Black Rose Kate: Stop MDC

And now for a word from Black Rose Katie specks, the Pirate Scribe!(Cross-posted from Outpost Mâvarin)
Stop MDC

Black Rose Kate has no problem dispatching history's villains

"Aye, I thought ye'd be at the computer," Black Rose Kate announced. I looked up, startled. There she was, standing in front of my L'Engle books, my semi-fictional pirate friend, looking down at me with her usual air of amused tolerance. It was Thursday night, ten minutes past one in the morning. "Ariel said that you wanted to see me," she explained.

"Hi, Kate," I said. "Yes, I did. But how did Ariel know that?" Our mutual friend Ariel travels between time and between universes, meanwhile attending Croatoan College, which is itself transdimensional.

Kate shrugged. "She reads your blog. You mentioned me in tomorrow's entry. And that black cloth rose of yours was in one of your photos this week, so we knew you were already thinking of me. So tell me. Am I here for a particular reason, or is this a social call only? Did you want my expert opinion on that Johnny Depp movie Ariel has spoken of for the better part of an hour tonight?"

"Oh, I didn't go on about it that long," Ariel said, coming into the room behind Kate. "Hi, Karen."

"Hi, Ariel. And no, it's not about Pirates of the Caribbean. I have a Weekend Assignment to do, and I thought Kate might be able to help. You too, Ariel."

"Oh, one of those," Kate said, looking none too pleased.

I pasted the relevant text into this entry, and let them read it over my shoulder:

Weekend Assignment #168: For reasons best left unexplained, you have been allowed to excise one and only one person from the course of history. Which person would you choose to remove from history and why? That's right: Any one person you think history would be better without, you can now expunge. So who would it be -- and how do you think history would be changed with their absence? See. Told you it was one that would make you think.

Extra Credit: Favorite historical-themed movie. Because why not?


"I see," Kate said as she finished reading. "Because I have dispatched my share of enemies on the high seas and elsewhere, it pleases you to seek my advice before murdering some historical villain before he is ever born. Is that it?"

"Pretty much, yes," I said. "And you're right. I do think that preventing Nero or someone like that from being born is a kind of murder."

"But you don't have a problem with--" Ariel began. I was starting to think she was a mind-reader.

"Shh," I interrupted. "I don't want to talk about that. The point is, I wouldn't have the right to stop someone from ever existing."

"And you think that I, the bloodthirsty pirate, would be more ruthless about such things, and thus could give Scalzi an answer in your stead," Kate said.

"Yes," I said. "And if not, you can at least discuss the idea with me, and I can report on that."

"As I notice ye be doing already," Kate observed.

"Your problem with this is that you lack perspective," Ariel said. "There are plenty of worlds in which there was no Hitler, or no John Wilkes Booth, or no Nero. On the multiverse level, it's not that big a deal."

"It is if you're in a world where he did exist, and now you decree that he doesn't," I insisted. "That creates a whole new universe, right? And that's on top of the loss suffered by family and friends."

"I have known several families," Kate said, "that benefited greatly from the death of a father or brother or son. A woman my own age once thanked me for killing her husband, who had chained her and beaten her. Pick someone sufficiently awful, and the world is certain to benefit."

"Well, I did think about choosing someone whose nonexistence would mean lives saved," I said. "I could go with Adolf Eichmann or Josef Mengele, but that violates the spirit of disallowing Hitler."

"Who were these people?" Kate asked.

"Eichmann helped Adolf Hitler, the ruler of Germany, organize the murder of millions of Jews and Romany and other people," Ariel said. "Mengele conducted horrific medical experiments on some of their victims before killing them."

"Right," I said. "But it's all part of the same horror. And I don't think there is an equivalent person in more recent examples of genocide. Usually it's groups of people killing other groups for the crime of being a 'them'. So I was thinking along the lines of a Richard Speck, or Timothy McVeigh - you know, someone who personally killed a lot of people."

"Aye, that makes sense," Kate said. "But ye didn't need me to figure that out."

"I still don't like it, though," I said. "I still wouldn't do it. Would you?"

"Aye, with hardly a moment's thought, nor any regrets," Kate said. "Oliver Cromwell is another one I would not mind seeing gone from the world."

Ariel was rereading the text of Scalzi's assignment. "You know, I don't think you read this very carefully," she said. "It doesn't specify that one person was never born. It only says excised from history. There might be other ways to do that."

That got me thinking. "Such as?" I prompted. I was starting to have a few ideas, but wondered what Ariel had in mind.

"Lock the person up so he or she can do no harm," she suggested. "Send the person back in time, or forward, or to another universe."

"Where the person can do even more harm in unknown ways," I said. "That's no good. But if we can stop the person from becoming crazy or evil or both, that would take him out of the history we know."

"Mark David Chapman," Ariel suggested.

I nodded. "I suppose I should go with McVeigh or someone like that anyway," I said, "or the older of the two DC snipers, or one of the serial killers up in Phoenix last year. But Chapman...I don't know. If you could catch him young, get him the right treatment, keep him on the right medication and away from the Dakota, that still only saves one man's life, technically."

"Yes, but what a life you'd be saving," Ariel said.

"Whose?" Kate asked.

"John Lennon," Ariel and I said together. "Of the Beatles," I added.

Before I could explain further, Kate pointed at me, a look of triumph on her face. "Aye, that's the one!" she said. "I like the Beatles. Ariel even took me to the Cavern once."

This made me angry. "Why didn't you take me with you? You know how much I want to go."

Ariel shook her head. "We bend the rules quite a bit even just coming to see you, even for a quick conversation. Your version of the world isn't meant to have time travel, and I can't let you go wandering the multiverse with me. We're pushing the fiction boundary as it is."

"Fiction boundary? What's that?"

"It's a way of gauging relationships between realities, and the relative safety of certain kinds of interactions," Ariel explained. "As my supposed creator in the context of this reality, you can receive my visits, as long as they can be passed off as fiction. But the moment you actually go into the past with me, or off into a world in which the Beatles have been reunited for the past twenty years and are currently in the studio, you damage every timeline you touch. Sorry."

"Whereas I have no such restriction," Kate said. "Say the word and I will take this Chapman person from history, my way."

"You know I won't condone that," I said. "Much as I'd like to."

"And anyway, you can't do that either," Ariel told Kate. "John Lennon wrote a song about you. That makes you fictional to him, too."

