Why Naming Characters in Vulcan’s Forge Proved Challenging

 

For me coming up with the names for characters in my fiction is always something to bedevils me, but with Vulcan’s Forge I faced a new wrinkle in that challenge.

The background to the novel is that in the later 21st to early 22nd century it weas discovered that a brown dwarf, the burnt-out husk of star, would pass through the inner solar system disrupting all the planets and ejecting Earth into interstellar space.

To survive humanity constructed automated Artificial Intelligence controlled Arks to established new populations on distant worlds. Taking centuries to reach their destinations and without the

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technical capability to sustain crew no persons were actually aboard these Arks. By way of sperm, eggs, and artificial wombs, the colonists of the new worlds would be born once the A.I.s had established the settlements and the required infrastructure.

These Ark were not terribly expensive to construct or launch with each costing the equivalent of about half a billion dollars today. This provided the opportunity for all sorts of smaller social units and sub-cultures to launch their own Ark, programming the Artificial Intelligences to raise the future humans in a manner to propagate their own cultural values.

Vulcan’s Forge takes place on the colony of Nocturnia, with a cultural directive that idolizes mid-twentieth century urban Americana. The people who commissioned Nocturnia’s founding Ark, as is so often the case with people viewing history through the distorting lens of nostalgia, ignored the racism of that time and the colony was founded with the ethnic/genetic heritage of the United States of the early 22nd century.

With a population whose genetic heritage reflects the vast and diverse population of the United States, and the archived records of that population, the colony’s founding A.I.s could name members of the initial generation anything at all. However, unless every egg and sperm were labeled with the ethnic/genetic background of their donors, something the commissioners of the Ark would not have done, then the link between ethnic heritage and naming conventions is shattered. Each and every person in the initial generation and the ones that followed could have a name from any of the group and cultures of the United States.

Vulcan’s Forge is a science-fiction noir and with its strong element of mystery, with the exception of the prolog, the story is presented as a first-person narrative from the protagonist, Jason Kessler’s point of view. Dissociating name from the ethnic/culture histories combined with a point-of-view nearly ignorant of that created quite a challenge. For example, Jason’s fiancé Seiko, her given name is Japanese but her ethnic heritage is Latin. Jason can’t comment on it directly in the narrative because this mismatch in his mind simply doesn’t exist. All 3 million people in Nocturnia have names that for Jason has no real sense of history. This is all well and good for Jason but what about the reader holding the book? How could I as the author makes sure that they weren’t picturing a someone of east Asian ancestry every time a scene included Seiko?

It helped that films and their use a method of culture transmission played a central element to Vulcan’s Forge. Jason’s love of cinema allowed me to refer to famous movie characters in reference to the people of his life. That’s the route I took and I hope that my readers weren’t too confused by Nocturnia’s unique naming convention.

As a traditionally published novel Vulcan’s Forge can be ordered from wherever books are sold. I am including links to San Diego premier specialty bookstore Mysterious Galaxy along with links to Amazon.

Mysterious Galaxy Paperback

Mysterious Galaxy eBook

Amazon Paperback

Amazon eBook

 

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The World Building Has Started

 

After the holiday break — which wasn’t a real break as there was a lot of overtime at the day job — I have begun the rough ideas on paper stage for my next novel.

While I have an idea for the characters and the central plot and story there are a lot of details yet to work out. For me that starts with the world building.

I know some of the outlines of the world that this story has to take place in. The plot dictates elements of the worlds. You can never have Alien happen in a world of happy socialism, so to get to Alien you must have a world with greedy corporations.

Given that the working title for the next novel is Company Town: Mars that means the world building has to include a lot of capitalism and all that entails. It’s set about 120 years in the future and will be mostly a sociological science-fiction tale about the system to hem, corral, and define our actions.

What is fun in this phase is discovering the new aspect of the universe as they appear in my little noggin. The very act of making the notes open new idea and expands into constructions I hadn’t considered before putting words to documents.

