IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 539

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. Octavia Butler said, “SF doesn’t really mean anything at all, except that if you use science, you should use it correctly, and if you use your imagination to extend it beyond what we already know, you should do that intelligently.”

SF Trope: Dystopia Is Hard
Current Event: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/28/us-korea-north-pyongyang-idUSBRE96R0BB20130728

Adéla Stoica hung her head. She’d practiced abject submission just like all the other teenagers in the Orientation Class did. Beside her, Enio Cassar did the same thing.

What the Master before them didn’t see was Adéla open her eyes and shoot a sideways glance.

This time she beat Enio to the punch and could barely hold in the giggle that bubbled up inside of her when he opened his eyes an instant later. They were supposed to be contemplating the worthlessness of their own lives in submission to the Great Cause. She sighed – an acceptable sound – because the Masters of the Great Cause thought they’d beaten everyone down.

Standing before the class, Master Farkas scowled at her. He said to the class in Esperanto, the Language of Submission, “Estas bone ke vi kontempli vian propran senvaloreco ĉiutage, kaj konsideru la grandecon de la Lando anstataŭe.”

This time Enio sighed. It was the motto of the regime, “It is good that you contemplate your own worthlessness every day, and consider the greatness of the Country instead.” The education of the youth after fourteen years of the Society of the Great Cause was predictable. Master Farkas continued, “It should make you feel the weight of that responsibility so deeply that your spirit groans with the burden of it. It is only through sacrifice to society that the individual might live best. It is only through society that all wisdom, all knowledge and all discovery might be directed by the National Science Foundation. Through that wisdom, humanity might live again in the luxury to which it had become accustomed.”

Enio muttered, “Ai mund të marrë zbetë e tij idiot horseshit gojën dhe të fus atë deri gomar e tij, ku ai erdhi nga." Like everyone else at the camp, their mother language was the one they cursed and made love in; Esperanto was the language they learned to mock in; English was the language everyone could communicate across ethnic walls in. Of course, there were to BE no ethnic walls because the Great Cause united all of North America into one Cause – the betterment of humanity.

It was too bad Master Farkas was also a linguist from the Old Order. His gaze arrested Enio and he said in the same language, “Merrni ass tuaj i dobët këtu lart tani, ju mut pak.” Enio’s eyes bulged as Master Farkas added, “Your girlfriend can come up here, too.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Enio blurted.

Adéla elbowed him and they stood their ground. The line behind theirs shoved them forward and the lines in front of them opened up. She looked at them and said, “Cowards.” But none of them looked the slightest bit afraid. They looked bored. Like they wanted something interesting to happen; kill the mold growing on their lives of dull sameness. Like jackals. When Master Farkas looked up at them though, their faces transformed to slack idiocy then morphed into hanging heads.

He gestured to them and led them out of the classroom, his white lab coat flapping behind him. Two other technicians wearing the shorter, lower-ranked blue lab coats went into the classroom to take his place. Leading them down a half dozen short flights of stairs, he stopped at a metal door and used his passkey to unlock it. Pushing it open, Adéla and Enio could see that a huge screen covered one wall and that a face filled the screen, looking at them. Master Farkas grabbed Enio’s arm and shoved him into the room. Enio sighed and walked in. “I can’t believe you’re doing this…” The door slammed ponderously.

He touched Adéla’s shoulder and said, “You’re next.”

She knew exactly what was coming and shook her head, remembering the really fascinating books she’d read as a precocious two year old. First she grabbed her older brother’s copy of THE HUNGER GAMES and read it, then the other six sequels. She fell in love with Scott Westerfeld’s UGLIES books. Devoured Haddix’s THE HIDDEN. Every dystopian book she could find from HG Well’s TIME MACHINE to the seven LAST SURVIVORS books; she read and cherished in her heart.

Then the Great Cause overtook the countries of North America – and her life had been tedious boredom ever since...

Names: ♀ Czech, Romania ; ♂Albania, Malta
Image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg/220px-Falcon_9_Demo-2_Launching_6_%283%29.jpg

Slice of PIE: DISCON III – #6: Wisdom From Editors…Williams, Datlow, Thomas, and Clarke

Using the Programme Guide of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON III, which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…I will jump off, jump on, rail against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the Program Guide. I will be using the events to drive me to distraction or revelation – as the case may be. The link is provided below where this appeared!