"He did? When was that?" I asked.

"1982."

"But he died in 1980," I said.

Ariel looked thoughtful. "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Kate does go after Chapman," she said.

"Then that's my choice, if I have to choose someone," I said. "Just don't actually kill him if you can help it."

For a moment Ariel looked tempted. Then she shook her head. "No, sorry," she said. "Lennon's death is too well established in your world. But we might be able to do it in another world, a few universes over. Are you game for it, Kate?"

"Aye, always. Let's go, then."

"Bring me back a CD," I said.

Ariel laughed. "Can't do that, either," she said. "but if you're very good, I'll find a way for you to at least hear a later album, at least once."

They left, then, and I was alone again, finishing up this entry. I don't know how serious Ariel was. She could easily have been making up all those rules as she went along. And I'm still a little worried that Black Rose Kate will kill Chapman rather than try to get him into treatment, or at least locked up.

Imagine there's no murder.

But oh, wouldn't it be something, having another 26 1/2 years and counting of new music by John Lennon?

Oh, drat, I didn't ask my guests about the Extra Credit. I'm not big on historical movies, unless you count Back to the Future or Camelot. Lawrence of Arabia was kind of amazing, although the long version really is too long. Oh, I know. My Favorite Year. That's based on a very specific history period: the days of early television, and the live comedy variety show.

Karen

Portrait of a Fictional Friend

Crossposted from the Outpost:

Portrait of a Fictional Friend

Here's the result of my silly project of the evening: a photograph of Ariel Allegra. You may remember her as the interdimensional traveler who brought Black Rose Kate here for a visit on Halloween night. Ariel is the 20-year-old daughter of a wizard and a ghost - at least, that's the short version of who they are. Ariel has black hair like her father, but it's less curly. Her eyes are green, and occasionally they glow a little.

"Yes, yes," Ariel says impatiently. "They can see for themselves that I have black hair and green eyes, even if you didn't catch them glowing. What else are you going to tell them about me?"

"Well, I mentioned your parents."

"They're my parents. I asked what you have to say about me personally."

"Well...."

Ariel sees my hesitation, and pounces on it. "You don't know what to say, do you? You named my fictional counterpart nearly thirty years ago, but you still know practically nothing about me. You mostly think of me as a multidimensional taxi service for your pirate friend, and secondarily as Joshua Wander's only daughter. I think I'm insulted."

"All right, then tell me what you want me to know about you. And while you're at it, tell my readers."

Ariel chuckles. "That's one way to get out of it."

"Fine, we'll do it together, interview style. Fair enough?"

"Right," Ariel says. "Are you interviewing me, or am I interviewing you?"

"Troublemaker. First question: do you really attend something called Croatoan College, as I wrote at the end of Mall of Mâvarin? Or is that apocryphal?"

"No, it's as real as I am, in quite a few universes."

"Meaning you've been to more than one version."

"No. One version, multiple universes. "

"So you can't change which Croatoan College you attend, in case you get a bad grade or something?"

"There's only one Croatoan College. It's kind of hard to explain, but it vibrates through a whole series of similar timelines, so that it's accessible from all of them."

"What do you study there?"

"You mean, do I study potions with Professor Snape? No. There is a series of four courses in Applied Magic, but overall Croatoan has nothing in common with Hogwarts or Mâton or any other fictional school for wizards. We have comparative physics, and biology, and literature, all the normal courses other schools have, except that they take into account the variations among the worlds Croatoan touches."

"But who would go to a school like that? Wouldn't that curriculum be inappropriate for anyone other than a time traveler?"

"You mean an interdimensional traveler. Yes, it's a little weird, but it turns out there are quite a few of us. Plus Croatoan has a very good reputation. A number of heads of state graduated from there."

"Which reminds me. What about Carl and Cathy, the students who almost became Carli and Cathma? I seem to recall your mentioning them in a note to me. Do they really go to Croatoan with you?"

For the first time, Ariel looks a little embarrassed. "Ah, well, that was sort of a joke." I read about them in Mall of Mâvarin."

"So they're not real."

"To say that for sure, I'd have to visit every universe there is. But the Carl and Cathy I go to school with never traveled via shopping mall."

"I see. Is there anything else you'd like to add?"

"Yes. It's five o'clock in the morning. Stop watching the Benson marathon and go to bed."

"Will you still be here tomorrow?"

"Oh, I never know that. Good night, Karen."

"Good night, Ariel."

And good night, gentle reader.

Karen

Technorati Tags: Photos, Writing, Fiction, Reality

The Jace Letters, Part Seventeen

Here goes nothin'!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Seventeen

Subject: email test
Date: 4/??/??? 09590fh2fy08y
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

test test test... Sent from time bubble 6 hours after the accident.

Don't forget to reply (to younger self?), and to delete this email from Sandy's laptop before she wakes up.

Subject: re: email test
Date: 4/??/??? 0959r22fy08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Ignore this email, Jace. I'm just testing something. See you soon.

Subject: What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Date: 3/10/13
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy -

All right, yes. It's true. I know now for a fact that I'm Gabby, because I've seen you three times now in my role as your "kidnapper." Mostly I was there to make sure everything was set up for your relative comfort, and to make sure the cross-time link between our computers was set up properly. The really tricky part was sneaking into my family's old house in 2005 to install the "time card" on my old Compaq.

I don't know how much the future-Gabby has told you, so let me clarify things a bit:

1. I didn't create the rift between Sedona and Deming. When Ken and I got to 2005 Sedona, it was already there. There's also a side branch that goes to Roswell. I couldn't shut it down completely, but after your accident we planted a couple of trees and put up a No Trespassing sign to try to keep people out.

2. Your accident really was an accident. I saw it. You skidded off the road into the rift. I've spent years thinking about whether I could or should try to prevent that, but I concluded that it's safer to work with the version of the future I remember from the emails than to prevent the entire chain of events.

3. The medical time dilation - the slowing of your body's reaction to the accident - was mostly invented by Ken and me together. It shouldn't have worked, but it did, and I knew it would because it had. Does that make sense?

I'm in college now, obvously. I ended up at the University of Arizona, not because it had the best physics department or the best scholarship, but it's within driving distance of Sedona and the hidden entrance to the time bubble. Also it's where Ken wanted to go. We're back together, but more as friends than because we expect to get married or anything.

