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sparklyjojos · 4 years

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CARNIVAL recaps [4/13]

Today’s recap: We interrupt the plot to bring you Ellery Queen fanfiction, or: a two-headed dog and the theory of chaos.

EIGHT

17 Aug 1996 — 23 Aug 1996

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

...But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

The Empire State Building that reaches the skies is blown up.

S-rank detective Ronely Queen learns about it from the radio news. She’s a young blond white woman, the pince-nez she’s always wearing bringing to mind her grandfather, the famous detective Ellery Queen. Right now she’s driving to a place where grandpa Ellery once solved a certain case: an inn called The Two-Headed Dog.

[This chapter is pretty much one giant fanfiction of the actual Ellery Queen story The Two-Headed Dog from 1934. To recap that story: Ellery stays at the eponymous inn and hears a tale of a jewel thief who once stayed there under the fake name John Morse. One day the thief disappeared, his dog was found dead in the woods, and the cabin seemed haunted ever since, eerie noises coming from inside at night. During Ellery’s stay at the inn, another guest is murdered in the haunted cabin.

The twist is that the thief had two dogs. When he was murdered and his body hidden under the cabin’s floor, the surviving dog would sneak inside and claw at the floor making it sound like there were ghosts around. The man who got killed during Ellery’s stay was the thief’s murderer coming back to the crime scene. The dog recognized him and ripped his throat to shreds. The story ends with Ellery pointing out the coincidence between there being two dogs and the inn’s name.]

Ronely Queen is greeted warmly by the inn’s owner Theodore Hosey and his young daughter Diana. [You should remember them both for later.] They know each other well, as Ronely (or Lee, as Diana calls her) often stays at the inn, and Theodore was her professor back when she was studying applied criminology at Harvard.

It happens that an older man called John Morse—just like the person involved in the Ellery Queen case—is currently staying at the inn. This John Morse claims he’s a private detective taking a brief rest in the middle of pursuing a serial killer nicknamed Deep Cut. The investigation apparently required him to bring a dog, which is now chained in one of the cabins.

Later Queen talks with Theodore trying to reason out why the global crime rate is at a sudden rise. She thinks that Theodore’s personal World Chaos Theory may be helpful in explaining it. In that theory, there exists an “El Niño Point”—a singularity point that stands at the center of chaotic phenomena. You know, the butterfly flapping its wings that causes a storm in another country, this kind of thing.

Theodore believes the Billion Killer might be that El Niño / Singularity point that’s behind not only the Saturday cases, but the rising crime rate overall. (Queen does notice the irony in calling someone like the Billion Killer El Niño, a term that originally refers to baby Jesus.) Basically, once they solve the mystery of the Billion Killer, everything else should become clear.

The conversation leads to Theodore’s ex-wife Anna Robertson, who changed her name to Nina Roberts and started journeying through the US in a camping car. Theodore admits ashamed that he trailed her for some time. Unfortunately, Nina became the seventh, unusual victim of the serial killer Deep Cut. Up until her, Deep Cut only targeted men, leaving the corpses with their cut off genitalia stuffed in their mouths. When Theodore heard that his ex-wife was murdered, he hired John Morse to investigate the case.

When Queen is in her cabin later, she hears two gunshots and dashes outside. Theodore runs out of Morse’s cabin, his arm bleeding, and quickly leads Queen to the scene.

Morse is dead on the floor with his throat torn open. On top of him lies a big dog that had been shot in the head, a length of untethered chain hanging from its collar. Morse’s lifeless hand is still holding a gun. Nearby lies a briefcase full of money.

What happened according to Theodore: John Morse had discovered that Deep Cut was actually Nina Roberts killing her lovers. To gain alibi at the time of death, Nina would leave her specially trained dog with the victim, call them on the phone and recite a phrase that prompted the dog to attack and kill the victim. Then she’d retrieve the dog and arrange the crime scene.

Ronely Queen guesses that Morse must have blackmailed Theodore, threatening he would tell everyone about Nina and destroy the family’s reputation. Theodore admits it’s true. He was supposed to give Morse the briefcase of money in exchange for the dog. But when he was untying the dog after the exchange, he wondered if it really was the correct animal, as it seemed too gentle and calm for a killer dog. At that moment Morse yelled “Please hate me!”, and the dog attacked hearing the phrase—but instead of Theodore, it threw itself at Morse. Despite Morse screaming “Love me! Love me!”, the dog wouldn’t stop biting at his throat, and finally Morse had to shoot it. Before he died from injuries, Morse tried to shoot Theodore too, but only grazed his arm.

There’s just one little thing that bothers Queen in this testimony. The dog’s teeth have very little blood on them, as if someone intentionally wiped the rest away.

One hypothesis is that after Theodore left the cabin, Morse wasn’t dead yet and wiped the dog’s teeth as a sort of a dying message. Maybe this message was that the dog (or any other dog) wasn’t actually used in the Deep Cut murders? If Morse was Deep Cut and used the dog successfully even once, he should have known that the phrase used to stop it wasn’t in fact “love me”. The most obvious theory would be that Morse had been pursuing Nina Roberts and killing her lovers out of jealousy with his own two hands, and Nina eventually committed suicide.

But Queen can see that Morse is just a fake culprit, and finally explains the truth behind the case. Who fits the role of the El Niño Point the best in this entire case? If you look at everything logically, it’s Theodore Hosey.

It was Theodore who pursued his ex-wife and killed her lovers. Morse discovered it and blackmailed Theodore. It was Theodore who ordered the dog to attack Morse, and it’s not that the dog didn’t listen to the phrase “love me”, it’s that Morse never even said that phrase in the first place. Morse wiped the dog’s teeth to symbolically show that the animal itself was an innocent tool and that the murderer was Theodore.

As for that gentle dog that could suddenly turn vicious, maybe you could say it had a double personality—a true Two-Headed Dog.

And so a tiny meagre case was solved, causing barely a ripple in the vast terrifying scale of the Crime Olympics… but everything would have its meaning in time.

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

#sparkly reads carnival #maijo and jdc stuff

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travelingtheusa · 6 years

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NORTH DAKOTA

28 Aug 2018 (Tue) – We made sandwiches, packed a cooler, and took off for Theodore Roosevelt National Park today. Unfortunately, the weather was drizzly and overcast all day. That limited visibility of the surrounding area. Since this is our last day in the area, we just had to deal with it.

We drove along the loop road, stopping at pullouts to see what we could see. We hiked two trails then sat at an overlook and enjoyed lunch while the rain picked up a bit. During our drive we spotted pronghorn, three different herds of bison, several prairie dog towns, Nokotas (wild horses), and an elk. When we emerged from the park, we fueled the truck and returned to the campground.

27 Aug 2018 (Mon) – It was cool, rainy, and overcast all day. We decided to keep our activities indoors. First stop was at Theodore’s Dining Room in the local hotel. It was a breakfast buffet with very good food. There were four kinds of eggs (one had crab), bacon, sausage, hash browns, waffles, and granola with fruit. It was a little expensive but very enjoyable.

After breakfast, we walked around town a little then toured the Cowboy Hall of Fame. There were all kinds of stories of horses, cowboys, ranches, and competitions. Videos recounted stories of experiences by early settlers and their descendants. After the museum, we walked along the main street. Harold Schafer came to this town in the early-1960s and restored much of the town of Medora. He renovated/rebuilt many of the buildings in town and bought the existing amphitheater. He updated the seating and property, and brought a new, flashier show to the outdoor stage. Medora sits at the entrance to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Harold envisioned a popular tourist town that people would want to visit and stay at.

Medora’s claim to fame is that Theodore Roosevelt came here back in the late-1800s. He fell in love with the place and bought two cattle ranches. They say he claimed that the time he spent in the Badlands of North Dakota prepared him for his role as president. His nickname was Old Four Eyes. He was disturbed about overhunting of wildlife on the range and the rapidly disappearing buffalo. Roosevelt wanted future generations to be able to enjoy the Wild West that he knew and loved. As President of the U.S., he was first to set aside national parkland. During his presidency, he preserved millions of acres of land, thereby ensuring that future generations would be able to enjoy the wonders of nature and the wildlife that inhabits it.

We drove to the Marquis de Homes, the home of the founder of Medora. He and his wife traveled from France. The Marquis was enamored by the stories of the Wild West and he wanted to be a cattle rancher. He came here, established a cattle ranch and meat packing plant, and named the town after his wife. His idea was to raise and slaughter cattle at one place, then ship the meat back east. It turned out to be more profitable than driving cattle hundreds of miles.

We drove into Theodore Roosevelt National Park to the visitor’s center. We wanted to get some information about hiking trails and the scenic drive. Hopefully, the weather will be more pleasant tomorrow and we can explore the park.

Last stop was at a local convenience store (the nearest grocery store is 35 miles away) to pick up some groceries. They didn’t have much so we only picked up water and lunch meat.

26 Aug 2018 (Sun) – We packed up and left Bismarck at 10:30 a.m. It was a short hour and a half to our next campground. About three fourths of the way here, we stopped at a visitor’s center called Painted Canyon. What an amazing change of scenery! Behind the center was a landscape of ravines and hills with remarkable colors. We were driving along looking at flat farm land with wheat fields and sunflower crops. This was quite a change in geography. Usually these things change slowly but this was a rapid change. After we left the center, the landscape quickly morphed into colorful hills and canyons.

