Thanks very much, all, for your interest in my story.
The setting was the East Coast of an alt-history North America colonized by the Chinese, with the six-hundred years ago reference pointing toward the era of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Ships that had explored as far as Africa in the early 1400s before internal political strife ended their voyaging.
I modeled the general ethnic situation on actual America's West Coast, because it is likewise located farthest away from the original homeland of the colonizing civilization (real West Coast farthest from Europe; alt-history East Coast farthest from China).
I was trying to link that colonized aspect of the setting with the psychological theory of the colonized mind, which one psychologist used to try to explain the actions of the Va Tech gunman. I tried to cast that analysis within the Confucian social ideals that I thought a Chinese-settled alt-America might have.
I also tried to inject my own commentary as well--that psychology and such can only attempt to explain these things, especially since such gunmen seem to come from many ethnic and social backgrounds. The key in my opinion is relationships such as home and family where people can find help in the battles with their inner demons. These mass shootings seem more common in America, although they are now happening more in other countries. Each time, I wonder how and why a person could ever come to that.
I put the story in the chapbook because it was an odd story in an experimental format, and such things often work better in independent ventures rather than in normal publishing. I think I was correct in that, but in hindsight I regret not following our theme for the chapbook. It was supposed to have a theme of homeless moon(s), but I think one reason that you, Shara, felt it overall didn't have any theme was that my story so blatantly did not follow that theme.
But my story in the second Homeless Moon chapbook does! :) All five stories are set in worlds listed in Alberto Manuel's Dictionary of Imaginary Places. If you're interested, you can download a free PDF copy here. Thanks!
Scott, thank you so much for replying (and for setting me straight)!
I hope I didn't imply, or outright say, that your story didn't have a theme at all, I just felt it didn't "fit" in with the rest of the stories in the chapbook; however, I understand perfectly why you chose the chapbook as the venue rather than traditional publication (though it would've been interesting to see how it fared via the traditional route). And don't feel bad about not keeping the "Homeless Moon" theme--only Mike and Erin actually had moons in their stories, the rest of you didn't, so I just assumed that there had been no obvious theme, as much as I wanted one to be there.
I'll post an amendment to my review, correcting my mistake and point people down to the comments, which has sparked some interesting discussion. Scott, again, thank you for commenting!
The setting was the East Coast of an alt-history North America colonized by the Chinese, with the six-hundred years ago reference pointing toward the era of the Ming Dynasty Treasure Ships that had explored as far as Africa in the early 1400s before internal political strife ended their voyaging.
I modeled the general ethnic situation on actual America's West Coast, because it is likewise located farthest away from the original homeland of the colonizing civilization (real West Coast farthest from Europe; alt-history East Coast farthest from China).
I was trying to link that colonized aspect of the setting with the psychological theory of the colonized mind, which one psychologist used to try to explain the actions of the Va Tech gunman. I tried to cast that analysis within the Confucian social ideals that I thought a Chinese-settled alt-America might have.
I also tried to inject my own commentary as well--that psychology and such can only attempt to explain these things, especially since such gunmen seem to come from many ethnic and social backgrounds. The key in my opinion is relationships such as home and family where people can find help in the battles with their inner demons. These mass shootings seem more common in America, although they are now happening more in other countries. Each time, I wonder how and why a person could ever come to that.
I put the story in the chapbook because it was an odd story in an experimental format, and such things often work better in independent ventures rather than in normal publishing. I think I was correct in that, but in hindsight I regret not following our theme for the chapbook. It was supposed to have a theme of homeless moon(s), but I think one reason that you, Shara, felt it overall didn't have any theme was that my story so blatantly did not follow that theme.
But my story in the second Homeless Moon chapbook does! :) All five stories are set in worlds listed in Alberto Manuel's Dictionary of Imaginary Places. If you're interested, you can download a free PDF copy here. Thanks!
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I hope I didn't imply, or outright say, that your story didn't have a theme at all, I just felt it didn't "fit" in with the rest of the stories in the chapbook; however, I understand perfectly why you chose the chapbook as the venue rather than traditional publication (though it would've been interesting to see how it fared via the traditional route). And don't feel bad about not keeping the "Homeless Moon" theme--only Mike and Erin actually had moons in their stories, the rest of you didn't, so I just assumed that there had been no obvious theme, as much as I wanted one to be there.
I'll post an amendment to my review, correcting my mistake and point people down to the comments, which has sparked some interesting discussion. Scott, again, thank you for commenting!
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