...and here I am blogging. Figures, no?

The count so far is four obituaries left and three short essays, but at this point I've gone through all the research and made notes. In theory, this should make the work go faster. In practice, well, I'm blogging. Which is not getting work done.

I did get a good bit of reading done yesterday, getting me closer to finishing at least one of the three reviews left.

The scanning project... well, I may decide to bring it with me. There are quiet evenings on the trip. Last year, I edited the first quarter of Regaining Home on a computer that has since died--so all of my edits have vanished, though I still have the original work from Shawn. Now, a year later, I suspect I'll make different changes anyway.

My edits on "Don't Let Go" are about half-complete as well. Dylan (eyezofwolf) was great at getting the edits back to me nearly immediately. His changes will make the story better, which is the thing I love most about the editing process. It's like putting rocks through a tumbler--they're prettier when they come out. (There are a few rare exceptions, and I suppose that might be true of the editorial process as well.)

Despite all that stuff still on my to-do list, it was great going back to campus yesterday and seeing people I've traveled with or shared meals with (and one classmate of mine who is finally a graduate) receive their degrees. It was an absolutely beautiful day for it (unlike my own graduation, which was rainy and cold), and I actually got sunburn on my face from being out in the sun for several hours. (The sunburn isn't fun, of course, but spending that much time in sunshine is certainly lifting to the spirits!) Which reminds me that I still need to pack the sunscreen for my trip.

Back in 2005, I had the opportunity to go out to Los Angeles to see the premiere of Serenity in the land of glamor and fabulousness. Being neither particularly glamorous or fabulous, the event was in some ways overwhelming. But the best part about going was getting to hang out with the friends I already knew (first reader Arielle was the one who got me a ticket), friends I'd only met before at conventions (the whole Margaret Weis Productions team was there, and the lovely Renae Chambers was showing off her back-of-the-neck Serenity logo tattoo, which impressed upon me how much those folks were devoted to the cause), and friends I was meeting for the first time. Arielle's friend, waywardbound, introduced me to a pal of his who had recently released her first book. That was the first time I met Shanna Swendson (shanna_s)--and without that meeting I don't know if I ever would have discovered her wonderful books. So, officially--thanks waywardbound!

Shanna is now on the fourth book of her Katie Chandler series, and the adventures just keep getting better. Don't Hex with Texas is already getting great reviews all over the web, and the sales are reflecting the true appeal that comes from mixing fairy tales with modern life. Shanna was kind enough to write a guest blog on how she uses elements from fairy tales to hit home with modern readers. Thanks Shanna!

--

I've often thought that fairy tale characters have it easy. Okay, so they do often end up persecuted by wicked stepparents or endangered by giants, but they also have opportunities the rest of us don't get. We don't have fairy godmothers to show up and make things better, and kissing frogs never really turns them into handsome princes. I have often wondered what would happen if you took some of those fairy tale conventions and put them into the modern world, and I get to play with that concept in my series of modern-day fairy tale novels.

For instance, that frog-kissing thing. I don't know how many times I've heard that saying about how you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince. I do know that it's what people always seem to say to me to console me after a bad date or relationship break-up or to encourage me to accept a blind date I'm lukewarm about. But what if it really were true that you might meet a prince if you were willing to kiss a few frogs along the way? In a New York where magic works, you might find magical people picking up real frogs in the park instead of picking up figurative frogs in singles bars. At least if a real frog doesn't turn out to be a prince, you don't have to worry about him getting the wrong idea and turning into a stalker. It is interesting to note that in the original frog prince/king fairy tales, the princess doesn't just kiss the frog and get a prince. Usually she has to go through some humiliation first, like letting him eat from her plate in public, allowing him to sleep on her pillow and sometimes even marrying the frog before he clues her in to the fact that he's a prince. That certainly parallels modern dating. Then there's the version where the princess throws the frog against the wall before she learns he's a prince. I'm not sure what message there is in that, but I'll admit that I've been on dates where that sounded like a good way of dealing with the situation.