We pulled into Medora Campground around noon. It is a large campground with red dirt roads and campsites. There are some trees to provide shade. The sites are close and the neighbor’s sewer hookup is right outside our door. They could have laid the campground out better.

As soon as we were set up, we did the laundry. The laundry room was a pretty good size with six washers and four dryers. No one else was in there so we were able to use three washers.

At 5:00 p.m. we drove to the Pitchfork Steak Fondue across the road. We had called and made reservations the day before yesterday. When we walked into the dining area, we saw dozens of picnic tables. They could probably seat 2,000 people. There were pitchforks with steaks already impaled and waiting to be cooked. There was also a large buffet area for the sides that were being served with the steaks. We got wine at a small stand, claimed our table, and waited for the meal to start. There was a small 4-person band playing country music in the center of the pavilion. When the word went out that it was time to eat, everyone lined up. We got a stamp on our hand but never had to use it so I’m not sure why we got it. The buffet included a baked potato, baked beans, Texas toast, cole slaw, broccoli & cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, and ranch dressing. After loading up on sides, we walked over to the cook area and got our steak. There were probably a quarter of the people they would usually have on a holiday weekend. Lots of tables were empty or had only one or two couples at them.

At 6:30 p.m. everyone moved over to the outdoor amphitheater. It was a huge seating area cut right into the side of the mountain. The stage had tracks that allowed the scenery to slide sideways and the band stand to slide forward. The show was every bit as good as Opryland. It was very professional and the singers and dancers were very talented. There were two co-hosts – Cowboy Chet Wollan and Bill Sorensen. Wollan sang and danced right along with the accompanying performers. The comic, Kermit Apio (from Hawaii), was hysterical. I never laughed so hard at a comedian before. The weather was a little cool. As the sun set, the temperature dropped and many people had blankets they had brought. We wore jackets but would have appreciated a blanket ourselves. The show ran from 7:30 to 10:00 p.m.

25 Aug 2018 (Sat) – We went to Fort Abraham Lincoln today. The Custer House was a recreation of the house General Custer and his wife lived in but all the furnishings and clothing belonged either to them or from that time period (1870s). The CCC built several buildings on the former compound grounds. There was a large granary, a barracks with mess hall, a stable, and a commissary that had a snack bar, library, gift shop, and restrooms. We had a hot dog for lunch. I’m not really sure what it was we ate. The dogs they gave us were red. They put some kind of dye in them. I was afraid they were soy dogs. We just ate them. We then drove to the visitors center where they had a replica of the Slant Indian Village. There were six earth lodges. They were full size mounds made from logs, branches, and dirt. They were circular in design and had a fire pit in the center of the lodge with an opening in the roof.

It rained again last night but there was (thankfully) no thunder and lightning. I don’t know why it seems to only rain at night here.

24 Aug 2018 (Fri) – The most ferocious thunderstorm rolled through during the night. The first boom literally lifted me out of the bed. I have never experienced a storm like that one. There was no wind and very little rain but there was lots of lightning. So much that it was like daylight. The thunder was explosive and had a concussive effect. The thunder rumbled for close to a minute. The storm was both exhilarating and frightening.

We went to breakfast at Ramkota Hotel in their Seasons Café. The food was very good and the ambiance was very attractive. They definitely like dark wood. We then went to the Dakota Heritage Center right next to the capitol building. It had a lot of interesting displays, artifacts, and exhibits but it was laid out in a very confusing way. We left the center and drove to Longhorn Steakhouse for lunch. Then we stopped in at Captain Jack’s to pick up some wine and at Target to get groceries. We ran out of rice for Bonnie and were giving her dry dog food with her boiled chicken. Unfortunately, she got diarrhea so we need to put her back on the rice. She has developed a really sensitive stomach.

After dinner, we worked on the mapping the route for our Utah caravan next year.

23 Aug 2018 (Thu) – We left Garrison around 10:30 a.m. There were a few sprinkles on the way but the weather was basically clear. In an hour and a half, we arrived at General Sibley Park & Campground in Bismarck. This is a great campground! The campsites are very roomy but only have electric hookup. We had to stop on the way in to fill our tank with fresh water. There are many trees in the campground but all the underbrush has been cut away and the grass mowed so everything looks open.

After set up, we drove into the city and took a tour of the capitol building. It has a two story building with an 18-story tower added on. We met the tour guide in the lobby and joined two other couples for a tour of the building. She took us first to the original part. It was like walking into the land of Oz. The hallway ceiling was 40’ and set in an art deco style. We looked into the Senate and the House chambers. They only meet every other year so they vote in a two-year budget. How do they legislate an entire state if they only meet bi-annually?

Next was a ride up to the 17th floor to the overview. We walked out on the deck and admired the view of the surrounding area. It seemed like you could see forever.

After the tour of the capitol, we took a tour of the former Governor’s Mansion. Then we went to lunch at the Blarney Stone Pub. I had Shepherd’s Pie and Paul had a pasta dish. Everything was very good. We then found a post office to mail off some post cards then returned to the campground.

22 Aug 2018 (Wed) – We drove around the area today. First stop was at the Custer Coal Mine. It was not owned by General George Custer. The placards at the area didn’t really explain why it got the name it did. It was a strip mining operation that mined coal. There was a small pond to look at.

We then drove to Fort Stevenson. One building was on site with display items telling the history of the fort. The actual fort is two miles northwest of the site under water. Nothing of the original fort remains. This was the last place General George Custer stayed before he rode off to the Battle of Little Bighorn.

After the fort, we drove around the state campground. They have over 100 campsites and only three campers. Apparently this is now their slow season. The campgrounds only fill up on the weekends. We guessed that is because North Dakota is so far north that many families cannot camp here and make it back home in time for school. As a matter of fact, the North Dakota state college classes started this week. Guess it’s the same across the country. K-12 usually starts the day after Labor Day.

Next, we drove into the town of Garrison. It was small but cute. After lunch at Ye Olde Malt Shoppe, we strolled up and down the main street. Lots of businesses called themselves Ye Olde ____. There was also a bottle shop. In this state, there are no liquor stores. They are called bottle shops. These shops are usually attached to a bar where liquor is served.

Last stop was at Krause’s Market. It was a small supermarket but we were able to pick up just about everything we needed. We came home and grilled corn on the cob. It was just like back home. The corn was delicious. Unfortunately, the flies are horrible. At they aren’t mosquitoes. After spending most of the meal swatting the flies away, we put a corn cob at the end of the table. The flies happily swarmed on it and mostly left us alone for the rest of the meal.

This has been such a lovely campground. The weather has been perfect. The haze from the fires out west were washed out by the last storm and we now have partly cloudy to clear skies. It’s been in the high 40s in the morning and in the high 70s to low 80s during the day. We can sit on the lake shore and watch the birds swimming in the water and the little chipmunk-like animals scramble among the rocks lining the shoreline.

21 Aug 2018 (Tue) – We packed up and left Minot AFB at 10:45 a.m. The weather was good and we arrived at our next stop in East Totten Trail Campground at 12:15 p.m. It is an Army Corps of Engineers site on Lake Audubon. This is one of the nicest campsites we have been in for a long time. We back up right on to the lake shore. The sites are spacious with plenty of room for the picnic table and barbecue.

On the other side of the causeway is Lake Sakakawea (we pronounce it Sacajawea everywhere else). This is the third largest reservoir in the United States. Garrison Dam is the fifth largest earthen dam in the world. The lake is 178 miles long and 14 miles wide. The dam itself is two and half miles long and 210 feet high. We drove around the area looking at the dam and spillway. There is also the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge on the lake.

Next stop was at the Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery. Unfortunately, we stopped there 15 minutes before the tank buildings were closing. We rushed through them to look at the fish. There were burbot, trout, paddlefish, and two kinds of sturgeon. The pallid sturgeon is on the brink of extinction. The only thing that has saved it is its longevity. When the dams were built on the Missouri River, it disrupted the spawning habits of the fish. It took 20 years to realize that the pallid sturgeon were dying off and another ten years to react and get a program in place. The fish live 80 to 100 years. They have to capture fish and take blood samples to find out their gender. The hatchery takes sperm from males and freezes it. When they get females, they get them to lay their eggs (spawn) and then use the sperm to fertilize the eggs. It sounds like such a complicated process. Only about 35% of the little fish released into the river survive.

After looking in the tanks, we went back into the visitor’s center and spoke with the docents in the building. It turned out that they are volunteering to help out at the hatchery for the season as part of a workkamping program (many people do workkamping). The husband and wife were both retired servicemembers. We spoke about travelling around the U.S. and serving in the military.

When we left the hatchery, we drove into the nearby town of Coleharbor. It was very small and had no grocery store, no post office, no restaurants, no nothing. We then drove to the other side of the lake to the town of Riverside. It was basically the same thing – a small town with nothing. At the entrance to the campground, there is a service station and an eatery. We had dinner at the Totten Trail Bar & Grill.

Later, after we got back to the campground and spent an hour on the phone trying to get the Dish satellite working, we visited with the couple next to us. They started full timing a year ago. We exchanged stories of places to see and things to do.

