Generally, City of Angles is exactly what it says on the tin — living a life amidst the twisted yet familiar. Trying to thrive and survive, find love, succeed at work, ponder life’s mysteries, tie your shoes, eat breakfast, etc. while the landscape around you presents some rather… UNIQUE challenges.
For instance, you may be sneaking out to an abandoned building to paint something on the wall. What risk is there? Eh. Cops. Stepping on a nail and needing a tetnaus shot. Stuff like that. Not usually getting stuck in the middle of a three way war between bizarre forces beyond your comprehension with the definition of your existence hanging in the balance. And thus: Ye Hooke.
So, the mundane meets the surreal, and we’ve got fiction as a result.
I explain this in detail now because I’m concerned the mundane is a Turn Off for folks who want more of the Surreal. I’m going to be ramping up the Surreal in response in future stories, I think. There’ll always be the Mundane — the hopes and dreams of people trying to get by day-to-day, the pathos of wanting and hoping for a better tomorrow — but I get the desire for reading excitement. I think I can balance those scales without compromising the work.
Anyway, here’s more scenes of //003, the penultimate update. Next Monday the slow motion arc of It hitting The Fan concludes. Your feedback welcome, as always.
Lirazel says
People trashed you for “sidelining” Nel?
So glad I avoid most of the interwebs…
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
It wasn’t the sidelining, it was the “From nowhere hot lesbian GF for Una who has no actual character” as they saw it. I tried to build her character, but I guess it didn’t suffice. Anyway, it was a mild trashing compared to what most folks experience on the interweb, but a good lesson to learn anyway.
Jeremy Jinkerson says
Yeah, definitely had no idea that incendiary ammo was involved.
Hurray! Penelope’s back!
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
I’ve got a fix in the works for that. It’ll be in the next update on Monday.
Penelope yaaaay! Honestly I worry that once she shows up, she completely steals the spotlight — but in the end it’ll focus back on Marcy and Hollister.
This is also the last we see of Penelope and Greg for awhile. Next stories tentatively are 004 (Cass), 005 (standalone), 006 (Vivi/Marcy) and 007 (Dave).
LoopyChew says
How about Hollister? He seems like he could easily show up in lots of different places, even if just for a scene or two.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Ah, right — Hollister’s definitely in 007. (It’s a story called “Free Cable.” He’s the kind of dude who can arrange that for you.)
I think he appears in 006, too. Originally 006 was gonna be Marcy/Hollister, Crack Investigation Team, but I really want to tell a story from Vivi’s POV so she isn’t the largely sidelined hot weird chick that earns me negative rep on tvtropes. *cough nel cough* So instead it’ll be Vivi/Marcy, Crack Investigation Team.
I’ve got a lot of things planned out all the way through 010, but not much after that. Consider it the first “season” or book of the series.
PetitPrince says
I’m glad Marcy’s art got into something illegible instead of corrupted. Something along the line of “exist!” with a splattered body in place of the bar of the exclamation would totally crush what she wanted to do.
Winter says
Finally got a chance for feedback. I think the Mundane is vital to a story like this. If there aren’t scenes that seem normal, then when weird things start happening we don’t think of them as weird, but just part of the setting.
Also, one of the themes I’m seeing so far is the people’s struggle to reclaim the Mundane in a totally Weird place, so any activity that shows them succeeding is good for the overall story.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Reclaiming the mundane. Can I use that on a book dust jacket summary? :D
That’s very much what I’m going for. This year I’ve been struggling with anxiety and health issues, and I’m trying to express that in my work… that desperate need to reach for normalcy despite everything that seems to be out of your control and making things weird. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying an ordinary life, in some circumstances.
Winter says
*laughs* Feel free! After all, everything here is donated! ;)
Lirazel says
Meh, I’m fine with mundane. But then, I’m a Detail Nerd, the sort who looks forward to the end of LoTR because then, ah THEN we get to read the Appendices! So you probably shouldn’t go by me.
I am sad that Mei’s sign didn’t last, but with Bedlam and Echo both against her it was probably impossible. Although, since when did probability have anything to do with anything?
Cubes these days tend to be built from fire-retardant materials. Not sure about Back Then. But what that would mean was that any fire would have to be powered by something or it would move rather slowly. The smoke is supposed to be non-toxic as well, but I think that’s a later touch. Of course, it’s an improbable fire…
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Not that improbable of a fire — Gregory was using incendiary grenades. He did comment in //001 that he wished he’d brought grenades, since pistol bullets aren’t always effective against Picassos. Should I add in some clarification to make that obvious?
LoopyChew says
If it’s a detail that absolutely needs to be clarified, sure. As is, though, there’s nothing wrong with the fire happening to happen while Marcy, Hollister, and the Yateses are in the building with a Picasso, and you could probably use the ambiguity in the future.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
It’s not meant to be ambiguous, though — it should be clear. I’ll adjust in the next update. Thanks! This helps.