Let me know if and when you get out of the time bubble. I started a bank account years ago with the money you left me in your will, so you'll have that to start over with. It's not much, but I'll invest it, once I've have time to "cheat" my way to a few good long-term stock tips.

Jace

Subject: Free at Last!
Date: 6/??/??? 0959rv8q4h8y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

Don't let the usual weird timecoding fool you. I'm actually out of the time bubble, and so far I haven't turned into a skeleton or crumbled into dust. In fact, I'm feeling much better now, and healing at a normal rate. I'm at your future apartment (details of which I won't disclose, just in case), getting my bearings and discussing my options with "Gabby."

We figure that we'll create too much of a paradox if I go back to any of those past years I lost, so any date before 2013 is out of the question. The part we've been trying to work out is whether I should come to your time, or settle with your future self in 2025. I haven't been to those years (except for right now when I'm in 2025), but you came back to see me from there. We've decided that I won't cause any catastrophe by coming to 2013, as long as we make a pact not to discuss your future actions. Actually, I suspect Gabby knows that we already made that pact in her personal past, but I know better than to ask her.

Don't worry about making those investments. I'll do it myself. But do start apartment hunting for me. I'm coming home!

Sandy

The End


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Sixteen

Here comes the big reveal! Have you figured it out already?


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Sixteen

Subject: I live!
Date: 11/??/??? 0efhhffejf0fje0f08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace (or should I say Gabby?) -

I got through the operation, and obviously I'm awake now. Still a little groggy, but I hope not too groggy to proofread this time. Your Dr. Ken is pretty sure he got all the perforations that were causing the internal bleeding. It's just as well I hadn't been eating much, or I could easily have ended up with peritonitis. As it is, he's pumped me full of antibiotics, just in case. Blecch. I'm pretty nauseated, but I'll live.

Judging from the email I just read, I assume you know that you made this time bubble, and you rescued me from the crash. Thank you. Maybe there was/is/will be a better way to save my life, but this is the way you chose. It's such a chicken and the egg situation, isn't it? Which came first, the idea that these emails gave you, or the emails your idea made possible? Did we ever have a choice in all this? Maybe I emailed you from a future that didn't exist yet, and you are starting to make that future the real one.

I think I'm getting dizzy, thinking about all this.

I'm not going to say any more about all the things you'll be doing over the next decade. I don't want to risk changing my personal history, now that I'm pretty sure I'm getting out of here alive.

Next question is whether 32-year-old you will be able to get me back to normal time without me turning into a skeleton or something. "Gabby" says she's working on it.

Bless you, Jace!

Sandy



Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Fifteen

Now comes the scary part for me, where I start to resolve things and wrap this up. Or not.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Fifteen

Subject: Re: Stay Put
Date: 7/??/??? 0efhhffhfhqe0f08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace -

Gabby is back, and so is the doctor. And he brought two friends, and medical equipment. The operation is in half an hour. They've already given me some sedative but not the serious stuff to put me out yet. Dr. K. thinks if he can stop the internal bleeding I will probably survive everything else. The wounds we can see finally seeem to be scabbing istead ofgetting bigger.

Getting ttoo groggy to write this. I know who Gabby is. Sending. Write you if I wakeup.

Sandy

Subject: Please live!
Date: 6/17/12
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy –

Your latest email makes me feel so helpless! You've reached the life-and-death moment we've been worrying about, and 18-year-old me can't do anything but wait for another email to see if you survived.

On second thought, maybe I can do something. I'm done with high school, I have access to a van, and I think my machine will work. Ken and I are driving to Sedona tomorrow. I'm anxious to hear back from you, but that could take months and months. I want to start now. I'll bring my laptop along.

I guess Ken and I are kind of back together, not that that really matters right now. We're not quite boyfriend and girlfriend, but more than just friends. Does that make any sense?

You're going to live. I'm sure of it. Otherwise, you wouldn't be going through what I'm about to make happen. It has to be worth it! It has to!

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Fourteen

I have no idea what I'm going to write here tonight, but here I go anyway.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Fourteen

Subject: Re: My Promise
Date: 6/??/??? 0efh40rghfhqe0f08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace -

I was right. The doctor says I'm bleeding internally. He can't operate by himself, obviously. I don't know whether I can get to a hospital - whether it's allowed, whether it's even possible. Maybe Gabby can bring more people in here. I don't know, though, whether she will or can. I don't feel I know much of anything at this point.

Sandy

Subject: Stay Put
Date: 11/15/11
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy –

I'm pretty sure there's no way you would survive a trip to the hospital. If the time bubble or whatever it is is slowing down your physical decline, then the last thing you want to do is leave it. I'm sure that Gabby knows this, and will do everything she can to help you.

My senior year has started here. Ken and I aren't getting along too well right now, but he's promised not to abandon his plans to help me help you, even though we're not dating any more. He's become kind of sarcastic lately, thinks I'm so hung up on your problem and physics in general that I'm not much good for anything else. I guess it's been a while since I was fun to be around, whatever that means. I even had to move my "mad scientist" project out of his basement. Fortunately, my boss at LANL is humoring me by letting me keep it in her garage, which is only two blocks from my house, and then across the park.. She and her husband (another physicist) have even given me a few ideas on how to make it work. I don't think they take it seriously, but they don't treat me like a kid or a crazy person, either.

Tell Gabby that I think it's time for you and her to have a talk. I don't know if she'll listen to me, but if you're dying, it could be her last chance. Maybe I'm overreacting, and I hope I'm wrong. But things are clearly getting kind of desperate over there.

You said that Gabby seemed about thirty years old. How old was she when you first got there?

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Thirteen

Yow! I've never slacked off so long before on my "weekly" fiction blog. My current obsession with Wikipedia is part of the problem, but mostly it's because I've reached the part of the story where I get nervous about whether I can wrap it up properly. Let's take Jace and Sandy one step closer to resolution of their problem, shall we?


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Thirteen

Subject: Re: The Why, If Not the How
Date: 11/??/??? 0efh408fy30r1rffy08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace -

I think I must have passed out, or at any rate fallen asleep for a while. I was trying to read Physics for Dummies, which Gabby had brought at my request. But I couldn't concentrate on it. I don't know how long I was unconscious. There is no day or night here to judge by. But my uneaten apple has gone brown, and my Diet Pepsi is warm and flat.