I don't know how many times I've uttered the lament, "What I really need is a fairy godmother!" Dating would be so much easier if I had someone to help me get into the right situation to meet Prince Charming. Then again, when I think of the various would-be fairy godmothers in my life and all the really, really awful blind dates I've been on -- the ones where, when I meet the men who are supposedly perfect for me, I can't help but wonder what my friends really think about me -- it's probably best that none of them have magical powers. It's bad enough when they have telephones and e-mail that allow them to meddle. So, I inflicted a magical fairy godmother on my heroine to see what would happen if one of those inept but well-meaning matchmakers did have magical powers to interfere in her love life.

Fairy tales and folklore have a lot of other topics that are fun to play with in the modern world. Cinderella knew long before Manolo Blahnik that the right pair of shoes really can change your life. Ogres and trolls are bad enough when they just impede your progress through the enchanted forest or stop you at a bridge, but what if one is your boss? Does spending time as an enchanted frog result in post-traumatic stress? Is that bum begging for coins really a powerful enchanter in disguise who might one day turn up to help you in your hour of need? And isn't a skyscraper just another kind of beanstalk?

The extremely awesome stargatedragon recently published the Chinese Zodiac info I was looking for--only with more story! (The personality types start at the end of page two, but the myth of the zodiac itself is well worth the read.)

In other news, I am making progress on my work. I turned in a review to SLJ today, have written several of the obituaries, and wrote a blurb on a forthcoming book (which was incredibly exciting for me, as the blurb was for an author whose work I very much admire). More work will be accomplished tomorrow.

And now, just for grins and giggles: ( Who comments the most on this journal? )

While I am not a big believer in astrology, I will often use astrological signs as information for my characters (or will choose a birthday for a character, when relevant, by which sign most fits their personality). This came to me as an e-mail forward recently (I've deleted the bad-luck clause that comes from not forwarding this on to all of your nearest and dearest). Despite its forward type flaws, I liked the descriptions, and thought I'd share them, in case anyone else uses personality-types-by-astrology in their writing.

If anyone has one of these based on the Chinese Zodiac as well, I'd love to see it. ;)

( Signs behind the cut )

Here's my wish of the day: I wish that my deadline sense would kick in and realize that I've only got seven days until I leave the country, and that this would be reflected by a high level of motivation and accomplishment.

What's your wish of the day?

Today is probably the busiest Monday I've had in awhile: from work to a lunch date to picking up the clothes I'll need for the Greece and Turkey trip (I've lost two or three blouses since then, and having something lightweight with sleeves makes visiting Turkish mosques easier). This means I've not yet gotten any work done, but I may yet accomplish something toward those deadlines I mentioned by the end of the day.

In the meantime, here's a photo of my lunch date. I had a fabulous time with jenlyn_b and amanda_marrone, being regaled with tales of everything from puppy raising (not a good idea while writing a novel under deadline) and being chased by monkeys (not a good idea in general).



Here's us! I started out standing in the middle, but I looked *incredibly* short that way, so we shuffled around a bit.

After lunch, I went to Wal-Mart to get some supplies for traveling and also to do a little bit of reconnaissance--jenlyn_b said she'd heard rumors of the Squad appearing on Wal-Mart shelves. Alas, I didn't see them (sorry Jen!), but I did find two other lj-ers:



Look! It's rkvincent's Rogue and One Foot in the Grave by frost_light! I have now happily joined the ranks of writers who take pictures of their blog-buddies' books in stores.

And now... to start making headway against those projects...

My main character is now twelfth level. Huzzah! We had a great fun weekend, with an official RPGA mod, a tailor-made DM's Mark, and outdoor cooking on the grill. We even started one of our games out in the back yard. How can that not be fun? (We didn't even lose any dice outside, which is the real challenge to backyard D&D.)