This was one of the two sessions I awaited with bated breath. They were the sessions where I would discover the SECRET of breaking into ASIMOV’S, F&SF, CLARKESWORLD, and countless Anthologies…by hearing the secret advice of these fabulous editors: Sheila Williams (ASIMOV’S), Ellen Datlow (countless anthologies), Sheree Renée Thomas (F&SF), and Neil Clarke (CLARKESWORLD)

Perhaps the most memorable quote from the session came from Ellen Datlow: “Most stories aren’t terrible – they sit there like dead fish.”

Ouch! I confess that that’s the kind of rejection I get most often these days. I’ve had seven stories in ANALOG Science Fiction and Fact, I’ve been podcast twice on CAST OF WONDERS, I’ve had four stories in CRICKET The Magazine for Children and CICADA, I’m a slush reader and columnist for STUPEFYING STORIES…I KNOW I can write professionally…but I don’t often enough to satisfy myself. So, what’s my problem? [Recent Discovery: Pete Wood wrote, “Characters [come] first. I come up with a germ of an idea, set it aside and then create the characters…[then] throw them into the story and see [where] their personalities…takes me.”] and from F&SF: “[When you get a rejection that says “It didn’t quite work for me]…usually the ending. I know, endings are hard. But the emotional payoff, what you remember most about a story, is how it makes you feel at the end. So you have to be an Olympic gymnast and nail that dismount.”

Some more wisdom from the stars (the editors AND science fiction and fantasy!), grouped by editor.

One odd comment someone said before I start: “An ANALOG story is about solutions. An ASIMOV’S story is about consequences.”

Sheila Williams (ASIMOV’S)

“I read the story first, [looking for something to] catch my attention. I’ll put it aside for a deeper, longer read. I’m looking for new ideas.”
“Themes? There are none; but I like themes for seasons.”
“If the characters are bored or boring, then the reader and editor will be bored.”
“Who CARES if you wrote a novel.”
“Figure out what I HATE.”
“[You need] compassion [in your story.”
“Each story should be NEW, not dependent on another story. It has to stand on itself.”

Neil Clarke (CLARKSWORLD)

“Don’t worry about what you subbed before. We don’t remember them. We’re more interested in the story than you.”
“I buy what I like. [I’m a] period data junkie – where, first time, what’s happening, new, new to the magazine?”
“[I dislike a story] being predictable; or not paying attention to consequences of the technology or magic.”
“Once a novel is published, you’ll never see it as a short story.”
“[I like] a moving target, [the character] changes. Pleasantly surprised [with] different perspectives.”
“The wider your audience, the more successful the story. Where can you find your readers?”
“[If you] get a rejection in a day or two, you were WAY off the mark.”

Sheree Renée Thomas (F&SF)

“[I like] updated ideas. I don’t read your cover letter, I read the story. DON’T STAND OUT IN A NEGATIVE WAY! [You have] a fresh shot every time. [If you] get a rejection in a day or two, you were WAY off the mark.”
“Weird stories, well-written ones, make me read on. [I ask myself] Do I care?”
“NO rape, misogynistic language, objectifying women. The CHARACTER is flawed, not the writer. DON’T PLAGIARIZE! You have to being something NEW!
“Where’s your novel? [Short stories are] a special skill, harder to craft well. [A short story set in your novel’s world] is a respectable tradition. It’s ground for new writers to emerge in mastery.”
“[When I read, I have a rubric in my mind]: Do I care? What about your biggest hater? Is the pacing on point? What are the challenges? NOT BORING! What do I think of feel when I reach the last sentence? You have to make me think or feel, like, “Is this something I want to have a conversation about?”

Ellen Datlow (Anthology editor)

“I read stories as I get them for anthologies.”
“[I dislike] boring language.”
“Why did you write this story?”
“I have no idea what I like [until I read it].”
“When a writer writes, ‘This is the best story I ever wrote!’, it’s the WORST.”

“Compassion is important for me as an editor.”

JUST REMEMBER: “Most stories aren’t terrible – they sit there like dead fish.”

I’m going to have to start writing stories that are like FLOPPING fish!

