FICTION: "Thank you for travelling..."
Paul J Holden
I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
Story should be told/seen from the POV of the main character. ie. From
his eyes out, have him look in the mirror early on to properly establish
this and have us know what he looks like [important for punchline].
He's 21, and it's the first day that he's allowed to go onto the Instant-
Teleport System, a system that's been in systamatic use for over 20
years.
Very excited gets dressed and goes off to the Transport-Terminus (very
futuristic art-deco, grand looking place - very impressive looking).
Tells the cabbie about his excitement. ["Wow! This is my first time
y'know" "Well, kid, when you've been around the world and back 20 or 30
times Like I have you get kinda used to it"]
Goes into the transport station, and watches the lines of people queing -
some to leave and some coming from the transporters. Huge lines of
people, this place should be city sized - the people leaving the
transporters should all be wearing the same style of coverall - only
living flesh can be transported.
Stands in queue again talking excitedly about his first time, how cool it
will be, how he's waited for years and always wanted to go. blah blah.
Finally enters a small room, where he's asked to undress - all
transoportation happens in the nude and a DNA sample is taken (swab from
side of mouth, nothing fancy). The kid is shown the transporter [I
picture this as happening in a massive white room, with a control station
overlooking the small cubicle size transporter tube (retro-art-deco
styled)]
Kid enters the transporter. And the doors close with an ominous
"FSHOOOM!"
Black.
Single computer screen lights up, "Welcome to Anodyne Systems Transport.
First a Brief Lesson, The AST system works by taking a DNA sample from
the customer, this DNA information stream is then Transmitted to the
recieving AST cubicle where upon an instant clone of the customer is
made, identical in every way and holding memories of everything in the
customers life up until the sample is taken.
Unfortunately this leaves the difficulty of having two copies of the
customer, one at the intended destination and one here."
"Sorry."
[Gun comes from below monitor and...]
*BLAM*
[Black panel, single untailed word balloon "Thank you for travelling..."]
Cuts to South American AST transport where the youth emerges [pov is
looking down at youth], "Man, I didn't feel a thing!"
---- The end.
There ya' go, now if anyone fancies making that into a proper script,
I'll draw the damn thing.
docs
Doug
Paul J Holden wrote in message ...
Stam
Paul J Holden wrote:
> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
>
> Story should be told/seen from the POV of the main character. ie. From
> his eyes out, have him look in the mirror early on to properly establish
> this and have us know what he looks like [important for punchline].
>
>
<snip>
> Cuts to South American AST transport where the youth emerges [pov is
> looking down at youth], "Man, I didn't feel a thing!"
>
> ---- The end.
>
I love it, baby!
David Hutchins
Simon Fraser
(Paul J Holden) wrote:
<story snipped>
>
>There ya' go, now if anyone fancies making that into a proper script,
>I'll draw the damn thing.
You just did Paul.
Simon.
The Semi-Official Nikolai Dante Website
http://www.cybergoth.net/tuws/Dante/Index.html
Phil Nixon
to write the script.
Phil
Paul J Holden <pa...@nospam.pulpkitchen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:MPG.123e1cd81...@news.free-online.net...
> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
>
> Story should be told/seen from the POV of the main character. ie. From
> his eyes out, have him look in the mirror early on to properly establish
> this and have us know what he looks like [important for punchline].
>
> Cuts to South American AST transport where the youth emerges [pov is
> looking down at youth], "Man, I didn't feel a thing!"
>
> ---- The end.
>
SpaceGirl @ subhuman.net / cybergoth.net
meant by that at all). I think it would work really well! I wonder how
having it from the characters POV will work? It might be hard to bring that
across successfully on paper.
Want more!
Mirri
@ www.cybergoth.net
AndyDiggle
> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
<snip>
That's a great little story, Paul! Turn it into a five page script and I'll
definitely consider if for a Future Shock.
> Story should be told/seen from the POV of the main character. ie. From
> his eyes out, have him look in the mirror early on to properly establish
> this and have us know what he looks like [important for punchline].
I don't think that's really necessary, and might prove a little confusing. It
would also look more visually dramatic if we see him being shot, and his clone
being grown.
> He's 21, and it's the first day that he's allowed to go onto the Instant-
> Teleport System, a system that's been in systamatic use for over 20
> years.