In other news, I got the trip itinerary for Greece and Turkey today, so the countdown can officially start. Here's what I have outstanding before I leave:

1) I have the rough of "Don't Let Go" out with Dylan (eyezofwolf). I don't know if edits will actually happen on that before I go or not.
2) I have an edited version of "The Best Things Get Better with Age," my contribution to Serenity Adventures, out with Jamie Chambers. I don't know if I'll be getting any more edits back on *that* or not, either.
3) I have three essays and eight obituaries to write.
4) I have a scanning project that I had fully intended to get done before I left.
5) I was hoping to actually do some comic writing before I left, in case C&AII possibly comes off hiatus while I'm gone.
6) I've been asked to finish two more reviews for flamesrising and two for School Library Journal.

There are some other incidentals (like following up on contracts, etc.). But really? That's a lot to get done by the 20th. Along with plans to get together with friends (including lunch/coffee with jenlyn_b and amanda_marrone tomorrow--so excited!) and attending graduation at Simon's Rock on Saturday to see some friends get their shiny new pieces of paper that kick them out of being undergrads, I'll be cutting it close. Eight days left. Wish me luck!

Quick link, via Julia:

The Get Out Clause, a Manchester band, recently used the cameras on every street corner to their advantage, collecting the footage under the Freedom of Information Act in the UK. The results are particularly awesome. The Telegraph has the video footage and details of their production. More of their music (which is also very good) is available at the band's site.

Speaking of bands of which I'm a fan, the Common Shiner site has an interview up with band founder, Morgan "Papa Shiner" Foster. Just, you know, to continue my shameless plugging. ;)

I have been a bad blogger this week, and for that I apologize. On the up side, not blogging has meant I did more fiction writing, and I finished "Don't Let Go" last night (clocking 6447 words yesterday for a grand total just over my total word-count limit; I'm hoping Dylan will have suggestions on cutting it down the hair it needs to be cut).

To celebrate finishing it, I gave myself the morning off and finished a book I've been reading: Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson. If you haven't pulled this off your library or bookstore shelf yet, don't pass go, don't collect $200, just head straight to the library or bookstore and pull it off. This is Anderson's first novel, and it's entirely satisfying--it features fifteen-year-old Mason Quayle, a struggling bard in a town where all the heroes have left, as he blunders into his first quest: a mission to bring the heroes back. One of the town's missing heroes is his own father, and the quest becomes as much about discovering who his father was as it does saving the town from impending invasion. The story is the traditional hero's quest spun on its head, and it's delightfully satisfying. You all know I've read several brilliant books in the past year: this one's pretty high on that list. It's been marketed as a children's book rather than YA (possibly because it's not very edgy), so get over to your junior fiction section and check it out. (And if anyone is on a list serv somewhere with John David Anderson and could pass on my admiration, I'd very much appreciate it! I've gotten too used to being able to compliment the authors I admire in their blog comments, I think. *g*)

And now, for a short excerpt from "On Fairy Stories" by J. R. R. Tolkien, in lieu of an original guest blog.

--

There had been much debate concerning the relations of these things, of folk-tale and myth. . . . At one time it was a dominant view that all such matter was derived from "nature-myths." The Olympians were personifications of the sun, of dawn, of night, and so on, and all the stories told about them were originally myths (allegories would have been a better word) of the greater elemental changes and processes of nature. Epic, heroic legend, saga, then localized these stories in real places and humanized them by attributing them to ancestral heroes, mightier than men and yet already men. And finally these legends, dwindling down, became folk-tales, Marchen, fairy-stories--nursery tales.

That would seem to be the truth almost upside down. The nearer the so-called "nature myth," or allegory, of the large process of nature is to its supposed archetype, the less interesting it is, and indeed the less it is o a myth capable of throwing any illumination whatever on the world. Let us assume for the moment, as this theory assumes, that nothing actually exists corresponding to the "gods" of mythology: no personalities, only astronomical or meteorological objects. Then these natural objects can only be arrayed with a personal significance and glory by a gift, the gift of a person, of a man. Personality can only be derived from a person. The gods may derive their colour and beauty from the high splendours of nature, but it was Man who obtained these for them, abstracted them from sun and moon and cloud; their personality they get direct from him; the shadow or flicker of divinity that is upon them they receive through him from the invisible world, the Supernatural. There is no fundamental distinction between the higher and lower mythologies. Their people live, if they live at all, by the same life, just as in the mortal world do kings and peasants.

