EDITORIAL
Summer Blast
fICTION
CHIP’S SIX ATTEMPTS AT POPULARITY
BY JAKE KERR
Samsara
BY RACHAEL ACKS
INTERVIEWS
A Chat with Dean Wesley Smith
The Writers Room
NINA KIRIKI HOFFMAN
A Chat with Luke Randall
A Talk with K-Michel Parandi
film
In Search of the Secret Number
Screen Gems
2
Ah summer. A time for barbeques. A time for fireworks. And a time for
a whole lot of sweating. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to stay in
some air conditioning and enjoy a little Waylines! So let us introduce you
to Issue 4’s fiction:
Rachael Acks takes us on the exploration of a new world, and the
sacrifices made in order to do so in”Samsara.”
And…
Jake Kerr offers a fun-filled tale of time travel, alternate selves and selfimprovement in “Chip’s Six Attempts at Popularity.”
For our films this issue:
“The Secret Number” is Colin Levy’s masterful film that walks the line of
fantasy and mystery in the search for a new undiscovered number. This
is one you won’t want to miss!
Luke Randall’s endearing animation, “Reach,” is a reminder to all of us
of our dreams and the obstacles that often keep them just out of reach.
And finally...
K-Michel Pandari takes us into the future of law enforcement, in “From
the Future with Love,” a mix of Robocop with a dash of frightening future
possibilities.
And as always, we have our interviews. Alisa sat down with Nina Kiriki
Hoffman for the Writers Room. And for our featured author interview, we
chatted with the prolific Dean Wesley Smith. And as always, we have
our interviews with this issues writers/film makers.
Along with the summer season, Waylines is closed to submission from
June 25 through August 25. But don’t worry, we’ve already go some
exciting tales lined up for Issue 5 and will open up submissions once
again on August 25. But for now, stay cool, enjoy the stories, the films
and the interviews.
summer blast
3
WAYLINES
Issue 5 will be available September 1st 2013, and will contain new fiction,
new short films, our Writer’s Room guest, and more! Have an awesome
summer!
Sincerely,
D&D
P.S. - If you want to send us a message, you can do so on our site, and we
can also be found at Facebook and Twitter.
4
Summer Blast
This month we are very pleased to have an interview double header. Not only do we have Nina
Kiriki Hoffman in our writer’s room but we also have an interview with Dean Wesley Smith. Both
writers have a long history together, and between them have a vast amount of experience as
writers in science fiction and fantasy. Dean writes across the genres and also, with his wife, Kristine
Kathryn Rusch, owns and manages WMG Publishing http://www.wmgpublishinginc.com/
Many people view you as
a distinctly ‘genre’ writer.
But you have also said you
like Richard Brautigan,
particularly, Dreaming of
Babylon, and you also
used to write poetry. So,
what does genre really
mean to you, and how
do you reconcile it with
the word, literature?
early challenges, I’m not sure I
Do I like science fiction, would have gotten started the
mystery, romance more than way I did.
literature to write? Not a clue,
honestly. I write across all Back in those distant days (1982genres, whatever strikes me. I 1984) I owned a bookstore
did a lot of media that was sf, and Nina lived above my
and I have a thriller series and a bookstore. It was a house full of
mystery series under a hidden books, that’s for sure. Nina and
pen name, but I like it all. I even I and a couple of other friends
write a form of romance at also started a local bootstrap
workshop with a bunch of
time.
beginning writers and that
But yes, Dreaming of Babylon, workshop really helped for a
which is a mystery fantasy by few years as well.
Literature is just another genre.
Richard Brautigan is one of my
Genre is a way for readers to
favorite books.
How did you enjoy working
find certain types of stories in
bookstores and online. Nothing
in the Star Trek universe?
Legend has it that you How does writing in an
more.
and Nina Kiriki Hoffman
had a pact to help you
both with your writing in
your early days. Could
you tell us a bit about
that, and how valuable it
was in you getting ahead
as a writer?
established world differ
from writing in your own,
satisfaction wise?
