2106 A.D. discussion thread

[Buster's Uncle]

Covenant was utterly unlikeable, yes - but he made friends with people you'd want saved, and Lord Foul was a straight-up black evil bad guy who had to be stopped.  -In short, I never had much more than zero interest in David, was actually lobbying to kill Jack off - but you could certainly sympathize with the loser having the perfect woman jump in his lap -- and we all LOVED HER.

(I meant to say before that I suppose we can write off the contradictory things Melinda said to programming problems - there was a lot she didn't know until she needed to know it.  There may have been contradictory orders kicking in...)

Attached is a piece Mylochka did for a Melinda illustration - I had to spend a lot of time getting her hair dark enough, 'cause she'd had it brown.  -Also, a certain performer who has a look in the ballpark in this shot...

[Buster's Uncle]

I did collaborate in a forum story once, but it is kinda dependent on people taking their turns. Otherwise the plot twists and hints become  pointless when they don't follow through. So I can appreciate that challenge.

...It's important to read the others' cues, absolutely.

Had you ever realized Carl Reiner's real contribution in The 2,000 Year-Old Man?  When you're interviewing another comedian like that as the straight man -I've done this- you spend the whole time thinking of gags and trying to feed them to the joker with leading questions.  I tend to do something similar participating in roundtable stories - a great deal of my running contribution to 2106 was posts adding only a sentence, sentence-and-a-half; I fed the others ideas and springboards...

[Rusty Edge]

Well, If I didn't love Melinda before, Mylochka made a convincing case.

And even though I didn't see 2,000 year old man except in clips, I take your point.

[Buster's Uncle]

I also had to turn her eyes the proper blue - but that didn't take long.

---

The next story, BTW if it ever happens, is a hook I came up with twice - when I emailed ESB's brother trying to get in touch last week, I ended with something about wanting to do -

2107 A.D.

Book Two:  The Venusian Menace

- and then when I later reviewed the old thread we composed it in, I found that back then, I'd suggested -

The Sirens of Venus

-    It just stands to reason something Venus by the pulpy Buck Rodgers nature of the thing.  Already been to the Moon and Mars, though the Space Nazis of the Dark Side of the Moon ought to have a tale in them later...

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh - and it's good to hear that you actually liked something about the story.  It's tough to be so down on people's pet characters and have one of your own who's charmed you - a sensible creator should be a bit nervous about that.  We liked Melinda TOO much, really.

I fixed up the pic of the "movie" star to have the correct blue eyes and black -not dark brown- hair last night - just as well post the revision.  I just wish I'd saved all the components I made the 2106 book cover out of; her face needs better resolution, and I'm at a loss for how to fix.

[Buster's Uncle]

I would love to know what's so attractive to someone at Microsoft, presumably a bot, about this thread...

[Buster's Uncle]

BTW, I tried pretty hard to contact all the other authors when I finally finished editing the story after years and posted it here - no dice.  But someone clearly ESB posted the story here https://lichess.org/forum/team-cat-lovers/a-story-of-many-authors about a year before.  I can easily spot occasional stylistic tics of lines I wrote or edited in that version. Without comparing directly to the version left in limbo 2/3rds unedited at WPC for years, I'd say he'd definitely edited the rest himself, to vast improvement.  -My edit is far more fluid in native-speaker English, though, and I made some key additions to the end to deal with (or at least acknowledge and hint there was an explanation) contradictions and unresolved mysteries, and I actually implemented the fix we'd agreed on about the Hawksmoor surname logic problem; I believe if I could actually establish contact with eastsidebagel, he'd agree that my edit is the definitive one...

[Syn]

I've read the first two chapters but I'm not sure I'll read any more. Light-hearted/humorous fiction is not my speed at all.

[Buster's Uncle]

[shrugs] Again, if it was solely mine, it wouldn't change fundamentally, but I'd plonk a lot of the entire first chapter setup, and tone Dave's flaws in general throughout way the heck down.  That stuff's just awkward throughout, as adolescent boys are, but who wants to read that?

I just have no ethical right, esb explicitly, back in the day, rejecting my wish to throw out most of Chapter One for streamlining and being hella-weak.