20 Aug 2018 (Mon) – We drove to the Scandinavian Heritage Park this morning. It claims to be the only park in the world that represents all five Scandinavian/Nordic countries. There is a visitor’s center at the front of the park and a plaza with the flags of all five nations. All of them have the same design with different colors – a solid color background with a cross. Denmark is a white cross on a red field. Finland is a light blue cross on a white field. Iceland has a red flag bordered in white on a dark blue field. Norway’s flag is a blue cross bordered in white on a red background. And Sweden is a golden yellow cross on a light blue field. We wondered if all these countries were once a single nation before dividing into separate entities. Why do they all have the same design?

At any rate, there were several different items around the park depicting items from the Scandinavian countries: statues of Hans Christian Anderson, Sondre Norheim (the father of modern skiing), and Casper Oimoen (an Olympic skier); a 30-foot tall Dala horse (a Swedish symbol); replicas of the Gol Stave Church from Norway and a Stabbur (storehouse from Norway). There was a Sigdal House that was dismantled in Norway and shipped to Minot where it was reassembled. There were various artifacts in different buildings showcasing beautiful handiwork – knitting, woodwork, trolls, etc. We strolled around the park enjoying the exhibits for two hours.

We then went to lunch. Unfortunately, there were no restaurants serving Scandinavian food. That seemed weird. In fact, most restaurants in the area were national food chain stores – Olive Garden, Appleby’s, etc. We went to a place called the Starving Rooster, a bar café. I had a Caesar salad and Paul had some kind of pasta dish. It was ok but not what we wanted.

After lunch, we drove to the Dakota Territory Air Museum. There were a few military aircraft and lots of civilian planes on display. Other artifacts were on display as well. One interesting fact we learned was that two days before D-Day, a directive came down from HQs instructing that all aircraft be painted with three white stripes and two black stripes on the wings (top and bottom) and on the fuselage. They expected the skies to be crowded with aircraft and wanted the pilots to be able to easily identify the friendly planes. Very ingenious.

When we returned to the campground, Paul washed the truck and trailer.

19 Aug 2018 (Sun) – A vicious thunderstorm rolled through last night. It lasted for more than an hour. At times, there was so much heat lightning that it seemed like daytime - split occasionally by bolts of lightning.

We packed up and left Grand Forks at 9:45 a.m. The rain cleared out some of the haze and the skies were partly cloudy during our ride to Minot. We stopped in Rugby to get pictures at the geographical center of North America. The marker was next to a Mexican Restaurant so we bought lunch while there. They must make out like bandits because of the monument.

It was more than four hours to the Air Force Base. When we arrived, the Outdoor Rec office was closed. We pulled into an open campsite. There are six back-in sites in a parking lot with electric and water hookups. A dump station is down the road. There is a large playground in back of the parking area. Several prairie dogs holes dot that area.

18 Aug 2018 (Sat) – We’ve been getting alerts about poor air quality. Fires in California, Idaho, Montana, and Canada are sending smoke and dirt particulates into the air. The sky has been hazy even though the weather service has been predicting sunny days.

We packed up and left Monticello at 9:50 a.m. Traffic was easy and we arrived in about two hours at Grand Forks AFB FamCamp. The campground reminds me of Fort Drum’s campground. It’s kind of remote and at the end of the base. There are only a few campers here. They have 61 campsites – 21 are full hookup and the rest are for tents (or boondocking). We have electric and water. We didn’t bother connecting the sewer since we are only here for one night. Paul chose a site right next to the bathhouse so we’re trying to use their toilet instead of ours.

Once set up, we drove about 25 minutes into the city of Grand Forks. It is a pretty old town with lots of historical buildings. We ate at the Rhombus Guys Brewing Company. The service was horrendous. There was a bridal shower going on but the place never called in extra help. It was almost an hour and a half before we got our food. People who came in after us got their food before us and we got our food before people who were seated before us. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to how the kitchen was preparing the food. They were quick to jump in and serve another beer when Paul finished the first but other than that, the waitress barely came by the table. It was like she was avoiding us. Probably embarrassed about the long delay.

After lunch, we walked along the main street and riverwalk. A memorial tower had been erected in the park to commemorate five floods that have devastated the town. There were various high water marks on the tower, the highest point occurring in 1997. As a result, they built a dike system to hold back rising waters.

On the way back, we stopped at a department store called Home of Economy (weird name, right?). There were no coffee makers with thermal carafe so we drove to WalMart. There, we found a Black & Decker coffee maker just as we wanted. We bought it and returned to the campground then did our laundry on site.

17 Aug 2018 (Fri) – We drove a half hour into Fargo to go to the Fargo Air Museum. It was small and contained within two hangars. There were about a dozen planes. A lot of the exhibits were devoted to aerobatic planes with a few military aircraft on display. Many uniforms and military paraphernalia were also on display. A B25 used by four governors was available for visitors to walk into and look around.

We left the museum and drove to the Border Town Bar & Grill for lunch. We enjoyed a taco lavosh. It was like a pizza but made with a cracker crust. It was good. The waitress had a chip on her shoulder and our service suffered for it. She was one of two girls serving tables and we guessed someone didn’t show up for work or she might have been directed to do something she didn’t like. Either way, she was certainly letting the patrons know she was not happy.

After lunch, we stopped at an RV dealer to look at some ice fishing trailers. We have seen many up north here and wanted to see what they looked like inside. They’re kind of cool. There are bunks and kitchens and bathrooms and sealed holes in the floor. One just had a toilet seat with a space underneath where you would put a bucket. Another had a regular toilet system with a dump valve. Some had heat, water, a microwave, and a refrigerator. All the holes in the floor each had a light directed at the hole. I guess so you could see into the hole when you fish. People have been using these “ice houses” as regular campers. We have spotted several in campgrounds.

Next, we drove to Bonanzaville. It is a collection of historical buildings and artifacts dating back to settler days. It is called Bonanzaville because North Dakota used to be known for its Bonanza farms. There were small farms that were basically self-subsisting and then there were large farms that produced more than they needed. Those were called Bonanza farms. We strolled along the streets wandering in and out of the old buildings, admiring the exhibits on display. It was pretty large and took us a couple of hours to go through everything. A Telephone Museum showed the progression of telecommunications. Some kids were having fun playing with the phones. There were a couple of phones set up to call each other. You could dial a phone across the room, listen to the clicks and whirs of a switching station, hear the telephone ring, then talk to the person who picked up the phone at the other end. There was also an air museum, a car museum, and a kind of catchall museum with unusual items on display (a glove stretcher, a wooden fishhook from Alaska, pipes from Norwegian settlers, a square knife strop, a dress lifter for ladies crossing muddy streets, etc.). It was an interesting afternoon.

16 Aug 2018 (Thu) – We pulled up stakes and left Monticello, MN, at 9:20 a.m. It was 220 miles to Casselton, ND, about 20 miles west of Fargo. The hotel is a Days Inn but the adjacent campground is called Governors Drive RV Park. The sites are close and paved with gravel. We have a pull through with full hookups. There are about 40 campsites in the campground.

We stopped at a rest area around noon to make lunch. When we were finished with our sandwiches, we continued on to our destination. The weather was perfect and the traffic was mostly not a problem (we had a brief hold up for some construction on I-94). We checked in at the desk in the hotel and then got set up. Then we drove to Fargo to pick up some groceries. We also stopped in at the Information Center and got a map and other brochures about the state. There was a wood chipper with a fake leg in it for visitors to take pictures with. This is intended for those persons who watched the movie, Fargo. In the movie, a crook puts his unfortunate partner in the wood chipper. The sheriff comes along just as he’s pushing the last leg into the machine. The funny thing about it all is that the movie was not filmed in Fargo at all. It was filmed in a town up on the Canadian border and in Minnesota. The clerk recommended Kroll’s Diner for lunch. We went to the diner. It was a 50’s style diner with a counter on one side and booths on the other side. We had a cheese button (similar to a pierogi but four times the size and deep fried) and something unpronounceable. It was like a thin slice of meatloaf inside a pastry that was deep fried. After lunch, we picked up groceries at WalMart then returned to Casselton.

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arwainian · 6 years

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Homestuck Name Meanings

Hello! I’ve been doing so many name meaning posts it’s about time I got around to doing Homestuck. I’m getting back to my roots with this.

This is only the kids for now, but make no mistake! I will get around to doing the trolls as well. I get a bit long-winded and in depth with these, you have been warned. If you have any corrections, feel free to let me know; I’d be happy to hear them!

A note before I start: yes, I am aware that Hussie has said that none of these names are short for anything. That doesn’t make it any less true that a lot of these names are diminutives of longer names so those longer names will determine the meaning no matter what the Huss says may or may not being on these characters’ fictional birth certificates.

John Egbert

John is an English name that comes from the Hebrew name יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan), after being filtered through Greek and then Latin as Ιωαννης (Ioannes) and Iohannes, respectively, which means God is gracious. The name John also has multiple variations in just about any language you can think of, though that isn’t related to the meaning. I just find it interesting that you could conceivably write a book where every character was named some form of John and still have variants left over.

Egbert means bright edge and comes from two Old English words: ecg, meaning the edge of a sword, and beorht, meaning bright. Throughout history it’s been used as both a first name and a surname.