Program Schedule: https://discon3.org/schedule/
Image: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQY860vAI2izm2g2mUgxzT14fGVmoGh66B51g&usqp=CAU

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 538

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 horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

H Trope: Abandoned Malls
Current Event: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/12/travel/abandoned-buildings-irpt/

Kehlanna McGee and Trayvon Dehvahn crouched in an overgrown bit of woods that had sprung up around a drainage ditch outside the four-meter-tall cyclone fence, staring at the abandoned mall beyond. She said, “Wha’d’you think they’re hiding?”

Trayvon laughed softly and said, “A shameful past of excess spending at cheesy, overpriced, trendy shops that sold mostly lingerie and salt and pepper shakers?”

Kehlanna bumped him with her shoulder, “Seriously.” She gestured. A pair of city black and white police cars sat in the lot along with another pair of silver cars emblazoned with a security logo.

“I am being serious,” he said, bumping her back.

She rolled her eyes and said, “Salt-and-pepper shakers are so 1950s...”

“Thereby retro and incredibly popular now.”

“Ah!” she exclaimed, lifting a finger, “Now I know you’re wrong.” She consulted her palmtablet and after a few finger swipes, said, “ ‘Arbor Mills Mall, was the destination of a generation of shoppers starting the year it opened in 2001 and was decommissioned,” she paused and rolled her eyes, muttering, “...makes it sound like it was an important aircraft carrier or something...in 2024...” she paused then said, “That’s only half a generation.”

“Be that as it may, are we going in or are we just going to stand here talking about generations and malls?”

“In,” she said suddenly. “But we’re going to have to go back to the trailer and get a few things.” She paused, “And wait until it’s dark.”

Trayvon grinned, nodded and headed for where they’d parked trailer two kilometers away.

***
Four hours later, dressed in knee-high rubber boots and wearing black, they made their way silently through the culvert. No one had taken time to fence it, so they easily slipped under the meager security. Trayvon tapped his earpiece and subvocalized, “What are we expecting to find in here?”

“Treasure.”

He couldn’t help but snort, and Kehlanna hissed at him, sub-vocalizing, “Quiet or they’ll hear us.”

“I’m not the one hissing like a punctured whipped cream can.”

They moved as far as they could in the ravine, then climbed at a likely spot. His night goggles confirmed they were only six meters short of their goal. They scanned for the police and security cars, saw neither, so Trayvon stood up and aimed a very-illegal device at the surface between them and the abandoned mall. After a moment, he subbed, “No active pressure security spots and no evidence of landmines.”

“Landmines?” Khehlanna subbed.

“You said there’s treasure. People protect treasure with landmines and lasers and other high tech gadgets. I was checking for everything.”

She nodded in the darkness a moment later, then subbed, “Let’s go. The map I found has a maintenance door into the rear of one of the anchor stores straight ahead.” She paused, then went up the embankment and scurried across the broken asphalt. He followed three minutes later. By then, she’d cut through the locking mechanism of the door with an infrared laser. Trayvon sprayed the old hinges with a silent stream of lubricant and then door swung open a moment later as Kehlanna pulled it.

They entered the darkness and the goggles switched to a sonar image – the power had been cut to the building a decade earlier when it closed in order to prevent fires. They avoided collapsed ceiling tiles and piles of mouldering cardboard boxes. Trayvon subbed, “If this is the ‘treasure’ we can expect to find, we might as well leave right now.”

“Nah. There has to be something in here that those people are protecting.”

“Hmmm.”

They exited the back room of the store and passed through piles of stacked shelving, display cases, light fixtures, and garbage until they reached the mall proper. In front of him, Kehlanna stopped abruptly and cursed out loud rather than subbing.

Trayvon subbed, “Shut up! I can’t tell if there are audio security pickups in here...” He stopped as he pulled up alongside her. Outside the door with its corroding security gate, a group of three people, linked together by rope tie around their necks, passed by. The figure at the front of their line, holding the rope and wearing an army-style helmet that was twice as large as Trayvon had ever seen before, was a giant creature that looked for all the world, like yeti…

Names: ♀ American, Irish ; ♂ American, Greek

Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg

Slice of PIE: MINING THE ASTEROIDS Part 3 – Starting With Near-Earth Prison Asteroids…

Initially, I started this series because of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…