I am thinking that this book will take place in a world where divergent political pressures have shattered the United States and the grand Union has failed. While I expect none of the story will actually take place on Earth much less in the United States the background is essential to creating the fictional present.

I don’t know how others feel about the world building but for me it is one of the more fun aspects of writing.

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A Study of the Toxic Fanboy: Tyler in The Menu

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The following essay includes plot details including the major twist in Mark Mylod’s feature film The Menu.

 

The Menu has been principally viewed as a class focused social satire with strong elements of horror. Even the characters, such as Chef Slowik (Ralph Fiennes) refer to each other by class distinction, ‘Givers’ and ‘Takers.’ Slowik bemoans the fact that his artistry has reached a price point where the only people with the means to experience it are constitutionally incapable of enjoying it as they are never satisfied. The ultra-wealthy consume mindlessly, the act of consumption becoming merely a peacocking display utterly devoid of enjoyment, meaning, or even memorable. One set of characters are revealed to have spent nearly 28,000 dollars experiencing Chef’s artistry and yet fail to recall a single clear instance of it.

Beyond the social economic class divide between the service industry artists of Chef, his staff, and wealth patrons The Menu also holds sharp biting commentary of the Uber-Fan, represented by Tyle (Nicholas Hoult.)

While Tyler is in fact a member of the wealth class, he mentions the price of the exclusive dinner, $1250 per person, without even the slightest hesitation or hint of trouble at this extravagance. It is also clear that Tyler is well off since he can hire an expensive escort for an evening date. That said Tyler is not here because he is wealthy, ruined Chef’s day off with a pitiful performance, or has failed to appreciate the artistry, but rather he is precisely for because his slavish adoration of Chef and his ‘experience’ is an example of the taxic fan that disgraces the art for both the artist and consumer.

Tyler, like a devoted franchise fa who can quote every obscure fact of legendary lore, has buried himself in the minutia of technique but without any understanding or comprehension of art’s meaning. While horrors unfold around him, dismemberment and suicide, Tyler is lost in the taste and texture of the menu’s courses.

Desperate for validation and as a vainglorious showboat Tyler takes every opportunity to demonstrate his deep knowledge or culinary tools and techniques while simultaneously snubbing and disparaging his companion for her own tastes and interests. He berates ‘Margot’ (Anya Taylor-Joy) for ruining her palate with cigarette smoke and demeans her intelligence when it comes to Chef’s final thematic point. “You won’t figure it out until the end.”

Later it is revealed that not only it was Chef’s intent that the culmination of the evening was that everyone was doomed to die but that Tyler was already fully aware of this. Tyler, utterly obsessed with experiencing Chef Slowik’s extraordinary talents, is willing to die for a single evening meal at the exclusive restaurant. Even more horrifying Tyler engaged a professional escort, ‘Margot’, when his original date broke up with him. Tyler held everyone else in contempt, holding himself above and apart from the rabble due to his deep knowledge and understanding to the culinary arts.

However, he was blind to Chef’s disdain for him. Tyler’s obsession is not the honor that Chef wants for his skill. Slowik hates Tyler for his pathetic, fawning, idolization and it was not enough for Chef that Tyler die along with himself, the staff, and the other diners, but Tyler’s humiliation was required.

Turning into the film third act, Chef Slowik pulls Tyler from his seat and, after dressing him as a chef, brings him into the kitchen to display his own culinary talents.

Of which Tyler has none.

Like so many dedicate, noisy, bossy, and opinionated fanboys Tyler when faced with creating a work in the art he knows so well fails miserably producing the supplemental course labeled Tyler’s Bullshit. For all his posturing, pronouncements, and peacocking Tyler is revealed an empty vessel with nothing of his own to contribute.

Chef words, unheard by the audience, destroys what little remained of Tyler and prompting Tyler’s suicide.  The obsessive fan, and it is wise to remember that the word ‘fan’ is derived from ‘fanatic,’ corrupt the art that they profess to love. They have replaced understanding with minutia, promoting with gatekeeping, and empathy with arrogance.

