Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY
IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I
generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family
rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to
write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration
(quote, website, podcast, etc.) and then a thought or two that came to mind.
These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat,
irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if
anything comes of them. Regarding
Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an
ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows
the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity.
Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of
ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa
McPhail.
F Trope: Magic is
Evil, at best relatively neutral. Often The Corruption. There is a good chance
it's directly obtained through a Deal with the Devil, powered by Blood Magic or
involves Human Sacrifice and Forsaken Children. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkFantasy)
Current Event: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/07/16/former-brazilian-president-practiced-black-magic-ex-wife-says/
Martina Felipe el
Bueno scowled at the ancient video tape cassette where it rested under glass
that perfectly screened out UV and cosmic rays and lowered the intensity of
visible in near vacuum. She said something in Spanish.
“Why don’t we just
use English. I can’t even understand your Peruvian accent,” said Álvaro Villa
softly.
“Fine,” she said.
“The problem remains, whether we say it in Spanish or English – or even
Spanglish – the occult rites of a former national leader are there for the
viewing. But we can’t see them.”
“Why does it
bother you so much?”
“The tape is a
century old and preceded the collapse of his government before it accomplished
anything.”
“You’re saying if
he didn’t do the animal sacrifices, he’d still be in power?”
She laughed, “No,
he’d still be dead. I don’t think even Brazil is ready for a zombie president.”
“That’s for sure.”
They stood side-by-side, staring at the artifact.
“I got in touch
with you because I think we can get the images off this, but I think we need to
merge science and magic.”
His breath caught
in his chest. He’d heard of it from abuelo.
“Oil magic?”
Martina nodded,
paused, then said, “The college has a supply.”
“It’s illegal for
any of us to even touch it,” Álvaro said. “Even if we touch it, we would be
instantly expelled right after we were arrested, tried and sentenced.”
“If we do it
physically, I suppose you’d be right.”
“What other way is
there to steal oil?”
“Magic,” Martina
whispered. “Black magic.” Álvaro barked a laugh and Martina spun to face him,
snarling, “What do you know about black magic?”
He held his hands
up in surrender and said, “Nothing – as in ‘magic is fine in dumb stories like
THE GOLDEN COMPASS, but this is real life’. Abuelo
was my favorite person on Earth, and when it came to story-telling, he was the
best. But he was old – his generation used ‘it’s magic’ to explain something it
didn’t understand.” He shook his head, “First time he saw a cell phone 3D
projection when I was talking to my girlfriend one night, he said, ‘esto es la magia negra’.”
“What if I told
you a way to use the sacrifice of black gold to create a magical field we would
protect the cassette…”
Names: ♀
Columbia; ♂ Peru
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