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Commentary on The Wit and Wisdom of Captain Lio
14 years ago
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>>>>> Commentary on <<<<<
>>>>> The Wit And Wisdom <<<<<
>>>>> Of Captain Lio <<<<<
Kinda frowning about submitting this.
It's part of an unfinished project--hell, barely started--and a project that could
take a looong time to finish.
Should it be here? To raise expectations? Still, it does sort of stand on it's own.
Enough. And it's good.
So as they say in the news biz, run that sucker at six. Submit. Plink! It's up.
Now I can frown at the bigger things about the project. It does fire me up,
would love to chuck everything else and do this, but...
Let's be blunt: War and combat stories (and art) are something of a staple here.
Furry people, killing each other, that's what we like to see. Is another one from
me really needed? Which this project is?
That's not cynicism, BTW, since there are a lot of *good* fur war and combat stories
around here. The rest frequently have the virtue of enthusiasm. And often, good
grouping.
Can a lot of it be traced to gaming? Sure. No sin, no foul. War, even
vicarious war, grabs at our imaginations, and hard. There is a warrior in all of
us, male or female. And every basic training DI ever born knows exactly where
it is and how to let it out.
With regrets to Buffy St. Marie, we won't be putting an end to war any time soon.
We're all the universal soldier. Damn it.
And oh yes, this topic has been dealt with in abundance on FA. So much so that
there will be instant hoots of 'Derivative! Derivative!' when/if the project gets done.
Throw da bum to the copyright lawyers! <Shriek!> No! Not the lawyers!! <Snarl!
Gnash! Chomp! Chew!>. :- ) Inevitable, inevitable.
That's not a concern to me. I'll even be up-front about it. The honest writer
ought to acknowledge where the inspiration came from, reveal the sources,
give credit where due. So I shall.
Heck, that's what the dedication page is for: 'This book is for Wossisname whose
work I totally ripped off... I mean whose work I gratefully recognize and pay
homage to, yeah, that's what I meant to say.' Grrrr, mutter the lawyers. :- )
Of course, the writer I'm kinda cribbing from isn't likely to be upset. At the
very least, he's not on FA.
He's only been dead for about 2,500 years. Give or take.
(War story? 2,500 years? The ears on every English major in the room just went
Poing!)
Or was Homer a 'he?' I recall reading there are some minor questions about
that, which can't possibly be answered. He or she, writers from Ancient Greece
didn't conveniently tack their bio onto the last scroll. Who Homer was is still a
mystery in many respects.
But not what got written: The most famous and most-cribbed-from war story in
history (The Illiad), and also the most famous *post-war* story (The Odyssey).
And the instant Captain Lio and her crew landed between my ears, POING!! Up they
went through the ceiling. I knew what kind of story I had here. And it's big. Very big.
I had thirty rough chapter outlines done inside of two hours. Then passed out just
before I put my head through the screen of my laptop (again).
I mentioned the gender thing there because that was the *next* thing to land
on me. The status of women in Ancient Greece was a feminist's nightmare in
most respects, in some ways a bare cut above slaves. Home and children were
places of female power, but they had nothing, repeat nothing, to do with the military, \
which just happened to be the ultimate most important thing in all Greek societies.
(But a woman of rank would have had the free time to gain literacy, do research, and
create. Beyond that the arguments looked weak, but still.)
So I now propose to take The Odyssey, slap on fur 'n tails 'n muzzles, take away
the boat, *AND* completely flip the genders in the story.
Izzat what I'm going to do? Puts Glock to right ear, works action, closes eyes and
pulls trigger, and.... <BANG!!>
(That's funny, it went straight through :- ) ).
I *should* eat a bullet for dreaming this one up. Honkingly enormously ambitious idea.
What, somebody been slipping arrogant pills into my coffee? That I think I can do
this? In principle a fur replay of the Odyssey could appeal to a fur readership,
but done badly? Noooo...
It's also worth noting that one reason why we remember Homer's work is because
it was substantially militarily accurate. He wrote for a contemporary audience who
damn well knew their battle stuff. Homer couldn't fudge it.
Ditto here. Many people in the fur community know their combat inside out
and backwards, virtual, contemporary, or historical. Some have seen service and
perhaps even held platoon-level command. (Yes, I would like to talk you).
And everybody's quite familiar with the sword-and-sorcery genre, knows it when
they see it, and know it when a writer has fubared it up (military acronym there;
Google it if you need to).
This is going to have to be one of the most excruciatingly accurate fur military
stories ever written or I'm pet chow.
Homer had it easy. The lucky bastard.
