Why Marvel is a Huge Influence on Relic Worlds

I never thought I'd be such a huge fan of Marvel.  When I was younger I was a DC guy; in particular I followed Batman, and story lines that took a darker turn.  But what Marvel has done over the past 5 to 10 years is nothing short of miraculous.

It's a minor miracle whenever any movie gets made.  I know; I've worked in that industry for a long time.  The number of elements you need just to bring together a single movie is head-spinning.  So for them to be so ambitious as to plan a series of movies that tie together, then one movie that brings them all together... that takes balls of steel.

Thank god it was successful, because it's spawned a franchise that I believe is one of the best of all time.  I've always liked the idea of the larger world around the characters being developed.  Each individual is just a cog in the larger machine.  With the Marvel movies, TV shows, games, etc. that is exactly what they have done.  Like a photo that is made up of many smaller photos, they have all painted a larger image.

This is what I want to do with Relic Worlds, and what I have been striving for.  Even though this particular series focuses a lot more on one central character, I have developed a whole section of the galaxy complete with star systems, planets, corporate governments, etc.  The idea is for there to be a larger story arc in addition to the smaller story told about Lancaster James and his close friends.

It's sometimes hard to know whether a company is doing this just to make more money, or if they're truly expanding to make a larger story, but if it's telling a good tale, I'll bite.

The Lost Relic Worlds Novel

I had already written an entire novel that was supposed to act as book 2.  In fact, it was supposed to be book 1.  I had originally written it as the follow-up to a graphic novel I had been putting together.  The idea was going to be that people would read the graphic novel, then go on to the novel.  Actually, that’s a simplified version.  There was actually a novella that came first, then a comic book, then a picture book, then the novel.  I called it a multi-media event, but it really was just me pulling at straws trying to figure out how to tell this story.

I didn’t accept how absurd this was until I finished the novel.  Each of those stories was not only a different format, but a different audience.  And they would each get distributed and promoted completely separately as well.  I had to slowly come to accept that the graphic novel and the picture book, and anything that came before in fact, had to be thrown out, and the story would have to start with the book.

But then I was faced with an even uglier truth.  The book I had written was clearly a sequel.  It had the feel of a sequel, not an original story.  It felt like we were jumping into the middle of these characters’ lives, their journeys, as though their conversations were already in progress.  I tried to convince myself that this was a good thing because one generally does want to jump into a story already in progress and not take too long to set something up.

But that’s different.  There was simply too much back story going on that was important to the plot.  After really questioning myself, I finally came to the conclusion that the novel I had written had to be book 2.  So I set about writing book 1, and a year or two later I had Lancaster James and the Search for the Promised World.  It included everything I had in the graphic novels, the novella, the picture book, short stories, you name it.  And it also had more.

I needed to add more to the story in order to tie it together and make it a better novel.  But in doing so, I took the story off the rails that led to the second book I had already written.  Book 2 would now need to be a whole new book.  I could use some elements from the earlier novel, but overall, it had to be changed.

And thus, there is a lost Relic Worlds novel that will never get published.  I am stripping it for parts, using elements in it for the novels and short stories, but the book itself, which was called The Last Transmission, will never see the light of day.

Alternative Forms of Propulsion

I recently saw this episode of SciShow Space which showed an alternative form of propulsion that revolutionizes the way we think of traveling through space.  The common model in both science and science fiction has always been a burning fuel which ejects a flame out of the back of the ship, thus propelling it forward.  The one notable exception to this was Star Trek which just had a couple long beams held up behind the main saucer section.  I guess there was a glow on the back of the saucer section itself which was supposed to be part of the impulse drive, but even that didn’t really shoot any flames out the back, and didn’t look like it would be enough to propel the entire vessel.  There had to be something more that was moving it, and I always found that rather curious.

Now, it turns out, something like this might wind up being the future.  In this episode of SciShow Space, they talk about a Photonic propulsion system where the ship is propelled by lasers.  There is a whole science behind it involving mirrors and a lot of logistics that would have to be worked out before it becomes a reality, but it completely changes how we think of space flight.

It’s yet another example of how hard it is to write science fiction with some sense of science, because just as you think you have something fitting a possible future, your theories become outdated, and scientists start doing things completely differently.

Thoughts on Uncharted and Tomb Raider

When I first saw information about the game Uncharted I thought it was a good idea to have a treasure hunting videogame, and frankly, it was about time.  There had been Tomb Raider, which was mildly entertaining; but it was so shameless in its over-sexualizing of Lara Croft that I felt like a creep even looking at it.  There had been mild attempts at bringing Indiana Jones to the computer, but there hadn’t been anything that utilized the great story elements we’ve seen in gaming over the past 10 years.

When I at last got a chance to try Uncharted out, I wasn’t disappointed.  In fact, what surprised me was how much I got into the characters, and into watching the story like it was a movie.  In fact, after I stopped playing the game, I looked it up on Youtube and saw the way the rest of the first game progressed.  As soon as it was done, I went right onto 2.  Uncharted 3 happened to come out right after that, and I went on to watching it as well.

The stories were so good, in fact, that I would have paid to watch them, though I had little interest in playing them.  Don’t get me wrong, I had fun playing them, but I’m a bit incompetent when it comes to these games, and I know I would struggle through them, getting Nathan Drake killed over and over again before I could get to the next part.  This both breaks the mood of the story, and makes it all go tediously slow when I’m trying to just get on with the story.

When Tomb Raider made a comeback I was skeptical.  However, the clips I saw portrayed Lara Croft as more of a sympathetic character, and downplayed the huge boobs and perfect figure.  Don’t get me wrong, she is extremely attractive, but the game focuses more on her capabilities and her competence.  They’ve taken what was a pretty chauvinistic character and actually turned her into a feminist model of strength.

And in the case of both storylines, the side characters are wonderful as well.  They bring out real emotions in their central characters, and create engrossing storylines themselves.  The ongoing love interest in Uncharted is something I can really believe; and is frankly more mature than 99% of the relationships portrayed in movies.  Lara Croft does not have very close relationships, and that fact plays rather strongly in her character throughout the first two reboot stories.  She is prepared to always move on without someone, though I’ve often get the sense that she’s wanting to reach out to someone she can connect with.  At least that’s the reading I get from the actress’s performance in the motion capture.

At any rate, I recommend anyone to just watch these games the way they would binge watch a show.  And if they can have the patience to play them, they should purchase them as well.