Saiyuki story: Go West Young Men pt. 10

[sunspot67]

Title:  Go West Young Men  (10/numerous)
Author: Sunspot
Rating:  PG 13
Pairing:  58
Note:  1830s Frontier (US) AU.  Apologies for the gap since chapter 9.  This installment is for Lawless.

Comments

[lawless523]

Thank you for this! Father Sanzo (and how fun you made him Italian, or at least gave him an Italian first name; Sanzo's always sounded more Italian than Japanese to me) waking up and needing to take a piss (among other things) in the middle of a hen party was amusing, and his conversation with Brother Clement interesting. I like how this story keeps returning to the issue of gender roles as well, and I'm glad you're writing Godwin as smart. Stupid!Goku annoys me greatly.

[sunspot67]

You're so welcome! Not sure when this will actually surface in the narrative, but Father Cosmo Sanzo, who raised little Moses and gave him his adult name at ordination, was Italian-speaking Swiss. Sanzo's own ancestry is mostly Dutch and English. Moses is the equivalent of Kouryou, of course.

I kept going back and forth on Hakahkah--I knew he was a boy with a female body but wasn't sure whether to reveal that, but it's where the story wanted to go. His name, by the way, means "little boy." The real Hakahkah was a signatory to the Hochunk Treaty of 1837 (treaties are a great place to get authentic names, though one can't really trust the transliteration).

Stupid!Goku is contra-canonical and makes my teeth grit (and me stop reading, usually).

[denshi_no_ultra]

Good to see such a long new chapter

[sunspot67]

Thank you as always for such detailed comments. I'm glad you are enjoying the depiction of the minutiae of daily life. I am a huge fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books about her life growing up on the Western frontier in the 1870s-90s, particularly for the attention she pays to these routines (and the deep respect and affection she depicts in her parents' marriage). The 70s TV series I hated with a passion as a child (and have not seen since) because it was so inaccurate to books I knew whole stretches of by heart

[denshi_no_ultra]

I've never heard of the author, but the books sound interesting... Will try and see if they are available online.

It's probably better to reveal it gradually, it keeps the readers in suspense :)

I think it was a great explanation of why Wujing can't swim - it was often mentioned in canon, but never really explained, so it was interesting to see how you dealt with that aspect.

Thank you for always writing such interesting fics :) No problem at all :)

[sunspot67]

I hope you do read Laura Ingalls Wilder's books--I love them so.

The books, in chronological order, are:

-Little House in the Big Woods
-Little House on the Prairie
-On the Banks of Plum creek
-By the Shores of Silver Lake
-The Long Winter
-These Happy Golden Years
-The First Four Years
(all of which chronicle the author's girlhood and young womanhood growing up and moving westward from Wisconsin to, eventually, North Dakota)
-Farmer Boy (which is about her husband's boyhood on a farm in New York state)

In their never-ending quest to make money, the publisher has also chopped various of the books up and published the sections under other names (*shakes fist-of-outrage*) but these are the original books. I last re-read them all this summer, which, come to think of it, may have influenced my brain coming up with GWYM.

They should be pretty easily available online via Amazon, as they are considered classics of US children's literature. Were you in the US you could find them all at any local library.

[evilchuckles]

"Never, never learn to swim." Brilliant. It hadn't occurred to me that Wujing would be spending a life time resisting the siren song of the water but it made me go ohhhhh when I saw that.

And Sanzo is so extraordinarily well done in this. I love the idea that he has no faith because he has been lumbered with proof instead.

This whole series has made me want to fill in my shameful gap re. American history. I'm pretty solid on nineteenth century urban history and all of the twentieth century but I'm very dodgy on the rest. Especially the tribes. Do you recommend any classic text that I could start with?

[sunspot67]

Thank you! I have been waiting since very early on to use the "never learn to swim" line. If one is going to keep Gojyo's canonical inability to swim in this particular world, with Wujing's background, it needs a very strong reason, since most Meshkwakihaki would learn as children

[laurose8]

I'm grinning like Godwin at a new chapter of GWYM.

And with so much: Wujing's belonging to water, Sanzo to his own element. Godwin's extra abilities makes a most intriguing new twist (the yellow string's a great idea.)

And all of it written up to your usual standards!

[sunspot67]

Thank you! So glad you are enjoying. I wanted the yellow thread to kind of echo Goku's limiter, if in a more, er, limited way.

[laurose8]

Thanks for pointing out about the thread-as-limiter, it's an even better idea that way.

And Sanzo not being put into this world to coddle anyone. That gets a 'yes!' from both Sanzo fan girls and some priests.

[sunspot67]

Hm, do hope it wasn't too obscure (yellow yarn~gold limiter) . . .

I've known a number of very cool priests in my life (mostly Jesuits, go figure) who would also give the stamp of approval.

I love Sanzo so much . . .

And yay for the Godwin and Dragon icon again.

lovely

[angsanaseed]

wow, loved this latest chapter of this tale!

am afraid i am not american, and have little knowledge of american history (i did mostly Cold War and Southeast Asian history) so my concept of this period of america is extremely sketchy.

that said, i do love your writing, and how you've managed to merge this original setting with key saiyuki characteristics (and characters) so seamlessly. looking forward to the next part!

Re: lovely

[sunspot67]

Thank you very much! I am very glad you're enjoying this series. I'm endeavoring to make the history as accurate as I can, while still paralleling Saiyuki canon. It's good to know the merging of the two is working for you.

Myself, I am kind of sketchy on the Cold War and Southeast Asia both, which is pretty appalling since I grew up in the latter part of the Cold War and have Southeast Asian family members.

By the way, I visited your livejournal--your jewelery designs are lovely.

Re: lovely

[angsanaseed]

haha thank you(: jewellery design is a hobby of mine (newly discovered, I suppose). My more active website is listed in my profile; that's where I try to improve my prose skills and attempt to describe my life as accurately as possible. I guess you could call it a continuing exercise in saying exactly what I mean to say, and writing down exactly what I see, with no embellishments.

I loved studying Cold War history, and Southeast Asian history was pretty interesting, as well, though sometimes quite confusing, because it was such a huge mess with short-lived coups and coup attempts.