I missed Teaser Tuesday! I even had something for you guys. I just completely neglected to do any lj reading or writing yesterday. So, in repentance, here's a snippet of "Don't Let Go."

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The music filled her up from her toes, and there was movement and chaos and electricity, and her thoughts vanished as she enjoyed the moment, enjoyed the tension in the space between them, the way he never let his body get uncomfortably close to hers. Likely because our proportions are all wrong, she thought to herself, looking up as he loomed over head. He winked down at her, looking as full of the music as she was, as though the drum beat had become both of their pulses at once.

They danced through a second song, not talking, just being part of the music, two bodies on the dance floor. Thoughts floated through her mind, none of them sticking longer than a moment. She wondered what Jonas might think to see her dancing with a good looking Manx giant, far too tall for her and with far more piercings than she would normally look at twice. It crossed her mind that Fin really wasn't her type, although it would be helpful to know a local who actually knew something about the Isle, which could, in theory, prevent her from failing her independent studies. If all she liked about him was the attention--which was nice, she admitted--she'd probably better make that clear from the beginning. A person could always use more friends.

But then she looked up at him, saw his eyes closed as he felt the music more than heard it, watched as the lights that sprawled across the dance floor caught in his hair and his ear studs. Just a little while, she thought as her stomach squeezed. I'll pretend for just a little while.

I don't have anything profound to say, so I figured I'd just offer some of my recent favorite quotes.

"I'm kind of jealous of the life I'm supposedly leading." --Zach Braff (actor, from Scrubs and Garden State)

"There cannot be a crisis next week. My schedule is already full." -- Henry A. Kissinger

"Walking through the YA section of the bookstore last night I realized there are clearly only two ways to survive high school: you can plot and scheme and gossip behind your friends' backs; or you can follow the fairies (werewolves, vampires, your choice) away into another world." -- Janni Lee Simner (on her blog 4/10/08)

"When it comes to adventure writing, I'm only a prima donna because I'm always right." -- Joe Selby (on his blog 4/30/08)

"Typos are very important to all written form. It gives the reader something to look for so they aren't distracted by the total lack of content in your writing." -- Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 07-03-05

Some friends and I are planning a King Arthur plotted Dogs in the Vineyard game. (DitV is a storytelling based system that I haven't played in before, so I can't say much more about it than its name.) Since I actually have done some Arthurian study (I took a tour course in England where we met with Geoffrey Ashe, who is an Arthurian scholar, and with whom I've communicated since), I'm naturally interested in pulling in some of the more obscure stuff that I've learned. Given my love of Glastonbury, England (where Geoffrey lives and where I've now been twice--and would go back at the drop of a hat if it weren't so expensive), I've started drawing on some of the legends I learned there: Joseph of Arimathea built the first-ever Christian church in Glastonbury, it is said. Glastonbury, originally surrounded by water due to the changing coastline (or during certain seasons, or surrounded by fens/marshes rather than sea, depending on the story), is the legendary Isle of Avalon, where Morgan and her priestesses once lived. The combination of those two ideas in one place--early Christians and Celtic mystics--makes for some interesting character ideas using some of the philosophies of Celtic Christianity (that I also picked up in Glastonbury).

All of this brainstorming led me to an interesting idea: like many early churches, might'nt the church at Avalon have received letters from Peter, Paul, or John, who wrote letters to so many of the other early churches, offering guidance? If so, what might those letters have said? And if the Letters to the Avalonians were classified for the Apocrypha, rather than for Scripture itself, what might have happened to that potential book of the Bible?

It all sounds like an Indiana Jones style adventure waiting to happen. Or, alas, something reminiscent of The DaVinci Code. Despite that, I think one day it may surface in my writing projects. That way, I'll have to go back to Glastonbury for research!

