elanya

A couple of things...

First, I’m typing this in wordperfect so I don’t have to worry about the weird keyboard and mouse combinations on the computer eating another entry. I should have learned by now, but alas, no. Again, I did *something* (still no clue what), that made IE jump back a page randomly, and lost my entry. *sigh*

So, with that out of the way... I started using the web-based ICQ. Before I figured out that I could make myself invisible, I attracted my first ICQ stranger in many months. Funny how it doesn’t take long for them to appear. Anyway, unlike some people, who like to play with the poor ignorants, I have a much more abrupt, apparently off-putting approach to dealing with the potential ICQ-verts. My standard response to getting an ICQ from someone I don’t know is: “...do I know you?” For some reason, they don’t usually press me too much more after that. Maybe it is just that I don’t get the volume of messages that other people do, though, but I don’t know if I’ve ever been solicited for cyber-sex by a stranger when I was visible on ICQ...

In other news, I recently finished reading a couple of good Fritz Leiber books. I like Leiber a lot, partly because I like the old-style sci-fi and fantasy, before there was a real separation, like when you could have stories with robots in them that weren’t about science, and weird *supernatural* things could happen in modern day earth without being horror. Before fantasy became trilogies and elves, dwarves, and complex politics in quasi-medieval kingdoms. It isn’t that I don’t like that stuff, but it seems to me that in some ways, fantasy has lost its grip on the truly fantastical, and it is disappointing. Now, there is still some strange stuff out there these days, but it is marginal to mainstream sci-fi and fantasy, and harder to find. Maybe I’m just not looking hard enough, but I don’t want to have to wade through the schlock to find the gems.

With the above rant, it does seem kind of ironic that Leiber is considered one of the fathers of the Sword and Sorcery genre, for his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. But he write a lot of other stuff, too, and one thing I like about Leiber is his diversity. He can do far future , he can do modern day, he can do complete fantasy, and he can do it well. A lot of his work has a satirical edge to it, and he can pull off being vaguely moralistic without being preachy. And then he can write another collection of stories about two of the genre’s biggest lecherous rogues! So, people should look into Leiber. Generally, you can find ancient copies of his stuff in second-hand bookstores, since it is all out of print. Whitewolf, when they were briefly doing publishing, brought out a collection of the Fafhrn and Mouser stories, but that’s out fo print now too, I expect. Go, look now! Alternately, you can maybe borrow them from me ^-^

Another reason I brought up the Leiber stuff is a bit more geeky. Okay, a lot more geeky ^-^. One of the books I recently finished is called Gather, Darkness! It is also where the subject line of this post comes from. The reason that I think it should be sought out by certain friends of mine should become fairly obvious once I give this basic plot premise.

It is the far future. The church, called The Hierarchy, completely dominates the world. Years ago, after some kind of cataclysm, scientists decided that they should be in charge, for the good of mankind. So they invented a fake religion, based (very loosely) on some concepts of Christianity. To support their claims, they manipulate the public with technology, like devices that can influence emotions, force-fields to make themselves seem strong, and invulnerable, and extra-divine, and so on. Everyone initiated into the Church knows the real story, but no ow else does... Is this sounding familiar at all (conceptually, at least) to anyone? Damn that evil church/Hierarchy! ^-^ Now, on the other side of things, we have the Witchcraft. They claim to worship Sathanas (an interpretation of Satan, created by the church so that they could have a fake adversary), and all have creepy little familiars. The main character of the story is Brother Jarles, who is a priest who believes that the Hierarchy is corrupt...

So, yeah. Anyone who played in C’s second Changeling game, or in our C-verse IC’s, or in my Sheffield vampire game could find some little inside points of interest, I’m sure. Also, it is just a damned good (but short) book.

And that’s all. Arr!