I can't wait to get at it.
July 10/ 2011.
>>>>> The Wit And Wisdom <<<<<
>>>>> Of Captain Lio <<<<<
Kinda frowning about submitting this.
It's part of an unfinished project--hell, barely started--and a project that could
take a looong time to finish.
Should it be here? To raise expectations? Still, it does sort of stand on it's own.
Enough. And it's good.
So as they say in the news biz, run that sucker at six. Submit. Plink! It's up.
Now I can frown at the bigger things about the project. It does fire me up,
would love to chuck everything else and do this, but...
Let's be blunt: War and combat stories (and art) are something of a staple here.
Furry people, killing each other, that's what we like to see. Is another one from
me really needed? Which this project is?
That's not cynicism, BTW, since there are a lot of *good* fur war and combat stories
around here. The rest frequently have the virtue of enthusiasm. And often, good
grouping.
Can a lot of it be traced to gaming? Sure. No sin, no foul. War, even
vicarious war, grabs at our imaginations, and hard. There is a warrior in all of
us, male or female. And every basic training DI ever born knows exactly where
it is and how to let it out.
With regrets to Buffy St. Marie, we won't be putting an end to war any time soon.
We're all the universal soldier. Damn it.
And oh yes, this topic has been dealt with in abundance on FA. So much so that
there will be instant hoots of 'Derivative! Derivative!' when/if the project gets done.
Throw da bum to the copyright lawyers! <Shriek!> No! Not the lawyers!! <Snarl!
Gnash! Chomp! Chew!>. :- ) Inevitable, inevitable.
That's not a concern to me. I'll even be up-front about it. The honest writer
ought to acknowledge where the inspiration came from, reveal the sources,
give credit where due. So I shall.
Heck, that's what the dedication page is for: 'This book is for Wossisname whose
work I totally ripped off... I mean whose work I gratefully recognize and pay
homage to, yeah, that's what I meant to say.' Grrrr, mutter the lawyers. :- )
Of course, the writer I'm kinda cribbing from isn't likely to be upset. At the
very least, he's not on FA.
He's only been dead for about 2,500 years. Give or take.
(War story? 2,500 years? The ears on every English major in the room just went
Poing!)
Or was Homer a 'he?' I recall reading there are some minor questions about
that, which can't possibly be answered. He or she, writers from Ancient Greece
didn't conveniently tack their bio onto the last scroll. Who Homer was is still a
mystery in many respects.
But not what got written: The most famous and most-cribbed-from war story in
history (The Illiad), and also the most famous *post-war* story (The Odyssey).
And the instant Captain Lio and her crew landed between my ears, POING!! Up they
went through the ceiling. I knew what kind of story I had here. And it's big. Very big.
I had thirty rough chapter outlines done inside of two hours. Then passed out just
before I put my head through the screen of my laptop (again).
I mentioned the gender thing there because that was the *next* thing to land
on me. The status of women in Ancient Greece was a feminist's nightmare in
most respects, in some ways a bare cut above slaves. Home and children were
places of female power, but they had nothing, repeat nothing, to do with the military, \
which just happened to be the ultimate most important thing in all Greek societies.
(But a woman of rank would have had the free time to gain literacy, do research, and
create. Beyond that the arguments looked weak, but still.)
So I now propose to take The Odyssey, slap on fur 'n tails 'n muzzles, take away
the boat, *AND* completely flip the genders in the story.
Izzat what I'm going to do? Puts Glock to right ear, works action, closes eyes and
pulls trigger, and.... <BANG!!>
(That's funny, it went straight through :- ) ).
I *should* eat a bullet for dreaming this one up. Honkingly enormously ambitious idea.
What, somebody been slipping arrogant pills into my coffee? That I think I can do
this? In principle a fur replay of the Odyssey could appeal to a fur readership,
but done badly? Noooo...
It's also worth noting that one reason why we remember Homer's work is because
it was substantially militarily accurate. He wrote for a contemporary audience who
damn well knew their battle stuff. Homer couldn't fudge it.
Ditto here. Many people in the fur community know their combat inside out
and backwards, virtual, contemporary, or historical. Some have seen service and
perhaps even held platoon-level command. (Yes, I would like to talk you).
And everybody's quite familiar with the sword-and-sorcery genre, knows it when
they see it, and know it when a writer has fubared it up (military acronym there;
Google it if you need to).
This is going to have to be one of the most excruciatingly accurate fur military
stories ever written or I'm pet chow.
Homer had it easy. The lucky bastard.
I can't wait to get at it.
July 10/ 2011.