Both are great fun, but writing
my own stuff is a lot more
fun. Writing in an established
universe such as Star Trek or
Men in Black or Spider-Man,
you have to follow the rules of
Oh, the challenge with Nina those universes. In my own stuff
was everything early on. We I get to make it all up.
challenged each other to write
and mail a story every week Everyone thinks writing media is
and we kept it up. At times easier. It’s not. It’s a ton harder.
we added in other challenges And a lot more people are
like “Add five senses every 500 looking over your shoulder. I
words.” Without Nina and those would much rather write my
A CHAT WITH dean wesley smith
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WAYLINES
What writers or books have
you read recently that
have got you particularly
excited in the SF/fantasy
However, I am finally getting a genres?
own books and stories, even
though most of them have
been under pen names in the
last few years.
couple of original novels under
my own name out this next year.
One is titled Dead Money, a
thriller set in the poker universe.
The other is an urban fantasy
novel around a fun character I
invented called Poker Boy. I’ve
done about twenty or so Poker
Boy stories so far, so the novel
was great fun. Both will be
out under Dean Wesley Smith
name.
You run many workshops,
both online and real
world, with your wife, writer
Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
What do you find that you
learn, or take away from
the experience?
Honestly, the last books inside
of sf I read were Kris’s two
new novels. One in her Diving
Universe series that will be out
next fall and another in her
Retrieval Artist series called
Blowback that just came out
this winter. I read issues of
Asimov’s magazine and Analog
regularly, but not many novels
inside the field. However, I have
been reading a ton outside the
field, mostly thriller writers, like
Dean Koontz.
talk about that I ghosted for
another publisher, more than
likely the last of those kind of
projects I will do.
What are you currently
working on? What can
I am working on yet another
we expect to see from novel between short stories
DWS this year?
that might see print this winter.
And I have an sf/romance that
I want to get finished and out
as well. So more than likely
about 50-100 short stories and
eight or so novels in the next
full year. But all under my own
name from now on out. The
world has changed and I like
the change.
You will see a ton more short
fiction from me, not counting
the new story in every issue of
Fiction River. I will have the new
thriller Dead Money out next
fall, the new Poker Boy urban
fantasy novel called The Slots
of Saturn out next fall as well. I
Doing graduate level teaching just finished a novel that I can’t
on different topics is amazingly
hard and challenging and I
Bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith has published traditionally
learn with every workshop.
more than one hundred popular novels and well over two hundred
Many of the online workshops
short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the
are
the
graduate
level
Music to Rest and the thriller The Hunted as D.W. Smith. With Kristine
workshops we used to do here
Kathryn Rusch, he co-wrote The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th
Kingdom. He writes under many pen names and ghosts for a number
and we converted them to
of top bestselling writers.
online video classes. There isn’t
a week that goes by with those
His lively blog can be accessed here http://www.deanwesleysmith.
that I don’t learn new stuff. The
moment I stop learning from
them we’ll shut them down,
but no signs of that slowing at
the moment and I’m still having
a blast doing it.
Wow, teaching can really,
really sharpen your own tools.
Especially with the workshops
here at the coast where we only
invite the newer professional
level writers who are past the
early stuff.
6
A CHAT WITH dean wesley smith
Over the past thirty years, Nina Kiriki Hoffman has
sold adult and YA novels and more than 250 short stories. Her works have been finalists for the World Fantasy, Mythopoeic, Sturgeon, Philip K. Dick, and Endeavour awards. Her first novel, The Thread that Binds
the Bones, won a Stoker award in 1994, and her short
story “Trophy Wives” won a Nebula Award in 2009.
Nina does production work for the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. She teaches a short story writing class through her local community college, and
she works with teen writers. She lives in Eugene, Oregon. Website: http://ofearna.us/books/hoffman.html
Your first pro story, “Petrified,” appeared
in Asimov’s in 1983. That’s more than 30
years of writing. How has your preferred
writing environment changed over that
time?
My writing environment has changed in the tool
department, for sure. I was so jazzed when I got my
first IBM Selectric with correcting tape! Wahoo!
In 1985, I told my dad that my plan was to write a novel,
sell it, and use the money to buy myself a computer.
He said that plan was backward. Get the computer,
then write the novel. He was a technophile, an early
member of the Geek species. He had just upgraded
his computer, so he gave me his old one, an Apple
III. For the many who don’t know, this was a brief blip
on the Apple product line that disappeared as a
dead end system. I wrote a bunch of stuff on it. I still
have the five-and-a-quarter-inch floppies from that,
though the computer went to NextStep Recycling.
