Okay, now the site has undergone a true cosmetic update. I’m still playing around with the layout of the new site – let me know if this theme rankles your sensibilities. I rather like it, but if it’s truly horrid, I’m sure I’ll hear about it.
New Look
No, you’re not seeing things – this is the first significant cosmetic upgrade to the site in some time. I don’t know if it’s here to stay or not. But, it’s here in it’s grey-orange glory. If not glory then… something else.
Today shall hopefully be a busy day. I must admit Ossua, as a project, scares the hell out of me. Even though I know the story is mine and mine alone, it’s intimidating. Even when I know so much about it and am the only expert on it… it’s decidedly hard to write a story this personal and this full of my own baggage.
But, word by word. That’s how Neil Gaiman does it. And that’s how I’ll have to do it.
Keep watching for more updates. I’m getting there. Promise.
UPDATE (11:08 AM)
So… the new template, while I like it, is gonna need more tweaking before I can get it to work the way I want to. So, back to the drawing board. Gonna have to look through some more options.
Some Maintenance
Hi all – looks like my server administrator had to roll out the service the blog is on. Ben is the best though – gave me plenty of warning and there’s just a few minor bugs to work out. I haven’t forgotten about you, dear reader. We’ll be up and running again soon!
Creative Dispatch – June 28, 2017
So, I’m back in the saddle and working toward a few goals. One of which is being accomplished right now, as promised. Consider this the first of two blog posts I owe you, dear reader.
But, to the matter at hand. I consider this to be the first of a new category of posts: creative dispatches. These will be where I go about describing progress, discussing process, asking my audience what they like and don’t like, and also to posit what should be reprioritized (within reason, woe betide those who stand in the creative squirrel’s way).
Another thing I’d like to note is you might have seen here that it’s a bastard of a process to get posting privileges here. Right now, take all your comments, criticisms, concerns, accolades, and other mercurial threats to the book of faces. Chances are, Facebook is how you got here, but just in case you couldn’t find it, come at me here:
https://www.facebook.com/MauriceTripHopkins/
I’ll be working on getting a sign in system here for more direct feedback. I had to disable the comments feature long, long ago on account of Russian spambots and penis enlargement database injection attempts (at least they’re aptly named). There’s better ways to go about it these days, like Disqus or other platforms. Not sure when it’s coming, but hopefully soon.
Now, as for the progress of my craft:
- Ossua writing was briefly halted due to preparations for (and the actual act of) matrimony. This was followed by a vacation (much needed) for my wife while her family was still in town. Vacation ends tomorrow, so I should be back to schedule by the end of the week.
- I’ve got a minor visual project to bang out by the end of next week. I’d like to have it completed within a week so I can post it here by Friday.
- A short fiction piece was completed just before the wedding. It involves a thief connected to the element of air, stealing a holy tome from an abbey full of werewolves. Looking back on the first pass, there’s a lot to fix. More on that as it develops. Tangentially, it may even connect to one of my earlier stories, Blackhand.
- I have submitted a short story from my 2015 writing challenge. After polishing it for some time, it seems it has paid off. The story is under consideration by a publisher for one of their upcoming titles. I don’t really want to say anything more than that as I don’t know what I’ll be able to say or not say. When I know more, you’ll know more. My wife and I are super excited!
- I have resorted my kanban board to prioritize editing and submission work. Right now, I’ll be editing my serial killer short story, as well as my Halloween-themed tale of what happens to trick or treaters who can’t follow directions.
This is all I have for now – but keep an ear to the blog (is that even a thing – now it’s a thing). I’ll bring more news as I get it.
Married!
I made a big deal last week about a creative schedule, and, you might have noticed there was a distinct diversion. “Maurice,” you might say. “You owe me a blog post! Two even!” And, you’d be correct. I do. But, I promise you I have the best reason ever:
I got married!
Yes! After four years together, my wife and I tied the knot last Thursday. We’ve been out and about our stomping grounds in celebration with our families. I didn’t exactly have the time for updates and blog type things. Because… married!
We are both very excited to be starting this new chapter in our lives and will be settling into our new roles as husband and wife.
And now, for a couple of details for our friends and family…
We held a private ceremony at the courthouse to make our wedding as low pressure as possible for both of us. We’ve wanted to get married for the past two years – money and anxiety shouldn’t have to stand in the way of two people marrying each other. My wife isn’t huge on being the center of social attention for hours at a time. We both didn’t want to face the debt of a large to-do. This was ultimately the best way we could think for both of us to get married without indebting ourselves or making either of us feel weird.
The only people informed were either blood relatives or among a handful of people who were asked two years ago to be in a traditional ceremony being planned at that time. The wedding was attended by four people: my mother, my father, my wife’s mother, and my wife’s sister. Both my father and my wife’s sister served as witnesses. This was as large an attendance as we wanted for the day itself in the name of fairness to one another – two people each, all of whom were blood.
