Basilisks and Brian...

Tell us what you thought about the March 2010 issue.
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Robert_Moriyama
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Basilisks and Brian...

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

If you liked "Receipt for a Dragon", check this one out. Most people have stories to tell about just how screwed up their first day on the job was. Now imagine how bad it could be if your job involved dealing with magical creatures that could kill you with a look...
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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Lester Curtis
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Post by Lester Curtis »

Well, it's clearly a sequel, and I'd have thought a little better of it if it had been done more as a stand-alone story. As it is, if you didn't read the first one, then I think this one might leave a reader feeling like they'd been left out of something.

The basilisk was a bit anticlimactic; ordinary lizard in a cage, but then something nasty happens to the bad guy . . . something missing there, not properly explained, perhaps.

Maybe the author was going for balance, throwing in just enough info-dump to bring the reader into the story without making the story a lot longer (which it didn't need). I think the info-dump could have been done a bit more gracefully.

One of our problems as writers is that readers may not encounter our works in the sequence we wrote them. I don't think there's a foolproof way to prevent that happening, so each story must stand on its own.

It's still a fun read, though.
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On basilisks

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

Lester Curtis wrote:...The basilisk was a bit anticlimactic; ordinary lizard in a cage, but then something nasty happens to the bad guy . . . something missing there, not properly explained, perhaps....
From Wikipedia:

In European bestiaries and legends, a basilisk (English pronunciation: /ˈbæzɪlɪsk/[1], from the Greek βασιλίσκος basilískos, "little king"; Latin Regulus) is a legendary reptile reputed to be king of serpents and said to have the power to cause death with a single glance. According to the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the Elder, the basilisk of Cyrene is a small snake, "being not more than twelve fingers in length",[2] that is so venomous that it leaves a wide trail of deadly venom in its wake, and its gaze is likewise lethal; its weakness is in the odour of the weasel, which according to Pliny, was thrown into the basilisk's hole, recognisable because all the surrounding shrubs and grass had been scorched by its presence.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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Lester Curtis
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Post by Lester Curtis »

I suppose we can say that the basilisk's evil eye (or bad breath, or whatever) only worked against the denizens of that particular alternate reality.

I don't know what excuse Pliny could have had for believing such stuff . . .

I just didn't feel any threat from it, but then, the protag didn't either . . .
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Re: Basilisks and Brian...

Post by Robert_Moriyama »

TaoPhoenix wrote:
Robert_Moriyama wrote:If you liked "Receipt for a Dragon", check this one out. Most people have stories to tell about just how screwed up their first day on the job was. Now imagine how bad it could be if your job involved dealing with magical creatures that could kill you with a look...
March 19:
I did like Receipt for a Dragon. Oh look, there's a cool scaley thing out side my window, back in a ...

April 13:
minute... Uh... folks? Why y'all staring at me like that?
Fortunately for Taophoenix, he only encountered an immature basilisk. Instead of dying, he became comatose for a few weeks.
You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.

Jack London (1876-1916)
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