I got some of the contents transferred onto threeand-a-half-inch floppies, but not all. Hidden history.
There are things on there with titles like “Vampire
Leprechauns from Space.”
Last week I bought a new iMac computer to replace
my seven-year-old iMac, which was glitching up a
storm. My, this new screen is pretty. As for my surroundings, I used to write at home. I
usually set up my desk in the living room of whatever
apartment I lived in.
For the last twenty-two years I’ve lived in the same
house in Eugene, Oregon, and I use the spare
bedroom as an office.
In 2007, I was working on two book deadlines, and
in the middle of that, I got my cancer diagnosis. Surgery,
radiation, and chemo followed. I managed to wrap up
one of the books the night before I started radiation, and
I’m not quite sure when I finished the other one.
Somehow, the stress of sickness, treatment, and work
combined to make me allergic to writing at home. I can
THE WRITERS ROOM
7
WAYLINES
manage it if I have a deadline and all the coffee
shops are closed. Now that I have this new computer,
I might reclaim my writing at home; I’m hopeful.
But for the last five or six years, I’ve been writing out. I
write at the public library, at several different Starbucks
around town, at local coffee shops and food courts.
I’ve written at friends’ houses and at Market of
Choice, our fancy and fabulous supermarket. I’ve
written in yogurt shops (they stay open late down near
campus!). I’ve written at a picnic table overlooking
the river. Mostly I write on my little MacBook Air, but
sometimes I write longhand in a journal. I love fountain
pens.
I have a list of eighteen writing buddies. When I plan to
write somewhere, I send an email to the list and invite
people to join me. I treasure the company of other
writers writing, even if we don’t speak to each other.
It makes what we’re doing in public seem a little less
weird, and it’s great to have a friend to watch your
stuff when you need a bathroom break.
Some writers are happier and more
productive than others, but everyone
has days when they just don’t feel like
facing the page. What do you do when
you’ve lost your writing mojo?
My process involves walks and naps. If I get stuck, a
walk can help. Sometimes solutions to stories come
to me in naptime dreams, or as soon as I wake up, if
I grab the journal and write without censoring myself.
I’ve also found that a long drive with the radio off will
stimulate my imagination — gotta have something
going on, and if I can’t get it outside my head, it will
start up inside.
Sometimes, I forget the writing and go out to a grange
and play country western/bluegrass music with my
Oregon Old Time Fiddlers Association friends.
You have a beautiful collection of masks
in your office. Any good stories behind
them?
My mask collection has expanded over time. Some
of them I bought myself; many were gifts. They come
from a variety of cultures. I don’t know most of their
deep stories, but I can make things up about them.
One of the masks is a life mask I did in art therapy
when I was a patient at a hospital for people with
eating disorders; it has a night side and a day side,
and a third eye.
Kim Antieau assembled the paper Medusa mask,
then gave it to me because it spooked her too much.
The fiery leather sun mask came from my sister, who
worked on movies until she retired, and sometimes
bought set decorations after filming ended. I’m not
8
THE WRITERS ROOM
July 2013
sure what movie it appeared in.
Leslie What gave me a mask she picked up in a thrift
store — the woven wicker mask with flaring straw hair,
mustache, and beard.
The glow-in-the-dark skull mask with its own black cloak
was part of my Halloween costume one year.
There’s a half-mask with cat ears fashioned of greenand-gold brocade that my friend Loreen Heneghan
made — I plan to wear it at my next costume event,
probably FaerieWorlds this summer.
I like a wall of masks in my office to remind me of some
of the people I might become while I’m writing.
What’s your favorite thing about your
current writing space?
Peppermint mocha frappuccinos.
What do you wish you were reading but
aren’t, because it doesn’t exist?
The next Jim Butcher Harry Dresden book, or the next
book of Charlaine Harris’s Harper Connelly or Lily Bard
mysteries, or the next Patricia Briggs Mercy Thompson
book, or, dang it, the next Celia Jerome Willow Tate
book — looks like she stopped writing those, and I wish
she’d start again. The next Gini Koch Alien book — no,
wait, I have that on my Kindle already! What should a reader do after reading this?
I have some free fiction online you could check out if you like. “Ghost Hedgehog,” on Tor.com, a novelette about a
boy who talks to ghosts, and the basis of my next book from Viking. “Key Signatures,” about a girl who followed my
own path into the music world here in Eugene. A very weird Christmas story called “The Weight of Wishes.”
