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What I’m writing, that is to say, the book I am writing (and what it is, too) is what will be written by me and read by you. Other than that, you may have another theory, but regarding a sequel, that theory (and what it is, too) remains…unconfirmed.
Sincerely,
An Elk
Ooo!
Ann Elk (brackets Miss brackets)
There’s always room for Python.
I can’t play with all the cool toys (and we intentionally pulled some toys out of the Omega/Alpha toy box to play wth later on, sometimes by other authors). Hopefully, next year we’ll have more news on this front.
Interesting that Omega and Alpha didn’t address the Space Brain…wouldn’t you think?
I’ll bet there’s a reason for that…
By the way, for those who like a good mystery…there’s a nod to Howard’s radio show somewhere in “Space:1999 Alpha” — there’s an autographed copy of the book for the first person who finds it (whose last name isn’t Merkel, Margolin, or Latosa) who reports it on this site…
Intentional or not?
[spoiler]If you think about it, motherhood and fatherhood are major issues in Omega and Alpha. While the fatherhood issues are conscious, since much of the story comes from Koenig’s perspective, the motherhood issues are by design a little bit more subliminal (partly because JK’s mother issues have been the thorn in his side and we as readers had to found out about it as Koenig did). Susurra is definitely a mother-like character, and if you think about it, Eroca and Koenig both have very similar experiences in the “maternal betrayal” department. There are many character parallels in Omega and Alpha. I’m a big movie score buff. The concept of the leitmotif in music (think “Peter and the Wolf”) where characters have their theme music filtered into my writing years ago, and I love playing with parallel melodies where the melody in one character can be paralleled in another, but at some point will deviate, making their differences come into stark contrast. Koenig and Eroca have similar character arcs, but Eroca leaves her people while Koenig stays with his. They come to very different decisions from their moment of disillusionment, but if you think about it, Koenig’s mother issues happened years before — Eroca’s happened during Alpha.
To answer the question, was it intentional — did I say to myself that I wanted Susurra and Helena to be parallel characters (if I’m answering the right question)? Probably not — but I knew that both Helena and Susurra were maternal characters and both of them were withholding parts of themselves, or hiding parts of themselves. Their inability to be open to the universe was happening in separate plot threads, so chances are, this was total luck. I think that’s what struck me about Pat’s analysis — I was reading about Helena and thought — hey, that could be Susurra, too. Which made for a cool experience for this author. A lot of times, I’m learning about these books from you.[/spoiler]
Epilogue in Alpha you say? I’m guessing you mean the part not written by our favorite professor.
[spoiler]At the very beginning of Alpha is a somewhat obscure nod to 2001 — on primitive people hearing voices, providing soothing sleep…making them “rested”. So the epilogue ties that up, coming not long after a closeup of a baby, another obscure nod to 2001 at the end of the novel.
The unanswered question of how the Atherian Rift was contained, along with a link back to how the MUFs actually communicated with people (when they weren’t using dead Alphans), and you ultimately get a very un-MUFlike dialogue that ultimately reveals MUFs, two of them, who finally discovered intimacy. The close connection — that’s what both books are all about. Bridging the distances, bridging the boundaries. Susurra couldn’t do it, BadMike had no interest in doing it, and GoodMike finally found intimacy with human beings (perhaps permanently…). But the two MUFs holding the Atherican Rift together — they found intimacy with each other.[/spoiler]
One reader writes…
[spoiler]”The bad part about having an iron grip on things is that if you don’t prevent them from rusting, they are frozen in place. Shutting out bad feelings or putting up a wall to prevent from being hurt will eventually lead to the good feelings being shut out. I was going to write that you can’t get your head chopped off if you don’t stick your neck out. However – this is not true. She doesn’t stick her neck out, emotionally, at least as she allows others to see, and yet she still gets hurt. At the same time, though, she deprives herself of the small rewards she talks with Koenig about. ”
I’ve gotta say at this point that one of the great pleasures of having worked on these Space:1999 books is the amazing insight into my work that many readers have offered over the years, and PatS is almost psychic in that department.
Without going into much here (that’s the job of the readers!), I did want to jump in and comment on the brief passage from Pat’s analysis quoted above just because I find one thing really interesting. The observation above, primarily about Helena Russell, might just as well be describing Susurra. Poor Susurra chose safety a long, long time ago. Susurra had a false intimacy with the Leira, was “herself” a false self. She had no genuine loyalty to the Leira. And “she” denied herself a meaningful existence — she was so close to being content in our universe, but could never truly embrace her new home — she was locked in the past. She is probably the most tragic of the MUFs, hedging her bets, getting her “narcissistic supply” as it were, but couldn’t really be alive.
