Kimber AnAs Linnea commented, MOONSTRUCK has the m...

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26974492.post-26634978815782259262008-01-23T11:28:00.000-05:002008-01-23T11:28:00.000-05:00Kimber AnAs Linnea commented, MOONSTRUCK has the m...Kimber An As Linnea commented, MOONSTRUCK has the makings of an "important" book. It does tackle transgressing the forbidden without the appeal being in fact that it is forbidden. However, because it's a powerful narrative well focused on the prime characters, that very focus raises the questions I laid out. The reason MOONSTRUCK may be a AR field defining book is simply that it raises questions OTHER authors must tackle in answering this challenge. Remember, I have always said that the fiction field is a big room party with everyone talking at once, and dozens of conversations shouted over the noise. These are questions, answers, topics, and well woven conversations. Susan has picked up on a thread of the conversation in Star Trek fandom and taken it one step further, then placed it in a complex background more fitting for a novel than a TV series. That particular conversation is one I find "fascinating." To do worldbuilding well enough to create another world as suitable for this conversation as MOONSTRUCK, you have to go "up" to the meta levels, way into the abstract, and ask Folklore questions and anthropology questions, such as "Why do human societies develop taboos at all?" The whole concept of the Taboo is that it is advice from your ancestors plainly saying that NOTHING you could possibly gain could ever be worth the price you will (definitely -- not a risk, but a definite) have to pay. This is a B&W absolute passed down from ancient times. There is a segment of any young human population that will never, ever challenge that -- and another that will always challenge. Then there's the rest of us in the middle. Linnea has accurately nailed it. This is a conversation our current civilization must have. Jacqueline Lichtenberg http://www.simegen.com/jl/Jacqueline Lichtenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01613040740264804278noreply@blogger.com