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Post by Xaa on Mar 2, 2006 17:15:19 GMT -5
Where are they ? Where ?! I cannot see them on DiskUs nor CaféPress... "Wrapping Up" is an Americanism meaning "Finishing" or "Completing." You haven't seen them there because my publisher hasn't even seen them yet. I did post an excerpt from the third book to the "Mage" forum, it has the game of Chatto described. For me, the process of wrapping up includes 1) Going over the text for typos and other errors, 2) polishing the wording of various lines of dialog and/or narrative (I.E. turning a phrase), and 3) checking to insure there are no continuity goofs between the books of the series.
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Post by cypherwulfe on Mar 2, 2006 21:22:05 GMT -5
Did I hear you correctly? Another Pandora Book? Now that is one I cannot wait for.
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Post by Xaa on Mar 2, 2006 21:25:06 GMT -5
I have to write it, first. May take me a bit.
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Post by Xaa on Mar 3, 2006 9:50:46 GMT -5
All done - all 88 pages are up.
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Post by Kilarin on Mar 3, 2006 11:36:11 GMT -5
Wow!, I was hoping for ONE page and we get the entire conclusion! Thanks for the story, It's been an incredible ride! heh. I happen to be friends with one of the scientist who who worked on SWIFT, a satelite designed specificly to track gamma ray bursts. Also, as far as I know, the only artificial satelite to have it's own SONG.
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Post by Diablo on Mar 3, 2006 13:29:38 GMT -5
God forgot some of his punctuation! =|
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Post by Xaa on Mar 3, 2006 13:31:14 GMT -5
God forgot some of his punctuation! =| He was a bit nervous in the last panel. No, really. That's why his last line doesn't have commas. He was just babbling really fast and loud at her, trying to get her to stop.
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sol77
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by sol77 on Mar 3, 2006 14:03:48 GMT -5
It is over.. It was a good ride though, thanks a lot Xaa. Loved the ending. Don't remember what would happen to God and his minions, but where they imprisoned in a corner of that universe? And is she in a new universe now? Loved Satin's line btw: "Get thee behind me God".
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Post by Xaa on Mar 3, 2006 14:20:57 GMT -5
It is over.. It was a good ride though, thanks a lot Xaa. Loved the ending. Don't remember what would happen to God and his minions, but where they imprisoned in a corner of that universe? And is she in a new universe now? That question is answered by Baal on page 61. The short of it is Hell On Earth. Heaven and everything in it goes poof, returned to the Guff. This means all the souls in heaven (zero) and all the angels (several hundred thousand) are destroyed. God is left behind to tie up the loose ends as best he can, and manage what's left of his creation for eternity. Azrael, Abel and all those who died in the GFB that brought about the End of the World (KABOOM!) live on earth in the reality Satin established as Hell (with those who are actually evil being left to suffer in the snowy winterland section, as worms frozen beneath the ground). Satin's viewpoint of reality (pretty forest with unicorns and faries) is established as a permanent drain on the Guff, slowing it's growth and (hopefully) preventing the eventual entropic decay of the multiverse. Also, Baal and Meep move on to become the opponents for other Gods working on their Creations, while Satin moves on to become a Goddess and establish her own Creation. In the end, what limits the Guff is the creation of souls and the determination of Free Will. Free Will and how it applies to living beings has many different interpretations - God had one interpretation (Mindless Happy Love Zombies for Eternity), whereas Satin had another (An Ye Do Harm None, Do As Thou Wilt). But, there are lots of different interpretations as to what constitutes Free Will, and how it applies to living beings - Satin could easily find herself opposed by thousands of beings with different variations on her own philosophy of life, and thousands more with variations on God's philosophy, and thousands more with ideas that are completely different from either viewpoint. Well, actually, more than thousands. Likely quadrillions. Still, that's the answer to your question. As I mentioned on that page, that one line just popped into my head, and inspired the entire story.
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Post by Liantedan on Mar 3, 2006 14:40:21 GMT -5
I love the story. ;D Another brilliant book, Xaa. Congratulations. As for me, I'll just think that it's possible that Baal chooses to become Satin's opponent (Satan chose to become the opponent in this universe as well, but then he founf out Satin beat him to it, so choosing your universe is possible), and with Satin and Baal as "opponents", they can live happily ever after in a "perfect" creation with no ending... And as for Meep, I'm sure she'll be just fine and visit every now and then.
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Post by Kilarin on Mar 3, 2006 14:45:17 GMT -5
Now THAT is an extremely interesting possibility...