Real art and real appreciation require humility as well talent and understanding.

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An Intriguing Start: The Rig

 

January 6th Amazon Prime dropped the first season of its new supernatural thrilled program The Rig on its service. (Not to be confused with the 2010 American Horror movie.)

Starring Iain Glen (Whom many will recognize from Game of Thrones) as Offshore Installation Manager Magnus MacMillan, the program is set aboard the deep-sea drilling platform Kinloch Amazon StudiosBravo as the crew is about to rotate off after a long hard period of working the rig. However, tensions among between among crew between each other and between a representative of the Corporation, Rose Mason (Emily Hampshire) are pushed beyond the breaking point when a series of unexpected and inexpiable events isolates the platform, trapping everyone aboard.

With a large cast The Rig presents the complex, dynamic, and potentially explosive setting of overworked and scared people isolated from all help as they confront dangers without precedent.

Amazon Prime presented The Rig in the ‘binge model’ of distribution, making all six episodes of the premier season available on release. However, neither I nor my sweetie-wife enjoy the full-on a binge and as such we have watched only the first episode. Given that I can properly review an incomplete story I will recount my impression of its opening.

Among the characters populating the series is Fulmer Hamilton (Martin Compston) whose romantic relationship with Rose creates friction and fears of favoritism among the rig workers, Lars Hutton (Owen Teale) a fierce and suspicious rig worker whose distrust of the management and corporation is not utterly unfounded, and Alwyn Evans (Mark Bonnar) the human resources officer caught in the middle of the disintegrating morale.

Filmed entirely in studios in Scotland the series boasts a UK cast with the accompanying array for accents. The digital effects recreating the open seas and the exterior of the platform are most serviceable with only a few shots that have an uncanny unreal valley to them, but they are not enough to shatter the illusion.

I am intrigued enough to continue watching and have hopes that the season will be worth the watch.

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Glass Onion’s Ending

 

 

Clearly as I am speaking about the final resolution to the satirical second outing of Detective

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Benoit Blanc, the center piece of this post is built entirely on a crucial and major spoiler for the film. Proceed if you have seen the movie or simply do not care about knowing the ending.

 

 

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT

After Detective Blanc revealed that billionaire tech-bro Miles Bron had murdered his former partner, Cassandra Brand, along with a friend bent on blackmailing Bron with that knowledge, but that he lacked direct evidence to convict Bron, Cassandra’s sister Helen’s rampage destroys Bron’s home. The fire destroyed Bron plans, upon which he had wagered his entire company, for a new safe energy system.

Among the artifacts destroyed in the conflagration was the famed painting The Mona Lisa, on loan to Bron by the French government and for whom Bron held an obsessive interest. Expressed in his desire to do something that would be so great, so extraordinary, that it would be remembered in the same breath as Davinci’s famous work. The ironic justice in Helen’s rampage is that by being responsible for the Mona Lisa’s destruction Miles Bron as in fact achieved his obsessive fantasy of forever being linked with the painting.

On the screenwriting podcast Scriptnotes writer/Director Rian Johnson, admitted that there was some trepidation that the audience would rebel at the priceless work of art’s destruction. As an insurance policy should the audience find that a bridge too far for their enjoyment, Johnson filmed a never utilized post-credit scene that revealed that painting consumed on in the blaze had been in fact a reproduction and not the original. However, test screenings showed that people accepted his original scripted intentions and the cannon of the film remained that the original was destroyed.

Had that post-credit sequence been used it would have been a mistake and a terrible disservice to the story.

It is a firm conviction of mine that endings are where all the critical themes and meanings in a story are fully realized. Endings must be earned and that must fulfill not only the narrative and emotional requirements of the story they must mean something.