HOWEVER, as time passed, I knew that this was a subject I was going to explore because the ramifications fascinate me. So, I’m going to make this an occasional feature of my blog – maybe even of Stupefying Stories if the CyberPunkMaster gives me a thumbs up…

Part 0: (before I started thinking about it…) https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2016/05/slice-of-pie-asteroids-in-fictionand.html
Part 1: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2021/11/slice-of-pie-mining-asteroids-part-1can.html
Part 2: https://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2021/11/slice-of-pie-mining-asteroids-part-2how.html

While I’m not a big fan of prisons as a general idea, USING prisoners as miners is an old, horrific practice. Called “convict leasing”, it is or has been practiced around the world; even right at this moment in the “Separatist Russian” parts of Ukraine: https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/present-day-concentration-camp-eastern-europe. China has been reported to have this: https://thediplomat.com/2022/01/forced-prison-labor-in-china-hiding-in-plain-sight/. And the US is hardly exempt. Even today, we have a practice revised for the 21st Century – watch the YouTube below to get an idea of what’s going on. As well, the progressive state of California has this program: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Prison_Industries.

So, what can we do? Obviously nothing, because these “labor camps” are going to continue, unabated, as they have since the dawn of Human history (ie: the Jews in Egypt – https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/were-hebrews-ever-slaves-in-ancient-egypt-yes-1.5429843)

We have already plotted out in detail the Near Earth Objects (including Asteroids https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth).

The Near Earth Asteroids have particular parameters. There are also several types of these asteroids, the first discovered being the name of the class – NEC (comets), NEA (asteroids) and the others, with the type and the specification:

Atiras: a<1.0 au; Q<0.983 au NEAs whose orbits are contained entirely with the orbit of the Earth

Atens: a<1.0 au; Q>0.983 au Earth-crossing NEAs with semi-major axes smaller than Earth's

Apollos: a>1.0 au; q<1.017 au Earth-crossing NEAs with semi-major axes larger than Earth's

Amors: a>1.0 au; 1.017<q<1.3 au Earth-approaching NEAs with orbits exterior to Earth's but interior to Mars'
PHAs: MOID<=0.05 au; H<=22.0 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids: NEAs whose Minimum Orbit Intersection Distance (MOID) with the Earth is 0.05 au or less

au = Astronomical Units (ie 152,000,000 km [93,000,000 miles])
q = orbital period in years
Q = Aphelion distance
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/about/neo_groups.html

All right. Given:

All governments have prisons.
All prisoners are detained for short or long periods of time.
All prisoners do some form of labor.
All prisoners will be released.

What if we create and Prisoner Asteroid Miner Corp?

It WOULD BE dangerous! All potential recruits would be completely informed. As any new space endeavor has shown, death is a possibility. EVERY space program has had casualties. This program would be no different. 

Sorry, didn't mean to wax poetic...

The orbital period of all of the above (except the PHAs) is about a year.

A year of mining and astronaut training precedes the time served mining the asteroid.

A successfully served sentence, will result in the prisoner being released and reintegrated into society. They will be given stock in the asteroid being mined that can be traded or sold back to the government at current market value.

Asteroid Miners CAN choose to remain – but will return to Earth to be retrained and reintegrated as employees of the government initiating the incarceration.

An Artificial Intelligence will act as the Warden. If AIs are not as feasible as everyone things they are, then the AI will replaced by a Remote Warden – possibly in a nearby orbit; possibly on the Moon; possibly on Earth (no one would know for certain.) There would also be…”enforcement” robots. Or OTHER prisoners may be employed as prison guards. Also, enforcement will also be maintained by weekly delivery of foodstuffs, medication, and other necessities.

While it absolutely is horrendous...the potential for greatness exists. IF the gamble is won, the investment is realized, the PAMC could become a page in history and a jumping off point for a new phase of space colonization...

Aside from being a semi-serious proposal, this is absolutely rife with story ideas…see ya, I gotta go.

Resources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_asteroid_close_approaches_to_Earth, https://www.pharostribune.com/news/local_news/article_7fcd3ea5-3c14-533f-a8d5-9bf629922f34.html, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyNX5b8icrY, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convict_leasing
Image: https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/A2D5/production/_114558614_hls-eva-apr2020.jpg

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 537

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: good vs evil (If you’ve never read THE DARK IS RISING series by Susan Cooper – you should!)
Old History/Current Event: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/12/politics/ukraine-russia-sanctions-us-eu/

Asmita Makarov had finished drawing the proper symbols on the floor of the partially destroyed building in Lviv.