THE WRITERS ROOM
9
Issue 4 of Waylines features the pyschological thriller, The Secret
Number. Following the imaginative concept of a yet undiscovered
number, the Secret Number walks the line of fantasy and mystery in a
way few stories can. Directed by Colin Levy, the film is based on Igor
Teper’s short story of the same name. If you haven’t done so yet, be sure
to check out Igor’s original story that appeared in Strange Horizons
in 2000 and Colin Levy’s film, now screening at Waylines.
In June, we sat down with both Colin and igor and traced how the
short story became a film, chatted about the differences between the
two versions, and explored the process of film making. Here’s what
they both had to say:
What’s the story behind this story? Why
did you make The Secret Number?
- as an audience member. Even as I was
reading it, my gears were turning.
Colin: Honestly, I’m a bit perplexed by how
The Secret Number found its way into the
world. I mean, Igor wrote the short over a
decade ago. Years after it was published,
some guy on the internet found it, read it,
and liked it enough to submit it to the social
news site reddit.com.
The story was short, simple, fun and
mysterious. It was quirky, thought-provoking
and dramatic. It was a character piece, and
relied heavily on dialogue -- both things that
made me uncomfortable, and gave me
plenty to sink my teeth into as a director. The
most dramatic elements of the story were
told visually, so it seemed to call out for a
film adaptation. And it was sci-fi, which was
something I really wanted to try.
I was living in Amsterdam at the time,
entrenched in the final throes of production
on a short animated film called Sintel, when
I came across the link. Normally I would
have read the short story, cast my upvote
and scrolled on. But I had taken a year off
of school to make Sintel, and was starting to
think about what I would do when I got back
in school -- what I should do for my senior film.
For a film student, it’s a pretty big deal. The
senior film is their one shot to tell the world
“hey, I can do this!”
The Secret Number just struck me,
immediately, as something I wanted to see
10
in search of the secret number
I had never adapted someone else’s work
before, but I’ve always been open to the
idea. On a whim, I decided to shoot off an
email to Igor. And the rest is history!
The same for you, Igor, where did you
get the idea for your short story? Why
was this a story you had to tell?
Igor: The kernel of the story was given to me
by someone else. When I was in college, I
spent part of every summer teaching math at
July 2013
an academic summer camp for high school
students. The first summer I worked there, I was
a teaching assistant to a very experienced
instructor, and he told me that a few years
earlier, he and one or two others had come
up with the core mathematical idea of the
story and presented it to the students as a
way of illustrating some aspects of number
theory. I found the whole thing very clever.
The idea then rattled around in my head for
a year or two and eventually a plot grew
around it, and I had my story. The name of
the mathematician in the story (and the
film) is actually an acknowledgment of the
person who first gave me the idea, who is
himself a math professor.
it was still posted in the webzine’s archives,
I had no expectation that it was still being
read, so I was very pleasantly surprised
when Colin emailed me.
Colin, how did you come about finding
Igor’s story? Are you a fan of short
fiction?
While the first half of the film follows
your story fairly closely, Igor, how do
you feel about the changes made?
Colin: I regularly tell myself, “Colin, you need
to read more.” I spend so much of my time
watching movies, scanning facebook and
my twitter feed. I spend a disproportionate
amount of time in front of a computer.
Igor: I’m the first to acknowledge that the
original short story is fairly slight, so it made
sense to try to add some dramatic heft
for the film. The film was Colin’s project,
and I just tried my best to help him explore
different possibilities for the storyline and
find and refine the one truest to his vision.
As we got later in the process, and closer
to filming, the whole thing became better
defined in Colin’s mind, and the later script
revisions were very much based on his ideas
for the direction he wanted to take, which
was entirely appropriate given that his level
of investment in the project was orders of
magnitude larger than mine. And I’m a big
fan of the changes and additions--they
give the film a far richer texture than my
short story.
Every time I commit to reading a work of
fiction, every time I pick up a book, I feel
so refreshed. Alas, it does not happen very
often. I can’t call myself a fan of short fiction,
because I just haven’t read enough of it. It’s
something I will continue to berate myself
for.
Igor, how did you feel about your story
being adapted to another medium?