Rose Lalonde

This name first started getting used in England as Roese and Rohese because of the Normans. It was derived from the Germanic words hrod, meaning fame, and heid, meaning kind, sort, or type. Overtime, this name continued to be associated with the flower rose, coming from the Latin word rosa, until this association eclipsed the original meaning and the name became simply Rose.

Lalonde is a French name, though it’s derived from an Old Norse word. The ‘londe’ part of Lalonde comes from the word lundr which means grove, and the ‘la’ is a definite article. That together makes Lalonde mean the grove.

Dave Strider

Dave is a shortened form of the name David. David is an Anglicization of the Hebrew name דָּוִד (Dawid) which comes from the word דוד (dwd), meaning beloved.

Strider could be seen as a reference to Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, whose sometimes referred to as Strider, especially given Dave’s habit of holding broken swords. Strider could also mean one who strides. The definition of to stride, according to the Merriam-Webster dicitonary, is to move with or as if with long steps.

Jade Harley

Jade obviously refers to the pretty green stone, jade. The word comes from the Spanish phrase “piedra de la ijada” meaning “stone of the flank” because it was believed that jade stones could cure colic.

Harley comes from a couple Old English words. Hara, meaning hare, and leah, meaning woodland or clearing. So Harley would mean a woodland jackrabbit. However, we know that in Homestuck Harley is actually a mispronunciation of the name Halley. That changes the Old English word to heall, which means hall, and leah stays the same.

Jane Crocker

Remember how I said that John has a metric fuckton of variations? Well Jane is one of them. It’s the Medieval French form of the name Jehanne, which is the feminine Old French version of Iohannes, which is itself the Latin form of the Greek name Ιωαννης (Ioannes), and then that finally traces back to יוֹחָנָן (Yochanan). So, Jane means God is gracious.

Crocker is a very very old way of saying potter. There’s nothing else to it.

Jake English

Jake can be either a Medieval variant of the name Jack or a shortened form of the name Jacob. Buckle up, we’re in for a long one. Jack comes from Jackin or Jankin which come from, drumroll please, John! I don’t want to go through that whole thing again so let’s just say it means God is gracious, the third one. Now for the other one. Jacob comes from the Latin name Iacobus which is from Ιακωβος (Iakobos) in Greek. That name comes from יַעֲקֹב (Ya'aqov), a Hebrew name that is said to mean holder of the heel or supplanter, though some theorize that it’s derived from יַעֲקֹבְאֵל (Ya'aqov'el) which means may God protect.

English just…means English. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say. The Crockerlishes have John names and simple surnames.

Roxy Lalonde

Roxy is a nickname for Roxana, the Latin form of the Greek name Ρωξανη (Roxane). Ρωξανη comes form the Persian and Bactrian name روشنک (Roshanak) which means bright or dawn.

Please refer to Rose’s part for the meaning of Lalonde so I don’t have to copy that down here and be redundant.

Dirk Strider

Dirk is the shortened form of the name Diederik. Diederik is the Dutch form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name that means ruler of the people. The parts that make up the whole of Theodoric are theud, which means people, and ric, which means power or ruler. A dirk is also a kind of dagger.

See Dave’s section for the meaning of Strider.

WOO! That was the fastest I’ve ever written one of these. Probably because there are a lot less characters in this one than I usual do and I had a ton of motivation! I’ll be doing more of these so be on the look out!

#homestuck #john egbert #dave strider #rose lalonde #jade harley #jane crocker #jake english #roxy lalonde #dirk strider #name meanings #im posting this without warning at all at 10pm

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callixton · 6 years

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I got tagged!! Learn more about me!

Thanks to @dionysus-is-my-dude for tagging me!!!

Nickname: My name is Theo, so I get Theodore, Ted, Teddy (though uh.. to be honest those are partially because I ask people to). My friend Alex calls me Thee and my boyfriend (PJ) calls me T. And a few of my friends call me Moony because I Am Remus Lupin.

Gender: Trans boy. It took me some time to find the right label, but I’m definitely just a straight up ftm guy.

Star Sign: I’m a Pisces, but personally I don’t think it really fits me. PJ and one of my best friends are also both Pisces, and though he fits the stereotype occasionally, I find it to generally be bullshit.

Height: I am... 5 foot. I just want to grow taller than my mom? But I’m probably pretty much how tall I’m ever going to be.

Sexuality: I call myself bisexual, but I’m probably most accurately panromantic bisexual? Because gender has no bearing on my attraction to people in terms of whether or not I’d like to date them, but my sexual attraction is a gendered experience. I still can be sexually attracted to anyone of any gender, but the way I experience that attraction is affected by their gender. It’s kind of like this post, but Jake Edwards explains almost exactly how I feel in his YouTube video here.

Hogwarts House: Slytherin!! I definitely value ambition and cleverness. And hey, Merlin was in our house, how much better could you get? I don’t believe in the whole merged houses (Slytherclaw, Gryffinpuff), but I do always say my secondary house would be Hufflepuff, and I’ve got a lot of mad love for those badgers.

Favourite Animals: UhhHH I don’t know! Elephants, maybe? Dolphins were my favorite for a while. I really love dogs?? All of the above?

Favourite Colour: It changes a lot, but if I to give one I usually say blue. I’ve been really digging a leafy green recently though.

Current Favourite Song: Ooh man... probably Come Home, Cardinal Pell by Tim Minchin. I’ve been listening to a lot of him and Bo Burnham recently. It’s... about a really horrible subject, so I kind of feel like I shouldn’t be listening to it recreationally? But also it is such a Bop.

Favourite Ideas to Get Creative With: This is a strangely worded one, so I’m not entirely sure if the answer I give is the one the author is looking for, but... right now it’s probably those damn UK comedians (wow look a quick self plug, follow my side blog @theft-and-shrubbery) especially as far as editing goes. I’ve also been doing a lot with Harry Potter right now. I’ve started writing a lot more in general over the past couple of months again, which is great, I’ve been working with a lot of original characters.

What I Like to do most when I’m Alone: I really wish I was alone more often so I had a chance to rp (oof another one? so soon? check out @itsthatwerewolf) and start up a YouTube channel and generally film things? I watch a shit ton of stand up and panel shows, and a fair amount of gaming videos on YouTube. Also, it’s always nice to be able to blast music and lip sync without being judged. I love playing video games and writing too!

What do I think of my Friends: I’m really fucking blessed to have an amazing group of friends, both on and offline. They’re wonderful and funny and I love them very very very much. I could write an entire post about each one of them, so I’ll refrain from going on.

Average Hours Spent Sleeping: haha hah ah ha i’m so sorry i have no self control and as a result my sleep schedule is FUCKED. I usually fall asleep sometime after 4 or 5 am, and wake up around noon? So I guess about 7 hours, which isn’t horrible, but it’s been even worse the past couple of days.

Cats or Dogs: DOGS dogs dogs I love every single one to death. I really really love cats too though, I just can’t pet them because I have really bad allergies, so I’ve never been able to connect with them as well and I feel terrible about it. Our family owns both a cat and dog though.

Number of Blankets I Sleep With: I have between two and four depending on the season, but I always have the fan on full blast no matter what temperature it is. I can’t sleep without it.

Dream Job: Actor. I’m genuinely never happier than when I have the opportunity to act and I’m really scared that this is never going to work out for me because it’s what I want to do more than anything and. argh. I’d also really love to be an author or a graphic designer (what I’m probably going to go to college for) or a video game designer.

Dream Trip: I would say London but the truth is I’d like to live their full time, and the same goes for New York so... I’ve always wanted to visit Copanhagen or New Zealand? Though honestly, anywhere I go I’d want it to be with PJ, that would make anywhere wonderful.

When I made this Account: According to my archive, November of 2015 which is... damn a lot longer ago than I thought.

Why I Made This Account: I stalked about a hundred pages of a harry potter blog, and then decided that... yeah it was probably about time I made an account.

Number of Followers: 274, though for how inactive I’ve been at times, I’m surprised I don’t have less.

And finally, to tag 20 followers!

@pj-is-okay @falling-into-vacancies @ratfuxk @brixagel @paraj4 @decembersun @majestic-platypodes @goingbacktothegoodolddays @mightbeamalfoy @frankenstein-girl @10percentalive @ryanthedemiboy @thefloralcryptid @luke-warm-soup @haphazardlydreaming @noctiilucent @nerdygirlnoodles @steampunkmaster @talonblack @everyone-is-weird-not-just-you

#ted talks #uh obviously no pressure to do this as well

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blackkudos · 6 years

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Octavia Butler

Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer. A multiple recipient of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, Butler was one of the best-known women in the field. In 1995, she became the first science fiction writer to receive the MacArthur Fellowship, nicknamed the "Genius Grant".

Early life

Octavia Estelle Butler was born on June 22, 1947, in Pasadena, California, the only child of Octavia Margaret Guy, a housemaid, and Laurice James Butler, a shoeshine man. Butler's father died when she was seven, so Octavia was raised by her mother and maternal grandmother in what she would later recall as a strict Baptist environment.

Growing up in the racially integrated community of Pasadena allowed Butler to experience cultural and ethnic diversity in the midst of racial segregation. She accompanied her mother to her cleaning work and witnessed her entering white people's houses through back doors. Her mother was treated poorly by her employers.

