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After several "VR training missions" using The Fanfic Maker (found here: http://fanficmaker.com/), I plan to use "A new world a new life" for my first mission. It features a blatant disregard for grammar, a "prologe," and an overpowered "Master of Death" Harry Potter, who can kill ringwraiths with a wave of his hand.

It can be found here:
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11321942/1/A-new-world-a-new-life

Here's my randomly selected creative prompt. I rolled "One agent tries to convince another to help with some kind of business venture."

Scrounge

As bases of operations went, Response Center 9-unreadable-smudge wasn’t among the best. To be fair, it had floor space, but most of it was occupied. This occupying force was led by a vanguard of random trash with specialist support provided by the remains of shelves, and an armored division of broken machinery interspersed the ranks, as if to cow would-be cleaners into submission. On the edge of this cave of non-wonders was a small circle where the debris had been cleared, occupied by a human and a lizard-man. After a long silence, the human spoke:
“So.”
“So?” Replied the lizard-man.
“Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“Are we just gonna keep talking in circles like a couple of parrots, or are we gonna do something?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Alcohol. It’s the best bartering commodity we can feasibly get, and our key into this place’s informal power structure.”
“Hmm… Have you done this before, or are we going to poison our coworkers?”
“I learned how to do this years ago. We just need water, sugar, and yeast. I once did this with bread mold and ketchup.”
“That must be sheer murder on the humors.”
“Don’t worry, I’m never doing that again.”
“So how do we do this?”
“I think there’s a general store back there, you can probably get stuff there,” said the human. “I’ll try to find this alleged ‘console’ thing.”
“It’s your funeral.”
The lizard-man left, and several hours passed.
“I’m back!”
“Any luck?”
“Yeah, they had a very good deal on baking stuff. Also, I got a bottle of whiskey, ‘cause this seems like it’s gonna take a while.”

Here's my control prompt. I chose "we see both agents recruited." Once again thanks to hpoggie for being my beta.


Two Days

Colonel Caleb Bradbury, veteran of twenty years and uncounted battles, was having a very confusing day. He must have taken a wrong turn on the interstate, because now he was in some sort of idyllic countryside, and his preliminary scouting efforts had revealed a village home to what appeared to be well-dressed pygmies. Given that some of the houses appeared to be mostly underground, he did not discount the idea that he had landed in Matama, New Zealand, while the Fellowship Of the Ring was being filmed. Space-Time-and-The-Other tourism had taken him to stranger places, though the credibility of this as the destination of this particular detour was somewhat harmed by extreme realism of the area and the apparent lack of a camera crew.
But, of course, Bradbury had not risen through the ranks of the Argentine army by losing his head in unfamiliar situations. So, while he was confused, he didn’t show it. Instead, he occupied himself with concealing his vehicle. A television detector van, let alone one fitted with a Hydramatic drive, would cause some awkward questions in what could be a medieval society. This proved futile, as he had only the entrenching tool he had brought with him, and he was trying to hide a van. Instead, he unpacked his gear and made camp for the night. This consisted of hiding inside his overturned van and eating a protein bar. As both a soldier and a time tourist, he had gained the ability to sleep just about anywhere, so he quickly drifted off.
The next morning the Colonel awoke to a someone knocking on the door above him. He looked up to see one of the locals, and he unlocked the door. The humanoid quickly opened the door and climbed from the door frame into the van, using the seats as handholds. Bradbury thought briefly, unsure how to speak the locals, then said: “Hail and hello, kind sirrah. I bideth thee good tidings. Prithee, what bringest thou to mine cave of steel?” The creature pulled a notebook from one of his pockets, and began write. Bradbury could hear him mutter:
“Encountered extra-canonical humanoid… Seems to have caught sunstroke… In possession of high-value asset (currently damaged).”
“I assure you,” said Colonel Bradbury, “I am in full possession of all my faculties, except the faculty of the department of engineering, who could probably help me. But I digress. Perhaps you, in the absence of the faculty, could furnish aid?”
The man put away his notebook and looked at Bradbury as if he had just noticed him.
“Yes… I think we can come to some sort of deal. How about I take this wreck off your hands and get you out of here?”
“I accept this, but before we go, I have some questions. First: Where am I? Second: Why are you here? Third: How do we leave? And finally: Who are you?”
“Hobbiton; I was working on something unrelated; through a portal; and Allen I. Nirvana, department of Intelligence, PPC.”
“Excellent, let’s get out of here.”
“Tell me, are you interested in a job?”