I'm feeling weak again, and the pain is getting worse. It's not just the wounds, or the headache. There's abdominal pain, too, the worst I've had since my gall bladder came out. That's what woke me.

A few minutes ago, I managed to climb out of bed and go use the restroom. What I saw pretty much settled the question about internal bleeding. Gabby has gone to bring the doctor back in here.

Jace, I'm sorry, but I'm not at all sure I will live long enough for you to find your way to me. How would you even do it?

Sandy

Subject: My Promise
Date: 5/15/11
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy –

I'm terribly worried about you, but time is working in our favor, at least at my end. I'm a couple of weeks away from finishing eleventh grade. They let me take A.P. Physics a year early, doubling up with Chemistry. I've been acing them both, even though Chem is kind of rote and boring. I guess that impressed the people at LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory), because I just got accepted to their "HS Co-op" program for high school seniors. I start interning there next week. Isn't that great? My parents are both really proud of me, but I still see that worried look in Mom's eye whenever the subject of physics comes up.

I have my driver's license now, too. Ken and I still want to drive to Sedona or Deming, or both, but my parents would freak if I drove so far away, especially with a boy. They like Ken okay, but I don't think they trust him, even after knowing him for years. They're sure that Ken and I have secrets together, but I won't tell them what kind of secrets. I just say that it's nothing to do with sex. To be honest, we've thought about doing it together, but so far he's been pretty understanding when I say I'm not ready. I'm not even sure he's ready, but I'm not going to hurt his ego by saying so.

Anyway, I keep wondering whether Ken and I should make the trip to Sedona now, and face my parents after it's all over. What's more important, me obeying a curfew, or finding and helping you? But that's what stops me. Even if I find you, I'm not ready to help you. I've been working on something in Ken's basement, so that my parents won't know that my obsession with physics has turned me into a crackpot inventor. I've got a long way to go in building the thing, let alone getting it to work. I'm not even sure exactly what it will do when it's finished. Something useful, I hope. Really, I do more than hope. I know it will work eventually. I promise it.

And I promise you will live long enough for me to see you again. Don't give up! Every month that goes by, every book I read, every bit of research I do, every email I get from you, only makes me more sure I know what's happening to you, and what to do about it. I've pretty much figured out how to get to you when the time comes, and I know I will get there. But the time hasn't come yet, and getting there isn't enough. We have to save your life, too.

Meanwhile, I've been looking at colleges to go to. I'm probably going to apply to CalTech, U.C. Riverside, and University of Arizona. You didn't go to the University of Arizona, did you? But you probably know something about it, having lived in Tucson before the accident. I guess which one I go to will depend on where I get the best scholarship. Ken is applying to the same schools, so we've been looking for ones that have a good pre-med program, not just a good physics department.

Hang in there! We can do this!

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Twelve

Yes, I'm terribly late in posting this. I think we're going to have to accept that the rest of this serial will be posted on a somewhat irregular basis. Just be grateful that you don't have to wait as long for each letter as Jace does!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Twelve

Subject: The Why, If Not the How
Date: 11/17/09
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy –

Another year has gone by. I'm in tenth grade now. At this rate, I'll be an adult by the time you get through this one day. But time seems to keep accelerating, so heck, I could be your age by the time your day is over!

I'm starting to suspect a reason for all this - not how it happened, but maybe why it's happening. I probably shouldn't say anything, though. This is the part in time travel stories when someone warns about knowing too much about the future. But I want to tell you anyway, at least this one thing, which could be totally wrong for all I know. I think this is probably about saving your life, or at least preserving it as long as possible. I mean, if you had just died right away in that accident, I wouldn't have gotten to know you as well as I do now, and nobody would have had a chance to try to keep you alive as that doctor is doing. Maybe all this time bubble stuff (if that's what it is) is the equivalent of cryonics, without the nasty side effects of freezing the brain into unusable mush. If you stay alive for another ten years of my time, medicine should get better, until whatever is wrong can be fixed, right? I hope so, anyway.

In case you're wondering, Ken and I are still friends, and still very close. But no, I haven't done anything with him that would shock my parents. We mostly have long, intense conversations, pretty much every day. And yeah, okay, he kissed me, once. I didn't like it much, but I'm not telling him that. He'll be getting his driver's license soon, and he wants to take me to Sedona and Deming, or at least one of the two. But I know my parents won't agree to any such thing, at least until I'm 18 or older. I wish I could just skip forward in time, the way you seem to do. Slogging through my teen years in normal time us dull and frustrating, especially when I know you're waiting for me to finish doing it!

Jace.


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Eleven

Yes, this installment is even later than the last couple have been. If you think about it, though, it's entirely appropriate at this stage of Jace and Sandy's story that each new email appears late and unpredictably.

The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Eleven

Subject: Re: Sandy Lives! (I hope)
Date: 11/??/??? 095904r0731rffy08y
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace -

You asked whether Gabby has tried stitching me up. Better still: she's finally brought in a doctor to help me!

I don't know how he got in here, but of course I don't know how Gabby gets in here, either. She seems to be aging about as fast as you are, if not faster. She looks at least thirty as of this morning.

The doctor is about Gabby's age, maybe a little older. When I asked him his name, he said, "I'm not supposed to tell you that now." Isn't that an odd thing to say? But he seems very nice. He did stitch up my wounds, including some new ones that appeared while he was working on the others. He looked a little surprised and worried about this, but not nearly as much as you might expect. I'm sure he knows something about what's going on, but he confined his remarks to my medical condition. Like your friend, he's worried about internal bleeding, but for the moment he says there's little evidence of it. He offered me pain medication, but I need to stay alert so I can answer your emails as they come in. If it turns out I'm going to die soon, I don't want to waste any time being drugged out and drowsy.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling a little better, I think, and Gabby has brought me a fresh supply of food. The first day there was nothing here that could be considered perishable - no fruits or vegetables, no fresh or frozen meat. It was all stuff like Kraft Dinner with powdered milk and no butter, or beans and rice, or SPAM and other canned goods. Now Gabby seems to have have found a way to keep the food from spoiling at the speed of relativity. Today there was some cheddar cheese that didn't look too old, and potatoes, and a slightly squishy apple. Okay, it's not great, but it's something. Too bad I'm not hungry.

