99 Luftballons

99 Luftballons by Nena was one of the songs I liked in the 80s, and it's aged well. (English version: 99 Red Balloons.) It made the "news" last weekend on Yahoo after someone did a cover of it using red balloons as instruments. I didn't particularly care for it but a tip of the cap for the work that went into it. The German version was always cooler by the way. Never let them tell you otherwise, because they're wrong!

Some things can only be written in certain time periods. That song was a Cold War song the same way WarGames was a Cold War movie. They captured the threat of nuclear holocaust that loomed over us all the time. How do you explain the zeitgeist of it to someone who didn't live through it? There's nothing like it in today's culture. Terrorism? Too local and limited. Climate change: too vague and debunkable. Global thermonuclear war was big and civilization ending. It could have happened overnight with no warning. We'll never wake up one morning and gasp in horror to find the glaciers melted and the beaches flooded. And if we did, would it end civilization? No.

One thing today and Cold War times have in common is conspiracies. Back then they were communist conspiracies. Today they're government conspiracies. Why can't Sept 11 simply be an attack by religious fanatics? Government incompetence explains it. Why all the alternative theories?
Isaiah 8:12 Do not speak of a cabal, for everything this people speaks of is a cabal; do not fear what they fear and do not be overwhelmed by it.
Later it would turn out the Cold War was largely propaganda. The Soviet Union was decades behind the U.S. technologically. Having the government lie to me about that creates instant skepticism about terrorism and climate change. Mmhmm. Been there, done that. And don't forget. Al Gore bought a building in San Francisco at sea level.

Anyway. One of the hard things about Messengers is capturing the zeitgeist of an era. King Afton's time has a different spirit than King Terfel's. Even the time after the return of the gifts should be different than the period immediately before it. That's one of the things I'm focusing on for the sequel. If it's another world with another culture, it should feel that way. There should be a touch of kulturkampf for the reader. I got to use zeitgeist and kulturkampf at the same time. What a beautiful day.

I'm also focusing on little things. Does Ceinwen have a hobby? She was a herb healer and later a seamstress, but what does she do on the weekends? When Joe builds the house, it's mentioned in passing that he needs north light for painting, but he never has time to do that. In the space novel, we'll see some of his paintings. Maybe we should see one now in the sequel.

What I'm Not Working On
Something I'm not working on is a parody about a man named Hairy Plodder. Hairy's a balding, middle-aged wizard who used to have adventures but now spends most of his time drinking. He's put on weight since his younger days, and his drinking has gotten him banned from setting foot on the campus of Swinecorns, his old wizarding school. With all the gold he inherited from his parents, he bought the house where he grew up. He gets drunk and passes out under the stairs where he used to sleep. Times were tough then, but it reminds him of when he was young and had so much potential. While not drinking, he runs around trying to rescue people who don't need rescuing, because he's convinced an evil wizard named Moldemart had a son who's out to destroy the people around him.
I bet it would be a best seller.