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Post by Xaa on Mar 3, 2006 14:50:41 GMT -5
Interesting, but both Baal and Lucifer pretty clearly spell out the goal as being to make as many universes as possible to slow down the expansion of the Guff. While they *could* choose to oppose each other in a zero-sum battle for eternity, Baal would have to establish a farily elaborate and detailed hierarchy in hell to make it work. Also, one large problem is that Baal's idea of Free Will is entirely compatible with Satin's - if there is no difference between good and evil other than the appearance of where you spend eternity (Okay, when I die, do I choose to go to Palm Springs or Maui?), there is no conflict that defines Free Will.
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Post by Liantedan on Mar 3, 2006 15:04:47 GMT -5
If you don't tell people hell is a happy place, and do your random sacrifice show people might prefer heaven ? Or just let Baal introduce himself to the people as being what and who he is... I bet people would prefer the topless female with the pleasant smile over that huge red brute (no offence intended).
And the point was to slow the guff's expansion, now what does slow it ? The quantity of universes, or the quantity of lives ? If the latter, Satin and Baal should be fully capable of making a huge universe, easily worth more lives/souls than two or three "doomed" universes, I think.
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Post by Xaa on Mar 3, 2006 15:27:55 GMT -5
If you don't tell people hell is a happy place, and do your random sacrifice show people might prefer heaven ? Well, that leads to an interesting discussion my wife and I had. To the people living in universe 12-34B (the scene of the story), Satin would be ugly - as would the Faeries. The unicorns, to them, likely would not look pretty. And, when one considers the idea of a forest with no game animals as viewed by a carnivore (Food?! Where's the FOOD?!), it can easily be argued that what Satin concieved of as Hell would be just as bad for these people as flaming pits of fire would be for us. Though it can be successfully argued that the people might be content nibbling berries and mushrooms (After all, Cain and Lilith were working on agricultural civilizations) and it can also be argued that they might not worry about food at all (dead people don't eat much), the notion that hell would be heaven for these people just because it looks pretty to us is not necessarily a given. However, it's clear from comments made by Baal on page 43 that Hell is not intended to be a secret - everyone knows pretty much what it looks like. By the same token, heaven isn't a secret, either - the description that Baal, Satin and Azrael give of heaven matches many modern people's common conceptions of heaven, intentionally. It's just that most people don't bother to take their definition of heaven to it's logical conclusion - if there is no sadness in heaven, if I'm never sad about loved ones who didn't make it but instead am happy all the time worshipping God, then the bottom line is I no longer have any real free will, I'm just a mindless happy love zombie, worshipping God for eternity. The real point at the end of the story is *growth.* Satin and Baal can still visit each other - it is mentioned by Lucifer on page 83 that Satin will be able to call up Baal and Meep pretty much anytime she wants, as the creator of a universe. Also, it's apparent from Lucifer popping into univere 12-34B that sufficiently powerful opponents can visit other universes in an attempt to spread their power, so we can assume they can also visit for the purposes of renewing friendships. But, in the end, the real point is *growth*. Satin doesn't *need* Baal watching over her shoulder 24/7 to make it, nor does Baal need the same from her. Meep, of course, didn't need that to begin with. Notice that in all of Meep's responses, she shows a level of understanding and competence even higher than Satin shows. And, she is never wrong. That is a question left open by the story, simply because the question of quality of life and free will are highly debatable to begin with. For the purposes of the story, the more universes, the better - that much is clear. And, from the numbers Lucifer gives towards the end (a heptillion universes and a googolplex of souls), the idea is to have lots of universes AND lots of souls. Whether or not those souls need to be *happy* is not stated, but it is implied that this is a moot question - it's quantity, not quality, that appears to be important, as the game actually is scored by the number of souls in heaven and hell. And, it appears to be equally important to both have souls AND have universes, as Lucifer clearly leads us to the conclusion that a Heptillion universes is a really, really, REALLY freakin' huge number of universes within the multiverse - each of which has a truly staggering amount of mass and energy (just like our own). Bottom Line: Yes, they COULD play patty-cake with each other for the rest of eternity. But, they won't. They have matured beyond self-serving needs. Please remember that staying with Baal for eternity was the Ultimate Temptation that God offered Satin to stop the countdown. And Baal did not cry when he heard Satin's choice. He laughed and cheered.
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gfb
Full Member
Posts: 76
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Post by gfb on Mar 3, 2006 21:30:44 GMT -5
Quite the ride, Xaa. Loved it, naturally. Especially liked the part where God is trying to tempt *Satan*. Nice role reversal there. Lovely ending.
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