Temporal Theology
August 25, 2011 in Blogs
I would love to regale you with the story of having been awakened early and asked to call a doctor, and then spending the rest of the day until well after nightfall chasing medical appointments and tests–but I fear it is not my tale to tell, because I was not the patient, only the transportation. I was not at my computer at all until after eleven, and had a lot that could not not be done. In fact, I still do.
I did manage to take the printouts of the drafts for the next Examiner temporal anomalies series, and finish drafting what will be a seven-week run covering Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel, that is, the movie of that name. For today, I cleaned up an overly-long piece I drafted some time ago in response to a reader objection, a post vaguely suggesting that my time travel theories were an affront to the concept of a loving God. Since I believe in a loving God, Temporal theory and theology question from Hubert was an important, if long-delayed, response.
Yesterday was quite disrupted as well, but I did manage to catch up on reading Eric Ashley’s writings before being rushed to something else. Practise Bits:&nbps; Place describes a dreamlike, perhaps nightmarish, reality. In Practise Bits: Changeling, a verser both impersonates a more powerful verser and deifies him–an interesting treatment, and I can’t help wondering how the player whose character that was might react. Practise Bits: Trooper has a bit of fun with the protocols of interstellar war. Eric also posted, but did not write, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, a rather confusing poem by Rudyard Kipling which is referenced in the first of those articles.
That’s already more time than I can spare, so instead of speculating as to where the time goes I will go with it, to finish my tasks and get some sleep before tomorrow, a day on which I will have more temporal complications.
–M. J. Young
Tadeusz said on August 26, 2011
Place was inspired by Simon Green’s work, which is why the tabloid reporter was named Simon. Changeling…well, I really don’t trust CPS, and I too am curious to see what he would make of it. With Trooper, I was nearly falling asleep, as you can see from the repetitive paragraph about ‘Kevin’, and another error. I had so many weird ideas tossed into that setting that I got no action going. As to ‘Gods’, well, that poem played a major role in Place. I don’t wholly agree with it, but the tendency of airy follies to repeat themselves, and for hard reality to come back and smack the idiots in the face is a major part of human history.
I recently read some lady reporter from England bemoaning how she doesn’t have children, and she’s 39, and very talented, and ….ayup, the Gods of the Copybook Headings are limping up to her right now.
Tadeusz said on August 26, 2011
Also, I’m figuring to send Jhiaxus to one of Simon Green’s settings…and calling that place nightmarish and dreamlike would be accurate.
Its not so much that I set out to evoke dreamlike, but that I copied another writer who can. Which is something for us writers to keep in mind. Usually, I don’t do something like that so closely, but on occasion I’ll mimic another writer. Its a good learning technique.
Another thing Place was, it was a deconstruction of a famed anti-hero. I thought that I did that pretty well as you don’t want to do just one attack, or even one style of attack in such character assasination.
And fore all decry this, I’ve read Tolkien was trying to destroy Siegfried of Wagner with Aragorn, son of Arathorn. I think this is part of what a writer needs to do. Tear down wicked idols, and raise up true heroes.
Anyways, thanks for the comments.
M. J. Young said on August 26, 2011
“…I copied another writer who can. Which is something for us writers to keep in mind.”
I don’t remember the title, but one of the Game Ideas Unlimited articles commented on a statement made about composer John Williams by at least two film producers: you can play a piece for him, and he will write an original piece that has the same feeling. I’ve often wondered whether, for example, the music from Jaws was mimicking the finale of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, and whether if I knew what music he was trying to echo I could learn something about how he did it.
Nothing wrong with that.
–M. J. Young