Rasputin Gibbs lay in wait. Flashgun at the ready, he scanned the horizon for the shape of his target. Ever since the accident, this had been his life: the glitter-monsters were an affront to reality, so he killed them. It was simple, so it brought him comfort, and a creature in his situation needed a routine. As the thing came into view, he readied his weapon and prepared to make the kill. Then a teenager walked up to the thing that should not exist, and began to talk to it, getting in way of his shot. Gibbs held back. He didn’t kill people. As he waited, the kid finished talking, the monster said something, and then the kid killed it with a knife. Gibbs went to complement him on his work, but as Gibbs approached, the kid turned and spoke to him: “Rasputin Gibbs, you have been charged with making a nuisance and vigilante Sue killing. You are sentenced to conscription into the PPC. Look this way please.”
“Wait, wh-”

Thanks to hpoggie for beta-ing these. Part 1 is the bios for my agents:

Name: Colonel Caleb Bradbury

Species: Human

Age: 56

Sex: Male

Home Continuum: World 1.567 repeating, a minor alternate universe

Personality: Bradbury is what is known as a “character”. He has a strange ability to procure just about anything just about anywhere, and a related ability to establish himself as an authority figure even in situations totally unfamiliar to him.

Appearance: The colonel is a gaunt man, just shy of two meters tall. His head is very round, a feature accentuated by his rather severe buzz-cut. He has a short beard, skin on the brown side, and a generally weathered look. He is a good bit more athletic than one would expect of a man his age, thanks to the medical and cybernetic science of the 2050s.

History: In his many years he has been not just an officer in the Argentine army, but also a grave digger, stamp forger, purveyor of shoddy knockoff products, piano tuner, ticket scalper, blackjack dealer, and many other things.



Name: Rasputin Gibbs

Species: Draconian

Age: 24

Sex: Male

Home Continuum: World 1.963, the world that exists in certain conspiracy theories.

Personality: On some deep level, Gibbs wants to be in a Sergio Leone movie. He doesn’t speak much, he wears a stetson, and he seems terminally calm. His interest in cookery according to the Galenic theory is just a bonus. He uses Draconian expressions in his speech, such as the greeting “Bast Chauble” and the philosophical concept of going “even more unto Yark.”

Appearance: Gibbs is a seven foot tall reptilian humanoid with a hunched posture, dark green scales, and a nice set of fangs. He is rarely seen without his stetson, and his eyes hold a look of steely determination that took him years to perfect.

History: Gibbs spent many years working as a security guard in Dulce base, a joint human-draconian military base located under Archuelta Mesa. He held himself to a very high standard, and soon became known as one of the most capable officers on the security team. With this good mixture of skill and expendability, Gibbs was an ideal candidate to send on a test jaunt through the base’s new portal. He came unstuck in space and time, and learned of Sues, or as he called them reality-warping entities. When we meet him, he has several unlicensed Sue killings under his belt, and has consequently attracted the attention of the PPC.

There were a few instances of "the PPC HQ" that tripped my "this sounds off" sense, but maybe that's just me.

Second, how are people pronouncing the exclamation points?

Third, how'd Palmaira know that she might only have Nami's memories?

Overall, this was reasonably well written and a pretty good introduction interlude. It maybe could've used a bit more humor though.

- Tomash

I agree with the nomination.

P.S. A second chapter 3. Cheetahmen II on NES also had that.

I didn't intend to post this. It was only half done. There were more points I wanted to make. And it was extremely incoherent.

Ah well. Enjoy my awful rambles.

but there is still archive.is.

Links on pages for agents Laburnum, Foxglove, Stormsong and Skyfire are fixed, but there's a lot more to do.

HG

DISCLAIMER: As I write this, I am disorganized and tired. And sick. So this is opinion, and it might not be totally coherent.

Dragonseye is pretty good. It's full of fun stuff. Like trials for heinous crimes. And songs. And rocks. And a telekinetic bear, a dentist who harvests brains- wait, no, that's something else.