From an early age, an almost paralyzing shyness made it difficult for Butler to socialize with other children. Her awkwardness, paired with a slight dyslexia that made schoolwork a torment, led her to believe that she was "ugly and stupid, clumsy, and socially hopeless," becoming an easy target for bullies. As a result, she frequently passed the time reading at the Pasadena Public Library and writing reams and reams of pages in her "big pink notebook". Hooked at first on fairy tales and horse stories, she quickly became interested in science fiction magazines such as Amazing Stories (aka Amazing), Galaxy Science Fiction (aka Galaxy), and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and began reading stories by John Brunner, Zenna Henderson, and Theodore Sturgeon.

At age 10, she begged her mother to buy her a Remington typewriter on which she "pecked [her] stories two fingered". At 12, watching the televised version of the film Devil Girl from Mars (1954) convinced her she could write a better story, so she drafted what would later become the basis for her Patternist novels. Happily ignorant of the obstacles that a black female writer could encounter, she became unsure of herself for the first time at the age of 13, when her well-intentioned aunt Hazel conveyed the realities of segregation in five words: "Honey ... Negroes can't be writers." Nevertheless, Butler persevered in her desire to publish a story, even asking her junior high school science teacher, Mr. Pfaff, to type the first manuscript she submitted to a science fiction magazine.

After graduating from John Muir High School in 1965, Butler worked during the day and attended Pasadena City College (PCC) at night. As a freshman at PCC, she won a college-wide short story contest, earning her first income ($15) as a writer. She also got the "germ of the idea" for what would become her best-selling novel, Kindred, when a young African American classmate involved in the Black Power Movement loudly criticized previous generations of African Americans for being subservient to whites. As she explained in later interviews, the young man's remarks instigated her to respond with a story that would give historical context to that shameful subservience so that it could be understood as silent but courageous survival. In 1968, Butler graduated from PCC with an associate of arts degree with a focus in History.

Rise to success

Even though Butler's mother wanted her to become a secretary with a steady income, Butler continued to work at a series of temporary jobs, preferring the kind of mindless work that would allow her to get up at two or three in the morning to write. Success continued to elude her, as an absence of useful criticism led her to style her stories after the white-and-male-dominated science fiction she had grown up reading. She enrolled at California State University, Los Angeles, but then switched to taking writing courses through UCLA Extension.

During the Open Door Workshop of the Screenwriters' Guild of America, West, a program designed to mentor minority writers, her writing impressed one of the teachers, noted science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison. He encouraged her to attend the six-week Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop in Clarion, Pennsylvania. There, Butler met the writer and later longtime friend Samuel R. Delany. She also sold her first stories: "Child Finder" to Ellison, for his anthology The Last Dangerous Visions (still unpublished), and "Crossover" to Robin Scott Wilson, the director of Clarion, who published it in the 1971 Clarion anthology.

For the next five years, Butler worked on the series of novels that later become known as the Patternist series: Patternmaster (1976), Mind of My Mind (1977), and Survivor (1978). In 1978, she was finally able to stop working at temporary jobs and live on her writing. She took a break from the Patternist series to research and write Kindred (1979), and then finished the series with Wild Seed (1980) and Clay's Ark (1984).

Butler's rise to prominence began in 1984 when "Speech Sounds" won the Hugo Award for Short Story and, a year later, Bloodchild won the Hugo Award, the Locus Award, and the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award for Best Novelette. In the meantime, Butler traveled to the Amazon rainforest and the Andes to do research for what would become the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989). These stories were republished in 2000 as the collection Lilith's Brood.

During the 1990s, Butler worked on the novels that solidified her fame as a writer: Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998). In 1995, she became the first science-fiction writer to be awarded a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, an award that came with a prize of $295,000.

In 1999, after her mother's death, Butler moved to Lake Forest Park, Washington. The Parable of the Talents had won the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Award for Best Science Novel and she had plans for four more Parable novels: Parable of the Trickster, Parable of the Teacher, Parable of Chaos, and Parable of Clay. However, after several failed attempts to begin The Parable of the Trickster, she decided to stop work in the series. In later interviews, Butler explained that the research and writing of the Parable novels had overwhelmed and depressed her, so she had shifted to composing something "lightweight" and "fun" instead. This became her last book, the science-fiction vampire novel Fledgling (2005).

Writing career

Early stories, Patternist series, and Kindred: 1971–1984

Butler's first work published was Crossover in the 1971 Clarion Workshop anthology. She also sold the short story Childfinder to Harlan Ellison for the anthology The Last Dangerous Visions. "I thought I was on my way as a writer," Butler recalled in her short fiction collection Bloodchild and Other Stories. "In fact, I had five more years of rejection slips and horrible little jobs ahead of me before I sold another word."

Starting in 1974, Butler worked on a series of novels that would later be collected as the Patternist series, which depicts the transformation of humanity into three genetic groups: the dominant Patternists, humans who have been bred with heightened telepathic powers and are bound to the Patternmaster via a psionic chain; their enemies the Clayarks, disease-mutated animal-like superhumans; and the Mutes, ordinary humans bonded to the Patternists.

The first novel, Patternmaster (1976), eventually became the last installment in the series' internal chronology. Set in the distant future, it tells of the coming-of-age of Teray, a young Patternist who fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.

Next came Mind of My Mind (1977), a prequel to Patternmaster set in the twentieth century. The story follows the development of Mary, the creator of the psionic chain and the first Patternmaster to bind all Patternists, and her inevitable struggle for power with her father Doro, a parapsychological vampire who seeks to retain control over the psionic children he has bred over the centuries.

The third book of the series, Survivor, was published in 1978. The titular survivor is Alanna, the adopted child of the Missionaries, fundamentalist Christians who have traveled to another planet to escape Patternist control and Clayark infection. Captured by a local tribe called the Tehkohn, Alanna learns their language and adopts their customs, knowledge which she then uses to help the Missionaries avoid bondage and assimilation into a rival tribe that opposes the Tehkohn.

After Survivor, Butler took a break from the Patternist series to write what would become her best-selling novel, Kindred (1979) as well as the short story "Near of Kin" (1979). In Kindred, Dana, an African American woman, is transported from 1976 Los Angeles to early nineteenth century Maryland. She meets her ancestors: Rufus, a white slave holder, and Alice, a black freewoman forced into slavery later in life. In "Near of Kin" the protagonist discovers a taboo relationship in her family as she goes through her mother's things after her death.

In 1980, Butler published the fourth book of the Patternist series, Wild Seed, whose narrative became the series' origin story. Set in Africa and America during the seventeenth century, Wild Seed traces the struggle between the four-thousand-year-old parapsychological vampire Doro and his "wild" child and bride, the three-hundred-year-old shapeshifter and healer Anyanwu. Doro, who has bred psionic children for centuries, deceives Anyanwu into becoming one of his breeders, but she eventually escapes and uses her gifts to create communities that rival Doro's. When Doro finally tracks her down, Anyanwu, tired by decades of escaping or fighting Doro, decides to commit suicide, forcing him to admit his need for her.

In 1983, Butler published "Speech Sounds," a story set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles where a pandemic has caused most humans to lose their ability to read, speak, or write. For many, this impairment is accompanied by uncontrollable feelings of jealousy, resentment, and rage. "Speech Sounds" received the 1984 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

In 1984, Butler released the last book of the Patternmaster series, Clay's Ark. Set in the Mojave Desert, it focuses on a colony of humans infected by an extraterrestrial microorganism brought to Earth by the one surviving astronaut of the spaceship Clay's Ark. As the microorganism compels them to spread it, they kidnap ordinary people to infect them and, in the case of women, give birth to the mutant, sphinx-like children who will be the first members of the Clayark race.

Bloodchild and the Xenogenesis trilogy: 1984–1989

Butler followed Clay's Ark with the critically acclaimed short story "Bloodchild" (1984). Set on an alien planet, it depicts the complex relationship between human refugees and the insect-like aliens who keep them in a preserve to protect them, but also to use them as hosts for breeding their young. Sometimes called Butler's "pregnant man story," "Bloodchild" won the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Awards, and the Science Fiction Chronicle Reader Award.

Three years later, Butler published Dawn, the first installment of what would become known as the Xenogenesis trilogy. The series examines the theme of alienation by creating situations in which humans are forced to coexist with other species to survive and extends Butler's recurring exploration of genetically-altered, hybrid individuals and communities. In Dawn, protagonist Lilith Iyapo finds herself in a spaceship after surviving a nuclear apocalypse that destroys Earth. Saved by the Oankali aliens, the human survivors must combine their DNA with an ooloi, the Oankali's third sex, in order to create a new race that eliminates a self-destructive flaw in humans—their aggressive hierarchical tendencies. Butler followed Dawn with "The Evening and the Morning and the Night" (1987), a story about how certain female sufferers of "Duryea-Gode Disease," a genetic disorder which causes dissociative states, obsessive self-mutilation, and violent psychosis, are able to control others afflicted with the disease.