Elnur Kuzmin said, “You sure this is a good thing?”

Asmita stood, studying her work and said, “Putin tried to invade Ukraine in 2014 and we beat him then using conventional weapons – now he’s trying again. This time we need stronger weapons.” The abandoned “re-education camp” Putin had reclaimed outside of Moscow still had plenty of empty buildings. They’d gotten in an found a room of the proper dimensions.

Elnur scowled. “What’s stronger than anti-tank missiles and a determined army and the people?”

She shook her head, “Putin doesn't just want to beat Ukraine, he’s out to get his name in the history books. He wants the entries to read ‘Lenin, Stalin, and Khrushchev, Putin.’ He wants to erase the stain of Gorbachev. All he wants is to be included with the most brutal Soviet dictators whose aim was to make every country a satellite of Russia – even America, Brazil, and ultimately China. He’s not interested in anything less. While only Satan can be evil incarnate, he hopes to overthrow even that trope. There’s only one way to stop him.”

Elnur shook his head and said, “When you summon Perun, Morana, Triglav, and Belobog, we’ll be only the first of the people who are collateral damage…”

“It’s not worth it to try and save our country?”

Elnur wouldn’t look up until he finally did and said, “Yes. It is.”

Asmita stepped back, grabbing the bottle of blood from the bull they’d sacrificed at sunrise. She glanced at her cellphone and said, “It’s two minutes to midnight.” Elnur nodded and walked around the circle to the other side. Pouring the blood on the first symbol, she said softly, “We summon you Triglav, three-headed god of heaven, earth, and the underworld; or the past, present, and future. Come to us on your black horse!”

Elnur dumped his portion and said, “We summon you, Belobog, god of good, you are the Sun in the sky, in the underworld, the mountains, and the lowlands.”

Asmita had moved to another spot, spilled blood and recited, “We summon you, Rerun, god of thunder and weapons, and the towering mountains, and nobility; king of gods!”

Elnur, the last to go, repeated the move, emptying the container and saying, “We cry out to you, Morana, goddess of death and winter…” He paused, looked across at Asmita and whispered, “You think I should have summoned the dudes and you summoned the women?”

Asmita rolled her eyes, “Don’t be so old-fashioned, Elnur! This is…” she stopped talking as her eye kept rolling and the air around them began to pulsate like a massive heartbeat…

Resources: https://rabydosverse.fandom.com/wiki/Slavic_mythology
Names: ♀ Nepal, Russia; ♂ Azerbaijan; Russia
Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/98/71/e5/9871e52bbc09c525af21b8f6471eab15.jpg

Slice of PIE: “Free Guy” Is Just “Stranger Than Fiction”…But With VR Headsets…

NOT using the Programme Guide of the 2021 World Science Fiction Convention, DisCON III, which I WOULD have been attending in person if I felt safe enough to do so in person AND it hadn’t been changed to the week before the Christmas Holidays…I WILL NOT use the Programme Guide to jump off, jump on, rail against, or shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy of the Program Guide. This explanation is reserved for when I dash “off topic”, sometimes reviewing movies, sometimes reviewing books, and other times taking up the spirit of a blog an old friend of mine used to keep called THE RANTING ROOM…

My wife and I love both the “Stranger Than Fiction” (2006) and “Free Guy” (2021). In case you’re too young to watch old movies, here’s the plot of “Stranger than Fiction”: “IRS auditor Harold Crick suddenly finds his mundane Chicago life to be the subject of narration only he can hear: narration that begins to affect his entire existence, from his work to his love life to his death.” This film stars some real names: Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman (none of the “Free Guy” targets know who he is), and Maggie Gyllenhaal. (For the 2022 generation: Ferrell is best known as the Elf in “Elf”…; Emma Thompson is best known for lots of things, but for the target audience of “Free Guy”: Professor Trelawny at Hogwarts)

“Free Guy” (2021): “In the extremely popular video game, Free City, a NPC named Guy learns the true nature of his existence when he meets the girl of his dreams, a human player. This player's interactions with Guy has massive effects on him, the game, and real world as they play it.” This film has some big names as well, Ryan Reynolds (for the target audience, he’s Deadpool); Jodie Comer (Rey’s Mom in STAR WARS: “The Rise of Skywalker”); and Taika Waititi as the Calm Blue Rock Guy in 2 of the AVENGERS movies…

SO…how are “Stranger Than Fiction” and “Free Guy” basically the same movie – one made for people who read books, then other for people who play video games?