As a message to our friends: you are special and we want to celebrate with you in person. We are planning for a low-key social to do… eventually. We’re not sure what or when. It may be a BBQ this summer, it may be a renewal of vows in a year or two with some airs of ceremony. I have no doubt we’ll be making the rounds as well in the weeks and/or months to come. When such an event comes due, no one owes us anything for the wedding. The grace of your presence is gift enough for both of us should you choose to attend.
If the circumstance of our marriage leaves you feeling snubbed, left out, or cheated, know that we in no way meant to offend, shock, or disappoint. This was not meant as a personal affront to any of our friends. A lottery win wasn’t going to happen to fund something traditional, nor was a loan. No one’s feelings were going to change about six hours of all eyes being on us. We just wanted to get married without crushing debt, unnecessary stress, or leaning towards tradition just because it’s what people expect.
To our friends and family: we loved you before the wedding, we love you now that we’re married, and we’ll love you in the future. We did what was right for our marriage to be realized. We stand by it as we move into the rest of our lives together with all of you.
We look very much forward to our life together, and we’re excited to see where the adventure of marriage takes us!
Creative Influences – El-Hazard
I promised you a blog post today based on my last post. So, let’s get down to it.
One of the things I’ve wanted to do for a while (over a year, really) is to take some time to go over the storytellers and/or stories that have helped to shape me into what I am. I don’t want to hit anything too heavy (I could probably write a book about Neuromancer at this point) so I thought I’d go with one of the lighter pieces for today. It also helps that I watched this title again with my girlfriend two days ago.
The story in question is from an anime hailing from the mid-nineties: El-Hazard.
What Is It About?
The story is a common one in Manga and Anime: a group of people from our world are transported to another world. In this case, the new world is called El-Hazard. The world has a strange mixture of high-technology and mysticism that provides what falsely appears to be a magical society. Priestesses manage El-Hazard’s advanced technologies, most of which have been lost to time. Everything has an Arabic flavor from the clothes to the environments.
The four new immigrants to El-Hazard have varying degrees of difficulty adjusting to their new world. The main character, Makoto, quickly learns that he is a dead ringer for one of the local princesses (which he finds super awkward). Nanami finds herself in the middle of a desert, having to waitress to make a living. Katsuhiko realizes he’s surrounded by bug people. And their teacher, Mr. Fujisawa… well, he adjusts pretty well at first since it seems he’s been granted great physical skills and unrivaled fighting techniques – so long as he’s sober. Which is kind of a problem for him, what with him being an alcoholic.
Like Mr. Fujisawa… they all gain strange abilities, some immediately apparent, others not. Katsuhiko can speak with the local insect monsters, the Bugrom. Nanami can see through illusions. And Makoto… nah. I won’t spoil that for you. Despite the fact that the Anime is twenty-two years old.
Makoto, Nanami, and Mr. Fujisawa find themselves embroiled in local power struggles after Makoto is coerced by the nation of Roshtaria into posing as their secretly missing princess. Katsuhiko uses his newfound and innate ability to speak with the Bugrom to rally an giant insect army. He pushes the Bugrom and their queen, Diva, to launch an attack on Roshtaria. The reason he does this is because his ‘life long rival’ Makoto is amongst their people – well, that and because he has a massive inferiority complex. To add to the conflict, there’s also the matter of the Phantom Tribe. They’ve worked for centuries to bring the whole of El-Hazard under their rule. Soon enough, devastating ancient technologies are being deployed in a growing war and the mystical powers and long lost relics start making for fantastic fight scenes.
The whole of El-Hazard hangs in the balance, with the four newcomers providing the pivotal thrusts that will decide the fate of millions.
Why This Story?
The story itself isn’t a new one. Like I said earlier, Anime uses the misplaced stranger(s) in a strange land trope frequently, as do most other mediums and genres. El-Hazard simply plays it to the hilt. More importantly, it’s a story with multiple levels. It starts out silly and light hearted, with alcoholic hijinks, gender-bending mistaken identity, megalomaniac delusions of grandeur, and, yeah… a lot of cheesecake and sexual comedy. It also manages a fair amount of drama as well, featuring everything from young infatuation triangles to the impact of what genocide does psychologically to a living weapon that is made to wage it.
The characters all stand out as well. One of my favorite characters is one of the Priestesses of Mount Muldoon, Shayla-Shayla. She’s easily in the top ten heroes list for me when it comes to Anime. She typifies the kind of flawed hero you find in the genre: brash, hot-headed, young, a little too eager to fight because she’s badass. She has issues making connections with people (apart from using her fists) but, she’s always on the right side of the battle. She always fights with style. She’s a character that I’ve used to create RPG characters from. She made for a great Fire-aspected Genasi Ranger In Forgotten Realms.
Another personal favorite character is Mr. Fujisawa. Personally, I think he could have a series all of his own, letting us all watch the life of a genial alcoholic who gets super powers when he’s sober (and even more powers if he stops smoking). He’s a great bit of flavor for the whole story. Whenever things get too heavy, he’s there to relieve some of the pressure with either a well placed FUJISAWA KICK (you must capitalize this signature move) or an inopportune bender.
