Essay on "After This Life"

[scarlettina]

Shortly before the most recent issue of IGMS was released to the Web, Edmund wrote me and asked for an essay about how "After This Life" came to be written. He's just published the essay on the magazine's companion blog, Side-Show Freaks. Read it here. (It's free.) mabfan and erdnase2000 are name-checked.

Comments

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Nifty. I like how the story came together - and now I want to read the research on teleportation that you did - every teleport is a death? Interesting, fascinating stuff! Well done.

I need to read the whole story, I got drug in and then wasn't sure how to pay, and if I wanted a whole subscription, then forgot about it with cats and plague. Maybe I'll go looking tonight..

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

...every teleport is a death?

Yep. And now that I know, I'm with Doctor McCoy. No one is spreading my atoms across time and space. Nuh-uh.

[kistha.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

Teleportation is my number one wish they could do it, right now today. Damn. I think I'd still do it - I think. Maybe. Well that certainly changes things... do you still have the research "list" handy? I'd love to get a chance to do some reading...

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

One thing I noticed in the article was your observation that some prisoners are very smart. Although that's true, smart people in prison are outliers to a much greater degree than on the outside. (Real life example (http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/24930.html).) Most people in prison range between everyday-dumb and retarded. Any consideration of experimental consent dealing with prisoners needs to be aware of that, on top of the obvious issues of how fair it is to recognize consent from a person under the control of imprisonment. In other words, one not only has to address the question, "did he sign because he agreed or because he felt compelled because he's in prison?" One also has to ask, "did he have the slightest understanding of the agreement?"

Alex in A Clockwork Orange was a very intelligent character. () But did he know what he was getting into when he agreed to the experiment? (On the other hand, did the scientists experimenting on him understand what would happen?) How much of his agreement to the experiments come from willingness to go through the treatment, as opposed to desire to do anything to get out of the prison's general population? ()

Since I haven't read your story past the teasers yet, I don't know whether this enters into it. But it's something to consider if you use prison experimentation as a story element.

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

I know you it's your intention to contribute, but I admit to feeling as though the story is being critiqued here without actually having been read. You really ought to read the story. I did do a lot of reading, a lot of research beforehand. At this point, I'm not going to change anything about what I've written. I thought about it deeply, made deliberate choices in the service of character and story, and that's pretty much that.

And honestly, I wouldn't underestimate what you refer to as "everyday dumb." I used the word "smart," by which I meant having the intelligence to understand their surroundings and their situation, which is true of most people. And there are enough examples of prisoners educating themselves that I can't dismiss what they are capable of accomplishing.

[steve98052.livejournal.com]

I know it's not fair to comment on the story without reading it. I meant to contribute to the topic, rather than comment on the story itself. I didn't mean to suggest changes after it's published, although looking at what I wrote again I see I missed what I meant to say. (I wrote a more considered message, wiped it out with a misdirected click, and rewrote hastily and wrong. But excuses or not, what I wrote was still wrong and unfair as written. Sorry.)

Smart people in prison are exceptions, except in the low-security prisons that specialize in white-collar criminal, but enough exist that they're reasonable characters. It would only strain credibility to have an entire prison ward full of smart people.

I suppose a fair share of what I called "everyday dumb" are really cases of extremely poor education. It might take years, but eventually they'd catch up; to dismiss that would be underestimating them. But many are deeply learning-disabled; with a cursory search, I found figures ranging from 9% to almost 90%, depending on definitions.

Anyway, sorry I got carried away with one little observation to the point that I failed to think through the fact that you likely know more about the subject than I do.

I'll read the story, but I need to sleep now.

[bedii.livejournal.com]

I remember reading a short in Analog years ago that was a judicial ruling that everyone that had gone through a teleportation system was legally dead--including the Vice-president, half the cabinet...

I'm glad I read your essay for a selfish reason. I haven't read "After This Life" yet because I've been considering a horror story involving teleportation for quite some time--the premise is clear, how best to handle it is not--and now I know enough about your story to make sure I don't do anything in mine that would make it seem like I'd decided to rip you off...

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

The truth, Bruce, is that there's nothing new under the sun. I can only remember ever once having an idea ripped off and seeing it in print. Given that the perpetrator has been clinically diagnosed as a pathological liar and has been accused of murder by the legal system, I write it off to his sociopathic tendencies, and take it as a compliment that the idea was good enough to steal. After that, though, all ideas are fair game and no one writer will treat a subject the same way as a another.

[bedii.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear. I'm a bit skittish on this point despite having some really good books around on the history of plagiarism (I'm an attorney's kid. You get a certain fascination for trainwrecks.) after I ended up in an online discussion where someone was determined to nail David Gerrold for swiping The Trouble with Tribbbles from The Rolling Stones when Gerrold has said repeatedly he'd thought he'd been riffing on the introduction of rabbits into Australia. (I was trying to be the voice of moderation. No, don't make that little giggling sound, I was, really! Before it petered out the theatrical release and rerelease dates of the Disney animated version of Pigs is Pigs and whether it had been aired on the pre WWODisney series Disneyland were brought into play by other parties, and I ended up wanting to take my laptop down to the ferry dock and frisbee it into the Sound.)

As it is, there's a brilliant idea that was thrown away as a barely-used side gimmick in two Ace Double Novels that I'd love to use correctly, and a sucky two-novel series from the late 70's which took a wonderful premise and wasted it so badly that I swear ladyjestocost can tell when I'm thinking about it just by the look on my face. Remind me the next time we go to dinner and I'll go over both: two minutes, tops, I promise.

all ideas are fair game and no one writer will treat a subject the same way as a another.

Ain't it the truth! As a side note I still want to go to the alternate universe where Zelazny did his original idea for an Amber series: the same events as seen by all Nine Princes over nine books. (You should have heard the audience reaction when he came out with that one.) I'd love to have seen the same events interpreted by, say, Brand and Benedict, and am sure Zelazny could have made the authorial tone of both different enough to have been interesting..

[bedii.livejournal.com]

Oh, just remembered. When you aren't sick, and ladyjestocost isn't stuck in bed or on the couch we'd be happy to have you over and either show films or get out the '41 Martin so you can give it some exercise...