:: Zelazny :: [polish] :: sparks that fly from the ironsmith's hammer ::
::. Friday, February 22 .::
Blogs reveal incredible things about people.
For one, that most people are much more alike than they are different.
You might admire an acquaintance, or envy a talent that someone has, but the person you admire or envy has their own set of frustrations and problems that seem much more important to them than the gifts they also have. No matter how smart, how young, how wise, or how rich someone is--- from a certain viewpoint, the specific communication of distress is probably the first, the foremost, and the most eloquent in our long sentient history.
Humans are good at bitching.
Misery is immediate and very hard to ignore.
And blogs are probably a healthy vent to misery. Humanity certainly has a common need of that.
You won't find much misery in my blog.
For one thing, I'm an incredibly ordinary person with very ordinary misery. Why would mine be more interesting than yours? In fact, I'm sure that yours is more interesting than mine, so I set it aside.
For another thing, I find that human experience, even misery, is a reward of perception. Not an original thought, but even pain tells us we are alive.
Something like:
I think, therefore I am able to imagine the gap between what I am, and what I might be.
Now what if humans were immortal? (Ha! Caught you. You forgot that everything here is connected to Zelazny's Amber, didn't you?)
More than one observer of Amber has taken the actions of the royals as very similar to kids in a sandbox. Petty. Immature. Small-minded actions that we can see on any playground. Elevated, of course, to some degree of perfection (as we are only shadows.)
In our shadow, children are both sensitive to every nuance and capable of forgetting nearly all hurt. They sob or rage or love with their full attention. They are the center of their own world; they never walk a mile in someone else's shoes, but they may covet a ride on someone else's 'morgenstern'.
What if children were immortal? The classic examples are scary. Children would be mercurial, arrogant, loving, and capable of much destruction. Creating things would be intriguing to them, but always frustrating--- as it never quite comes out as they see it in their minds.
Immortal children would be fae. Wouldn't they?
So are messiahs or saints not human?
Are mature leaders and wise wizards unnatural?
Were they never children?
Is there any point in a person's life when s/he isn't a child?
When the world isn't about themselves?
One shadow-pattern I see in older people is that they are more about themselves than others, that the clearest horizon is their own opinions, frustrations, actions, petty grievances, and hampered expectations. Old people begin to wear what they want, when they want to, and to hell with social pressure. They talk about their own pain a lot. Some say that old people go 'back to childhood'.
Instead-- we might wonder why they ever left childhood.
Because of:
Friends.
Loves.
Children.
Life throwing something at you that exists outside yourself.
And as shadow-folk age, their small list of important friends, loves, children, and things gets smaller until they are focused in on themselves again. They do return to self-interested 'children' unless they keep up that list of important 'others'.
Random, the homicidal punk, matures when he realizes that his son has been used for target practice and the world of beauty may be unraveling soon. He senses that his son is more vulnerable than he is--- that Martin needs Random to do things that Martin may not quite do for himself.
Likewise we might figure that Random believes Vialle needs things that only Random might provide.
And so he changes, he matures.
No amberite seems to get any older until he has some distance from his own pain.
oh yes, why not? Let's see what happens here. Certainly since I am already Caine, Prince of the Seas, bard and half-elven ranger and am not frightened by such a simple challenge.
Ginger poses a good answer to a comment-question I asked on her Blog. My question was about picking up every player in spite of different styles and speeds of play. Mostly this was a thing I noted at Con Games.
And there are more comments.
(sigh)
no comments here at ::shadowthriller::-- and I'm not setup or savvy enough to switch to Moveable Type.
ah well
btw, several friends, colleagues, and published authors from Roger's circle turn up to debate the 'new' Amber works in progress. For a more informed background to the issues, you might want to do reading on the google groups.
It is welcome and yet always amazing to see Roger Zelazny's creations of a world which reflects all human myth (Amber) continue to generate ideas that are not just reflections, but permutations of his original concept.
One can only hope that John Betancourt manages to have as much dedication and zest when he gets around to trotting out:
Nine Princes in Chaos
--which is the publishing world's take on a mythic-prequel to RZ's work.
Yeah, it sucks on several levels.
1. Roger is 'reported' as saying, "never" to other authors doing Amber.
2. Looking at Betancourt's body of work (not reading it mind you, I don't want to leave the wrong impression), it seems he is an "improvise on someone else's characters" sort of writer. Of course, that's what THEY want to publish these days and a writer has to eat.
3. Regardless of how good a writer you thought RZ was-- or how often he mined his own style for material-- he was interested in taking his ideas forward, not backward to Chaos.
Now if you compare this recent writing movement of spin-offs for established characters (typified by 'Star Wars', fan fic, and yet several more Star Trek universes) as the 'Hollywood sequel death-grip' then you will be ready for trash. Betancourt has done 'Star Trek', Greek myth, TSR universe, 'Lois & Clark', and a good chunk of original works.
OTOH, from just cruising web snippets and the Wildside Press site, Betancourt is a true aficiando of classic authors of adventure and fantasy. Betancourt has plans to keep many classic titles in print from authors that influenced guys like Zelazny. I've seen new books in the stores of 50's and 60's authors that are selected by Betancourt.
And now, to present the other side of this specific issue--- here are comments made by Betancourt specific to the question, "Why are you writing Amber stories?"
Thought Records Impressed again, and again by the Nobilis game. Here is another web blog of a campaign for Nobilis. That game hits its second edition in the next month.
RPGnet - The Inside Scoop on Gaming The Unseen Art of Gamemastering This article addresses an interesting topic-- theme and mood of a game.
Of Dread and Wonder (part 1)
I note it probably because Jvstin recently took a moment to comment on his own encounter with the Unbrood in my campaign. Thanks for the kudos-- as I've said elsewhere, I do plan my campaign to be more vital and light than hostile and dark-- but there are "things between the Shadows" and some surreal battlefields upon which to act the hero.
Archard, and many of the Gleaming Banner characters are largely heros in every sense. In mood, they are counter-point to the hard edgy pragmatists of Amber.
Point --- Counterpoint Was Oberon the son of the Unicorn?
Not a chance.
Oberon was a son of Chaos. His methods, his strategy, and his record of holding the kingdom of Amber are clear indications of his Chaosian heritage. More than just being raised in Chaos-- this man was a child of Chaos. He must have left that place in loyalty to his father's ambitions or perhaps as accomplice to the theft of the Eye of the Serpent.
And likely, Oberon was the one who actually kept Dworkin alive long enough to complete the Amber Project.
Dworkin speaks to Oberon in the scene where Corwin impersonates his father impersonating his self in Dworkin's confinement. He speaks of those times, those initial moments of Amber's creation-- and he does talk about it in the sense that could be construed as Oberon not have been there.
But I feel that this was only Dworkin's archaic use of the tale's perspective. Oberon was there when it happened.
Arref, you ignorant slut. You call that an answer?
Oberon was son of no woman born. Look at how thoroughly the women of the past are detailed in the story despite the fact that Oberon dismissed them. If there was a Chaosian mother to Oberon, she would have been mentioned. It's just too big an item to overlook.
And Oberon born before the Pattern and Amber. Not bloody likely. Oberon is First King because he's part of Amber itself. He's the King that guards the Land.
It was Dworkin and Ms. White together at the moment of conception. All that follows is on the heels of that unnatural union of the two. Dworkin conceives Amber. And here's the shocker-- Dworkin conceives Oberon at the same moment. That's right, the Unicorn skipped.
Ms. White knocked up the old loon and then made a powder.
Take a look at the Partial Power List for this game. Elements I've not seen before, some starting points that are intriguing. And some superior points of advancement you may not have thought of----