Adulthood Rites (1988) and Imago (1989) the second and the third books in the Xenogenesis trilogy, focus on the predatory and prideful tendencies that affect human evolution, as humans now revolt against Lilith's Oankali-engineered progeny. Set thirty years after humanity's return to Earth, Adulthood Rites centers on the kidnapping of Lilith's part-human, part alien child, Akin, by a human-only group who are against the Oankali. Akin learns about both aspects of his identity through his life with the humans as well as the Akjai. The Oankali-only group becomes their mediator, and ultimately creates a human-only colony in Mars. In Imago, the Oankali create a third species more powerful than themselves: the shape-shifting healer Jodahs, a human-Oankali ooloi who must find suitable human male and female mates to survive its metamorphosis and finds them in the most unexpected of places, in a village of renegade humans.

The Parable series: 1993–1998

In the mid-1990s, Butler published two novels later designated as the Parable (or Earthseed) series. The books depict the struggle of the Earthseed community to survive the socioeconomic and political collapse of twenty-first century America due to poor environmental stewardship, corporate greed, and the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor. The books propose alternate philosophical views and religious interventions as solutions to such dilemmas.

The first book in the series, Parable of the Sower (1993), features a fifteen-year-old protagonist named Lauren Oya Olamina, and is set in a dystopian California in the 2020s. Lauren, who suffers from a syndrome causing her to literally feel any physical pain she witnesses, decides to escape the corruption and corporatization of her community of Robledo. She forms a new belief system, Earthseed, in order to prepare for the future of the human race on another planet. Recruiting members of varying social backgrounds, Lauren relocates her new group to Northern California, naming her new community "Earthseed".

Her 1998 follow-up novel, Parable of the Talents, is set sometime after Lauren's death and is told through the excerpts of Lauren's journals as framed by the commentary of her estranged daughter, Larkin. It details the takeover of Earthseed by right-wing fundamentalist Christians, Lauren's attempts to survive their religious "re-education", and the final triumph of Earthseed as a community and a doctrine.

In between her Earthseed novels, Butler published the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995), which includes the short stories "Bloodchild", "The Evening and the Morning and the Night", "Near of Kin", "Speech Sounds", and "Crossover", as well as the non-fiction pieces "Positive Obsession" and "Furor Scribendi".

Late stories and Fledgling: 2003–2005

After several years of suffering from writer's block, Butler published the short stories "Amnesty" (2003) and "The Book of Martha" (2003), and her second standalone novel, Fledgling (2005). Both short stories focus on how impossible conditions force an ordinary woman to make a distressing choice. In "Amnesty", an alien abductee recounts her painful abuse at the hand of the unwitting aliens, and upon her release, by humans, and explains why she chose to work as a translator for the aliens now that the Earth's economy is in a deep depression. In "The Book of Martha", God asks a middle-aged African American novelist to make one important change to fix humanity's destructive ways. Martha's choice—to make humans have vivid and satisfying dreams—means that she will no longer be able to do what she loves, writing fiction. These two stories were added to the 2005 edition of Bloodchild and Other Stories.

Butler's last publication during her lifetime was Fledgling, a novel exploring the culture of a vampire community living in mutualistic symbiosis with humans. Set on the West Coast, it tells of the coming-of-age of a young female hybrid vampire whose species is called Ina. The only survivor of a vicious attack on her families that left her an amnesiac, she must seek justice for her dead, build a new family, and relearn how to be Ina.

Butler bequeathed her papers including manuscripts, correspondence, school papers, notebooks, and photographs to the Huntington Library.

Themes

The critique of present-day hierarchies

In multiple interviews and essays, Butler explained her view of humanity as inherently flawed by an innate tendency towards hierarchical thinking which leads to intolerance, violence and, if not checked, the ultimate destruction of our species.

"Simple peck-order bullying", she wrote in her essay "A World without Racism," "is only the beginning of the kind of hierarchical behavior that can lead to racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, classism, and all the other 'isms' that cause so much suffering in the world." Her stories, then, often replay humanity's domination of the weak by the strong as a type of parasitism. These superior beings, whether aliens, vampires, superhuman, or a slave masters, find themselves defied by a protagonist who embodies difference, diversity, and change, so that, as John R. Pfeiffer notes "[i]n one sense [Butler's] fables are trials of solutions to the self-destructive condition in which she finds mankind."

The remaking of the human

In his essay on the sociobiological backgrounds of Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy, J. Adam Johns describes how Butler's narratives counteract the death drive behind the hierarchical impulse with an innate love of life (biophilia), particularly different, strange life. Specifically, Butler's stories feature gene manipulation, interbreeding, miscegenation, symbiosis, mutation, alien contact, non-consensual sex, contamination, and other forms of hybridity as the means to correct the sociobiological causes of hierarchical violence. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, "[i]n [Butler's] narratives the undoing of the human body is both literal and metaphorical, for it signifies the profound changes necessary to shape a world not organized by hierarchical violence." The evolutionary maturity achieved by the bioengineered hybrid protagonist at the end of the story, then, signals the possible evolution of the dominant community in terms of tolerance, acceptance of diversity, and a desire to wield power responsibly.

The survivor as hero

Butler's protagonists are disenfranchised individuals who endure, compromise, and embrace radical change in order to survive. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai note, her stories focus on minority characters whose historical background makes them already intimate with brutal violation and exploitation, and therefore the need to compromise to survive. Even when endowed with extra abilities, these characters are forced to experience unprecedented physical, mental, and emotional distress and exclusion to ensure a minimal degree of agency and to prevent humanity from achieving self-destruction. In many stories, their acts of courage become acts of understanding, and in some cases, love, as they reach a crucial compromise with those in power. Ultimately, Butler's focus on disenfranchised characters serves to illustrate both the historical exploitation of minorities and how the resolve of one such exploited individual may bring on critical change.

The creation of alternative communities

Butler's stories feature mixed communities founded by African protagonists and populated by diverse, if similar-minded individuals. Members may be humans of African, European, or Asian descent, extraterrestrial (such as the N'Tlic in "Bloodchild"), from a different species (such as the vampiric Ina in Fledgling), and cross-species (such as the human-Oankali Akin and Jodahs in the Xenogenesis trilogy). In some stories, the community's hybridity results in a flexible view of sexuality and gender (for instance, the polyamorous extended families in Fledgling). Thus, Butler creates bonds between groups that are generally considered to be separate and unrelated, and suggests hybridity as "the potential root of good family and blessed community life."

Relationship to Afrofuturism

Butler's work has been associated with the genre of Afrofuturism, a term coined by Mark Dery to describe "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th-century technoculture." Some critics, however, have noted that while Butler's protagonists are of African descent, the communities they create are multi-ethnic and, sometimes, multi-species. As De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai explain in their 2010 memorial to Butler, while Butler does offer "an afro-centric sensibility at the core of narratives," her "insistence on hybridity beyond the point of discomfort" exceeds the tenets of both black cultural nationalism and of "white-dominated" liberal pluralism.

Influence

In interviews with Charles Rowell and Randall Kenan, Butler credited the struggles of her working-class mother as an important influence on her writing. Because Butler's mother received little formal education herself, she made sure that young Butler was given the opportunity to learn by bringing her reading materials that her white employers threw away, from magazines to advanced books. She also encouraged Butler to write. She bought her daughter her first typewriter when she was ten years old, and, seeing her hard at work on a story, casually remarked that maybe one day she could become a writer, causing Butler to realize that it was possible to make a living as an author. A decade later, Mrs. Butler would pay more than a month's rent to have an agent review her daughter's work. She also provided Butler with the money she had been saving for dental work to pay for Butler's scholarship so she could attend the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, where Butler sold her first two stories.

A second person to play an influential role in Butler's work was American writer Harlan Ellison. As a teacher at the Open Door Workshop of the Screen Writers Guild of America, he gave Butler her first honest and constructive criticism on her writing after years of lukewarm responses from composition teachers and baffling rejections from publishers. Impressed by her work, Ellison suggested she attend the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, and even contributed $100 towards her application fee. As the years passed, Ellison's mentorship became a close friendship.

Point of view

Butler began reading science fiction at a young age, but quickly became disenchanted by the genre's unimaginative portrayal of ethnicity and class as well as by its lack of noteworthy female protagonists. She then set to correct those gaps by, as De Witt Douglas Kilgore and Ranu Samantrai point out, "choosing to write self-consciously as an African-American woman marked by a particular history" —what Butler termed as "writing myself in". Butler's stories, therefore, are usually written from the perspective of a marginalized black woman whose difference from the dominant agents increases her potential for reconfiguring the future of her society.

Audience

Publishers and critics have labelled Butler's work as science fiction. While Butler enjoyed the genre deeply, calling it "potentially the freest genre in existence", she resisted being branded a genre writer. Many critics have pointed out that her narratives have drawn attention of people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds. She claimed to have three loyal audiences: black readers, science-fiction fans, and feminists.

Interviews

Charlie Rose interviewed Octavia Butler in 2000 soon after the award of a MacArthur Fellowship. The highlights are probing questions that arise out of Butler's personal life narrative and her interest in becoming not only a writer, but a writer of science fiction. Rose asked, "What then is central to what you want to say about race?" Butler's response was, "Do I want to say something central about race? Aside from, 'Hey we're here!'?" This points to an essential claim for Butler that the world of science fiction is a world of possibilities, and although race is an innate element, it is embedded in the narrative, not forced upon it.