It might be more ironic if he hadn't used the teleporter before because he was
*afraid* - like some people are terrified of air travel. Now, he has finally
managed to master his irrational fear. This would really add to the irony of
the ending. After all, it turns out he's *right* to be afraid - he gets shot!
> Unfortunately this leaves the difficulty of having two copies of the
> customer, one at the intended destination and one here."
> "Sorry."
I love the "sorry"!
Get scribbling....
Andy Diggle, 2000 AD / Judge Dredd Megazine
"Get a clean-up crew in here."
Doomsday: Megazine 59
Simon Fraser
>Paul J Holden wrote:
>
>> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
>> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
>
><snip>
>
>That's a great little story, Paul! Turn it into a five page script and I'll
>definitely consider if for a Future Shock.
>
Y'see what happens Paul.
You bust your ass for years learning how to be a cool comics artist,
so that you can work on the Galaxies Greatest Comic and some editor
hires you to WRITE!
Oh well Alan Moore started out as an artist.
Simon F.
Laughing himself sick at the irony of it all.
John Smith
also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
(1960).
This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
Simon Fraser wrote in message <37d4dbd...@news.telekabel.at>...
Martin Howe
Martin
--
"In space, no-one can hear you KILL an A L I E N" ~ from "Torquemurder"
Martin Howe DosDoom Team Member Bombay Breed Club Committee Member
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/martin.howe/
Be a cat in Doom - see Bombay72.htm (now supports Aliens-TC!!)
Paul J Holden <pa...@nospam.pulpkitchen.co.uk> wrote in message
news:MPG.123e1cd81...@news.free-online.net...
> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
>
<snip>
.....
</snip>
Gordon Rennie
>
> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
> (1960).
>
> This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
> which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
PISSING ON THE PARADE - a 2000AD playlet in one act.
DAYTIME - INTERIOR OF 2000AD EDITORIAL OFFICES. BISH-OP and the DIGGLE
DROID sit at their desks. The Diggle Droid wearily works his way through a
mound of unsolicited submissions piled up in his in-tray. Bish-op leafs
through one of the many science fiction reference books lying on his desk.
DIGGLE: Got a great idea here for a Future Shock, David. It's fresh,
it's funny, it's five pages long!
BISH-OP: Bin it, Andy. According to my Big Book of Science Fiction
Ideas here, it uses the same concept as an Alfred Bester short
story which once appeared in a 1953 issue of Astounding
Science Fiction.
Applying "yeah, but it's been done before" standards of wholesale
originality would rule out just about every Future Shock ever written.
In fact, it would rule out just about every strip ever published in
2000AD. They're called Tharg's Future Shocks, after all, not Tharg's
Completely Original Science Fiction High Concepts, and they're supposed
to be a fun cheesy read using lots of easily recognisable science fiction
staples in what are basically cheap'n'cheerful sting-in-the-tale stories.
With things like Future Shocks, the idea isn't the thing, it's what you do
with it, and I think this story really makes the grade as a fun
entertaining Future Shock idea. And I'm clearly not the only one, since I
believe that there is some serious editorial interest in actually
commissioning this one as a story.
Paul J Holden
jo...@widewinter.freeserve.co.uk says...
> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
> (1960).
>
(you even nicked that idea from WR! :P)
Paul J Holden
pa...@nospam.pulpkitchen.co.uk says...
Although in my defence I should point out that I have never read any
story on teleportation/cloning. Sadly the only books I read when I was
young where "Jeeves & Wooster" and most of Isaac Asimovs stuff. [Plus
some really funny 50s sci-fi, damned if I can remember who wrote it - but
it was all about a spaceship and crew - the spaceship was coated in some
bizaare stuff which allowed it to travel interstellar distances and the
bloke who piloted the ship smoked a pipe and wore slippers most of the
time]
- paul j
[sorry if my last response seemed a tad terse, it was... well... it's
just... dang it, it's my parade you're pissing on!]
Paul J Holden
> some really funny 50s sci-fi, damned if I can remember who wrote it - but
> it was all about a spaceship and crew - the spaceship was coated in some
> bizaare stuff which allowed it to travel interstellar distances and the
> bloke who piloted the ship smoked a pipe and wore slippers most of the
> time]
I just discovered that: "The Skylark of Space" E.E. "Doc" Smith.