In your email you report that the man who disappeared from Sedona to Deming said the "road turned blue." I think I saw that, too. It wasn't just the road, though. It was everything at once. Blue.

I'm not going to try to talk you out of anything from this point forward. You're obviously a determined young woman, and I'm grateful that you care so much about your timelost godmother. All I ask is that you be careful, and try to avoid taking unnecessary chances. Will you do that for me? Please say that you will!

Sandy


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Ten

Let's just say the new posting date is Monday nights, shall we?


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Ten

Subject: Sandy Lives! (I hope)
Date: 9/10/08
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

Hooray! I finally heard from you! It took over two years, though. I have to wonder whether your faster moving system is starting to accelerate. If it is, that's probably a good thing. It would mean that your time dilation is increasing, slowing you down relative to me. That may buy us some time, so I can grow up, learn what I need to know, and get to you before your injuries have time to kill you. I'm up to ninth grade, but even a high school student with an obsession about quantum theory isn't a whole lot more use to you than the 11-year-old I was when all this started.

I just hope your Gabby can help you to heal instead of your getting worse all the time. Ken says that if you aren't bleeding internally, then it should be possible to stop you from losing more blood. Has Gabby tried stitching you up?

Yes, I told Ken about you. I hope you don't mind. He's going into medicine like his parents, so I thought he might be able to tell me something helpful. We've gotten to be pretty close friends. Maybe more than friends, but it's too soon to say that for sure.

I did email the man who said he was near Sedona, and then suddenly found himself in Deming. I guess this happened right after the fire. Did I tell you about the fire? Well, there was one, near 89A north of Sedona, in June of 2006. Were you south of Sedona just before you disappeared, or north of it?

Anyway, the guy thought at first I was trying to hoax him, but I guess he researched your case online, and found out that I wasn't just making it all up. Then he wrote back to me. But he doesn't remember anything helpful, so it was kind of a dead end. The one thing he said was that the road turned blue, right before it happened. No, I don't know what it means.

Listen, I know you don't want me to worry about you, or to take on the responsibility of trying to save you. But I've already taken it on. I've been working on it for years. If I fail, okay, I'll be really upset. But if I don't even try, then I fail for sure. I have to do this, Aunt Sandy. I have to do everything I can to find you and rescue you, both from this dimensional anomaly you're in and from being slowly killed by a car accident that happened years ago. At least now I have a friend to help me with the second part of that.

Love,

Jace.


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Nine

Late again! Sorry!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Nine

Subject: As Time Goes By
Date: 12/1/07
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

It's almost Christmas again, and I still haven't heard from you. I was sure I'd hear from you by summer. I've been trying not to worry about you any more than I do anyway, but it's not working. Every week that goes by, I'm a little more afraid that I'll never hear from you again.

School's okay, I guess. I'm in eighth grade now. Mom thinks it's a little weird that I'm getting As in science and math all the time. It used to be Bs and Cs. I know she thinks I should try out for a school play or something, but I don't have time for that. When I'm not trying to learn physics, I'm trying to write stories, like you used to do. Or I'm doing research online. Since you disappeared, there have been three reports of people turning up in Deming, not knowing how they got there. Nobody really takes in seriously, but one of them said the last thing he remembered was driving on 89A in Arizona.

Oh, and there's a boy I like. His name is Ken, and yes, people ask him "Where's Barbie?" all the time. He just laughs and says, "We broke up." He's not my boyfriend or anything, more like friends. He's a little bit of a computer whiz, and his dad's a doctor.

One of the reasons I'm so worried about you is it sounded in your last email as though you're getting worse and worse. Please tell me I'm wrong about this. Please tell me anything! Just let me know you're alive, and I'm not too late!

Love,

Jace.

Subject: Re: As Time Goes By
Date: 5/??/??? 24r07098wi98wthw9f
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Oh, Jace, I'm so sorry to make you worry like that! I wish I could reassure you, but I can't get out of bed this morning. There's a terrible gash down one leg, and my abdomen is bleeding into the fresh bandages Gabby put on. She's made me as comfortable as she can, brought me food and a bedpan (more than you want to know, right?), and even set up my computer on a TV tray for me. But it took a while. That's probably why I'm so "late."

What else did you learn about the man who went from 89A to Deming? Was it just a little news article, or is he someone you can write to and ask questions? I don't know what you'd ask him, but it does sound a lot like my experience. He wasn't injured, was he?

Be careful with the boy who is not your boyfriend. Maybe he will become that, maybe not. Just be sure you don't get pressured into doing more than you are ready to do.

Speaking of feeling pressured, I don't want you to feel you have to save me from whatever is happening to me. No, I don't want to die here, but I'm starting to think maybe I'm going to. Gabby is really doing her best to help me, but it's as if my injuries are appearing slowly, just as I'm living slowly compared to you. They're not healing, either. But THIS IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX. You're a teenaged girl, for Heaven's sake, not Sam Beckett. I admire your courage and commitment, and I hope to see you again before I die. I really do. But if that doesn't happen, it won't be your fault or your failure. Please promise me that whatever happens, you won't blame yourself.

Love,
Aunt Sandy


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Eight

Okay, I'm back on schedule this week. But I reserve the right to change the night I post these in the future.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Eight

Subject: Time, Time, Time
Date: 12/24/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy –

Merry Christmas! I mean, I know we don't know the date where you are, or what date it will be when you get this, or even if time has any meaning in your fast-moving system. That's what I'm guessing you're in. But it's Christmas here, and I was thinking about you, and wishing you could spend the holiday with us. The closest I can get to that is to write to you now, even though I won't hear from you again until next summer probably. I figure that if you can write to me twice in a row, then I can write to you twice in a row, or more. After all, I have a lot more time to do it in. But I'll try not to do it too often, because it still takes time for you to read them!

My parents think my recent interest in physics is something to be encouraged. They've bought me three books on the subject since I last wrote to you, and I'll be surprised if I don't get at least one more for Christmas. I don't tell them why I'm interested, though. They never really believed me about these emails, even though I showed them the first two I got from you. They think it's a hoax. They told me that you're dead, and I shouldn't hold out false hope. So now I keep all this to myself, except for talking to you, of course.

I can't give you anything physical for Christmas, so I decided to write a poem for you:

Sit silent and read
Words of Sandy, lost in Time,
Reaching out to me.