But really, it's got an engaging plot, likeable good guys, hateable bad guys, a decent pace, only a little creepy romance, cool paintings... y'know. Everything that makes a novel good.

Unfortunately for you all, a minor plot element overshadows all of that. For you see, Dragonseye is the first Pern novel to devote a meaningful amount of time to portraying a homosexual relationship (Between bluerider P'tero and greenrider M'leng). And I will take any excuse to discuss homosexual relationships in fiction. So here's a discussion of that thing.

Now, traditionally, Anne McCaffrey writes romance... badly. Not always awfully, but often badly. Strangely, it seems to be better here. Maybe that's because this is one of those relationships where she decided not to be creepy (there's other creepy romance to make up for it in this book). Maybe because the relationship is between two men (and as a side note... for how readily accepting Pern is of gay men being a thing, there sure aren't any lesbians. What's with that?) and as a result McCaffrey couldn't put in creepy gender role stereotypes (not that this has ever stopped other authors...). Maybe it's because despite my objections to the way she writes romance, she is genuinely competent, I read a lot of badfic, and the standards for homosexual romance, in my book, are just that low.

Regardless of the reason, it stands to note: Fic authors, numerous professional writers, and other people of that sort just got slaughtered in terms of romance by Anne freaking McCaffrey, in a book released in 1997. Not just romance, gay romance.

So, let's look at some common pitfalls in writing romance (some specific to homosexual romance, most... not so much), and maybe a bit about how Dragonseye avoids them, if I feel like it. Well... how Dragonseye avoids them here anyways. But that's a discussion for another time.

Make no mistake, this is self-indulgent nonsense. But maybe you'll derive some enjoyment from it.

1. Representation! Yaaay!: In a lot of professional works, there's been an urge of late to add representation for minority groups. This includes the LGBTQ people. And you know what? That's great. Talking more about people who aren't talked about is good. It can lead to interesting stories, and it can send powerful messages of acceptance. However, for the love of god, never write a character that blatantly exists solely for the purpose of representation. Firstly, you will get complaints from someone (and we'll get to why in a moment), but secondly... it just results in bland, boring, bad characters. If all we can remember about your character is that they're "the gay one", then that isn't a well conceived character. Nobody's gonna say, "Hmm... of all the interesting characters in this work, my favorite is the gay one I can't remember much about!" Speaking of which...



2. Being gay is not a personality trait: So. You've got a gay character. Actually, presumably you've got two. So how are you going to characterize them? A lot of people think this is more or less complicated than it really is. In order to do it properly, you have to make an actual character. You know, just like you normally do. Consider how them being gay effects their experience (depending on your setting and their personality, the answer might even be "not very much." If you're writing in a modern or semi-modern setting, however, it will probably have some impact and may be hanging over them like the Doom of Damocles, depending), sure, but as it turns out, gay people come in all shapes and sizes. All of them. Really.
   
   Also, this is just my thing, but... personally, please, don't give your gay character some kind of "stereotypical gay" personality, or at least have a good reason for doing so. This is partly because I feel like it proliferates the idea that gay people are fundamentally alike and that there is a "gay" personality... but mostly because I find all of these stereotypes to be incredibly annoying characters. But hey. If you've got
   
   Dragonseye deals with this part very very well. This might be a consequence of Anne McCaffrey's... fun... ideas about gender and sexuality (all greenriders are gay or female, no exceptions): On Pern, being gay just isn't special, so characters can't use it as a differentiator. And while McCaffrey isn't the greatest writer in the world, she can at least write reasonably distinct and memorable characters. And while the characters aren't the focus, and we don't see a lot of them, they do at least have defined personalities, which counts for a lot.


3. On Romance: A lot of people seem uncertain about how to write gay romance. I dunno why. It's a lot like straight romance, seemingly (although maybe don't ask the man who's never dated anyone ever...). So... yeah. There are dates. And affection. And people liking one another. Sometimes people argue. Y'know. normal relationship stuff. Except that the people involved are both men. Or women, because this applies to lesbians as well, I assume.
   