In an interview by Randall Kenan, Octavia E. Butler discusses how her life experiences as a child shaped most of her thinking. As a writer, Butler was able to use her writing as a vehicle to critique history under the lenses of feminism. In the interview, she discusses the research that had to be done in order to write her bestselling novel, Kindred. Most of it is based on visiting libraries as well as historic landmarks with respect to what she is investigating. Butler admits that she writes science fiction because she does not want her work to be labeled or used as a marketing tool. She wants the readers to be genuinely interested in her work and the story she provides, but at the same time she fears that people will not read her work because of the "science fiction" label that they have.

Adaptations

Parable of the Sower was adapted as Parable of the Sower: The Concert Version, a work-in-progress opera written by American folk/blues musician Toshi Reagon in collaboration with her mother, singer and composer Bernice Johnson Reagon. The adaptation's libretto and musical score combine African-American spirituals, soul, rock and roll, and folk music into rounds to be performed by singers sitting in a circle. It was performed as part of The Public Theater's 2015 Under the Radar Festival in New York City.

Awards and honors

Winner:

2012: Solstice Award

2010: Inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame

2005: Langston Hughes Medal of The City College

2000: Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing from the PEN American Center

1999: Nebula Award for Best Novel – Parable of the Talents

1995: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant

1988: Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – "The Evening and the Morning and the Night"

1985: Locus Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"

1985: Hugo Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"

1985: Science Fiction Chronicle Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"

1984: Nebula Award for Best Novelette – "Bloodchild"

1984: Hugo Award for Best Short Story – "Speech Sounds"

1980: Creative Arts Award, L.A. YWCA

Nominated:

1994: Nebula Award for Best Novel – Parable of the Sower

1987: Nebula Award for Best Novelette – "The Evening and the Morning and the Night"

1967: Fifth Place, Writer's Digest Short Story Contest

Critical reception

Most critics praise Butler on her unflinching exposition of human flaws, which she depicts with striking realism. The New York Times regarded her novels as "evocative" if "often troubling" explorations of "far-reaching issues of race, sex, power". The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction called her examination of humanity "clear-headed and brutally unsentimental" and Village Voice's Dorothy Allison described her as "writing the most detailed social criticism" where "the hard edge of cruelty, violence, and domination is described in stark detail." Locus regarded her as "one of those authors who pay serious attention to the way human beings actually work together and against each other, and she does so with extraordinary plausibility." Houston Post ranked her "among the best SF writers, blessed with a mind capable of conceiving complicated futuristic situations that shed considerable light on our current affairs."

Scholars, on the other hand, focus on Butler's choice to write from the point of view of marginal characters and communities and thus "expanded SF to reflect the experiences and expertise of the disenfranchised." While surveying Butler's novels, critic Burton Raffel noted how race and gender influence her writing: "I do not think any of these eight books could have been written by a man, as they most emphatically were not, nor, with the single exception of her first book, Pattern-Master (1976), are likely to have been written, as they most emphatically were, by anyone but an African American." Robert Crossley commended how Butler's "feminist aesthetic" works to expose sexual, racial, and cultural chauvinisms because it is "enriched by a historical consciousness that shapes the depiction of enslavement both in the real past and in imaginary pasts and futures."

Butler has been praised widely for her spare yet vivid style, with Washington Post Book World calling her craftsmanship "superb". Burton Raffel regards her prose as "carefully, expertly crafted" and "crystalline, at its best, sensuous, sensitive, exact not in the least directed at calling attention to itself."

Death

During her last years, Butler struggled with writer's block and depression, partly caused by the side effects of medication for her high blood pressure. She continued writing and taught at Clarion's Science Fiction Writers' Workshop regularly. In 2005, she was inducted into Chicago State University's International Black Writers Hall of Fame.

Butler died outside of her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, on February 24, 2006, aged 58. Contemporary news accounts were inconsistent as to the cause of her death, with some reporting that she suffered a fatal stroke, while others indicated that she died of head injuries after falling and striking her head on her walkway. Another suggestion, backed by Locus magazine, is that a stroke caused the fall and hence the head injuries. After her death, the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship was established by the Carl Brandon Society to provide support to students of color to attend the Clarion West Writers Workshop and Clarion Writers' Workshop, descendants of the original Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop where Butler had gotten her start 35 years before.

Scholarship fund

The Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship was established in Butler's memory in 2006 by the Carl Brandon Society. Its goal is to provide an annual scholarship to enable writers of color to attend the Clarion West Writers Workshop and Clarion Writers' Workshop, descendants of the original Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop in Clarion, Pennsylvania, where Butler got her start. The first scholarships were awarded in 2007.

Selected works

Series

Patternist series

Patternmaster (Doubleday 1976; Avon 1979; Warner 1995)

Mind of My Mind (Doubleday 1977; Warner 1994)

Survivor (Doubleday 1978)

Wild Seed (Doubleday 1980; Warner 1988, 2001)

Clay's Ark (St. Martin's Press 1984; Ace Books 1985; Warner 1996)

Seed to Harvest (Grand Central Publishing 2007; omnibus excluding Survivor)

Xenogenesis series

Dawn (Warner 1987, 1989, 1997)

Adulthood Rites (Warner 1988, 1977)

Imago (Warner 1989, 1997)

Xenogenesis (Guild America Books 1989; omnibus)

Lilith's Brood (Warner 2000; omnibus)

Parable series (also referred to as the Earthseed series)

Parable of the Sower (Four Walls, Eight Windows 1993; Women's Press 1995; Warner 1995, 2000).

Parable of the Talents (Seven Stories Press 1998; Quality Paperback Book Club 1999; Women's Press 2000, 2001; Warner 2000, 2001)

Standalone novels

Kindred (Doubleday 1979; Beacon Press 1988, 2004).

Fledgling (Seven Stories Press 2005; Grand Central Publishing 2007).

Short story collections

Bloodchild and Other Stories (Four Walls, Eight Windows, 1995; Seven Stories Press, 1996, 2005; second edition includes "Amnesty" and "The Book of Martha").

Unexpected Stories (2014, includes "A Necessary Being" and "Childfinder")

Essays and speeches

"Birth of a Writer." Essence 20 (May 1989): 74+. Reprinted as "Positive Obsession" in Bloodchild and Other Stories.

"Free Libraries: Are They Becoming Extinct?" Omni 15.10 (Aug. 1993): 4.

"Devil Girl from Mars: Why I Write Science Fiction." Media in Transition. MIT 19 February 1998. Transcript 4 October 1998.

""Brave New Worlds: A Few Rules for Predicting the Future." Essence 31.1 (May 2000): 164+.

"A World without Racism." NPR Weekend Edition Saturday. 1 September 2001.

"Eye Witness: "Butler's Aha! Moment." O: The Oprah Magazine 3.5 (May 2002): 79–80.

Wikipedia

#Octavia Butler #06-22 #02-24

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elijahwoodnot · 6 years

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8 for Brotzly if ur up for it pal :0c

hihihihi!!! 💞💞💞

8. nicknames? & if so, how did they originate?

yes!!!!! as time goes on, these two develop a wealth of nicknames for each other, varying from being teasing, to incredibly soft and fond, and are each reserved for their own specific and special occasions.

for example; Todd sarcastically (but fondly) calls Dirk detective or Dork Gently when he’s feeling teasing, the jabs always accompanied by a dimpling smirk to let Dirk know it’s all in fun. he occasionally lets slip a fond love or dear tacked on to the end of a sentence or request, flushing and glancing away uncomfortably when he catches sight of Dirk’s beaming grin in response and the words catch up with him

meanwhile, Dirk will occasionally teasingly call Todd Toddler, Todger (pronounced like Roger in the most posh accent he can possibly manage), or Theodore ((what todd is short for and y’all can rip that from my cold dead fingers)), laughing in delight at Todd’s furiously bright pink cheeks. he also has a seemingly endless supply of endearments, ranging from darling to sweetheart to love.

his favorite endeared nickname for Todd, however, is by far baby– softly whispered when they’re lying tangled together in bed in the early morning sunlight (his hand travelling aimlessly over the skin of Todd’s back or arm), murmured encouragingly to help Todd through an attack, or hissed fervently, over and over like a litany between wet and heated kisses

((Todd has never once spoken a word of protest against the nickname, though the flush that spreads across his cheeks, accentuating every freckle there in such a way that had Dirk’s heart fluttering madly, when Dirk does use it is a different kind than Dirk has ever seen from him before, so Dirk knows he must be doing something right))

send me a ship + a number and i’ll tell you…

#DUDE THIS ONE WAS SO MUCH FUN #TYSM 💞#i reply #wallacewellls #ask games #otp meme #brotzly #dirk gently #todd brotzman #headcanons

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morriskoss96977-blog · 6 years

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Exciting Realities Regarding Mercedes Benz.

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dannypageoflight · 3 years

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Hello, I was told by reckless-space that you had three robot triplets for Huey, Boyd, and Violet and some Honker fankids as well, but I cannot find any of them on this blog. Could you please tell me more about them?

Hello, anon. I had a feeling someone might come my way when I got pinged in that post. The OCs you're asking about are fairly new, and I haven't really talked about them much outside of the DuckTales RP Discord server @reckless-space owns (they have a link in the pinned post of their blog, if anyone's interested).

Honker's kids were already on the proverbial drawing board before I joined Charlie's server, but it was on there that I completed them. Their mother is a bluebird Honker met in college, and their "Aunt Gosalyn" volunteered as a surrogate layer, since neither of their parents can lay eggs.