"Don't Let Go"

2,149 / 10,000 (21.5%)

I've been busy working on the Tam Lin short story (tentatively titled "Don't Let Go") over here, and so don't have much to blog about (although I did recently visit a bookstore and followed blue_succubus's example of photographing a display for a fellow blogger, whom I will post about when I have a cord that connects my camera phone to my computer). As you may have noticed, there was no guest blog yesterday; next week, if I still don't have a new one (there are several writers out there who have promised me entries, but I'm not sure when they'll come--writers are busy people, after all), I'll post a bit of Campbell or Tolkien, excerpting something about myth from one of their works, so that I don't entirely lose momentum.

In the mean time, there have been some great articles showing up about what makes a Young Adult novel in the YA category, one from Publishers Weekly featuring Sherman Alexie, and the other from Mirrorstone editor Stacy Whitman. Also courtesy slwhitman comes a new John Scalzi Whatever entry on the YA vs. the adult market. These were all interesting to me, so I thought I'd share them.

And now, back to the Isle of Man.

I kept a blog before this one, which devolved into mostly memes (with the occasional urging my readers to support the Save Tara movement, etc.). But I also had notes in that blog about Tam Lin, and since I'm working on the Tam Lin story (finally!) that has been kicking around in my head for years now, I thought I'd repost.

Part I:
( This one is taken from a longer entry that also discusses marriage. I've included the bit about choosing a soul mate, taken from Tolkien's letters. )

Part II:
( This one is about some actual research I did on Tam Lin back in 2004. )

--

Back to the present.

Notably, there is an excellent retelling of Tam Lin that I've mentioned here before: Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope. It's one of my all time favorite novels (and is actually the story I remembered, rather than the ballad). But it's also quite different from the story that has been working in my head for four years now. It's time to finally write it down. (In order to tag this so I'll be able to find it again, I'll also say that I'm setting it on the Isle of Man, which is where "Nomi's Wish" is set as well.) In theory, I owe Dylan a rough draft of this story tomorrow, so no more percolating! Time to put words to page, and if not finish a whole draft in a day (because really, that's a little over-ambitious) at least send *something* in tomorrow.

Nearly all of my B&N preorders have shipped and should be arriving on my porch in the next few days. So I'd like to take this moment to wish a happy Book Birthday (in some cases, belated from earlier this week) to:

• frost_light's One Foot in the Grave,


• melissa_writing's Ink Exchange, and


• shanna_s's Don't Hex with Texas

Welcome to the world, books!

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Quick notes on why I've gone missing lately (and a further demonstration that I am actually learning html coding--the more that I use it, I figure the less I'll have to look it up every time I want to bullet a list). Since last Friday I:

• Read the first chapter of The Lightning Thief aloud at a storyreading night.


• Ran three Xen'drik Expeditions D&D games.


• Committed my very first TPK as a DM.


• Finished going over the edits for the d20 Steampunk Musha Player's Guide.


• Signed a copy of Into the Reach for a facebook friend who managed to find one used and mailed it to me.


• Wrote a review for Flames Rising.


• Wrote a biographical essay about Marc Aronson (which was incredibly fun--he's a great representative for nonfiction for younger readers, and when John Scieszka's term as National Ambassador for Children's Literature ends, Aronson should be a serious candidate).


• Read Nalini Singh's award winning paranormal romance Caressed by Ice, which I ended up very much enjoying, despite its having two themes that normally make me put a book down (a serial killer/stalker as a major threat and one of the characters having been raped--the former which really doesn't ever sit well with me, but worked out, and the latter of which Singh handled in such a way that the healing process was compelling rather than distressing).


• Watched The Sting with my husband.

Huh, it felt like so much more before I wrote the list. At any rate, it's been very busy around here, and I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading while not falling behind on my schedule of assignments. We'll see how that goes.

I had a brilliant thought last night (or, at least, an idea that amused me very much) about my travels in Greece and Turkey. In part, the credit goes to tezmilleroz, who takes pictures of her cat with urban fantasy novels. I've been thinking about what books I will be taking with me to read on the plane and in the down time on the tour (not that there's a lot of that, but I'm not taking the course for credit, and am just assisting in the teaching rather than lesson-planning, so there's more for me than for the students). So while I was pondering this, it occurred to me:

Urban Fantasy Tourism.

