Outcasts, episode 6

As always, spoilers ahead.

After the tantalising end of episode 5, when Berger was revealed to be in contact with another space vessel and clearly shown to be aiming at the removal of Tate from power, episode 6 decided to ignore that almost completely.

A trio of XPs never before mentioned or seen had gone missing. One returned, wounded, and stated that the ACs had attacked her. However, there was something creepy about her, and she ended up being detained.

Meanwhile, a pair of ACs ordered by Rudi, their leader, to take out XP commander Jack “precisely” adopted a unique and challenging definition of that word. They began by killing a power station worker and then switching off Forthaven’s power, which rather alerted everyone to the presence of intruders. After this, they managed to miss Jack and kill another XP, rather predictably.

The power loss somehow opened the secure door to the female XP’s cell, and she strode off, found her kids and wandered out of the front door of the colony.

However, a rather more human version of the missing female XP appeared, prompting much confusion. Fortunately, the kids ended up safe.

The dialogue still needs sorting out. The story was reasonably coherent, but the doppelganger was not explained, beyond the suggestion of alien influence. It’s a bit irksome, because there are a number of potentially good storylines but they all seem to lack excitement or a satisfying conclusion. Mitchell was great, but got shot in episode 1, the terribly deadly whiteout led to the death of Token Gay Guy, and the clone was unexplained in the most recent episode.

Oh well. I shall persevere, and it’s worth recalling that sometimes the first series can be ropey (Blackadder, for example).

Thaddeus

The gunpowder question

Technology is more associated with sci-fi, which is understandable as it often has exciting fictional toys such as teleporters, faster than light travel, and cyborgs.

However, it’s also a matter for fantasy. Given that many stories take place in an essentially medieval English setting there are crossbows and longbows and mangonels. Gunpowder is either not used at all or just being discovered.

There is some scope for going down a different path, without having more advanced technology.

In the conquests of Alexander, the battle weapons used were relatively simple. Spears, swords and shields were the order of the day. The difference came with siege warfare. Alexander, benefiting from a corps of damned clever Hellenistic engineers, was able to utilise their expertise and the manpower he had available to devastating effect in sieges.

Alexander the Great had absolutely massive battering rams, and regularly built siege towers that were staggering in size. Aided by his position as king, commander-in-chief and the lack of human rights laws, he used his own army and any nearby peasants to commit huge acts of manual labour. In his epic taking of Tyre (a walled island city) he had a mole more than a half a mile long built out to sea, enabling his artillery to get into range of the walls.

The Byzantines used, for a time, a brilliant concoction known as Greek fire. This was an oil-based substance which saved the city on numerous occasions by (almost literally) setting fire to the sea. Other nations were ignorant of its ingredients and terrified of the flames, which floated on the water (as it was oil-based) and often devastated enemy fleets.

Although not based on technology, Hannibal came up with some interesting tactics. After the Second Punic War, he worked for Rome’s enemies, and in a naval battle came up with an innovative idea. He had snakes collected and put into clay pots. These were then hurled onto enemy ships. The clay shattered, the snakes escaped, and the Romans were distracted and terrified by the sudden appearance of slithering reptiles on the deck.

The Romans themselves used (as seen in the opening battle of Gladiator) clay pots as siege ammunition. They were effectively huge petrol bombs, with the outside lit and the inside filled with combustible material. When the pots were fired, they landed, broke apart and burst into flame.

Technology does not necessarily improve over time. It usually does, but not always. Consider Concorde. Faster than any commercial passenger plane today, yet in a museum.

Thaddeus

Book progress

My as-yet-untitled book continues to be written at a reasonable pace. I had a vague idea of 20 chapters in mind, though it looks like it may end up being briefer. Presently, I’m up to chapter 13 (4 pages into it).

I’m not one of those authors who draft a pretty thorough and methodical chapter-by-chapter plan before they start writing. That’d be quite helpful, but I veer too much off into tangents to be that constrained (not that tangents are necessarily bad; they offer opportunities for light relief, character development and so forth).

Before starting, I spent quite a lot of time creating a background for the story. Its mostly within a city (Highford), so I spent my time on the specifics of that location and only wrote a fuzzy background of the nearby nations (Kuhrland, Felaria, Denland). Having an idea of the social hierarchy (armed groups, mages, nobility and so forth) makes it easier later on to write fluently and consistently.

All the main characters have been introduced, from the haughty mages to the cold Dame Hélène and the self-interested Captain Urquhart. There are a few secondary characters too, such as the captain’s two lieutenants, and the preening chevaliers.

Writing’s been a shade slower than usual over the last few days, mostly because a rather sombre scene has occurred and I tend to find these especially grave scenes more troubling to write than light-hearted ones.

I’ve got a few specific plot twists/scenes in mind, one of which isn’t all that far away and I’m rather looking forward to it. The central plot’s climax is something I’ve got pretty sharply defined, although the aftermath is a little bit looser. (I’m a believer in not trying to pin everything down and writing organically rather than methodically).

The tone of the book is actually substantially different in some respects to my favourite modern authors (Abercrombie, Martin, Hobb). I’m pretty pleased with dialogue so far, which is light on swearing and old-fashioned (not 15^th century, it’s perfectly understandable). There is blood and gore and death, but it’s not quite so prevalent as in the books of the authors listed above. It’s also peppered with little comical lines and scenes, often involving Captain Urquhart (he’s a bit like a cross between Odo from DS9 and Edmund Blackadder).

Anyway, that’s how things are progressing.

Thaddeus

Originality and realism

Sci-fi and fantasy often get put together in categories because, although one tends to be forward looking and technology-focused and the other is often backward-looking and magic-focused, they’ve both got great scope for imagination and stretching the bounds of possibility.

There’s a natural challenge in writing fantasy or sci-fi. If you’re aiming to have a world highly similar to reality or its past then you can write I, Claudius in space, if you wish. But if you’re going for something dramatically different there’s a tension between writing something realistic in a fantasy-based context and something which is so unorthodox and strange as to be ridiculous.

Magic’s a good example. There’s no natural boundary on magic because it doesn’t exist. So, what’s to stop an evil sorcerer snapped his fingers and brainwashing everybody into serfdom? Or a good sorcerer wiggling his ears and turning all evildoers into garden gnomes? Hence, the author needs to create a limit.

Another potential downfall is one which affects all types of writing. Making heroes too virtuous and villains too vile just makes them two-dimensional caricatures. When writing my own stuff, I’ve modelled the mages (who play a significant role) as a light version of the Greek gods. They’re arrogant, generally, and don’t mind abusing their powers somewhat when they feel like it. After all, if you could click your fingers and unclasp a woman’s bra, wouldn’t you?

A good example of balancing a very unearthly fantasy world and the natural frailties and strengths people possess is the Night Angel Trilogy, by Brent Weeks (I’ve read books 1 and 2, but not yet 3). There are differing schools of magic, a powerful criminal underworld, a number of distinctly different nations and fantastically strange creatures which I won’t spoil.

I think this is a problem Star Trek: TNG suffers from, unlike DS9. I cannot believe that we will ever get rid of money, or that hunger will ever be abolished or that the world will become everyone’s oyster. People just aren’t that good. In DS9, some interesting issues were tackled, such as treachery and insurrection/terrorism.

People will suspend their disbelief for magic and warp speed, but not for everything.

Thaddeus