Famously when Frank Oz adapted the musical play Little Shop of Horrors into a feature film, he found that the audience hated the ending with the protagonist feeding his love to the plant followed by himself. However, Oz’s also edited the number The Meek Shall Inherit where the protagonist, faced with the choice between doing right or self-serving interests, removing that character’s critical decision which justified the character’s death.

Had Johnson used the post-credit scene revealing that the Mona Lisa was in fact safe and sound in Paris then the entire ending would lose all its power. With the original unharmed the most devastating consequence of Bron’s idiocy and arrogance would have been wholly negated. That ending would have lacked justice.

Endings are the most critical element of the story. A flawed ending ruins the destination’s journey. (I am looking at you HBO’s Game of Thrones.) It is why I must be a plotter, outlining my novel before starting them because without knowing the destination how can I ever to earn it?

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A Tired Trope

 

Feature films and television is filled with tired worn-out tropes used to glide past problem spots in scripts and create false tension. There is one that I wish desperately to die, the improvised or fortunate bullet-stopper.

We’ve seen this for decades upon decades. A character is shot in the chest, almost certainly dead, only for it to be revealed later that something stopped the bullet. Bruce Wayne’s improved one with a silver tray in Tim Burton’s Batman, a lead token proved the essential protection in Deadpool 2, books are a commonly used device, though it can be forgiven in Sleepy Hollow as at least there was no modern ammunition was used.

Variations on this trope include impromptu shields, Arnold used bystanders to prevent himself from being riddled with sub-machine gun rounds in Total Recall and Steve Rogers used a convenient taxi door to stop rounds from a semi-automatic pistol in Captain American: The First Avenger.

In all these cases the filmmakers and writers have ignored that modern bullets posses ‘overpenetration.’ The rounds often, depending on the substance of the target, have more the energy to pierce metal and flesh with enough remaining to exit and continue on presenting danger to those beyond.

The sub-machine rounds in Total Recall would have torn through the poor bystander Quaid used as a shield and into Arnold’s character himself. No mere silver tray would stop even a small caliber round and Wayne would have been grievously injured.

I have learned to ignore this trope when it raises it ignorant head, but I will not continue its presence in my own work. Firearms are lethally dangerous even if you have a book in your breast pocket.

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A Beautiful Sentiment

 

One of the things I learned this year is that the traditional Jewish condolence upon hearing of a person’s passing is “May Their Memory Be A Blessing” which I think is an interesting and beautiful contrast to the more common “Rest in Peace.”

Neither is bad but they have very different focuses.

Rest In Peace is focused on the person who has left the mortal realm. It recognizes that life is rarely peaceful, and that we struggle and work until death’s grip ends that turmoil.

(A darker and wholly unintended interpretation is wanting the person who has died to remain in the friggin’ ground. No Vampirism for you.)

May Their Memory Be A Blessing is centered on the effect the deceased had on the world around them and the friends and loved ones grieving the loss. It speaks to the hope that while life is often red in tooth and claw, we each have the capability to make life better for others. To be the blessing that this tired world so desperately needs. It points us not only towards the blessing the person may have left for others but also the blessings we may still give before out time comes.

I am so enriched to have learned this tiny fragment of another culture this year.

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Both Miles Bron AND Ben Shapiro are Idiots

 

 

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Two days ago, Ben Shapiro took to Twitter to pronounce Glass Onion, reviewed on this blog and a wonderful film, was in fact bad artistically and politically. His opinion is flawed and idiotic as I will demonstrate.

 

 

Be warned after this  like blood, There Will Be Spoilers.

 

 

Ben Writes:

First, the writing. The first half of the movie is a complete misdirect and a waste of time.

and

We only find out about the actual murder we’re supposed to investigate full one hour and ten minutes into the film, as well as an entirely new backstory (Miles never invited Blanc, and Andi has a twin sister masquerading as her). We’re actively deceived by the writer.

Many people have already pointed out the idiocy of not expecting misdirection in a murder mystery, but I want to lean on the word ‘complete’ which implies quite falsely that there were no clues, (You know what clues are don’t you Ben?) in the first act that what we were presented with was not the entire picture.

