Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Musings 2/2/2022

 Good morning.


It is 2/2/2022, and I'm taking that as a cue that today is a day for second chances.

I have been trying to compose a post for a while. One was about reaching teens. But then I encountered some frustration at my job and my heart wasn't in it.

I'm being underpaid. I started a part time job after-hours doing outpatient therapy. Now, the director there is offering me a clinical supervisor position. This would mean I would have to leave my union (which does not allow supervisors) but I would still associate with it and be able to rely on my fellow workers for moral support, and I would continue to help organize the workers at the school I'm currently at, regardless of whether I stay there. My current efforts focus on developing my coworkers as labor organizers since I am, for reasons of financial security, looking to move on.

Being a supervisor would pose a number of ethical challenges for me to negotiate as an anarchosocialist but I prefer not to speculate on that at this time, since I haven't experienced it yet.

In the world of science fiction, I am currently working on 4 "Local Group" novels.

"Lore of the Road" is a coming of age story set on a frontier world involving a queer road trip, and shares an important character with "Rentkids."

"The Astounding Adventures of Father Justice and the Masked Marksman" is a quasi-superhero narrative set on Tantalus II, the world of "Rentkids" and my other novels, which involves multi-level marketing cults and costumed vigilantes.

"The Historical Origin of the Venom Gland" is a tale about colonialism in which two corporations wage proxy war on a primitive planet, and vie for control of an indigenous resource.

And finally, I am working on an untitled project based on "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare.

I've recently considered that adapting Shakespeare, especially when given modernistic or parallel historical interpretations, is an exercise in speculative fiction. "Richard III" with Ian McKellan is essentially an alternate timeline World War II. Julie Taymor's "Titus" plays with intentional anachronisms. Modern adaptations of "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet" transpose historical or literary characters and plots on the modern day in a way that is extremely satisfying to me as a lover of speculative fiction.

"The Tempest" is my favorite Shakespeare play, because it has so many elements of early science fiction. The film "Forbidden Planet" was inspired by it, and Gene Roddenberry saw "Forbidden Planet" before making "Star Trek." Roddenberry has stated the influence of "Forbidden Planet" on "Star Trek" and it is clear to see elements of that film, and thus of "The Tempest," in many classic "Star Trek" episode plots. In particular, "recluses on isolated planets, equipped with advanced technology, harass and manipulative the crew" seems to be a common formula. So, I am penning my own reinterpretation of "The Tempest" in the context of the setting of my "Local Group" 'verse. I have included many twists on the original material, and given it an epic, cyclical nature that expands the world of the story.

I am continuing my research into conspiracy theories. That's another post, following up on "The Gospel of Mark Richards." There's a lot of intersection between the paranoid style of right-wing politics, multi-level marketing, other cults and cult-like groups, Christian Nationalism, White Supremacy, and UFOs. It can be overwhelming but it's valuable research. My current conclusion is that racism can make people believe literally anything. And the right-wing is full of con artists who are skilled in taking advantage of that.