A fairly short list of events in both movies might serve my argument:

FIRST:
Harold Crick in “Stranger Than Fiction” is a fictional character – both in the movie; and in the book in the movie.

Guy in “Free Guy” is a fictional character – both in the game; and in the real world.

SECOND:
Harold figures out he’s a fictional character. Guy does as well.

THIRD:
Guy finds out he’s going to die when the game shuts down (or before if Antawan catches him). So does Harold – but his person isn’t a real villain. She’s an accidental villain. Actually, Dustin Hoffman serves as a sort of “low-key” villain, insisting Harold HAS to die if the book is going to be a fabulous piece of literature.

FOURTH:
Both Guy and Harold object to dying.

FIFTH:
Someone CRAZY is in charge of Harold’s story – she just thinks she’s writing her newest novel. Guy’s not even supposed to BE a character – until he puts on the glasses and goes from being a Non-Playable-Character to a FORCE in the video game…albeit, he’s not technically controlled by ANYONE at first. Then Antwan sends his controllers in.

SIXTH:
They both meet the story creator eventually – Harold at the very end, Guy when he falls for one of the creators after he has the glasses.

SEVENTH:
Neither Millie nor Keys; and not Karen Eiffel have ANY CLUE that their fictional characters are in fact an artificial intelligence and a real person…until the very end and they are ALL totally freaked out.

EIGHTH:
Both Harold and Guy have a happy ending: Harold gets Ana; Guy gets Millie…and then it turns out he’s actually KEYS…who gets Millie and Guy gets his best friend back.

There are only two differences:

Karen Eiffel and Millie/Keys are HORRIFIED to find out that Harold and Guy are REAL. While Karen lets Harold survive getting hit by a bus instead of dying; Millie and Keys set Guy free (actually all of the Free Life characters).

Karen Eiffel isn’t actually evil, Antwan is.

So, if it’s been done twice, in two very popular and award-winning movies, what are they trying to say to us?

“Free Guy” was almost universally considered a fluff movie – pure fun, no thought, just a good-old time. Esmerelda Gomez at SocioMix however, disagrees: “…the NPCs are more than coded programs for gamers to play with…this theme is centered on civil rights being messed with…by the government…[and] how citizens will fight for them…interactions and movement for change create more room for others to have the ability and rights to…live better lives.”

“Stranger Than Truth” is instead considered a piece of existential thought: “…there’s something very poetic about the understanding of one’s place in the universe, but it’s far more dramatic when such understanding occurs only days before that life ends…Each of these characters ends up doing little things to save one another. There's an underlying theme that the things we take most for granted are often the ones that make life worth living and actually keep us alive.”

The two quotes above might be swapped – STT is certainly about free will and civil rights, and how interactions and movement create room for others to have better lives. FG is certainly about understanding one’s place in the universe, and it absolutely IS more dramatic when Guy understands just before his life ends.

For both, I’d say that there is indeed an underlying theme that the things we take for granted are things that make our lives worth living.

And so, I rest my case…

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_than_Fiction_(2006_film), https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420223/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Guy, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6264654/, https://www.sociomix.com/diaries/entertainment/the-philosophy-of-the-movie-free-guy-on-reality-purpose-and-change/1633291983#:~:text=Free%20Guy%20Displays%20The%20Change%20An%20Individual%20Can%20Make.&text=Yet%20Guy's%20interactions%20with%20other,the%20NPCs%20he%20interacted%20with.
Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/Free_Guy_2021_Poster.jpg/220px-Free_Guy_2021_Poster.jpg, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/ff/Stranger_Than_Fiction_%282006_movie_poster%29.jpg/220px-Stranger_Than_Fiction_%282006_movie_poster%29.jpg

COVID-19 and me...

I tested positive...got hit by the symptoms...taking an investigative drug to shorten my stay with COVID-19 and keep me from getting serious symptoms. Recovering. Tired. This is about all I can write.

See you next week.