What was it like reformatting it to film?
Igor: I was delighted and very flattered
that Colin liked my story enough to base a
film on it. The story had been published on
the web almost ten years earlier, and, while
Going in, I knew nothing about screenwriting,
so when we decided to collaborate
on the script, I checked out a couple
of screenwriting books from the library,
and learned enough, especially about
formatting and terminology, to make an
attempt at an initial draft, and the whole
process went very smoothly after that. We
sent drafts back and forth and had several
long phone conversations, and the script
slowly evolved over time.
What was it like adapting the story to
film? Were there any difficulties doing
so?
in search of the secret number
11
WAYLINES
Colin: I thought it would be a pretty
straightforward matter of translating the story
to the big screen. When I read the short, it
seemed like something I wanted to simply
visualize. In my head, the story just worked.
So I was surprised to find that it took a bit of
wrestling!
From the outset, Igor was as gracious and
collaborative as I could have hoped. The
writing process was a true collaboration, and
I was impressed how irreverent he was with
his own source material. Igor was up for trying
anything, and for allowing the collaboration and the film itself - to evolve throughout the
process.
As we worked on the script I began to ask more
and more questions.. Should our protagonist
be this passive? Is bleem too mathematically
superficial? Do we really feel the stakes?
Maybe the stakes are too impersonal? Is the
ending too anticlimactic? Are we paying
everything off as well as we can?
For a time, we experimented with lots of
small tweaks and changes. Different ways to
communicate the same story point, different
gags, different variations on dialogue. We
even experimented with the value of bleem
- for a moment we made it a secret number
between four and five.
colin levy
Colin Levy is a filmmaker from Lutherville, Maryland.
At age of 19, his highschool short film earned him
a YoungArts Award, presented in New York City
by Martin Scorsese. At 20, he won a production
grant to shoot a 50-second spot on 35mm as a
finalist in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker
Awards. At 21, he was invited to Amsterdam to
direct a 3D animated short film Sintel, which won
the Audience Award at the Animayo International
Film Festival in Spain, and now has over 3 million
views on YouTube. His live-action short En Route
won the Tribute Magazine Award for Best Director
at the YoungCuts Film Festival, and his senior film
The Secret Number won the Jury Award for Best
Short at the Charleston International Film Festival.
The culmination of his work has recently led to an
opportunity at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville,
California, where he is currently working as a
Camera & Staging Artist. Find out more about his
work at:
http://www.colinlevy.com
12
in search of the secret number
It wasn’t till the eve of production that I pulled
the rug out from everyone; after a number
of conversations, critiques and brainstorming
sessions, I did a major rewrite that significantly
restructured the story. The new version used
a framing device that entwined our two
characters in a more concrete way. It provided
a backstory and a somewhat more punchy
ending. Many of these ideas emerged from a
pivotal discussion with my creative producer
Roque Nonini and director of photography
Michael Lloyd.
At the time, I was not entirely sure it was the
right direction to go. After all, didn’t I like the
original story just the way it was? I vascillated
for a long moment, allowed Igor and my
professors to weigh in. Sometimes you gotta
just go with your gut. Now that the film is out
in the world, I feel like I probably made the
right decision. But I still wonder what the other
version would have been like.
We’ve heard, this was a film school
production (but it is certainly doesn’t
look like one). How did that effect the
production? Was this limiting or helpful?
Colin: Thanks very much! You’re right - this
was a student film from beginning to end.
I think for a lot of the crew it was one of the
biggest projects they’ve worked on in film
school! It was a learning experience for all of
us, and I think we were all fighting against the
July 2013
Igor, were you involved in the production
of the film?
Igor: Very minimally. Colin did send me some
of the casting audition videos, and I gave him
some feedback on those, and I also sent him
photos of several pages of my handwritten
notes from one of my college physics classes
to be used as a visual reference in some of the
production design.
Where was this filmed? What was the
production like?
Colin: We shot the film in Savannah, GA on
location and in a studio. We built two sets one for the interior of the psychiatrist’s office,
and one for the interior of Ersheim’s room. We
shot all this material on a RED camera using
a beautiful Cooke zoom lens from the 70s.
We shot a few pick-up shots and inserts with
a Canon DSLR, including the exterior of the
psychiatric facility, which I had my younger
brother shoot for me in Poughkeepsie, NY.
