8FOLD/ACRA: Orphans of Mars: To Bell The Cat # 3

Andrew Perron pwerdna at gmail.com
Wed Jun 18 18:14:52 PDT 2014


On 6/10/2014 8:29 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
> On Monday, June 9, 2014 8:04:53 PM UTC-4, Andrew Perron wrote:
>> On 6/5/2014 8:12 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
>>
>> <snip>
>>   >     Petara smiles, and as is ever the case with the apostate and
>>   > spymaster, Nerrine cannot tell if the smile is meant to be insolent,
>>   > or if that's just the way Petara's face always looks.
>>
>> It's me! <3
>
> Petara is certainly more... modern than some of her fellow Daughters, and
> that's intentional-- someone to snark at all the oaths sworn upon blades
> and "I invoke the ancient rites". A kind of a viewpoint character for
> today's reader if you will, though I've yet to actually make her a viewpoint
> character. Other than the whole spymaster thing, she's pretty much the
> Martin version of a hipster.

Ah, interesting. A necessary thing, I think, for this story.

>>   >     "They, they knew?" says Nerrine. "Our sisters of battle. We took
>>   > the White City for them, and... and they sent us here, to die?"
>> <snip>
>>   >     "Nerrine... who do you think it is that created the bomb?"
>>
>> Ohhhhhhh. o.o Good twists.
 >
 > Thanks! I've been sitting on these since 2010 when I first started planning
 > the series. I almost worked it into the previous miniseries, but I thought
 > it better to wait as it'd have more impact once we had some more stories
 > under my belt.

Makes sense.

>>   >     Ress pulls at the bracelet and lets it snap against her wrist. And
>>   > in that moment, it occurs to her that here there is a way by which she
>>   > can both eliminate Nerrine, and elevate her sister to possible
>>   > Imperatrix material. "It's a pity, isn't it, that you couldn't make
>>   > one for the rex?"
>>
>> Hmmmmm. I see how this accomplishes the latter goal, but the former...
>
> Ress works in mysterious ways. :-D
>
> More on this in the next issue, I promise.

Very good. <3

>>   >     "Then why don't you?" says Ress.
>>   >     Kellin hesitates, then leans forward. Her lips lightly and chastely
>>   > brush against her sister's. Then she withdraws, looking slightly ill.
>>   > Looking guilty. Kellin has always looked guilty, even before that last
>>   > night on Mars, and Ress still has never known why.
>>
>> Interesting that they still have an incest taboo when sterile, but then, I'm
>> sure they picked it up from the culture around them.
>
 > Yes, one of the core themes of the Orphans stories is that they don't
 > really have their own culture, and must decide how much of their heritage
 > to keep. What really *matters*?

That is an excellent and relevant theme. <3

 > Touching on Kellin always looking guilty (even before their incestuous
 > fling on Mars), and Ress not knowing why, this of course is a reference to
 > the world-destroying iron oxide bomb.

Ahhhh, right right.

>>   > That means Fenn has to stop
>>   > thinking about sex."
>>   >     "What!" cries Fenn.
>>
>> *snerk*
>
 > One of the reasons why I like Fenn is that she has a healthy libido.
 > Really, any one of the Daughters who has anything that can qualify as
 > "healthy" is okay in my book.

Indeed. ``;;;

>>   >     "No," says Lask. "Its emotions do not tickle like a Martian's. It
>>   > is unfamiliar."
>>   >     "Faint and strange," says Danalee. "Do you think...?"
>>   >     "Venus?" says Quasha. Even she shudders at the thought.
>>
>> Man that's a lot of life in one solar system. I approve.
>
> Well... more on that, not in our next issue, but the issue after. August, why must you be so far away?

Gives me more time to work on the stuff I've got to get done by then. @-@

>>   >     "Stay alive, Quasha, thou wonderful simpleton," whispers Danalee.
>>   > She squeezes in between the fan blades, stopping only for a moment
>>   > when she hears the explosion at the front. Goddess, bless Quasha with
>>   > good sense for once in her life, so that she stood clear of that.
>>
>> Awwwwwwww. <3
>
 > It's important to me as the series progresses that at last some of the
 > characters, y'know, *care* about each other beyond their capacity as human
 > shields, back-watching, etc. Danalee's friendship with Quasha, Kellin's
 > affection for her sister, etc.

That was one of the things that made it hard for me to get into it early on, 
and I'm glad it's been on the rise. <3

 > The friendship between Quasha and Danalee is also based, at least in part,
 > on that between Farfhd and the Gray Mouser (though both barbarian and
 > cutthroat are very different people than those luminaries). I've even
 > borrowed/appropriated Lieber's nickname for the two together, "The Twain".

Awwwwwwwwwwww! <3 <3 <3

>>   >    It's been a good long while since she had occasion to do this; the
>>   > raptors, for all their cunning, have yet to master the twin arts of
>>   > carpentry and machinery.
>>
>> They can open doors, tho.
>
> Not these raptors. :-D

All raptors can open doors, that is a *science*

Andrew "NO .SIG MAN" "Juan" Perron, can't argue with a science


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