane cases? A little truth spell goes a long way! Are spells a closely guarded asset that one can sue someone for stealing, like intellectual property is today?
So many issues to think about. And every issue can be a potential story. Dealing with any of these problems, or any others in this vein that you might think of, can produce any number of good stories. Just remember what Lawrence Watt-Evans said about magic, “If a story can be written without a fantasy element, then don’t bother with the fantasy element.” It’s a good rule.

So, now I’ve given you some ideas, go! Write!

This seems like a problem…
Over two years ago, I noted a little news article about dolphins geared-up and trained for combat. Well, it seems that not only do they exist, but they may have been released into the Gulf of Mexico, by accident, due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. At least, according to this news article at the Guardian, that’s quite likely. The US government will neither confirm, nor deny, the veracity of this story, but sources close to the military indicate that as many as 36 bottle-nose dolphins that have been trained by the Navy to attack terrorists compromising ocean vessels may be loose in the Gulf. These sources say that divers and surfers may be in actual danger from these swimming mammals who have been armed with some kind of “poison dart gun”. The concern, according to the article, is that these dolphins “have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuits who have simulated terrorists in exercises” and could attack innocent bystanders who fit the profile.
The good news is that the “poison” darts are designed to put their target to sleep for later interrogation, but a lone swimmer or diver could find themselves in trouble. And, again, the Navy will not confirm or deny this story. It could be nothing, but…
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water!

According to Writer’s Almanac we have three birthdays to celebrate today.

First, there’s novelist Herbert George (H.G.) Wells, who was born in Bromley, England in1866. According to the note I got from Writer’s Almanac, Wells had a job writing biology textbooks until he developed a respiratory illness in his late 20s. Since he thought he didn’t have long to live, he left his wife and ran away with another woman, after which he began writing furiously. In roughly three years, he published all the novels for which we know him: The Time Machine, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds.

It’s also the birthday of the novelist Stephen King, born in Portland, Maine in 1947. His father was a merchant seaman who left the family when Stephen was just two. He has no memories of his father, but one day he found a whole box full of his father’s science fiction and fantasy paperbacks, and that box of his father’s books inspired him to start writing horror stories.
He was working as a teacher when he wrote his first novel about a weird high school girl with psychic powers named Carrie White. He gave up on the book at one point and threw it in the trash. His wife rescued it. Carrie was published in 1973. The hard cover didn’t sell well, but then his agent called to say that the paperback rights had sold for $400,000.

Lastly, but, perhaps, most importantly, today is the birthday of the man who first put high quality literature into paperbacks, Sir Allen Lane, born in Bristol, England in 1902. He was the founder of Penguin Books.

Finally, a personal note. I am not evacuating during Hurricane Rita. I have nowhere to go, really, so I’ll stay and brave it. I’ll blog, as long as I have power and an Internet connection, at Diary of a Network Geek, my other blog. Take care!

I can’t believe I’ve never written about this before!
At least, I couldn’t find anything about it when I searched for “font”. Anyway, this is a super cool little toy, even though it’s Java based, that lets you create your very own random and unique TrueType font. It’s some kind of art experiement or something, but, as far as I’m concerned, the Alphabet Synthesis Machine is just plain cool and fun. Of course, you can loose hours without realizing it playing with this sucker.
So, it’s a perfect way to waste time on a Friday afternoon!

I saw a strange story…
Okay, a really, really strange story, on BoingBoing, about a woman breast feeding two tiger cubs in South East Asia. Obviously, after trying to picture this scene in my head, what I pictured was a kind of Asian Romulus and Remus story.
If you’re not familiar with these two fine lads, according to legend, they were twins who were raised by a wolf bitch and went on to found Rome. Imagine the same thing, but with a tiger in Asia somewhere. I can see a small, island country, not unlike Singapore, that has this as their “creation” myth. It’s similar to Romulus and Remus to resonate with Western readers, but different enough to be interesting and exotic. And, possibly, not immediately recognizable, either.
Dang! I keep giving you guys these ideas and what I need to do is develop one of them myself! Ah, well, maybe the next one.

No, actual menus!
Have you thought that much about the details of any fantasy world that you’ve created? Sure, you have a language and a history and even a legal system for your freshly minted culture, but what do they eat for lunch? Well, if you haven’t thought about this, it’s not a bad idea to flesh it out. Luckily, you don’t have to go it alone. Over at the Zompist Web BBS, Dewrad has a thread started for just this topic called, Concuisine. Also, if you’re not familiar with this place, it’s a great source of information about any number of topics. And, there’s always someone willing to chat with you about ideas, even if they’re half-baked.
Go check it out!

I finished reading Industrial Magic this week.
It wasn’t my usual fare, but it wasn’t bad. Probably not good enough to hunt down more of the series, but not bad. Honestly, the title is what got me. If I’d actually read the back cover, I probably wouldn’t have bought the book at all. I categorize this type of book as, basically, “chick lit fantasy romance”. But, again, that being said, it still wasn’t as bad as some of the stuff out there. For instance, I liked it better than Obsidian Butterfly, which I couldn’t even read past the first two chapters. When I read trashy fiction, I don’t want to read endless conversations with the main character’s old boyfriends, or potential boyfriends, or whatever. I want action. Plain and simple. I want something to be happening. I want plot based on events going on, not semi-romantic thoughts and feelings. In that regard, Industrial Magic delivered.
The basic plot is that a killer is stalking the heads of semi-secret magical Cabals, who are the sorcerous rivals of the more feminine, and witch-run, Covens and must be stopped. (So, yes, this really could have been a simple murder mystery without the magic, but, well, I guess that wouldn’t be as fun or sell as well.) The main character is a witch, Paige Winterbourne, who used to run a big Coven, but, in an earlier book, lost that position. Her love interest is Lucas Cortez, heir to the Cortez Cabal, but who is a crusading lawyer that fights the Cabals. It’s that connection that gets them drawn into the plot. They’re trying to find, and stop, the killer. And, to avoid spoilers, I’ll stop describing the plot there.
There’s magic all over the book, but, mainly, as a prop. Light spells being used instead of a handy pocket flashlight. Binding spells instead of a stun gun. Necromantic conversations instead of a CSI-type crime lab. Everything they used magic for could have been replaced with modern technology fairly easily without impacting the story. Except for one point when they “cross over” to the realms of death. Other than that, everything else could have been avoided by simply planning ahead. In other words, it was a wasted metaphor.
The other thing that bothered me was the Cabals. Sure, they were obviously some kind of metaphor for corporate America and/or organized crime, but at no time was the source of the Cortez Cabal’s fabulous wealth ever explained. They just were really organized and had a lot of money. Period. Ignore the writer behind the curtain. Frankly, I thought that was a shame. It could have been a really neat sub-plot. And, with the title, it was what I was hoping to see more about! Ah, well, at least I can still write my own take on that without worrying about repeating something that’s already been done.
All in all, Industrial Magic was a decent book, but not great. If you can find it at a discount book store, it’s worth getting.