“student film” feel. I’ve always cared a lot about
production value, and the entire team spent a
lot of time and effort making this film look and
feel as professional and “hollywood-quality” as
possible.
I was really fortunate to be able to rally
together some of the most talented students
at SCAD. Although I was in undergrad, my
cinematographer and production designer
were graduate students and they each pulled
together a pretty amazing team.
In that respect, making this project in the
context of film school was an absolute blessing.
Mounting a production a formidable task,
but the infrastructure of film school provides
crew in the form of students, guidance in the
form of professors, and resources in the form
of equipment, studio time, and sound libraries
and renderfarms. This film could easily have cost
over 100K if we had to pay for everything outof-pocket.
Since everyone was in school, I assumed we’d
have to primarily shoot on weekends to avoid
conflicts... but as it turned out, the vast majority
of the crew was willing to skip a few classes
for the sake of our film! Since we only had our
actors for a limited time, it made sense to shoot
in large multi-day chunks rather than limiting
ourselves to the weekend. Still, production was
ig o r te p e r
Igor lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a
physicist, a husband and a father. He is also a
writer of short fiction, poetry and scientific essays.
“The Secret Number” was his first published story,
appearing in “Strange Horizons” in 2000. “Thought
Experiments: An Abecedary,” his longest published
work, first appeared in 2006, and pieces of it have
since been reprinted in various venues. A list of all
his published work may be found at:
http://igorteper.com
in search of the secret number
13
WAYLINES
intermittent and spanned over quite a few
weeks!
Any plans on writing a sequel?
Igor: Not at this time. I think the original story’s
idea would need to be expanded in scope,
like it is in the film, in order to support a sequel.
How have people been reacting to
the film, Colin? Has it opened up any
opportunities your film making?
Colin: I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the
reaction to The Secret Number. It’s not a film for
everybody: some people are stoked, others are
confused. I’ve gotten a lot of critiques and a
lot of compliments as well. I’ve enjoyed seeing
it play in a few festivals across the country and
watching the comments roll in online. It’s been
a very gratifying project!
The short on its own hasn’t opened doors in any
dramatic way, but the culmination of my work
has certainly led to some great opportunities. I
know I’ve worked with some amazing talents,
met some fantastic people, and improved as
an artist and director as a result of this project.
Igor, how do you feel about the finished
film? Is it how you imagined your original
story when writing it?
Igor: I’m thrilled with the film, and I’m excited to
have contributed to it. Working with Colin on the
script was a really great experience, and then
the film turned out better than I ever imagined.
I think the production values are amazing,
and Colin just did an awesome job all-around.
Compared to my own vision of the story when
I was writing it, the film is darker, deeper, more
ambitious, and definitely more impressive.
colin igor
What are you working on at
the moment? Any feature
film plans in the future?
During the day, I’m currently
working at Pixar Animation Studios
as a Camera & Staging aritist. On
my own time, I’m tinkering away
on a few more ideas for short films.
I’d love to tackle a feature of my
own someday, but I’ve got no
concrete plans!
Are you currently working
on any other stories? Do
you plan to move on to
novels in the future?
I am working on several new stories,
and I also have a story coming out
in Asimov’s Science Fiction in a
few months that I’m very excited
about. I have no specific plans to
write a novel, in part because, as
a reader, I gravitate much more to
short stories than to novels.
14 in search of the secret number
We talked with Luke Randall about his endearing short film Reach, now
screening in the July 2013 issue of Waylines. Here’s what he had to say.
What was the inspiration idea what I was doing. I had been a story junky, consuming
behind Reach, the story some experience in animation, comics and movies etc – and
but modeling, rendering, sound I always found ways to tell my
behind the story?
I created the film as a school
project and since we only had a
few months to execute it trying
to come up with a story on the
spot was difficult. I ended up
scanning through old sketch
books and found a sketch of
a robot plugged in by a cable
and it snowballed from there.
design were very new to me.
My method was to try and keep
those areas as simple as possible
so I could keep the quality
high. I think there are various
shortcomings with the film in
the areas where I was working
outside my specialty, but not so
much that it distracts from the
storytelling.
own stories. As a kid, it was either
through comics or crummy home
movies, and now that I’m older,
I try to tell stories with animation
and slightly less crummy home
movies.