I remember reading them when I was about 12/13 - I think I had the entire
series. Although, oddly, some of the books had been updated in the 70s
while others where still set in that odd 30/40s universe. You could tell,
if he was smoking a pipe it was the original - if he wasn't then it was
the update.
Lets have more pipes in space, I expect Devlin Waugh to give up that odd
little cigarette thing and start smoking a pipe.
- pj
~~O
:¬/ <-- a little smiley of me, smoking a pipe.
Mark Waldron
It doesn't matter whether the concept's totally original (although I've never
read a similar story). The whole idea's also suggested by a chapter in the
book "The Physics of Star Trek", and probably gets more scrutiny in "The
Metaphysics of Star Trek", although I haven't read that one yet. The
important point is that your story takes an abstract point about a
hypothetical technology and turns it into an interesting plot. I also think
Andy's suggestions are worth building in, re irony.
Technically, the teleporter doesn't have to involve cloning. If you want to
make it harder science, the same problem applies to a transporter like the
ones in Star Trek, where a scanner detects the exact position and momentum of
every subatomic particle and duplicates them exactly at the destination
(yes, I know this is theoretically impossible, but it's SF). With this
technique, you don't have to try to explain how the clone gets all the
original's memories - presumably they're stored as charges on the synapses
and will be duplicated by the process.
--
__ __
/ | / | +-----------------------------------------------------+
/ |/ | | "Older than I used to be, Younger than I'm gonna |
/ /| /| | ARK | be, Fewer things puzzle me than when I was young" |
/_/ |__/ |_| | -- The Rainmakers |
| | / | / / +-----------------------------------------------------+
| |/ |/ / email: mwal...@havering-college.ac.uk
| /| / ALDRON
|__/ |__/
Stam
Gordon Rennie wrote:
> John Smith wrote:
> >
> > Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
> > also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
> > thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
> > (1960).
> >
> > This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
> > which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
>
> PISSING ON THE PARADE - a 2000AD playlet in one act.
>
> DAYTIME - INTERIOR OF 2000AD EDITORIAL OFFICES. BISH-OP and the DIGGLE
> DROID sit at their desks. The Diggle Droid wearily works his way through a
> mound of unsolicited submissions piled up in his in-tray. Bish-op leafs
> through one of the many science fiction reference books lying on his desk.
>
> DIGGLE: Got a great idea here for a Future Shock, David. It's fresh,
> it's funny, it's five pages long!
>
> BISH-OP: Bin it, Andy. According to my Big Book of Science Fiction
> Ideas here, it uses the same concept as an Alfred Bester short
> story which once appeared in a 1953 issue of Astounding
> Science Fiction.
>
I can't stop laughing at this. I'm gonna make a copy and read it every night
before bed. Mr Rennie here really should become a writer one day. I'd say he's
got some potential.
> Applying "yeah, but it's been done before" standards of wholesale
> originality would rule out just about every Future Shock ever written.
> In fact, it would rule out just about every strip ever published in
> 2000AD. They're called Tharg's Future Shocks, after all, not Tharg's
> Completely Original Science Fiction High Concepts, and they're supposed
> to be a fun cheesy read using lots of easily recognisable science fiction
> staples in what are basically cheap'n'cheerful sting-in-the-tale stories.
> With things like Future Shocks, the idea isn't the thing, it's what you do
> with it, and I think this story really makes the grade as a fun
> entertaining Future Shock idea. And I'm clearly not the only one, since I
> believe that there is some serious editorial interest in actually
> commissioning this one as a story.
I had something Earth shattering to say here, but I've forgotten.
David Hutchins
Mark Waldron
>
> Lets have more pipes in space, I expect Devlin Waugh to give up that odd
> little cigarette thing and start smoking a pipe.
>
The trouble with pipes in space is that you just don't get the convection
currents. This means that the smoke just builds up in a sphere, centred on
the end of the pipe, until it envelops your whole head and you suffocate.
(Unless, of course, you have some of that artificial gravity stuff). That'll
be why they stopped smoking pipes by the 70s - it's just too dangerous.
In space, no one can hear you hack your lungs up.
William Logan
wrote:
>John Smith wrote:
>>
>> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
>> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
>> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
>> (1960).
