Oh wow, I actually maxed out the comment space. So feedback in two parts._workinprogressAugust 26 2007, 11:29:37 UTC
This story just about neatly sums up why I love science fiction and fantasy. The chance to look at things from different angles - in reality we need to play the what if game, build wild hypothetical constructs and it's all so improbable and hypothetical that it's hard to really follow all of it sometimes, with scifi and fantasy, through the implausible it all becomes so much more real and it makes it so much easier to leave our preconceptions behind, even if we won't ever be able to leave all of them behind. And in a way, it makes things that much more real, like a charicature, but looking more life-like.
I love this story for the way it looks at violence and war, the military. More about seeing it for what it is stripping away all the emotional baggage that comes with it rather than judgement; while not completely discarding the emotional baggage and seeing it for what that is, too. That violence and humanity are invariably linked together, but perhaps not in the way a lot of people seem to think. That there are two sides to everything, and not even violence is all bad, but it also feels good and right and sexy - and that isn't bad, disgusting and unspeakable, but it just is.
And the way you approach sex(uality) and intimacy here. What it is, what it can be, and what it doesn't have to be. I want to grab Tar'a and make her understand, like so many people around me who seem to be hung up on certain version of what sex and intimacy are supposed to be, they can't see anything else. And we're all so hung up on preconceptions and the rules of society, we actually deprive ourselves of things we need; and it's all so... unnecessary, sad and... stupid.
And, of course, the ultimate culture clash and that there are lines we aren't able to cross, no matter how much we want to. Some things we will never be able to fully understand because we can't experience them, haven't lived through it. Other planets, other continents/cultures/regions/religions/whatever. Not that much of a difference. And it's endlessly frustrating to watch it happen, being on the recieving end or just not being able to really understand. Endlessly chasing the shadows on the walls of the caves - if we're even aware that they're only shadows, but never being able to see the real thing, closer to the fire that is casting those shadows. I can understand why some people will never understand even the slightest bit about other cultures, why they don't want to, but I can't understand it in the same way that I can't fully understand other cultures. Which is why I loved reading about Hayes here, understanding the two issues are equally important to me, and while, as I said, I don't think I will ever be able to really understand, I'm still trying.
The themes of home and isolation, being part of something and not being part of something, how you can be trapped in your culture and not be a part of it... how family is different and completely seperate from it all, whatever family may mean. and I can't even put all of this into words.
And if that isn't enough already, you also tackle my favorite subject - love and all the different forms it comes in.
... and it all fits together so seemlessly. It's all so.. organic.
Re: Oh wow, I actually maxed out the comment space. So feedback in two parts._workinprogressAugust 26 2007, 11:29:53 UTC
I adore your stories for making me think and feel this way; maybe not entirely presenting me ideas that are 100% new to me, but making me think more about things that have only vaguely occured to me, articulating things that were only very obscure in my mind before. And a lot of things I agree with, some things I don't, and maybe I value those even more because through the contrast it becomes much clearer what I think. And all the while you also manage to make me laugh and amuse me. Sometimes I think your stories could use more fun, but I'm enjoying myself so much with the 'serious' stuff, and I'm so caught up in it, that it would probably break the flow.
I think the only thing I'm really missing is that Tar'a faded into the background in the later parts of the story. I would have liked to see more of her; what she makes for their new arrangement. What she sees her and Malcolm's relationship as; what becomes of her. And I would have like to see more of Matt and Malcolm's future, which strictly speaking isn't necessary for the story, but I would really like to know.
On a more shallow note: in my reading habits, I live for scenes like the one with Reed and Hayes sparring below deck. Because ummm yes. Seriously hot. And the PTB should be taken out back and shot for keeping us from having more of it on screen. Sweaty men, all charged up, in close physical contact... what more can a girl ask for?
Re: Oh wow, I actually maxed out the comment space. So feedback in two parts.gaiaanarchyAugust 27 2007, 05:44:32 UTC
Wow! Super long feedback! Awesome. I'm so glad you enjoyed this fic. It's one of the ones that I think ultimately might have made a better novel, because I don't think I really took the time to flesh some things out (like Tar'a and what eventually happens with her and Malcolm, or how Reed and Hayes end up together in the end). It was also very emotional for me, because I wrote it after coming back from living abroad for about half a year, so a lot of the cultural foibles there were representative of things that actually happened to me.