Christine Muddlefoot, or Chrissy to most, is the first of their two kids. She's about 14 in the "next gen timeline" we collectively have on the server. She has excellent grades and an interest in marine life, and she's in chess club. She is also, however, something of a troublemaker and has been known to use her intellect cause problems on purpose. She's inherited some of her father's allergies to a lesser degree and has been conditioned out of most of them by modern medical practices. Chrissy learned piano from her dad and picked up the guitar on her own.

And then the second of the two kids is Herbert Tankard Muddlefoot III, best known as Herbie, who is 10 in "next gent time". While also intelligent in his own right, Herbie is mainly interested in hockey, which he picked up from Aunt Gosalyn, whose classes he attends. While a little prone to cause trouble himself, he's far less likely than his older sister, mainly because he's picked up his father's kindness and desire to be helpful. He has Dad's eyesight and wears glasses normally, with a special prescription eye guard built into his hockey helmet in their place. He's not as into learning science as his father would (not so) secretly like, and he thinks Quiverwing Quack (whom he doesn't even know yet is his aunt) is cooler than Darkwing Duck ever was, to Honorary Grandpa Drake's entirely unhidden disappointment. Herbie enjoys playing video games with Chrissy, stubbornly conditioned himself to like spicy food (no one realizes he did this but Chrissy), and has a certain talent for music. He learned piano from Dad and picked up the trumpet on his own, developing a taste for jazz. Herbie's written the music for some of Kane's band's original songs (Kane is Charlie's LouiexOC fan kid; read about her on their blog), which are technically rock songs, but the music tends to have a hint of jazz, because Herbie wrote it. Herbie tends to be physically affectionate with friends and family, a trait he notably shares with Bailey, Kane's younger sister (Bailey created by @yourmusicmuse; check Muse's blog for more Bailey lore).

The Duck-Drake-Sabrewing triplets came to be after I had already settled into the server. They were created using salvaged schematics for Boyd, and partially out of salvaged leftover parts from Boyd's older/"younger" bodies, and were mentally programmed using brainwaves scanned from all three parents collectively. They were built at the physical/mental/emotional age of 8, and they're currently 12 as of "next gen time".

Dorothy Drake, occasionally nicknamed Dotty affectionately by family, was named by Papa (Boyd) after the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz. She is the oldest triplet, having completed her initial activation sequence 12 minutes ahead of the others. She's inherited Papa's outgoing friendliness and Dad's (Huey's) big-sibling-ness. She also inherited Dad's need to feel in control of the situation and tendency to stress when things get out of hand. Dorothy has been known to retreat into alone space with a book when things get too much for her. Do NOT mess with her younger siblings in front of her, though, or you will regret it.

Izzy Duck is the middle triplet. Initially named Isabella by Dad after Isabella Finch, they now go exclusively by Izzy after having, in their own words, "uninstalled [their] gender". Despite being Huey's child, they seemed to have inherited more from Uncle Dewey, including recklessness and need for attention, along with Uncle Louie's craftiness, which makes them quite the handful. They're quite friendly but tend to be blunt with little grasp on tact.

Theodore Sabrewing, known to most as Theo and to his family occasionally as Teddy, is the youngest triplet by 21 minutes. He's mostly quiet and studious like Mama, but he has a more outgoing friendly demeanor like his fathers (more in line with Dad's) once he warms up to someone. Theo loves learning new things and sharing what he's learned with anyone willing to listen. He's not particularly brave, which can make his older siblings a tad protective of him. But he cares deeply about the people in his life and is driven by a want to show his support. Theo also likes woodcarving and has made at least one little wooden model each of all of his relatives.

If you wanna learn more about these kids' family, Charlie has a post linking to other OC owners here. And again, they have the Discord server link in their pinned post.

#this post got big so I put in a read more #guess I can put the kids' names in the tags for easier post finding #Chrissy Muddlefoot #Herbie Muddlefoot #Dorothy Drake #Izzy Duck #Theo Sabrewing #reckless space #yourmusicmuse

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writingguide003-blog · 5 years

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7 sci-fi writers who should pen new 'Star Trek' episodes

New Post has been published on https://writingguideto.com/must-see/7-sci-fi-writers-who-should-pen-new-star-trek-episodes/

7 sci-fi writers who should pen new 'Star Trek' episodes

AsStar Trekfans react to the announcement of anew TV series for the franchise, we’re seizing the opportunity to imagine which acclaimed sci-fi writers we want in the captain’s chair.

One of our favorite things aboutStar Trek, in particular the original series (TOS), is itsdirect connection to the culture of science fiction. Richard Matheson, Theodore Sturgeon, Harlen Ellison, Peter S. Beaglethese are just a few of the many acclaimed writers of science fiction who wrote iconic episodes for TOSand its successors over the years. Not only did TOS consistently put established and important sci-fi writers at the helm of the Enterprise, but Next Generationspringboarded the careers of a bevy of writers who went on to create over a decade of sci-fi shows on television.

So who’s next? CBS has a huge opportunity here to return to the show’s roots and invite a modern generation of sci-fi writers, both young and old, to leave their mark on the series that helped shape many of them into the writers they are today.

Here’s our wish list of writers we’d love to work onStar Trek for a new agehopefully inspiring a generation of new writers in their stead.

1) Connie Willis

Goodreads

Who better to write for the most beloved science fiction franchise than the writer who’s won more awards than any other science fiction writer in history? With her epic Doomsdayseries as well as other standalone novels, Willis seamlessly merges high themes like religion and death into intricate concepts like time travel and journeys inside the mind. She’s also an expert on the genre and how to thoroughly canvass it for new ideas, which is probably why we can’t stop giving her all the Hugos and Nebulas. We can’t think of anyone better qualified to usher TV’s most iconic space opera into its new era.

2) Andy Weir

Goodreads

Come on, the guy just put a man on Mars. Nothing is more Trekkie than that. The Star Trekfandom isalready cracking jokes about Weir’sMartianMark Watney being a member of Star Fleet. This needs to happen.

3) John Scalzi

Goodreads

This one’s a no-brainer: Of course CBS should tap Scalzi, with his massive blog audience, social media reach, and string of acclaimed bestsellers including an actual work ofStar Trekfanfiction, to write new episodes ofStar Trek. InScalzi’sRedshirts, the expendable, nameless crewmen of the Enterpriseactually nicknamed “redshirts” by the fandom because of their red uniforms indicating low rank on boardtake control of their fates to halt their high death toll. How much would welove to see Scalzi turn this idea into actualStar Trekcanon? Make it happen, guys.

4) N.K. Jemisin

Goodreads

Though Jemisin is known for her award-winning works of fantasy, she started out writing science fiction before transitioning into fantasy and has statedthat “science fiction and fantasy are pretty much equal partners to me.” Her books are brimming with realistic worldbuilding and real physical and social sciences, like her most recent dystopian repeat apocalypse-ridden Fifth Season.Her take on her genre harkens back to classic forms of fantasy likeGilgameshandThe Iliadrather than Tolkien and his descendantsall things that make her an ideal writer to put her own unique spin on the mythology of Star Trek. She’s also been outspoken on the shortcomings of Star Trek’s recent iterations regarding race and other forms of representation. As a writer who constantly looks father afield for tropes and influences than Euro-centric fantasy, Jemisin isthe kind of writer the new millennium Star Trekneeds.

5) Cory Doctorow

Goodreads

Few sci-fi writers have been so closely concerned with the real-life issues that spawn the dark visions of cyberpunk dystopias as Doctorow, who made a name for himself championing Internet freedom, open source and remix culture, and Creative Commons alongside his contemporary sci-fi novels. A true futuristic visionary, Doctorow has the talent to churn out mind-bending installments of new Trekaimed at future cyber-rebels like himself.

6) Peter David

Goodreads

The illustrious David has a long and formidable career of sci-fi, comics, and fantasy writing to his name, and he’s not even out of his 50s. Moreover, he’s got tons of experience writing for Star Trek:io9 called him “the undisputed master ofStar Treknovels” thanks to his string of tie-ins for the franchise in the ’90s, including The Riftand Izmadi, both considered must-reads by the fandom. He also has another distinction that makes him perfect for the new era of Star Trek: finally turning the long-subtextual friendship of Rictor and Shatterstar into a canonical gay relationship in his acclaimed run of X-Men. We’d love to see David getting his hands on newStar Trekcharacters and applying his new, fresh ideas to a series he’s familiar with of old.

7) Junot Diaz

Goodreads

This Pulitzer-winning MacArthur fellow is best known for The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a pseudo-autobiographical literary work tinged with magical realism about a science fiction and fantasy fanboy. Diaz has always had a complex relationship with science fiction, and a keen awareness of the ways in which the genre both confronts and is limited by post-colonial power dynamics. After just missing out on a couple of epic science fiction novels from Diaz, we would rejoice if he finally got to flex his sci-fi muscles in an episode ofStar Trek.

Honorable mentionsa few sci-fi heroes we’d love to see try their hand at Trek, though even we have to admit the odds are pretty unlikely: Margaret Atwood, Samuel Delaney, Karen Joy Fowler, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Dan Harmon.

Who’s on your ultimate Star Trekwishlist?

Photo via Kanjioman/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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