>>
>> This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
>> which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
>
>
>PISSING ON THE PARADE - a 2000AD playlet in one act.
Doesn't stop you trying to put the boot in though, does it? What
gives here?
Deja Vu?
La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.
Beyond Honour, Their Is Duty... Beyond Duty, Obsession...
And Beyond Obsession, Insanity. Beyond That, There Is Only
The Class Of '79
Adapted from Judgement Day Part 20 - Prog 799
docs
Doug
John Smith wrote in message <7r3l21$tmi$1...@news7.svr.pol.co.uk>...
>Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but
it's
>also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
>thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
>(1960).
>
>This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
>which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
>
>
>Simon Fraser wrote in message <37d4dbd...@news.telekabel.at>...
>>On 07 Sep 1999 08:56:34 GMT, andyd...@aol.com (AndyDiggle) wrote:
>>
>>>Paul J Holden wrote:
>>>
>>>> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
>>>> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
>>>
>>><snip>
>>>
John Smith
Gordon Rennie wrote in message <37D581E0...@cwcom.net>...
>John Smith wrote:
>>
>> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but
it's
>> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
>> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue
Moon'
>> (1960).
>>
>> This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
>> which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
>
>
>
>
>DROID sit at their desks. The Diggle Droid wearily works his way through a
>mound of unsolicited submissions piled up in his in-tray. Bish-op leafs
>through one of the many science fiction reference books lying on his desk.
>
>DIGGLE: Got a great idea here for a Future Shock, David. It's fresh,
> it's funny, it's five pages long!
>
>BISH-OP: Bin it, Andy. According to my Big Book of Science Fiction
> Ideas here, it uses the same concept as an Alfred Bester short
> story which once appeared in a 1953 issue of Astounding
> Science Fiction.
>
>
>
>originality would rule out just about every Future Shock ever written.
>In fact, it would rule out just about every strip ever published in
>2000AD. They're called Tharg's Future Shocks, after all, not Tharg's
>Completely Original Science Fiction High Concepts, and they're supposed
>to be a fun cheesy read using lots of easily recognisable science fiction
>staples in what are basically cheap'n'cheerful sting-in-the-tale stories.
>With things like Future Shocks, the idea isn't the thing, it's what you do
>with it, and I think this story really makes the grade as a fun
>entertaining Future Shock idea. And I'm clearly not the only one, since I
>believe that there is some serious editorial interest in actually
>commissioning this one as a story.
>
>
Never said I didn't like the story (I do - even all the trappings, designs,
etc.) - just that it's by no means new to science fiction. And it certainly
wasn't my idea to discourage Paul or do him out of a job... I know how hard
it can be to get that big break and this idea is certainly better than much
of the dross that often passes for 'Future Shocks'.
That said, I'll now totally contradict myself and point out a certain flaw
in logic in the story, namely - Surely everyone in this teleport-friendly
world would realise how they worked? I mean, if millions/billions use this
tech, it goes without saying most people would be pretty familiar with it.
But never let logic stop you telling a story. I know I don't.
john
John Smith
William Logan wrote in message <37d5a326...@news.freeserve.net>...
>>>
>>> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but
it's
>>> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
>>> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue
Moon'
>>> (1960).
>>>
>>> This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
>>> which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future
Shocks'.
>>
>>
>>PISSING ON THE PARADE - a 2000AD playlet in one act.
>
>gives here?
>
>Deja Vu?
>
>
Paul J Holden
john smith said
"Never said I didn't like the story (I do - even all the trappings,
designs,
etc.) - just that it's by no means new to science fiction. And it
certainly
wasn't my idea to discourage Paul or do him out of a job... I know how
hard
it can be to get that big break and this idea is certainly better than
much
of the dross that often passes for 'Future Shocks'."
Thank kew. [I REALLY enjoy Devlin Waugh - and I enjoyed New Statesman, so
I'm a fan of yours]
"That said, I'll now totally contradict myself and point out a certain
flaw
in logic in the story, namely - Surely everyone in this teleport-friendly
world would realise how they worked? I mean, if millions/billions use
this
tech, it goes without saying most people would be pretty familiar with
it.
But never let logic stop you telling a story. I know I don't."
