Myth, the Universe, and Everything

It's true what they say about Kickstarters being crazymaking. I am vacillating between:



And this:



There are still three days to go and just over $500 left to raise (and another $350 would get the original books reedited and up in multiple formats). If you've been thinking about contributing, or want to send word around to others who will make it a reality, please drop by the Kickstarter and spread the word!

Luckily, I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy! I'm just finishing up a batch of obituaries from famous individuals who died in 2012. One was Roger Sherman, who wrote the songs from Mary Poppins and other Disney films -- including a movie I'd not thought of for years: The Gnome-Mobile. I don't remember anything about the plot, but I do remember the very catchy jingle, "The Gnome-Mobile, the Gnome-Mobile, we're riding along in the Gnome-Mobile. Sooner or later we feel that we'll find what we want in the Gnome-Mobile." (Lyrics are from memory; I've not Google checked to make sure that they're correct.)

I also get to write an obituary for Maurice Sendak, who I'm saving for last.

I'm also delighted to say that I'm signing a contract for my second Choice of Games project, just as soon as the printer cooperates. I'm extremely pleased to be working with those folks again, and I'm delighted to continue to increase the amount of my living that I'm making from writing games. As a high school friend once told me about my career: I'm living the dream!

I don't watch a lot of TV. We don't actually have television service, and I watch my current TV shows from my computer screen. We do have a Roku for our Netflix service and find it incredibly useful, and we've rented movies from Amazon that way as well. Recently, I gave HuluPlus a look, but since it carries only one of the three television shows I'm currently committed to (yes, TV is a relationship: I have an ongoing friendship with Castle and Leverage, and sadly a limited remaining time of my dedication to Eureka), we won't be continuing to use that service. While I have it, though, I thought I'd try out two new television programs on the big screen to see if they'll be worth following on the computer later on. I speak, of course, of Grimm and Once Upon a Time, two fairy tale spin offs of very different flavors. The fairy tale hook clearly appealed to me, but whether or not I'll be staying to see how they go depends very much on the shows themselves.

Of course, I'm not the only one to pay attention to their very close release schedules. Teresa Jusino over at Tor.com posted her response to the pair, which I intentionally didn't read before writing this. (However, most everything over at Tor.com is worth reading, so I'll blindly recommend going and comparing her notes to mine.)



Here's my assessment: Grimm is actually an urban fantasy in the UF Noir style (ala the Dresden Files and others) that uses fairy tale elements for its paranormal component. As it's made by some of the writers who were on the teams of Angel and Buffy, the similarities don't entirely surprise me: in some ways, the series strikes me as Buffy if the core audience being targeted were mid-career adults rather than teens and twenties. It's also a cop show, and I suspect it may end up feeling like a cop show with paranormal elements rather than a fantasy with cop show elements. I think that may work in its favor.

Once Upon a Time, on the other hand, is a fairy tale writ long. In the tradition of fairy tale retellings like Bill Willingham's Fables comics, Sondheim's Broadway musical Into the Woods, and (most recently) jimhines's Princess Quartet, Once Upon a Time takes the familiar stories and twists them, just a bit, recasting real fairy tale characters as unknowing modern-day humans, for whom time has stopped. The only one to know about the Curse that has brought them out of their fairy tale reality and into the real world is Henry, a little boy, who is the biological son of the destined hero (the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming), and the adoptive son of the Evil Queen. The hero herself, Emma Swan, is a tough girl loner who doesn't really believe in Henry's story, but finds herself drawn to the child. The cuts between the fairy tale backstory and the modern break-the-curse plot honor the romantic atmosphere of fairy tales -- and, thus far, aside from some off-stage cutting out of hearts, are doing it in a pretty tame way. Sure there's swordfighting and sorcerous battles, but it's not the sort of gritty and dark flavor that Fables and Into the Woods brought us. The fairy tale versions of the characters don't have anywhere near the depth they do in Jim Hines's books.