As each invitee receives the box, they each understand it is a puzzle and seek to solve it. Calling on each other for help. Helen/Andi doesn’t try to solve it but attacks it with furious anger. Not frustration, not annoyance, but intense hatred.

When we see the first puzzle box delivered to Claire, we are shown that it came by professional courier. Yet, while Blanc is in the tub playing online games with celebrities a voice calls out, “Someone is here to see you.” pause “And they have a box.”

Phillip did not shout out, “There’s a delivery!” or “Ben you have to sign for this!” or “What did you order?” None of the things people actually say when confronted with a surprise delivery. Look Ben, a clue that this was not like the others.

As the invitees arrive at the pier to go to the private island it is clear that Blanc is watching each arrival carefully. Yet, when he speaks it is an exaggeration of his normal patterns. A clue that he is already playing a part.

When Miles sees Andi’s arrival at the island, the reaction is one of utter shock. Edward Norton gives you the full reaction of a man seeing someone who he really really thought was dead. Not the socially awkward reaction of an unwanted guest. It is as obvious and as easily missed as looking directly at Bruce Willis and saying, “I see dead people.”

After Helen/Andi’s initial confrontation with the disruptors, she stumbles off, after she clearly not knowing that Claire had called following up on the email, Claire muses “She’s changed.” Well, yes here’s another clue that Andi is not in fact Andi, a pretty big one.

Oh, and ben we didn’t wait half the film to discover that Miles hadn’t invited Blanc. Miles took Blanc aside when he arrived and stated he had not invited him, and Blanc misdirects him to think one of the others ‘reset’ their puzzle box to invite him as a gag.

Why the misdirect? Because the story itself in the purest form of incredible laziness. It relies on not one, not two, but three bad writing tropes: an identical twin, a comprehensive journal, and a moron of a murderer.

Well, as has been stated, misdirection in mysteries, like magic tricks, are an essential element of the genre. There were, as I have detailed, plenty of clues that Andi was not Andi, and Miles, while a moron, actually performed a pretty decent murder. So well executed in fact that at the end of the story it is clear he will face no legal consequences for killing Andi.

Now onto Ben’s interpretation of the film’s politics.

Rian Johnson’s politics is as lazy as his writing. His take on the universe is that Elon Musk is a bad and stupid man, and that anyone who likes him – in media, politics, or tech – is being paid off by him.

A common interpretation is the Miles Bron is a thinly veiled swipe at Elon Musk. While Bron is a ‘tech bro’ there is actually nothing in the film that makes him a direct comparison to Musk. There is never a mention of any space venture, though that would cover both Musk and Bezos, no mention of electric cars, in fact it is a plot point that Miles’ car, that he loves, is a gas car, and no mention of any form of electronic payment systems. Nor is there any hint that Miles owns social media.  The film was written and produced before Musk nose-dived into Twitter. In short none of the businesses that briefly made Musk the richest man in the world apply to the character of Miles Bron. In fact, Miles’ internet company, Alpha, with things like Alpha News, an important plot point, is much more like Alphabet, the company that owns Google, than anything Musk has been associated with.

For the rest of his twitter thread Ben continue to treat Miles as a stand-in for Musk apparently unaware that a character can represent a general type of person, douchey tech bro, rather than a specific person.

What about all the people who like Musk? They’re dumb and corrupt, too (which means you need no logic for them, so more bad writing!). This means that all Miles’ friends/supporters are still “sucking the golden teat” for Miles/Musk because he keeps signing them checks.

Ben is incredulous that rich powerful people can be surrounded by sycophants, yes-people, and moochers. We can look to Trump’s current legal teams to see how the best and the brightest are attracted to wealth and power.

One of the most important lines, defining the character of Vito Corleone, in The Godfather is when Tom tells the movie mogul “Mr. Corleone is the sort of man who insists on hearing bad news right away.” It tells us that unlike many many powerful people the Godfather does not want yes-men but the truth and that is an aberration.