Well ... without wanting to drag this thread out (cus now that 2000ad
editorial have asked me about the story I don't want to bang on and on
about the logic of what basically amounts to a throwaway five page
futureshock [and I know I'm *not* Alan Moore, so I know it's not that
amaziningly original]) The people who use the system to travel day by day
have NO memory of what goes on - their memory is perfect up until the DNA
sample is taken, so the transport seems quick and painless [maybe they
add a memory of travelling to the person? that way they don't think,
"Y'know, I've been on that sixty times and I've yet to remember going
into the booth..."]. To my mind the horror [and I reckon it is a horror
story] is in the fact that the people who *run* this system must know how
it works, so mass slaughter is perpetrated on a daily basis. [That's why
I played up the fact that the world is so clean and perfect, utopian
even, and that millions of people use these things on a daily basis, and
the buildings are beautiful clean places - the terminus buildings are in
actuality mass murder centers]. And besides, as we all know from reality,
people can happily ignore mass slaughter as long as they don't *see* the
terrible goings on.
But again, it is only five pages - and despite what anyone may think,
[and people who know me will know this] I was more surprised than anyone
that 2000ad where genuinly interested in commisioning the piece. Honest.
It was the last thing in the world I expected to happen. [In fact if I
thought for one second Andy was even gonna look at it I would have gone
all anally retentive and not been able to type the thing up!]
- paul j
[who's now finally managed to wash the piss of his parade]
William Logan
<jo...@widewinter.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Yawn. This is getting like two kids in a playground...
Tag, your it! 8-)
La Placa Rifa,
W. R. Logan.
Who the hell's gonna mess with us?
Judgement Day - Prog 799
Allan Bednar
> Paul J Holden[SMTP:pa...@nospam.pulpkitchen.co.uk] wrote:
> [Plus
> some really funny 50s sci-fi, damned if I can remember who wrote it - but
> it was all about a spaceship and crew - the spaceship was coated in some
> bizaare stuff which allowed it to travel interstellar distances and the
> bloke who piloted the ship smoked a pipe and wore slippers most of the
> time]
>
mention genetic engineering and I'd buy that novel. (After all, it doesn't
sound a million miles away from the world of "The Diamond Age" by Neal
Stephenson...)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
AndyDiggle
DAYTIME - INTERIOR OF 2000AD EDITORIAL OFFICES. BISH-OP and the DIGGLE
DROID sit at their desks. The Diggle Droid wearily works his way through a
mound of unsolicited submissions piled up in his in-tray. Bish-op leafs
through one of the many science fiction reference books lying on his desk.
DIGGLE: Got a great idea here for a Future Shock, David. It's fresh,
it's funny, it's five pages long!
BISH-OP: Bin it, Andy. According to my Big Book of Science Fiction
Ideas here, it uses the same concept as an Alfred Bester short
story which once appeared in a 1953 issue of Astounding
Science Fiction.
Applying "yeah, but it's been done before" standards of wholesale
originality would rule out just about every Future Shock ever written.
In fact, it would rule out just about every strip ever published in
2000AD. They're called Tharg's Future Shocks, after all, not Tharg's
Completely Original Science Fiction High Concepts, and they're supposed
to be a fun cheesy read using lots of easily recognisable science fiction
staples in what are basically cheap'n'cheerful sting-in-the-tale stories.
With things like Future Shocks, the idea isn't the thing, it's what you do
with it, and I think this story really makes the grade as a fun
entertaining Future Shock idea. And I'm clearly not the only one, since I
believe that there is some serious editorial interest in actually
commissioning this one as a story. >>
ROTFLMAO!
What he said.
Michael Flynn
<jo...@widewinter.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:
>Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
>also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
>thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
>(1960).
>
>This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
>which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
>
Off the top of my head I can recall a cartoon very similar as well.
Transporter breaks down leaving an original and a copy of a man. They
argue about which one of them should be destroyed and end up killing
each other.
Michael Flynn
ICQ : #28313923
stx23
news:37d591c7...@news.indigo.ie...
funny, that's the episode of Star Trek that was on earlier, the 2 Rikers.
Mike Sivier
>Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
>also been done before.
Ah, who cares as long as it's fun?
--
Mike
Mike Sivier
>Paul J Holden wrote:
>> Ok, here's a simple piece, thought of it on the way home, (once again)
>> I'll make sure y'all know i'm *not* a writer (I'm a lover, baby :P)
><snip>
>That's a great little story, Paul! Turn it into a five page script and I'll
>definitely consider if for a Future Shock.