How fun would it be to take pictures of the books I take with me at prominent locations? The theater at Ephesus. Anywhere in Troy. The Acropolis. Delphi. The possibilities are, at the very least, amusing.

I have a number of mass markets that I haven't had a chance to read yet, and I'm thinking of holding off on until I leave. I have: Magic Burns by ilona_andrews, Dead to Me by antonstrout, and the first two "Squad" books by jenlyn_b on my shelf and will be getting Don't Hex with Texas (shanna_s) and One Foot in the Grave (frost_light) as soon as my pre-orders arrive (have you ordered yours yet? I've conveniently linked them to B&N!)--well before I have to leave. I'll also be getting the new Percy Jackson, but in hard cover, so it is disqualified from the trip (although I have to admit that taking Percy to Greece definitely appeals to my sense of humor; given the title of the new one The Battle of the Labyrinth, if we were going to Crete, I'd totally take it, hard cover and all).

So, gang, here's where you come in. What paperbacks should make the journey with me? Of the above list, which ones would you take? What books would you add? I'm thinking I need maybe two or three more (around eight total--one for each location), preferably mass markets (Shanna's is a trade, but I'm not going to want to wait 'til I get back to read it). Also, what creative ideas would you suggest for posing these world-traveling novels? Is there a location that screams out that it should belong to Dead to Me?

All photos will, of course, appear in this blog. I don't have any prizes to give out at this point, but if I decide to take a book you recommend (or, you know, wrote), you'll get mentioned in the blog space.

So... what do you think?

I had really, really intended to do something to celebrate Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Wretch day, but honestly, I never marked it on my calendar. All the work that I have out of the submission circuit is older, and therefore doesn't really reflect me as a writer now (as much as I like some of it, I acknowledge that it's from an earlier stage in my apprenticeship), so I'm not sure I want to post it in honor of the day. I may post it later as sort of an archive for people who are interested. We'll see.

So, here's a cheer for those Wretches who did celebrate the day, including mistborn. There's a list available of the participants here. Also sartorias has, in honor of Shakespeare's birthday, also posted a list of non-traditional publishing formats, self publishers, and small press folks who don't get the recognition they deserve. I think that sort of effort ties right in to the PSTW movement.

--

In other news, preorders are up at the ERS store for the Steampunk Musha Player's Guide. Hurrah!

The "guess what instrument Alana used to play" contest has resulted in a tie: Albone and Shawn were both equally close (but slightly too specific!). I was a percussionist from the ages of about eleven through eighteen, with some relapses here and there. I've trained on everything from snare drum to bass to vibraphone to marimba, and marched for several years with either the bells or the glockenspiel. Honestly, if I could afford to keep playing, I would--I loved creating music on those instruments, keyboard percussion and timpani in particular. When I think about the skill I used to have--all of which is now ten years out of practice, and am sad that I didn't make the opportunities to pursue them further. As it is, it's easier to carry around your equipment as a singer, and sadly, I haven't done much of that lately either.

One of my voice instructors, the illustrious (and influential on my life) director and composer Jerry Custer, made a point of saying how making music is good for the soul. I think telling stories is good for the soul, too--but perhaps I ought to make a bit more effort to try to do both!

I went to my very first Gilbert and Sullivan performance tonight. I'd sung parts of The Pirates of Penzance before. Heck, I've been to Penzance, England. But I'd never seen the show. The awesome Junius (who may or may not have an lj identity--I haven't internet-stalked him *g*) invited us to go, and so we went. The orchestra was awesome, the performers were quite excellent, and I learned something I'd long suspected. Gilbert and Sullivan are right up my alley as far as humor goes. The whole show is very, very silly--and that's what's excellent about it.