But any of them could, at any time, burn down Miles/Musk and reap massive benefits. Literally any of them. Duke would become, overnight, the biggest host in the world for uncovering the conspiracy of silence.

Ben really is either ignoring the realities of taking on the rich or he is an idiot. I’m not sure how Ben thinks the group of Mile’s ‘hanger-ons’ can take him down. Certainly not over the murder that they are ignorant of, perhaps by publicly stating he is in idiot. Hmm people do that all the time and it has failed to take down Musk or Trump. Of course, if you have something real, something damaging, then billionaire will take you to court and guess who will have the nearly unlimited resources and legal teams to grind you into poverty before it ever gets before the bench? Not one of the ‘disruptors’ has anything close to the financial or legal resources to take down Miles. Their livelihood is wedded to his, hence they are sycophants.

Now Glass Onion has well-worn and tired Hollywood tropes, but Ben is too thick to actually see those and instead he wails, cries, and moans that liberals are unfair to Musk, too blinded by his own prejudices to see what is really there. Honestly, Ben has done a perfect job of misdirecting himself.

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Boxing Day at the San Diego Zoo

First off let me say I should be back to fairly regular postings here. I have reached the ‘burn out’ stage of overtime and while there is another week or three to be offered by my employer, I am happy enough to just work regular hours.

December 26th, Boxing Day to most of the commonwealth nations but just ‘the day after Christmas’ here in the United States my sweetie-wife and I enjoyed a pleasant morning at the Zoo. (Mostly pleasant, I did develop a head and we cut it a little short.) Of course, I took photos and three of the 25 seemed worth sharing.

 

 

 

 

This is an Ibis of some species but as it was there holding down the enclosure where an eagle normally resides there was no plaque to tell us precisely which variety of ibis it is.

 

 

 

 

 

I really like this photo of the ibis because it has a real ‘Raptors in the grass’ feel about it.

 

 

 

 

An elephant made the cut this week. I just like the framing of the photo but for no particular reason.

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Movie Review: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

 

In 2019 writer/director Rian Johnson released his love letter to the classic mystery genre with his film Knives Out. A movie without a pre-existing fan base, no novel, no boomer television series, no classic film reboot, and the domestic box office still soared past 300 million dollars. Audiences fell in love with southern gentleman Detective Benoit Blanc. The success guaranteed a sequel and Netflix brought truckloads of money to Johnson for two more Benoit Blanc mysteries, the first of which, after a one-week theatrical run over Thanksgiving, drops onto the streaming service today.

Glass Onion, taking in May of 2020 as the world grapples with the Covid 19 pandemic, is set on a secluded Greek island as tech billionaire boy Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has invited his close group of friends, nicknamed the Disruptors and his estranged former partner, for a weekend of

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a murder mystery game. Blanc’s arrival is the first mystery as someone other than Bron dispatched to Blanc of the puzzle box invitations. Naturally the weekend does no go as planned and soon the participants find that the dangers are for more real than the party games that they had expected.

The next Benoit Blanc mystery is structured very much the pervious one.  The first act of the film establishes a collection of eccentric characters, this time drawn more broadly that the Thrombey clan, but when you are dealing with an internet billionaire and the surrounding sycophants broad is the order of the day.

The second act inverts everything you thought you understood had been established while playing fair with the information it had presented.

The third act swings into the actual mystery and revelations to land in an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Glass Onion present more comedy and less mystery than the previous movie but retains all the essential elements that made Knives Out such a fun and entertaining experience. The cast is uniformly fantastic with golden cameos from a number of well know persons. Outstanding in this cast is Janelle Monae though it takes more than half to film to uncover what makes her performance so stellar.

It is a shame that Glass Onion has such a short theatrical run as this is the sort of movie that is best experienced with a crowd but even alone on the couch this is still a movie that should not be missed.

Glass Onion is currently streaming exclusively on Netflix.

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