Could this be Paul Holden's debut in the Galaxy's Greatest? I'll be
cheering when it comes out.
--
Mike
Mike Sivier
>Applying "yeah, but it's been done before" standards of wholesale
>originality would rule out just about every Future Shock ever written.
>In fact, it would rule out just about every strip ever published in
>2000AD.
...
>With things like Future Shocks, the idea isn't the thing, it's what you do
>with it, and I think this story really makes the grade as a fun
>entertaining Future Shock idea. And I'm clearly not the only one, since I
>believe that there is some serious editorial interest in actually
>commissioning this one as a story.
I agree completely. But the discussion has led me to wonder, not where
but *when* we (those of us who are so minded) get our ideas (those
that we actually think are any good).
Mine come at about 2.30am, when *any* idea seems like a good one.
--
Mike
docs
Mike Sivier wrote in message
<936824698.6749.3...@news.demon.co.uk>...
>Ah, who cares as long as it's fun?
Well said. I've been through the same thing with music. Oooh that's the same
as something else, it's sacrilege!!
Our whole lives are repititions of other peoples lives. You want to shoot
all of us? Fun, yes, that's the whole point. Agreed there's a point where
plagiarism is bad, but where is it? Does not having read a particular book
mean you can't have the same idea? I've got a friend who plays guitar like
the ghost of Hendrix (he was actually born the day Jimi died) and he's
played stuff that I've said, 'hey that sounds like ***, and he'd say 'Who?'
There are a limited amount of basic concepts in stories, and a myriad of
variations. Stories like Slaine are based on the earliest known 'stories'.
The spirit of those stories lives on in many these days. In others, it
plainly does not. It's an energy, a 'songline' for Chopper fans. If it feels
good, then that's all that counts. Write it, publish it, if it's crap we'll
forget it. But just in case it's great, get it in there! That's all I have
to say on the originality debate!
Doug
Mek Quake
warbled on about "Thank you for travelling..." in a.c.2000ad <<=
> Yeah it is a great idea and I don't want to piss on anyone's parade but it's
> also been done before. The teleportation by cloning/matter transmission
> thru duplication idea is an old SF staple - see Algis Budrys's 'Rogue Moon'
> (1960).
Also featured in the old ZX Speccy Crash magazines of the 80's. A series
entitled Tamara Knight featured a hamburger company that also owned all the
teleporters used throughout the galaxy. What they never told the users was
that, upon 'teleportation', the old body was dropped through the bottom of
the teleport booth and turned into reconstituted hamburger for the local
outlet. I can't remember what the new bodies at the other end of the line
were made from though... The phrase, "Eat recycled food", comes to me from
the JD movie however...
> This info comes from 'The Science in Science Fiction' by Peter Nicholls
> which is essential reading for anyone who wants to write 'Future Shocks'.
Subtitled: "How not to tread on anyone's intellectual toes"?
--
Mek-Quake: Jet Set Willy for El Presidente!
SpaceGirl @ subhuman.net / cybergoth.net
designing pages, walking the cat (yes, don't ask) - but almost ALWAYS when
the last thing on my mind is writing. If I'm think about writing, then I
instantly become less creative.
M.
Mike Sivier <mi...@wurzzz.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:936824700.6749.4...@news.demon.co.uk...
Stam
SpaceGirl @ subhuman.net / cybergoth.net wrote:
> Ideas hit me when I least expect them. In the middle of a meeting, while
> designing pages, walking the cat (yes, don't ask) -
Sounds a bit suspect to me.
> but almost ALWAYS when
> the last thing on my mind is writing. If I'm think about writing, then I
> instantly become less creative.
>
Same here. And I occasionally get some interesting ideas from nightmares ...
in fact the fate of that bloke's arm from Devlin Waugh brings back the memory
of a nightmare of being stranded at the bottom of a swimming pool.
David Hutchins
Captain Klep
> Off the top of my head I can recall a cartoon very similar as well.
> Transporter breaks down leaving an original and a copy of a man. They
> argue about which one of them should be destroyed and end up killing
> each other.
>
He was a bank robber who got cloned and sent his double out to take
the fall for him.
Captain Klep