But that may be part of the point: while Grimm is, from the get go, down in the brutal side of those beloved and scary German folk tales, Once Upon a Time is Disneyfied, right through the use of the name Melificent for the wicked fairy who cursed Sleeping Beauty. Because the team of Once Upon a Time, was also part of the team on Lost, there is some worry that the fairy tale elements may end up being a lie after all -- but from some quick research on what the creators wanted to bring to the show, it doesn't sound like that's their intention. But while I think Grimm starts by knowing what it is, as a show, right from the very beginning (and, by virtue of the Monster/Villain-of-the-Week potential, could go on for seasons), Once Upon a Time launches its major plot in episode one, and that full plot arc needs to be resolved in the first season to feel like the story is going anywhere. The quest structure could work in its favor if they can raise the stakes for Season 2 -- or it could mean that the show has a one season maximum until we all get back to happily ever after.

It may sound like I'm being hard on Once Upon a Time here; I am being pretty critical, because it's a subgenre I'm invested in. But I'll definitely say that after watching two episodes (I've only seen the pilot of Grimm), I'm drawn in enough to keep watching, at least until the end of the season -- or however long it survives this season! I have a feeling that in the current TV climate, Grimm with its gritty appeal and its ambiguous morality will find its audience with no trouble at all -- and unless things get too scary for my fluffy-bunny-horror self, I'll be sticking with it.

Quick reminder: still a few hours left to enter this contest to win a copy of Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh!

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It's been awhile since we've done a guest blog here. (It's been awhile since we've had a regularly updated blog here. But be patient with me, dear readers, I'm still learning to be a writer-mother or a mother-writer; it will take some time.) This is actually courtesy of holmes_iv, since he's the one who gave me the sheet music a few weeks ago. He attended a Congregational church service at which they sand the hymn "We Limit Not the Truth of God," which was written by George Rawson in around 1835, but is based off of an address by spiritual leader John Robinson to the pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony. Robinson died in England, before the pilgrims set sail, but his words were recalled by governor Edward Winslow as the Mayflower set sail in 1646. He said: "...if God should reveal anything to us by any other instrument of his, to be as ready to receive it, as ever we were to receive any truth by his Ministry. For he was very confident the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his holy Word."

The idea here, of course, is that faith is emerging, that the understanding of God, religion, and spirituality can change as more is learned -- or revealed. New information should not be rejected because it is new, it should be considered, probably prayerfully. It seems like a wonderfully modern sentiment, but dates back all the way to the 1600s.

The following is Rawson's hymn adaptation of the teaching.

--

We limit not the truth of God to our poor reach of mind,
by notions of our day and sect, crude, partial and confined.
No let a new and better hope within our hearts be stirred:
The Lord hat yet more light and truth to break forth from The Word.

Darkling those faithful pilgrims went the first steps of the way;
'twas but the dawning yet to grow into the perfect day.
And grow it shall, our glorious sun more fervid rays afford:
The Lord hat yet more light and truth to break forth from The Word.

The valleys passed ascending still, our souls would higher climb,
and look down from supernal heights on all the bygone time.
Upward we press, the air is clear, and the sphere music heard:
The Lord hat yet more light and truth to break forth from The Word.

O God, we pray that thou wild send us increase from above,
enlarge, expand all Christian souls to comprehend thy love,
and make us to go on, to know with nobler powers conferred:
The Lord hat yet more light and truth to break forth from The Word.

The Google Alert has turned up something fun! Dane of War just posted a review of the Chronicles of Ramlar Soundtrack, The Dreaming, and Into the Reach got a mention!

First and foremost, the music is based on what appears within the pages of the game’s Core Rule Book and Alana Abbott’s novel – Into The Reach. Both are so rich in detail that inspiration literally oozed forth from the pages.

Now, I'm not sure if those are the words of Dane of War or if they're from composer Bryan K. Borgman, who wrote and performed the music on the album. Either way, it's very nice to hear. :)

In other random news, it is totally possible to overload on D&D if you are running a ten hour, two round expedition on Saturday and have to figure out something interesting to do with only half of your regular gaming group (instead of the adventure you planned) on Sunday. It is possible to have too much D&D in one weekend. Luckily, all the players I was hanging out with this weekend are awesome, and I had a really good time, though I ended up quite exhausted, and I'm glad I'm not gaming again until Saturday night.

Last thought of the day: I think asakiyume's guest blog may be my most commented on post ever. :)