Now, I really want start singing again. I don't think that I really should ever have sung Mabel (I trained as a soprano in college, despite being rather more an alto naturally speaking, though my range was good enough to sing Handel arias and such). My voice remembers quite a bit more of the "O Wandering One" than I would have suspected, though, and it felt good to sing just a little bit when we got home. One of these days, I'll have to get myself back into good training. I fear that my instrumental training may be too far gone at this point to recover, but the singing, I should be able to get back.

(We discussed at one point this evening how stereotypes are associated with different instruments to those who have been instrumentalists, and I always wonder what people suspect I've played. Most people probably wouldn't peg me, I suspect--but I'd be entirely amused if they knew right off!)

On a completely different note, I just discovered that Lindsay Archer has a whole bunch of LJ icons available on her website, so you'll be seeing several new pieces of art by Lindsay in this blog. (I've also added a number of icons from Cowboys and Aliens and Steampunk Musha recently just to spice things up a bit.)

For today's guest blog, we're doing something a little different. Rob Schmidt is a journalist who produces Newspaper Rock: Where Native America Meets Pop Culture whom I met through a review of Cowboys and Aliens. What I didn't know at the time was that Rob is also the writer of Peace Party, a comic dedicated to promoting fair and accurate images of Native America while, of course, telling a good story. A couple of months ago, Rob gave me permission to excerpt some of his essay, "Why Write about Super Heroes?" for the blog. The full essay gets into the idea of the hero (from Cambpell through cowboys), compares gunslingers to Greek gods, and generally links the desire to perpetuate hero stories that has shown up in written culture time after time. The full essay is here, and it's well worth the read, but for now, just a quick excerpt from Rob's conclusion. Thanks, Rob, for letting me "reprint" an excerpt!

--

Who we write about is far from arbitrary. Rather, it reflects the deepest, most significant trends of history. Our choice of hero literally tells us where we've been and where we're going.

Let's grossly oversimplify world history and look at who our heroes have been. Note the following reflects the dominant Western/European/American view of history, not the reality:

• The creation of civilization. The law-givers and philosopher kings. Moses, David, Jesus; Plato, Socrates, Aristotle.


• The spread of civilization throughout the "known world." The warrior kings. Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar and the Roman legions. Charlemagne and the knights in shining armor.


• The spread of civilization across the Atlantic. Explorers such as Leif Ericsson, Columbus, and Magellan. Pioneers such as the Spaniards (in New Spain), the Pilgrims, and the Colonials. Civilizers such as Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, and Teddy Roosevelt.


• The spread of civilization around the globe. America as the world's source material (Walt Disney, John Wayne, Michael Jordan). America as the world's shining beacon (American GIs, JFK and Camelot, the astronauts). America as the world's superpower (Reagan, Bush, Powell).

The line that began with Moses and the first gathering of the "chosen people" has ended with America atop the world's heap. Our righteous country stands for truth, justice, and the American way and so does our righteous superhero. An archetypal character like Superman is the embodiment and culmination of human history.

Attentive readers will note that this conclusion neglects the 85% of the world that isn't Euro-American. Precisely. Though some people would wish otherwise, history has yet to end. The next challenge in our historical development will be perhaps the trickiest.

Unless large-scale space travel becomes a reality, we have nowhere left to spread. The dissemination phase of civilization is over. The next challenge is integration: meshing the dominant Euro-American culture with the non-dominant but much larger and older non-Euro-American cultures.

We can keep going in a straight line: "taming" and developing and building the world until it's one paved-over shopping mall and parking lot. As the last fish is caught, the last tree is cut, the last well runs dry, we can watch the great American civilization collapse into rubble. As Ozymandias put it, "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Or we can turn in a new direction: blending America's can-do drive and technology with the rest of the world's cultural norms. Living within our means. Valuing community over competition. Thinking seven generations ahead.

The choice is between seeing the present world go up in smoke or evolve into a kinder, gentler place. If we want the latter, we need a new kind of leader and icon. We need a new heroic paradigm.

Superman's brawny, know-it-all attitude won't cut it here. Brute force was fine for beating the Indians and digging the Panama Canal, but now we're dealing with bioengineering and nanotechnology. We need the subtlety and cleverness of a Trickster to merge the old and the new.