First - Thank you all for enjoying the story and thank you for being kind to its faults: the font is too small, some of the inking is weak, and it needs more black. And yes, it wears its influences clearly on its sleeve. I felt it best to be honest with the reader as to whose ideas and concepts with that I was playing. I think it's important to give the "wink and nod." So, anyway, thank you for accepting that.
Second - I appreciate the concern about the Italo Calvino reference but it was something I felt compelled to do since both Zirma and the Laudomite grenade were inspired by his book INVISIBLE CITIES. I happened to be reading the book when I was trying to think of a Shifter contribution. One of the passages stuck in my mind - "Travelers return from the city of Zirma with distinct memories: a blind black man shouting in the crowd, a lunatic teetering on a skyscraper's cornice, a girl walking with a puma on a leash. ... The city is redundant: it repeats itself so that something will stick in the mind." I stopped eating my lunch, looked up, and realized that I had found my antagonist. The city of Zirma is the section titled CITIES & SIGNS 2 n the book.
As I worked on the Shifter story, I came across the section CITIES & THE DEAD 5 that described the three cities of Laudomia: the dead, living, and unborn. The city of the living fear the unborn since they herald change and the negation of history. I liked that juxtoposition between the living and unborn. The living want their stories to be etched in alabaster, forever present, but the unborn herald new potential that overlays the old. It seemed appropros to use an antithesis to Zirma and name the grenade after it. So now you know my dirty Calvino secrets.
BTW - INVISIBLE CITIES is available through all fine book sellers and libraries. A fine, slim volume that will entreat you into the superlative verse of Italo Calvino. Very nice.
Dr. Who wasn't much of an influence, at least not the version you mention because I'm unfamiliar with it. Nigel just came out of nowhere. I thought he gave the story a little different vibe from the other Shifter stories since he's smart-alecky with Jenny.
sleazenation wrote - " I also love the idea of Mrs Zirma's being a creature who needs stories to live - just like jenny herself... who ultimately becomes trapped in a perpetually looped story with Mrs Zirma her evil twin."
Of course, I thought it was a brilliant way to introduce a meta-fictive critique of the Shifter character >>> yeah Right! <<<<< Honestly, I never consciously recognized the similarity between Zirma and Jenny but obviously it's there. I was trying to play with levels of perception and story and you're suggestion connects well with those attempts. Great point. That adds a whole new dimension to the story. |