Find a way to help:
I can be a scientist
If I really try.

Years fly by for me
While you drift from day to day
To some future time.

When will we converge?
Will I know all that I need
To rescue my friend?

I know it's just a bunch of haiku put together, and it doesn't have imagery or nature in it or anything like that. But you get the idea. If there's a way to find and rescue you, I'm going to do it. It will probably take me years and years, but at the rate you're going, I guess we have the time. Hang in there, Aunt Sandy! Write me when you can.

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Seven

Yes, this is two days late. Sorry. I think I'll be shifting to Sunday nights for posting here. I'll let you all know, here and on the Outpost, if and when I change my fiction schedule.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Seven

Subject: Re: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/??/??? 24r027098wthw9f
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

I forgot to answer one of your questions just now, so I thought I'd better do it before I go to bed and you get older. No, I don't hear any motors. I'm not quite sure whether I feel a little vibration in the floor, or it's just me feeling a little shaky after the accident, and imagining something that's not really there. As I think I said before, there are no windows here. Do you suppose maybe I'm in a TARDIS? ;)

I'm really starting to think there was an accident. I probably wouldn't feel this lousy otherwise.

Aunt Sandy

Subject: Time, Time, Time
Date: 6/6/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Yeah, okay. You're definitely my Aunt Sandy! And yes, "Trophy" is still in my closet.

I'm trying to figure out how long it will be before I get another email from you. A whole year, I bet. Last time a day went by for you, it was at least a year on my end, I think.

Hey! Here's another email from you! You must have sent it really quickly after the last one. I mean really really quickly.

Since I won't hear from you again for a long time, I guess there's not much point in asking for more advice right now. School is getting better, anyway. Those kids who teased me about my name aren't all that bad, and I've made a couple of friends. I'll try to do as you told me, and not get upset at every little thing someone says.

I read both books about physics that were in the school library. They didn't help much. They're kind of written for kids, and I need to know more than that. School is over soon for the summer, and I've already asked my teacher so many questions that he probably thinks I'm crazy. I guess they're tough questions, because he couldn't even answer most of them. Science class next year is Earth Science, so that doesn't really help, either. I'm going to go to the Bradbury tomorrow with Mom, and see what I can find in their bookstore. I want to understand what's happening to you. Maybe I can find a way to rescue you somehow.

Talk to you later - much later, probably!

Jace


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Six

This installment is a little less centered on the sf/fantasy, a little more on the YA aspect of the older story idea. I make no apology for this. Enjoy (I hope)!


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Six

Subject: Re: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/??/??? 24r027098wieh
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

I was wondering when you would ask for proof, not that I'm exactly in a good position to give you any. How about this?

Birthday Presents from Me to You
* Age 6: a stuffed poodle on a pillow. Do you still have that? Seems to me I remember seeing it in your closet the last time you gave me "the Tour."
* Age 7: Scrabble Junior.
* Age 8: I can't remember...oh, yes. A necklace maker. I must have spent an hour in Toys R Us that time, trying to figure out what you'd like.
* Age 9: a diary with an audio feature and a lock.
* Age 10: a set of acrylic paints and an artist's tablet.
* Age 11: if I'd actually managed to get to Los Alamos, I would have given you a box set of the BBC Narnia movies on DVD. They're here with me. Since you're not likely to get these, I've been watching them. If it's really 2006, that means the Disney version came out. Was it any good?

I trust that establishes my identity.

On the name thing: my goodness, Jace, don't you know how incredibly cool your nickname is? At least it is from my point of view. You may remember that I was there when you told your parents to start calling you Jace instead of Janice. That was a gutsy thing for a seven-year-old to do. I thought your mother would be upset, but then your dad laughed, and I knew they'd go along with it. You have cool parents!

As for "Jace Face the Space Case," I thought you liked Jace Face. That is your screen name, after all. Is it really the "space case" part that bothers you, or is it because these kids are trying to be mean? The heck with them. If there's one thing I regret most about my childhood, junior high and high school years,, it's that I let whatever everyone else said and did hurt my feelings. YOU know you're not a "space case," and these kids probably know it, too. They're just going for the rhyme. You can even come up with a positive interpretation of "space case" if you try.

Heck, it's not remotely as bad as being saddled with the name "Sandy Sheets." "Hey, Sandy! How about washing those sheets?" "What were you doing in those sheets to make them sandy?" I was called Sandy Bottoms, and Sandy Pandy, and Sandy Sh*ts, and Sandy Feets, and even Candy Beets! I didn't handle it very well. Don't make that mistake. You've got a really good name, but absolutely every name can be turned into a joke or insult if you work at it. If some jerks at school try that on you, don't give them the satisfaction of being hurt by it. It's their problem, not yours. And a lot of times, as I learned many years later, teasing isn't meant to hurt. You can choose to enjoy the joke, instead of being scarred by it as I was.

So, it's past midnight by my watch,and I'm tired and sore. If I go to bed, does that mean you'll be 13 or 14 or 22 years old when I wake up in the morning? Gabby came through here a few minutes ago, and I asked her about the Einstein twin paradox and your theory about me. She didn't really answer the question, but she smiled. I think she was genuinely pleased to hear that it was you who came up with that. Make of that what you will: I have no clue.

Love,

Aunt Sandy (really!)

Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Five

Yes, this is a day late. Sorry. Still, I'm not sure that anyone but me cares about that.



The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Five

Subject: Einstein and Stuff
Date: 5/1/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy (if it's really you),

Well, it hasn't been a year this time. Only about three weeks. I guess maybe if you answer right away, it gets to me sooner.

I've been thinking about a video we saw in school, about Einstein and time and stuff like that. I guess it was explaining relativity, but I don't really understand it all yet, although I'd like to. Anyway, in the video, one twin went out into space and traveled at almost the speed of light. The other twin stayed home. When the astronaut twin came back, he was still young, but the other twin was old. Time slowed down in the spaceship because it was moving so fast.

So what I was wondering is this. Are you sure you're not in an alien spaceship or time machine? Can you feel the room moving, or motors humming,or something like that? I mean, if you are moving really fast, faster than anything this side of Star Trek or whatever, then time really could go slower for you than for me. It would also explain, sort of, why you can't get online. It doesn't explain how we can email each other, though.