Helena’s got some issues. But Susurra is a representation of those issues taken out to the furthest extreme, the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. At least to this reader. She is the opposite of the Alphans — while she adapted a long time ago to hide, her adaptation ended there. The Alphans are still growing, still becoming who they are. Susurra couldn’t do that.[/spoiler]
I’m planning on wrapping up the Omega Diary soon (I always promised a final post) — for anyone who wants their questions answered in that final post, get them in soon. You can post them here or you can submit them through http://www.williamlatham.net.
By the way, had a great conversation with Ellen Lindow this past week — sounds like her anticipated Prodigal Moon contribution will be worth the wait!
On the technology front…
When I’m writing Space:1999 stuff, the general rule of thumb I go with is…well, did it exist in 1999? The Alphans clearly had more advanced technology in their 1999 than we did in ours — I generally try not to push the envelope too much on the technology beyond what WE had in 1999, but I also keep in mind that the 1970s view of what things would be like in 1999 didn’t exactly hit the mark (Victor Bergman’s anti-matter device being a good example).
What worries me more is pop culture references — if the Alphans start talking about Silly Bandz, it would take me right out of the moment. The closest thing to a pop culture reference I’ve made is a reference to chainsaws in Resurrection — clearly, John Koenig saw him some Tobe Hooper, but that was in the 1970s, so it’s fair game.
Of course, classic literature references are fair game. Moby Dick in Resurrection, for example. But the real reason for a reference to Moby Dick? Next time you’re watching a certain movie where somebody named Chekov puts his hand on a belt that says Botany Bay, check out the books (and listen to some of the bad guy’s dialogue — Moby Dick is a classic story of revenge!).
BL
“Brackets…Mr…Brackets”
Barry Morse is no longer with us.
But he is.
And probably always will be.
I don’t know how many people out there are audio book fans. Some narrators are better than others. In particular, I’m very fond of the Lord of the Rings books as read by Rob Inglis – he not only did a great job of reading the books but he also performed Tolkien’s songs. It’s one of those rare cases where the audio book is just a little better than the book by itself.
And that’s exactly what Barry Morse did with Resurrection. He took it to a new place. He didn’t just read it – he performed it. I heard much of the dialogue in the book in Barry’s voice while I was writing it, but even I was surprised a lot of times by how he phrased things, how he brought deeper meanings, deeper emotions to the words.
When I read bedtime stories to my daughter, there’s a certain tone I hear in my own voice that’s “story-telling voice” – it’s perhaps a little more expressive than my normal conversational voice. And while I’ll try to change my voice for the characters, it’s not the same thing as Barry Morse does in the audio book. He finds the dramatic heart of each character – Balor’s rage, Helena’s sad determination, and Koenig’s descent into madness and then his own determination to make amends. It always reminds me of the difference between merely saying words and acting.
This audio book is in many ways Barry’s toast to us. Hearing Victor Bergman and Barry living again, resurrected if you will, it’s one more flick of the cigar at the end of “Black Sun”. My toast to Barry?
“Bergman, Tony. Victor Bergman. Remember? I…used to live here.”
And you always will.
[spoiler]As a general rule — if it helps the Alphans, it’s BadMike, if it hurts the Alphans, it’s GoodMike. As a further branch, however, if you don’t have Helena, you don’t have Robert — BadMike’s all about having Robert around. However, never forget the Space Brain was NOT addressed in Omega/Alpha — it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that there’s something else out there messing with everything and everyone…including the MUFs.[/spoiler]
Just to aid in this effort, in your profile for the forum, you can include your location — let people know where you are!
Don’t worry, Zack — as much as everybody’s input is important, part of “stewardship” is knowing how to maintain a balance of mystery and anticipation.
One of the more enjoyable parts of Year Three (if anybody’s noticed) is related to some of Pat’s observations — for most people, Space:1999 has evolved with them, as they’ve come to know the world as teenagers, then adults, and now…ahem…older adults. While there are still science fiction threats that the Alphans are facing in Year Three, they’re also dealing with very grown-up problems — parenthood issues, resolving often complex relationship issues (and not just with the folks on Alpha), issues of mortality, even mid-life crises. We know teenagers probably aren’t reading these books — so we’re often inserting conflicts that would be of interest to people who are approaching middle age. As much as the franchise has been tweaked a time or two over the last few books, Year Three is pretty much established, now (although many things can, and will, happen before MFMA). But we’re not finished with Years One and Two, yet.
The last three novels have established a milestone of sorts between the end of Year Two and MFMA — a solid plateau on which to build new stories, now with all of the best tools at our disposal (or at least our favorite tools). Getting us to this new plateau has taken years. At the same time, we’ve tried to get everyone to expect the unexpected. This old show can still surprise people! It still has power!
It also still has mystery — and we’re not finished adding to that just yet. In many ways, our goal hasn’t been to provide answers — it’s been to get people to start asking questions again instead of recasting the show with modern actors. And you know what? We’ve succeeded.
