23 June 2020

Six Seconds To Save Reality

That's them in red...


The tagline is blatantly stolen from Robert Loren Fleming and the criminally underread Thriller, drawn by Trevor Von Eden. The 12 issue maxi-series used the line "Angie Thriller Has Seven Seconds To Save The World"
If we don't look at that book sometime soon, somebody sharp stick me, eh?

In both cases, the "Seconds" are not units of time, but extensions of self - like a Second for a duel. They are operatives acting at another's behest.

Mad Science with Dr. Nick! was the second story 'experiment' on experiMental Theatre, now with glorious greys. The eyes rejoiced.

Another big difference with Dr. Nick vs. TIM is that while there is a mystery ongoing in the story, the world itself is not a puzzle to be solved. I was actually able to discuss things and answer questions directly. 

The world in which Dr. Nick dwells had been around for a while before this tale, and is a world i still use for some things, including The Third Colony - though it takes place centuries later. I believe i started developing it with Frank'n'Cindy - a steampunk tale featuring that star-crossed couple, the Frankenstein Monster (now Frank Victorson) and Cinderella (now simply Cindy).

But that leads us straight into one obvious point about this world - it's populated both by characters from history and fiction. So if Dr. Nick needs to consult, he might pop over to visit Tom Swift as easily as R. Buckminster Fuller.

That makes rather obvious the next item on our Guide To The New World tour - it ain't the history you know. Oh, sure - basically, up to a point. But major divergences begin in the 19th century. When Darwin published his Origin Of The Species and many proclaimed that it was a death sentence for God and religion, the Church got smart about its future. It backed Darwin, saying that the argument was like discovering a hammer and saying there is no Carpenter, the hammer drove the nail. And that, in point of fact, those who were discovering the tools and rules of God's Universe were doing His work, as He had commanded man to go forth and name all the things of the world, and this could not be done without understanding them. This radical shift in attitude led to a steampunk sort of world by the time we get to our story, which takes place about 1919 on this world's calendar.

And politics have run a bit differently. Bohemia is still a kingdom. There is a new Chinese Dynasty, not a Republic of China. Personal decisions may have gone other ways with some of the historical figures, or they may have interacted with the new technological society in ways you might not expect. (See Theo, for example, early in the tale)

Oh, and there's one other significant factor that might be worth noting. I was writing it. So it's a weird world, as one might expect.

 

BTW - Madame Cuja is actually Cuncha, a delightful little woman who lives down the hill. There was a weekend colour special that featured her character - i'll try to dig it out to run with the next batch. But i'll let you in on this secret while we wait - She's a very old Kumiho. (Or perhaps that should be was?)

stuff by -3- (2013)

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