They Call Me Mad
So I noticed I was getting a shitload of hits from links on LiveJournal. Looks like the furry community has noticed my crazy scheme for writing Gilgamesh & The Furries (daft pretend title) aka The Wild One (more serious (but a bit cliched) title) aka FUR (current (one-word, just like VELLUM and INK) working title). I don't know if I should be worried about this or pleased about it. Interest is good. But I imagine the first reaction from that quarter may not be entirely positive.
I mean, given the whole "geek hierarchy" Scott Westerfeld linked to in the comments section, you know, undertandably there might well be some shaking of heads over at the furry convention, FC2006, which (weirdly, coincidentally, as I found out from one of those LJ links) is running right now (It's a sign, a sign, I tell you, a propitious synchronicity; the gods want me to write this book). I imagine it could be a bit like an SF reader/writer hearing that some poncy middle-brow contemporary realist is going to set a novel around an SF convention -- yes, it'll be all Spock and Kirk and adults obsessing over Star Wars toys, and, oh, look at all the freaks in silly costumes! Smashing, we'd think. An outsider doing a hatchet job without even knowing it. Yes, I remember the headlines during WorldCon 1995: Sci-Fi Fans Beam Down To Glasgow.
So, I'm probably doubly bonkers, I realise. Most non-furries will think I'm utterly insane to write about furries. Most furries, on the other hand, will expect me to be crassly exploitative, capitalising on the superficial and sensationalist potentials of the scene. Non-furries will raise their eyebrows in incredulous amusement because of their preconceptions. Furries, on the other hand, will furrow their brows in suspicious consternation because of their expectations.
I can't really blame them.
But fuck it. I don't care it. I'll prove them both wrong or explode my mind trying. Because I do honestly think there's a fucking monster of a book in this idea, a book about humanity as flesh and humanity as mind, about death and life, with a healthy helping of sex and drugs and rock'n'roll. And bio-engineered monkey-tail body-modifications! I mean, come on. Monkey tail body modifications -- how cool would that be? You know you want one.
They call me mad, you know, mad!
I mean, given the whole "geek hierarchy" Scott Westerfeld linked to in the comments section, you know, undertandably there might well be some shaking of heads over at the furry convention, FC2006, which (weirdly, coincidentally, as I found out from one of those LJ links) is running right now (It's a sign, a sign, I tell you, a propitious synchronicity; the gods want me to write this book). I imagine it could be a bit like an SF reader/writer hearing that some poncy middle-brow contemporary realist is going to set a novel around an SF convention -- yes, it'll be all Spock and Kirk and adults obsessing over Star Wars toys, and, oh, look at all the freaks in silly costumes! Smashing, we'd think. An outsider doing a hatchet job without even knowing it. Yes, I remember the headlines during WorldCon 1995: Sci-Fi Fans Beam Down To Glasgow.
So, I'm probably doubly bonkers, I realise. Most non-furries will think I'm utterly insane to write about furries. Most furries, on the other hand, will expect me to be crassly exploitative, capitalising on the superficial and sensationalist potentials of the scene. Non-furries will raise their eyebrows in incredulous amusement because of their preconceptions. Furries, on the other hand, will furrow their brows in suspicious consternation because of their expectations.
I can't really blame them.
But fuck it. I don't care it. I'll prove them both wrong or explode my mind trying. Because I do honestly think there's a fucking monster of a book in this idea, a book about humanity as flesh and humanity as mind, about death and life, with a healthy helping of sex and drugs and rock'n'roll. And bio-engineered monkey-tail body-modifications! I mean, come on. Monkey tail body modifications -- how cool would that be? You know you want one.
They call me mad, you know, mad!
posted by Hal Duncan | 8:05 pm
6 Comments:
And if the Furries don't like it, they should write their bloody own!
A monkey tail? Who are we to argue with a few million years of evolution? Bloody human beings, that's who!
Just think, being able to hand from the ceiling with a drink in each hand!
Sorry, that should be "hang from the ceiling with a drink in each hand".
yay. as both a fur and a fan i say write the book. with furries...well, you'll get both the highest praise and much tut-ing. but hey, if we dont have something interesting to fight amongst ourselves about we only end up arguing about the porn...
anywho, waiting excitedly for INK, and grinning at the thought of a new book brewing.
anywho, i've said my piece now..so... *slinks off*
The furry con mentioned is, of course, in the Bay Area. I know a lot of the people on the con committee (not all of whom are furries, they are just addicted to conrunning). Want me to brief my spies?
And you have officially made your editor's head explode. :-)
Dude, I have meme=tagged you (and you should enjoy this one)
Go here to see the rules of your meme:
http://lagringa.blogspot.com/2006/01/evil-meme-tagging.html
Paul: "hang from the ceiling with a drink in each hand"... You know me too well.
Foion: Cool! Cheers fer the support. VELLUM and INK wil probably be good indications of my approach with FUR. Puckish comedy, ancient tragedy, and always on the side of the underdogs. Um, no pun intended there.
Cheryl: Oh, I don't know if I want to know. :) I'm more inclined to just charge blithely on ahead regardless of others' opinions.
La Gringa: Damn you! OK, OK. I'll mull it over. Not sure if I can think of five weird habits... at least ones that I'd openly admit to that is.
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