Comments | readingredhead: Satanic Portrayals

readingredhead

Satanic Portrayals

Feb 24, 2009 20:28

So, instead of eating my dinner or doing any one of the numerous homework assignments that are bound to crush me to a pulp between now and Thursday, I have been accosted by a short story. I am actually rather pleased by this -- I have been waiting for this particular story to make itself work for me ever since reading the Book of Job (yeah, the one ( Read more... )

first disobedience, diane duane, young wizards, milton, writing

Comments 10

wax_wane February 25 2009, 04:49:11 UTC

dude, picciotto is inspiring. she made everything make SENSE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGR4SFOimlk
it probably won't help, but it's funny and campy and, well, it's al pacino!

AND: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Picciotto

readingredhead February 25 2009, 05:23:24 UTC

The best part of that Al Pacino clip (aside from Al Pacino) was hearing Keanu Reeves quote Paradise Lost -- that is where the "Better to reign in hell than to serve in heaven" line is from, right?

readingredhead February 25 2009, 05:24:44 UTC

And I just looked this up on imdb, and apparently the character played by Al Pacino is named John Milton?? Now I really need to see this.

gienahclarette February 25 2009, 05:01:09 UTC

Genre-savvy villains = win.

I personally think impeccable pinstripe suit. Classiness.

readingredhead February 25 2009, 05:20:12 UTC

Courtesy of Diane Duane, I think of Satan as very impeccable in his personal dress. Basically my Satan in this story looks like the Lone Power as he appears in So You Want to Be a Wizard:

"The man who sat at the desk in the elegant office had his back to it and was staring out the window into the darkness. His warty secretary handed him the phone. A businessman, young, maybe thirty, and very handsome -- red-gold hair and a clean-lined face above a trim, dark three-piece suit. This was the Witherer, the Kindler of Wildfires, the one who decreed darkness, the Starsnuffer?"

Even my Satan's Manhattan office is an homage to the one owned by this version of the Lone One. Does that make me a geek? Undeniably. Does that make me happy? Even more undeniably. :)

pippins_smile February 25 2009, 05:35:45 UTC

Read The Book of Joby! Read The Book of Joby! Read the Book of Joby!

Actually wait. Write your story first. THEN read it. :)

pippins_smile February 25 2009, 05:38:10 UTC

And also, as for devilishness- I don't think he necessarily needs or wants to absolutely crush and destroy people, or to turn them to evil. I think all he really wants are a bunch of lazy people who could care less, because really, what threat are a bunch of ambivalent people to evil?

pippins_smile February 25 2009, 05:38:24 UTC

GAH! I meant couldn't. Not could.

transientrain February 25 2009, 12:56:01 UTC

AMAZING idea, my love! This is fantastic! To quote William Goldman, "it was so brilliant, I wish I had come up with it."

In my book, though rarely mentioned, Satan is a retired football coach who vacations frequently in Hawaii and wears tacky shirts. He's not actually bad, and is kind of God's scape goat and/or younger brother.

readingredhead February 25 2009, 18:28:40 UTC

I was definitely thinking of your book when thinking of entertaining ways to figure deities/etc. This Satan isn't actually meant to be bad, either; his real purpose is to test the righteous so that God can determine their belief levels. In this world, I don't quite know that you would call God "good," though...it's interesting, I'm still playing with it.

Also, amusingly enough, my God (who I think is known mostly as "the Boss") spends a decent amount of his time on tropical islands and conducts most of his business via teleconference. :)