You know, I've been believing that you're really my godmother, Sandy Sheets, pretty much just because it's your email account, and your emails sound like something you'd say. But what if it's all a trick, like the police told my parents? Is there some way you can prove you're who you say you are?

If you are Aunt Sandy, I guess maybe I should do what I said I'd do, and ask you for advice. I'm in the regular public school starting this year, and I'm having a little trouble with some of the kids. They like to call me Jace Face the Space Case. They say Jace is a stupid name. I kind of try to ignore them, but that doesn't seem to help. What do you think I should do?

Jace
(really Janice)


Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Four

Last week I made a continuity error. Did anyone spot it? I'm leaving it in, with the hope I can explain it as a plot point, months from now.

I'm not going to do recaps on any of the entries for this serial. Each installment is short enough that it should be easy to catch up if you come in late.


The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Four

Subject: Believing the Unbelievable
Date: 4/??/??? 24r08498whfo
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace –

You talk about what I say being unbelievable, and I suppose that it is. But then you hit me with unbelievable claims of your own! How am I supposed to react when you say that my accident, if there was one, was almost a year ago, and that my car was found in Deming? I haven't been to Deming in years.

I swear to you, Jace, that unless I've been in a coma, there's no way that even a week has gone by for me since I left Tucson to visit you on your birthday. It certainly hasn't been a year. My forehead is still bleeding, and my arm is sore, the way muscles sometimes get the day after an accident. That's how long it's been since I got here, wherever here is: about a day, maybe two. I look in the mirror, and I'm no older than I was before.

But your latest email is dated next April. How can that be? Something strange is going on, even stranger than I realized.

I asked Gabby whether she was an alien. She just laughed and said no. But there's definitely something she's not telling me.

If you're about to be twelve years old, then you're heading into adolescence, when pretty much everyone needs somebody to confide in. I remember being 12, 13, 14. They weren't the best years I've had. I'm not sure I have any good advice to offer, or even that this will reach you before you're an old married lady. But if you want to try to tell me what's going on in your life, I promise to reply as soon as I hear from you.

Okay. I got your email at 9:03 PM, according to my watch. It's 9:46 PM now. Please let me know whether you get this on the same day, week, or year as your email to me.

Love,

Aunt Sandy



Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Three

I originally intended to rewrite or add to this entry, which I wrote in a hurry very late Saturday night, based on what I'd already written in my head. But I think I'll let it stand, except for fixing a typo and rewording one sentence. It probably helps to rush the writing just as much as Jace herself does here.

The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB

Part Three

Subject: Re: Why I'm not there
Date: 4/10/06
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Dear Aunt Sandy,

I don't believe this. You act like you just got the email I sent you, but I sent that the same night I got that first weird one from you, right after you disappeared. Don't you know it's been almost a year since then? I'm going to be 12 years old next week. I wish you were around, because I could use some advice, grown-up advice about stuff I can't talk to Mom about.

They found your car outside of Deming, all smashed up. They didn't find you though, or even any blood. Mom and Dad tried to tell the police that we got email from you, and we think you're alive. They took a copy of the email with them, but that's all. They never came back or told us anything.

After that we heard from a couple of people in Roswell. They say you were abducted by aliens. Do you think maybe Gabby is an alien?

Please notice I've worked hard on my writing since last year, even though I didn't get your criticism until just now. Yeah, I know that last email was bad. My friends all wrote like that at the time, but I kind of knew better.

Write back quick!

Jace



Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

The Jace Letters, Part Two

In which Sandy hears back from 11-year-old Jace Murphy.

The Jace Letters

by Karen Funk Blocher
© 2006 by KFB
Part Two

Subject: Re: Why I'm not there
Date: 4/30/2005 1:55:23 PM US Mountain Daylight Time
From: JaceFace
To: NotaBeach

Aunt Sandy!

Is this one of your stories? U r a good writer, but your scaring me a little. Where are u really? We expected you last weekend. You didn't show up, and we never heard anything until now. Mom called your cell phone, but it said it was unavailable. She left a voicemail on your home phone, too.

Just tell us where you really are, ok? And that your allright.

You missed a pretty good party last weekend. I got a high-tech spy kit and an Aragorn action figure. But the best present was a pink iPod!

Jace

Subject: Re: Why I'm not there
Date: r0tu2ru0ru0r
From: NotaBeach
To: JaceFace

Jace--

I accidentally sent my email before I was ready. Sorry about that. Now that I've received an email reply from you, I know that Gabby was telling me the truth. Nothing else about the Internet works on my computer now, but at least I can write to you and get an answer.

But I told you. It's not a joke or a story. I really have been kidnapped, even though it doesn't make sense, even though I don't know why.

All I know is that I was just arriving in Sedona for the night when a tanker truck suddenly pulled out in front of me. I remember hitting the brake and yelling. I don't remember a crash, or anything like that.

Then I woke up here. Wherever "here" is. There's a cut on my forehead that doesn't seem to want to stop bleeding, but I'm fine otherwise. At least, I think I am. Maybe I was in an accident after all. Maybe I've had a concussion. Maybe I'm really in a coma, and this is all a dream.

It doesn't seem like a dream. It's weird and lonely and depressing, but it feels real to me.

If it is real, this isn't a hospital. There's just me and the woman I call Gabby, and Gabby won't let me leave. That's kidnapping, regardless of how I actually got here.

Jace, dear, I don't want to criticize. You know I love you, and I'm grateful that you answered my email, even if it scared you. But as a former English major, I have to tell you that you need to work on your writing skills a little bit. I'm glad you dropped the "texting" abbreviations after your first few sentences. It's much easier for an old fogey like me to read what you have to say if you write real words, not just letters. You also confused "your," which means "belonging to you," with "you're," which means "you are." And "all right" is two words, not one. "Alright" as a single word seems to be gaining acceptance now, but that is not what I was taught in school when I was your age..

Please understand, I'd be glad to hear from you even if it was all in lower case Pig Latin, but I'd much rather know that my goddaughter is literate. Fair enough?

Well, I'm off to bed, assuming that I'm not already asleep. I'll write to you again tomorrow.

Love,
Aunt Sandy

Technorati Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

Absent Friends

I'm missing Kate tonight, and it occurs to me that I haven't yet told you what little I know about her abrupt departure.

