Multiverse

10
Nov
2017

Spotlight on Bicoulamine

Spotlight on Bicoulamine

Bicoulamine, a wholly original drug, needs to be explored more.
Bicoulamine

Background

As a part of the plot of Multiverse II, the collapsed American government needed addicted soldiers to fight. And Coulamine proved to be a great invention, the ‘candy’ pacifying the masses. As I had written them, humans of the post-World War III time period would do just about anything to get their hands on the ‘candy’. They would go without sex, shelter, food, or water, all in the name of just another fix. Furthermore, they would fight as soldiers. However, they still had a small measure of free will, aptly demonstrated by Rita Spinelli. Rita’s breaking of her addiction meant others could do so as well, if they only had enough will, and someone to help them through it. This was one of the reasons why she tried so hard to help Seymour Sonia break his own addiction to the stuff.

However, because I had already created and used my Tricoulamine (a fatal nerve gas) in the Intolerance story, that begged the question: what had existed in between the two chemical compounds, and covered the time period from around 2053 to 2158? Hence I came up with a truly twisted drug which would not pacify the masses. Instead, it turned them into homicidal psychopaths. That had the capacity to make for some really wild writing. However, because the story was never completed, Bicoulamine never really lived up to its fullest potential.

Upshot

While the drug turned out to be a really good idea, I did not get a chance to truly explore it. Hence I feel there is a lot more to tell about Bicoulamine and the post-World War III American landscape.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, Times of the HG Wells series, 0 comments
01
Aug
2017

Review – Oh My Darling

Review – Oh My Darling

Darling
Oh My Darling ended up being somewhat similar to Smells in plot and tone.

Background

Oh My Darling was a chance to return to Multiverse II and its improbable lovers, Rita Spinelli and Donald Janeway.

Plot

Since Multiverse II didn’t really end properly, I had nowhere to send these two characters. In addition, I really liked the idea of them, that they would almost be the flower growing in the desert or even amidst the radioactive rubble. Because Rita is rough and an ex-addict, and Donald had worked with Colonel Green, their love had an improbable air to it. Furthermore, while Sky (Rita’s daughter) had already made it into the story, the other children were barely hinted at. Hence I needed a place for them and wanted to revisit them and give them a kind of home.

Music

The music is, of course, the old standard, Clementine.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

Aside from Detroit Rock City, A Single Step, and Hub of the Universe, I had not written too much in the pre-canon, pre-Enterprise time period. Hence the story helps to set up the future in ways that other stories of mine just can’t. Furthermore, almost like a phoenix (and the reference to the Phoenix, Zefram Cochrane‘s ship, is not accidental), Donnie and Rita rise from the ashes with this story.

The story even predates Lili and her family, although it does come after some interphased sections of some stories, such as Day of the Dead, Crackerjack, and, of course, Concord.

Hence I was happy to showcase a bit of their lives but also hope in the darkness. Because that’s why Sky Spinelli is really named Speranza Memoria, e. g. Hope and Memory.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Review, Times of the HG Wells series, 0 comments
21
Apr
2017

Spotlight on Coulamine

Spotlight on Coulamine

Coulamine exists because of a back-formation from my own original drug, tricoulamine.

Coulamine

Spotlight – Coulamine

Furthermore, it also exists because I screwed up the start of a round robin story.

Background

First of all, in order to get soldiers to fight (in real life, even!), ordinary people need training and discipline. However, World War III was supposed to be a time period without even those sorts of niceties. Hence, for Multiverse II, the concept changed and the soldiers would be ordinary people with no training. Hence, like opium addicts and the like before them, they had to be hooked on something or other.

As a result, I created coulamine. When Otra turns evil for the story, I accidentally landed her in Maine. However, the action was supposed to take place in Montana. Therefore, I decided that a drug distribution trail would get her from point A to point B. Furthermore, because the other writers were stretching the story out in some ways, this allows for character development and some truly wicked scene settings.

The common people, therefore, would be coulamine addicts, and the drug would be referred to as ‘candy’. And that proved to be a fascinating and horrific idea.

Hence Otra kills a trucker in one of her first acts in the story, and then takes his truck.  The truck’s built-in GPS system contains presets to get her to various fueling stations.  And as the trip takes her farther and farther west, the food gets scarcer and poorer, the radiation levels climb, the rubble gets worse, and the addicts become more and more desperate.

When Rita finally arrives, she comes across as a tough soldier type, a kind of a survivalist. However, her arms are loaded with track marks. She’s an ex-candy addict.

Upshot

Coulamine worked so well that it got an even deadlier version: bicoulamine.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Spotlight, 0 comments
15
Nov
2016

Recurrent Themes – Childcare Workers

Recurrent Themes – Childcare Workers

Childcare workers matter in a lot of my fan fiction.

Background

While regular ships generally don’t have children on them, generational ships most certainly do.

Barking up the Muse Tree | Janet Gershen-Siegel | jespah | DNA | Childcare Workers

This is for all of those times when someone had to look after a kid. Hence there are some similar threads that run through my fan fiction.

I am not including the Daranaeans here, mainly because their acts of childcare are generally a part of parenthood and not as unrelated professionals.

Appearances

Maria Elena Torres Archer

In Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, Maria Elena, daughter of Lili and José, steps in when Victoria is killed.

Beth Cutler (Mirror Universe only)

When Reversal begins, Beth has the unenviable position of babysitter to the Empress Hoshi Sato‘s lone royal brat, Jun.  Without being able to escape, Rick Daniels eventually reveals Beth would have been Jun’s first kill.

Victoria Dietrich

Part teacher and part babysitter, Vicki cares for the children during Entanglements and The Three of Us. However, she eventually gives some of the babysitter duties over to others.

Aidan MacKenzie (Mirror Universe only)

After the conclusion of Reversal, Aidan is tasked with siring the Empress’s second son, Kira. The Empress also forces him to become the royal babysitter. Embarrassed, catcalled, and humiliated, Aidan lays low for the most part. With Chip, he gets a small degree of revenge in Brown. But in Gilded Cage, the Empress essentially gets him back by placing him under house arrest. In the alternate timelines in Temper, and in the correct timeline in He Stays a Stranger, it’s revealed Aidan stayed on as the sitter although, as the children grew up, he became one of their only de facto parents, along with Susan. Susan is never really a sitter and instead is a skilled teacher. This is even in the Mirror Universe and also during alternate timelines.

Ethan Shapiro (alternate timeline only)

During Entanglements, after Ethan‘s suicide attempt, he can no longer adequately perform tactical duties. As he recovers, he becomes capable of working with the Quartermaster, Sekar Khan, and also performing some minor babysitter duties. This only happens during The Three of Us and not during Everybody Knows this is Nowhere.

José Torres (alternate timeline only)

As Ethan recovers, José becomes his roommate. José takes on babysitting duties as a means of trying to attract female attention. As with Ethan Shapiro’s connection to childcare, this only happens during The Three of Us. It does not happen during Everybody Knows this is Nowhere.

Upshot

Childcare is of course still a necessity in the future. I’m proud that it’s a profession for any gender.

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Posted by jespah in Emergence series, Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Themes, Times of the HG Wells series, 0 comments