Waffle and Anno Dracula

I've been considering various aspects and issues and problems with my portfolio, one being how to condense my (typically epic) ideas into the word-limit, and have decided to 'simplify' the storyline by only pursuing the 'Alena' storyline, and leaving other other storylines and sub-plots out for the purpose of this portfolio and work on them in my own time. I've also been considering the settings in which Glass Dresses will take place and have discovered that I need to brush up on workhouses and various poverty-related laws of the time, including the obvious Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 and the issues of child labour and prostitution.

I've also just finished reading Kim Newman's Anno Dracula, an alternate history set in the Victorian period under the premise that Van Helsing never killed Dracula, allowing him to take over Britain, and leading to the spread of vampirism.

Anno Dracula is set in 1888 - the period in which the infamous 'Jack the Ripper' was haunting London, mutilating and murdering prostitutes; in this case, all vampires. I was advised to read this by K.S. - a tutor in another module - and have really enjoyed it. The setting is - as far as my research and knowledge of the era goes - historically accurate with obvious exceptions. I will be looking at the book in more detail now that I have read it through to look at how Victorian London is constructed, and which details are used to solidify the image in the reader's mind - examples being the fashions, sensibilities, and currency.

I'll write more when I have more time, but for now - busy, busy, busy! ;)

Live and learn

Well, I've learn that funerals are a farce and that Orwell's prediction of the evolution of the family unit in Nineteen Eighty-Four wasn't far wrong - at least judging by the behaviour of certain individuals. But as a little toad once said; onwards and upwards, forwards and faster.

I've been working on the proposal and the extract, and trying to work out where this is going, and how to cram my idea into 7,500 words, as per suggestion by JT in our meeting - albeit a fairly informal one. It's been noted that I tend to have rather epic ideas that don't translate too well into the given word limits, with the result that extracts can leave a reader with a dis-jointed impression of what I've been trying to convey and a fractured, unclear view of the image I'm trying to present; so this time I'm going to try to keep it all within the word limit, rather than using extracts... fun.

Hell In The Proverbial Handcart

Was debating whether or not to actually make a note of yesterday's...events in this journal, since it's a uni thing, but i figured it will probably affect my work so here it is:

my uncle died. three hours after i got that phone call, Sappho also died. On me. Literally. I had to watch the whole thing. I don't care that it sounds trivial, i don't want to explain it all AGAIN.

So honestly, i dunno what's gonna happen in the next few weeks with my portfolio. I know it sounds bad, but I'm being honest: I really don't give a crap about writing right now.

Catching Up: Part Four - Goddamn 'punks...

Yep, it's me again. Well, who else would it be, really? Don't you roll your eyes at me...

I've been considering the possibilities of a neo-victorian society, so I've been reading whatever I can find out about it, including - gasp! - a perilous trip to the uncharted territory at world's end, otherwise known as Wikipedia. A common word that came up in relation to neo-victorianism was the word 'steampunk' which, paraphrased is a setting in a world that still runs on steam power. A real intellectual leap I know, but bear with me, all will be revealed ;)

Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles or analog computers; these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or a presumption of functionality.
Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely.

As you can no doubt guess, this lead me to go poke around and find out what i could about cyberpunk:

Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is derived from cybernetics and punk and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983, although the style was popularized well before its publication by editor Gardner Dozois. It features advanced science, such as information technology and cybernetics, coupled with a degree of breakdown or radical change in the social order.

This lead me to the word 'Biopunk' - and yes, I confess to surfing wikipedia at the time. While I'd been interested in both steam- and cyberpunk, neither of them quite fit properly with what I was working on.

Biopunk (a portmanteau word combining "biotech" and "punk") is a term used to describe:

1. A hobbyist who experiments with DNA and other aspects of genetics.


2. A techno-progressive movement advocating open access to genetic information.


3. A science fiction genre that focuses on biotechnology and subversives.

...

Science fiction genre
Biopunk science fiction is a sub-genre of cyberpunk fiction that portrays the underground side of the "biotech revolution" which in the 1990s and 2000s was expected would start having a profound impact in the first decades of the 21st century. Biopunk stories explore the struggles of individuals or groups, often the product of human experimentation, against a backdrop of totalitarian governments or megacorporations which misuse biotechnologies as means of social control or profiteering. Unlike cyberpunk, it builds not on information technology but on synthetic biology. Like in postcyberpunk fiction, individuals are usually modified and enhanced not with cyberware, but by genetic manipulation. A common feature of biopunk stories is the “black clinic”, which is a lab, clinic or hospital that performs illegal, unregulated or ethically-dubious biomod and gengineering procedures.