Last week, as you may recall, I expressed concern that if Black Rose Katie Specks didn't somehow make it back to her own time, she would soon be resuming her life of crime, right here in the 21st Century. When I discussed the issue with Kate herself over the weekend, she didn't even bother to deny it. So when I got home on Monday and she wasn't here, my first thought was that she got tired of waiting to be mysteriously returned home, and hitchhiked down to Nogales or Naco to become a smuggler; or else that she'd gotten in trouble trying to rob a bank.

But there was nothing on the news about a bank robbery, or about anyone trying to rob anyone with only a flintlock gun for a weapon, or crossing the border into Mexico in a pirate outfit and with no identification. Furthermore, there was nothing missing from my house, not even the clothes I loaned to Kate. Even the necklace that Kate loaned to me for the VIVI Awards was still here. Had she left on her own, I doubt very much that she would have foregone the chance to steal anything that she might find useful. She was grateful for my hospitality, but not that grateful. All things considered, then, it was starting to look as though my friend the pirate had disappeared the same way she appeared - mysteriously, suddenly and involuntarily.

I hoped that meant that she did return to the late 18th Century, but there didn't seem to be any historical record of her - not online, anyway. Google turned up quite a few results for "pirate Kate," but most of them are either an Internet handle or clearly fictional, including a pirate's daughter in an old novel, a woman who meets a time traveling pirate in a recent novel (!), and one of the daughters in The Pirates of Penzance. Maybe Katie Specks didn't make it home after all, or maybe she did nothing under the name Kate that was noteworthy enough to make the pirate websites.

It wasn't until last night that I noticed a Word file on the desktop of my computer, one I never put there. The file name was "To Karen." Thinking it might be a note of farewell from Black Rose Kate, I opened it up and read:

Karen -

I write this in haste, because, as you might say, "my ride is here," and cannot wait. Her name is Ariel - or so she claims. She is certainly no airy spirit (or mermaid - I did glance through your Disney collection over the weekend). She also claims to be indirectly responsible for my having been beached here in the desert with you. In the final of her three claims, she proposes to take me home. I have decided to put this third claim to the test!

Thank you for your hospitality, patience and friendship.

Regards,

That Disobedient Wench,

Black Rose Katie Specks

*********

Underneath this, in a different color font, was a second, more surprising note:

Dear Karen:

I found out about your "house guest" earlier today while Googling for evidence of disturbances in time in your version of reality. When I read your journal entries about Black Rose Kate, I realized that I ought to "swing by," as you put it, and get her safely home.

Based on similar recent incidents in this part of the Multiverse, I'm pretty sure that Kate's arrival in Tucson was a side effect of what I've been calling a "leak" in my pandimensional sports car. I think you'll agree that a sports car is a much more practical way of traveling than my dad's castle is--if I can get it working properly. I know that you know about Toujours Chez Moi, because I saw it mentioned in your story Mall of Mâvarin. Cathy and Carl are fine, by the way. Your imagination seems to be pretty closely tied in with worlds my dad and I move through on a regular basis. Intriguing! Kate is not from your reality, any more than I am, so in a way you were right to make the contradictory claims that she was both fictional and real.

I'd love to stay and say hello in person, but I have a test in the morning. I'd better get Kate back to her bit of space-time, and then go study. The test is on A Wrinkle in Time, and I haven't finished reading the book yet!

Your Imaginary Friend (LOL!),

Ariel Allegra
(Joshua Wander's daughter)

I don't know why I'm so shocked about this. After all, Joshua Wander himself once bought tickets at Worldwide Travel while I worked there. Why shouldn't his daughter borrow my laptop for a few minutes?

By the way, I also found my notebook, the one in which Black Rose Kate wrote a brief version of her life story. I'll share that with you another time, but for now I'll tell you this much: she was not born with the name Kate or Katherine, or anything like that.

Fair weather and safe harbor, Kate!

Kate Weighs In; Coming Attractions

Cross-posted from two different AOL entries:

1. I Won a Major Award - and it's not a leg lamp!

First of all, in case anyone reads this blog and not Musings (which seems unlikely):

I won iwoniwon! And so did Vince. Yay!

BEST FICTION/POETRY JOURNAL
TIE!

Musings from Mâvarin - mavarin
TO GROW IS TO BE ANXIOUS - deabvt

2. Kate Weighs In

"I saw what you wrote about me on Friday," Black Rose Kate tells me.

"I thought you might," I acknowledge. "Do you object to anything I said?"

"Nay, your suppositions were quite astute. 'Tis certain that if I'm here much longer, we will have a parting of the ways. You're too honest by half to tolerate me for long. You do not approve of my larcenous heart, and the bindings of your conventional morality chafe me exceedingly."

"I'm sorry to hear that," I tell her. "What did you think about my award last night?"

"Congratulations, I'm sure, but 'tis of no moment to me. You may tell people I'm fictional, but I know better."

"I only said that in a few emails."

"And in your LiveJournal, and in IMs to your friends. Do not lie to me, Karen. You have not the skill for it."

"Oh, that, yes. Are you insulted?"

"Nay, but do not expect me to be wholehearted in approval, either."

"Sorry."

It seems that I'm apologizing her her a lot these days. Why is it never the other way around?

3. The Real Deal

After checking with a certain well-known science fiction writer on the advisability of posting a piece of something I'm actually trying to sell, I've decided that starting next week, my Saturday Night Fiction entry will feature the good stuff: the first two chapters of Heirs of Mâvarin in serial form. This is your chance to find out what I've been talking about all this time. For the rest of the story, well, you'll just have to wait until I find a publisher for the darn thing! The idea here is to free my schedule up a bit, so that I can finally finish the last edit of the first book and start sending it around again.

Aside from five queries to agents three years ago, I haven't submitted Heirs to anyone over over a decade. It was a very different manuscript then, not anywhere near as good as it is now.

The market has changed in the intervening years, too. Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia have all made inroads in popular culture. On the other hand, I'm not in that league, and the publishing industry has been consolidated down to a handful of companies with dozens of imprints each. Tough market - and yes, I'm nervous about sending my life's work out again, possibly to be ignored and rejected. It's all very well to tell me how many times L'Engle and King had their most important books turned down by dozens of publishers, but what if there are only five publishers left that take unagented fantasy, and I've tried all five? What then?

Karen

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Update: Monday, 11/7/05: Black Rose Kate is gone. More later.