   So here's the cardinal rule: thou shalt not compromise a character's personality for romance. Seriously. Even i a character is dating, they are still that character. They should still be IC. No radical personality shifts, woobifying, or so on (unless there's story/character justification, obviously). They date the way they'd date a person. That means that the dynamic might be a bit different between two guys than between a guy and girl (or maybe not), but not so different as you might think. But speaking of radical personality shifts...



4. Relationship dynamics Oh jeez. I could devote an awful lot of time to this one.
   
   Okay, so I want you to help me conduct a simple experiment. Draw a pie chart. Fill in the percentage of time a couple spends doing things in bed. Now fill in he percentage of time a couple spends doing things not in bed. As you may notice, the second percentage is vastly higher than the first. Now, when one takes up so much more time than the other, kindly endeavor to justify why the one that takes up less time is the part that defines all aspects of how the couple interacts and relates to one another. Spoiler alert: you can't, because that's BS.
   
   Yes, it's the old "who wears the pants" nonsense. And it truly is nonsense. What happens in the bedroom does not define a relationship, much less the sum total of everything about a human being. Oddly, the perception that it does seems to have largely vanished when discussing straight people. Because if you start writing it, most people's kneejerk reaction is "that's sexist and utterly insane". Which it is!
   
   Real relationships are built on a variety of things. Good ones are probably built on trust and mutual respect. I've never been in one: who am I to talk? But what I do know is that most of it doesn't happen in the bedroom.

I'll have to add one more plug now. LeeandLie is a singer who specializes in adaptations to English of anime openings and endings, and make a wonderful job of it. She has also begun to do original songs as well.

Definitely set up the Wayback links for now, please. As long as we can still copy the content now, I can always set up new pages with those stories on my archive site later.

—doctorlit, regularly discouraged by vanished stories

My roommate showed me Clamavi De Profundis a while ago. Their musical style is pretty distinct, but if you're into that sort of thing it's absolutely brilliant. They do chants and laments and they do them beautifully, mostly in a lower register. Primarily their stuff comes from The Lord of the Rings but their informational video says they're inspired by fantasy literature so I'm hoping they'll branch out to other sources in the future. (They did recently release a cover of the Skyrim theme, which is always a good thing.)

My favorite English professor in college occasionally showed us a Thug Notes video in class so we could get the cliffnotes on a piece we weren't actually reading but helped to understand whatever we were discussing. I think we watched the one on Oedipus at some point, as well as a few others. It's a really good way to get the basics of the story along with a few themes without actually having to read it. I'd especially recommend that to literature students.

I signed in, at any rate, and got an 'access denied' page. It might be good if someone else checked as well, though, just to be sure.

~Z

The first to fourth mission in That Series are not available in RC 88. They may or may not be available on Livejournal; when I try to follow the links, I'm asked to login. Since I don't intend to create another useless account, will somebody who has a Livejournal account please tell me the status of these missions (Warning: all are NSFW):
http://chelonianmobile.livejournal.com/14673.html
http://chelonianmobile.livejournal.com/15298.html
http://chelonianmobile.livejournal.com/15471.html
http://chelonianmobile.livejournal.com/15623.html

Are they still available? May they be friends-locked? May login be required because these are Not For Kids?

I found unprotected archived pages on the Wayback Machine; should I link them anyway?

HG

There's this new YouTube channel that somehow has the most amazing production values, and they make videos where classic fictional characters retell their stories through the lyrics of modern music. It's quite clever, and very well done. They are . . . Unexpected Musicals!

—doctorlit, unexpectedly replying to his own post

His dog got hit by a car (which then zoomed off into the distance like a giant coward) and now has a fractured leg and so on.

His dog, who is a Good Boy, will most likely survive, but the medical costs are preeetty steep, and he doesn't really have enough money to cover it, so he's setting up a gofundme to try and get some assistance.

If you can support him, or maybe share this around with people who might support him, that'd be cool as hell.

short for Overly Sarcastic Productions. Their content mostly revolves around three series:

1) Miscellaneous Myths - which gives you a summary of various myths n legends

2) History / Literature Summarized - ...Pretty self-explanatory, I think

3) Trope Talks! - an analysis of more and less famous literary tropes.

I'm only casually acquainted with Warriors, and I'm well aware of it.