The rest of the cast aren’t small potatoes either. Nananmi, Allielle, Dr. Schtalhubal, and the other two Priestesses have their own charisma to bring. Even the bad guy, Katsuhiko, is the kind of villain you love to hate – mostly because he’s so catastrophically inept despite commanding Queen Diva, the Demon Ifurita, and the Bugrom.
And then, there’s this guy:
I don’t think he (?) even has a name and he shows up for less than ten seconds. My fellow Otaku (the pejorative Japanese word for fanboy/girl – more benignly used in the US) in the area have always just called him ‘The Ba Bum Bum’ (a name rooted in onomatopoeia – it’s the only noise he makes). He waddles through a single scene. His only purpose is to make Mr. Fujisawa think he has the DT’s. God bless him. I love this… thing.
Given all of the above, I get nostalgia and an inner glow when I think about El-Hazard and the time I was first introduced to it. It’s still out there on DVD, though I’m not sure there’s a Blu Ray release of it just yet – at least not one you can find stateside. But when I find one, oh yeah. Come to papa.
Ultimately, all of the above led me to try to make stories that could have layers, be fantastical as I could make them, and present (sometimes hilariously) flawed characters that readers hopefully come to love.
Bonus Material: El-Hazard Births A True Otaku
El-Hazard wasn’t my first Anime. but it’s definitely the first I took seriously enough to collect all of it. My intake of Anime was limited since it was not as big in the States in 1994 as it is now.
My personal collection back then consisted of two feature films (Akira and Macross: Do You Remember Love?), a handful of incomplete Robotech VHS tapes that were Macek’ed to hell and back, two VHS of Macross II (ugh, my taste was poor), and several Starblazers tapes of truly horrible quality. I’d also seen a few rentals like Fist of the North Star (ugh), Appleseed (an adaptation of a great Manga to middling Anime), Black Magic 88 (another meh entry), and yeah, I’d been scarred by Urotsukidoji (why people watch that kind of shit is beyond me).
Then I met Marc.
Marc was a little older than I was and had built up a wealth of Anime viewing in those extra years. His access to early Anime hubs like Anime Crash (sadly, no longer a thing) and ties to the Otakon and New York university scenes (where fansub culture thrived) made him practically a connoisseur by comparison to me at the time. Delaware was not exactly loaded with Anime at that point.
To put it in the terms of another Anime, Haibane Renmei, he helped me through my new feather phase.
He suggested a lot of great stuff in the fall of ’96 and the year of ’97. El-Hazard was one of the two big series he got me hooked on; the other was Giant Robo, released by Manga Entertainment (arguably the biggest of the production companies back then). When he lent me his Dubbed VHS of El-Hazard… that was that. My Anime collection was on the rise. I’d save money to hit Tower Records or Suncoast Video – two of the only places in Philadelphia where I could reliably find Anime at a price I could afford. When they were in at Between Books back in Delaware, I’d get them there (tax free!). It cost a lot for me to get my own El-Hazard collection (and many other titles) – but it was worth every penny. It was probably the first Anime I bought with my own money and with any kind of regularity. I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it.
More Bonus Material: El-Hazard and the Collapsing Sub / Dub Wars
This also marked the beginning of what I like to call the ‘Pioneer Era’ (roughly between 1995 and 2000). During the eighties and nineties, Otaku were working off VHS tapes, and that had consequences. When you bought a title, you had to make a choice: original audio with subtitle tracks, or english dub and no subtitles. Debate raged hotly between Otaku over which was better – and still does, though it’s an argument that doesn’t involve opening your wallet any longer (thank god for multiple language tracks/subtitles). While I was okay with dubs, many were not – and usually for good reason. U.S. Manga Corp (one of the big producers at the time) was not one to spend a lot on dubbing Anime titles, nor were a lot of other production houses. There were some truly awful dubs out there (the original Captain Harlock comes to mind) if you didn’t want to read your Anime. If you showed up to an anime night with a group of Otaku, the groans would start when one format or the other was revealed. Subbers said the audio translations were poorly made and executed. Dubbers hated having to read an already busy medium. Ideological purity threatened friendships. I know at least one Otaku who will still leave the room at the sound of an English dubbed Anime.
El-Hazard was one of the first VHS dubs that I remember with an audio track that didn’t feel phoned in or waaay off the mark. Pioneer went on from titles like El-Hazard to create excellent dubs (Tenchi Universe, Serial Experiment Lain) that only got better once they turned into the Geneon studio (where they produced great dubs for Trigun, Last Exile, Hellsing). They’re still around, but after the American Anime Bubble finally burst in the late 00’s, they retreated back to Japan where they work on that side of the Pacific only. According to Wikipedia, they’re now owned by NBC/Universal.
Due to Pioneer’s early efforts and the emergence of multi-language DVD options, later production companies would get better voice talent, better translations, and generally and put more effort into their production process.