I do wonder, however, what it is that you don't agree with and why. I don't agree with myself half the time, so I'm always interested to hear other opinions ;-) especially because I think that this fic (and most of my others, with the possible exception of 'It is Enough . . .' and 'Nobody Remembers Nanjing') suffer from not-quite-a-novel syndrome, in that I don't have enough material or necessarily all the characters needed to advance competing points of view on a subject.
I'd like to be more funny too, but I think that in fandom I only come in two settings: deadly serious and crackasm, with nothing inbetween. Some of my original stories are more laugh-until-you-cry, I think.
I love this story for the way it looks at violence and war, the military. More about seeing it for what it is stripping away all the emotional baggage that comes with it rather than judgement; while not completely discarding the emotional baggage and seeing it for what that is, too.
That violence and humanity are invariably linked together, but perhaps not in the way a lot of people seem to think.
That there are two sides to everything, and not even violence is all bad, but it also feels good and right and sexy - and that isn't bad, disgusting and unspeakable, but it just is.
And the way you approach sex(uality) and intimacy here. What it is, what it can be, and what it doesn't have to be.
I want to grab Tar'a and make her understand, like so many people around me who seem to be hung up on certain version of what sex and intimacy are supposed to be, they can't see anything else. And we're all so hung up on preconceptions and the rules of society, we actually deprive ourselves of things we need; and it's all so... unnecessary, sad and... stupid.
And, of course, the ultimate culture clash and that there are lines we aren't able to cross, no matter how much we want to. Some things we will never be able to fully understand because we can't experience them, haven't lived through it.
Other planets, other continents/cultures/regions/religions/whatever. Not that much of a difference.
And it's endlessly frustrating to watch it happen, being on the recieving end or just not being able to really understand. Endlessly chasing the shadows on the walls of the caves - if we're even aware that they're only shadows, but never being able to see the real thing, closer to the fire that is casting those shadows.
I can understand why some people will never understand even the slightest bit about other cultures, why they don't want to, but I can't understand it in the same way that I can't fully understand other cultures.
Which is why I loved reading about Hayes here, understanding the two issues are equally important to me, and while, as I said, I don't think I will ever be able to really understand, I'm still trying.
The themes of home and isolation, being part of something and not being part of something, how you can be trapped in your culture and not be a part of it... how family is different and completely seperate from it all, whatever family may mean.
and I can't even put all of this into words.
And if that isn't enough already, you also tackle my favorite subject - love and all the different forms it comes in.
... and it all fits together so seemlessly. It's all so.. organic.
Reply
I adore your stories for making me think and feel this way; maybe not entirely presenting me ideas that are 100% new to me, but making me think more about things that have only vaguely occured to me, articulating things that were only very obscure in my mind before.
And a lot of things I agree with, some things I don't, and maybe I value those even more because through the contrast it becomes much clearer what I think.
And all the while you also manage to make me laugh and amuse me. Sometimes I think your stories could use more fun, but I'm enjoying myself so much with the 'serious' stuff, and I'm so caught up in it, that it would probably break the flow.
I think the only thing I'm really missing is that Tar'a faded into the background in the later parts of the story. I would have liked to see more of her; what she makes for their new arrangement. What she sees her and Malcolm's relationship as; what becomes of her.
And I would have like to see more of Matt and Malcolm's future, which strictly speaking isn't necessary for the story, but I would really like to know.
On a more shallow note: in my reading habits, I live for scenes like the one with Reed and Hayes sparring below deck. Because ummm yes. Seriously hot.
And the PTB should be taken out back and shot for keeping us from having more of it on screen. Sweaty men, all charged up, in close physical contact... what more can a girl ask for?
Reply
I do wonder, however, what it is that you don't agree with and why. I don't agree with myself half the time, so I'm always interested to hear other opinions ;-) especially because I think that this fic (and most of my others, with the possible exception of 'It is Enough . . .' and 'Nobody Remembers Nanjing') suffer from not-quite-a-novel syndrome, in that I don't have enough material or necessarily all the characters needed to advance competing points of view on a subject.
I'd like to be more funny too, but I think that in fandom I only come in two settings: deadly serious and crackasm, with nothing inbetween. Some of my original stories are more laugh-until-you-cry, I think.
Reply
Leave a comment