13 Feb 2020

Digital Magic - Commentary 13

Family and fallout, in Digital Magic chapter 13.

Just a reminder that the commentary will be a week behind for a few weeks.  Eventually, there will be a catch up, but not right away.

The best time to threaten someone is always the night after a party.  A mysterious phone call warning Jackie.  Weirdness intrudes on a day of rest.  And the villains finally start making a more overt move.  Eyes appearing on walls just wasn't working.

Something I hadn't realized during the writing but have come to figure out since is that I like the idea of the mundane and the supernatural/paranormal existing side by side, with each imposing on the other.  I think this comes from the superhero comics I've read and TSR's Marvel Super Heroes RPG.  Heroes didn't just go out, fight crime, and call it a day.  They had to balance their hero life with their regular life.  The RPG had a mechanic that rewarded characters for keeping up with their day-to-day life and penalties for breaking commitments.  There's more to being a hero than the costume.  And when I write urban fantasy, this same separation comes up.  In LTV Paranormalists, the characters straddle the line, but Ayel won't tell anyone because she doesn't want to sound crazy, despite having Ginger as Exhibit A.  Digital Magic was an evolution point that led to the later work.

The time hiccup threw me on re-reading.  I was starting to wonder how I could duplicate an entire conversation when the loop began again.  It's been thirteen years, so some details have slipped my mind, like a looped conversation.  Minor spoiler - the loop is a side effect of a major spell being cast.  Subtle magic is preferred in the /Digital Magic/ setting; it doesn't cause a ripple effect   More blatant magic causes shifts in weather patterns and, if powerful, temporal disruptions.

Training with Lance, in Digital Magic/ Chapter 15.
Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, Archie Meets Batman '66.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Simpsons Movie.

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