So there you have it. I am writing a dystopian, therianthropic biopunk novel :P

All quotes taken from www.reference.com

Catching Up: Part Three - NEXT

I've previously read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and picked up NEXT very cheaply on a whim. I really really enjoyed it. There were a few things I noticed about Crichton's style while I was reading NEXT:

• Multiple styles of narrative. As well as 'straight-forward' narration, Crichton uses both newspaper and academic journal syles of writing to communicate information to the reader. A short note near the end of a book informs us that a character is dead, nothing more is said in the text. This can give a rather understated feel to the writing at times, at others, it lends credibilty and weight to the story. Visually, it had a very interesting effect, one I would like to consider in my portfolio/


• Depth of research. Crichton clearly spends a lot of time researching the topics that his books revolve around, and it shows. The evidence of this is visible in the extensive bibliography at the end of book. The result of all this research is that the whole book is logically and scientifically credible - to the average person. It is of course possible that an expert in the field of transgenics would fid mistakes, but the average reader is not such an expert. A mixture of the quantity of research and the clear understanding of the subject that he demonstrates, as well as the knowledge that he has had some education and/or training in scientific and medical background, makes the reader comfortable in believing the more complicated concepts being proposed.

The book is well grounded in the 'real' world, the fictional elements being so well worked in and backed up that they are entirely plausible. We may not yet have created an ape-human hybrid (to the best of my knowledge) but it is posed in a way that makes the possibility believable - it could happen if events progress in this direction.

Catching Up: Part Two - Bitten

I read Kelley Armstrong's Bitten and HATED it. I liked the depiction of werewolves - as a group or a race - pack life, the need to Change, but the heroine made my blood boil. Brief outline, and totally, objectively unbiased... naturally...:

Elena - heroine, only female werewolf in existance: the 'gene' is passed down the male line - is in a long term relationship with a human called Philip. So far, she's neglected to mention that teensy bit of information about herself concerning the whole "oh yeah, I'm a werewolf!" thing... Nice. He's in love with her, looking to settle down with her, and later proposes to her. She claims to love him, but does little to back up these repeated claims. An emergency takes her from the 'human world' to the 'pack world' surrounding her with others of her kind, reminding her of the life she chose to leave behind - incidentally without actually TELLING them. Seriously, this girl has no concept of how a wolf pack functions... it's painful. While she's there, she just HAPPENS to have sex with 'Clay' - repeatedly - and openly says that she does not feel guilty, although she wishes she did. Did I mention that Clay was her fiance? And that he turned her into a werewolf in the first place? And that he's in love with her?

I found the sex scenes and the almost unstoppable tide of violence were gratuitous and did little if anything to move the plot along. In the end, she decides to live happily ever after with her pack, showing less than no concern for the effect this ordeal has had on Philip, never actually telling him that she's leaving him. As seems to be her habit, she leaves him to guess it from her absence.

All I've achieved from reading this tripe - apart from some very violent reactions to it - is the knowledge of what exactly I DON'T want to write.

Catching Up: Part One - 1984

Ok, read Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four and really enjoyed it. Before I read the book, I opened it at random, and came across a phrase i really liked, one that seemed to fit quite well with the tone of the project I'm working on: 'Thought Police'. I noted a few quotes that really stood out to me:

Page 56

'How could you have a slogan like "Freedom is Slavery" when the concept of freedom has been abolished?'

A comment made to Winston by a fellow 'comrade' called Syme, when they are discussing the progress of the latest Newspeak dictionary, leading to the comment on the party as a whole. Winston rather astutely predicts Syme's fate as a result of this comment:

'One of these days, thought Winston with a sudden deep conviction, Syme will be vapourised. He is too intelligent. He sees too clearly and speaks too plainly. The Party does not like such people. One day he will disappear. It is wrotten in his face.'

In a rather Stalin-esk gesture the Party moves to protect itself from people like Syme whose plain understanding of the nature of the Party itself could undermine it, by removing him, as it has with countless other 'comrades'.

Page 266

'The command of the old despotisms was "Thou shalt not". The command of the totalitarians was "Thou shalt". Our command is "Thou art".

Thus O'Brien lays open the (rather disturbing) heart of the world Winston inhabits. Obedience isn't enough, Big Brother intends to secure itself by changing the way the citizens think, as demonstrated by the presence of the Two Minute Hate, Hate Week and the destruction of the family unit as we understand it, replacing it with a unit of spies that wait for an opportunity to betray one another. This understanding of Big Brother's plans for the society is crystilised in a phrase a little later in the book:

Page 280

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - for ever."

I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't sure about the ending. It left me rather disatisfied because, in the end, Big Brother wins.

I Have Internet Again! Fear Me!!!!!!!!

Just a quick entry to note that I have access to the 'net again (assuming all goes well, which is always dangerous...) Over the weekend I will post to update the journal with what I've been doing over the summer, as well as updating the list of books I've been reading... it's a long list. Might take a while to get up to date, but I haven't forgotten, Honest!