What was involved in
achieving
such
fluid
animation? We’d love to
hear some technical details.
How long did all this take?
We heard Reach garnered
many awards on the film
festival circuit. How was the
whole experience of taking
Reach to festivals?
Yes trying to animate feature
style animation was
a
painstaking process. For me it
involved filming myself a lot and
then studying that. From those
reference shots I worked out all
the acting and performance.
The festival experience was very
cool, I genuinely didn’t expect
much of a response so it was
exciting and eye opening. It’s
surreal watching it in a theater
and finally seeing the film through
the fresh eyes of an audience.
From there it was just a very slow
process of trying to get those
ideas onto the digital puppet
(the robot) on the computer. This
presented a lot of challenges as
the anatomy of the robot is much
different from my anatomy. So
I ended up improvising to get
the same level of expression. For
example, using shutters on the
robots lens to act as eyebrows .
We heard that you are What are your plans for the
working at Dreamworks future?
Animation. Did Reach help
I will keep trying to make stories
in making paths to do so?
What has influenced you
most, as a filmmaker?
It’s hard to say. I try to consume
as much music, art, screenplays,
novels and movies as possible
so that I have a wide spectrum
of influences to pull from. I guess
as far conscious influences, I am
really a fan of the symmetrical
and flat staging that I see a lot
in Kubrick’s films and I think the
dark energy of David Lynch’s
work is pretty inspiring. But in the
end, I would probably give a
different answer to this question
everyday of the week!
in one form or another, and
continue to ravenously consume
the stories other people create.
I would like to eventually write
and direct feature films.
Yes in a way. I had the job offer
already prior to finishing the film,
but immigrating to the United
States was proving difficult.
Winning awards for the film and
having articles published made What are you currently
it possible for me to get the visa I working on?
How big of a crew did it take needed to come over to United
to achieve Reach? Are there States.
I am currently experimenting
any juicy production tales
with live action and have a few
Why do you want to tell projects at various stages.
you’d like to talk about?
visual stories? Why did you
I was the only crew member, become a filmmaker?
so it was pretty challenging to
take on roles in which I had no Like most people, I’ve always
AN chat with luke randall
15
K-Michel Parandi’s “From the Future with Love” is the futuristic
look at law enforcerment screening in Issue 4 of Waylines. If
you haven’t had a chance to take a look, you can do so here. We
caught up with K-Michel to talk about the film, its production,
and K-Michel’s influences.
What was the inspiration behind been a very interesting collaboration.
From the Future with Love, the
This process was supposed to take a
story behind the story?
I’ve always wanted to develop
something with cops in the future.
In other screenplays I’ve written I’ve
had scenes with police officers in
an ultra-realistic future and I found
it fascinating to imagine how real
police-work would change over
time. To me it is nonsense, the way
we’ve “corporatized” our society:
The population is here to serve
corporations instead of having the
corporations serve the population. For
example, if you look at healthcare,
there are a lot of questions that could
be asked, especially here in the States.
I’ve experienced hospitalization here
in America and in Europe and these
are two separate worlds. We’re not
treating people here, but making
customers out of diseases, and
profiting from that. As for the bodyjacking, I’ve always been obsessed
about the nature of identity. I often
wonder if our identities are not
strictly defined by our memories and
the perception we have of others.
At some point I connected these
concepts to the idea of a totally
corporate police in the future. This
is something I’ve been developing
for years. Later on, a friend who’s
been producing (James Lawler)
introduced me to Channing Tatum’s
producing partner, Reid Caroline.
Channing had just been asked by
UTA if he had any desire to make a
web series. So Reid asked James,
who asked me. I entered a deal with
James’s company to write and direct
a web series pilot. At that time I was
developing another project in Los
Angeles, but I decided to put this on
hold and fly back to New York where
I had already lived for several years.
A lot of the core ideas came to life as
I was writing and developing the web
serial. James Lawler brought structure
and helped me articulate this world.
He’s a creative producer and it’s
16
couple of months, three at best, but
it went on and on, eventually taking
over a year and half. Obviously I
wasn’t getting paid, and working
every day, every week, with no
breaks. By doing so I became broke
and ended up bouncing from place
to place in New York, staying at
friends, having no money, going
into survival mode. However, we
moved away from the web serial
idea and went into TV serial. I threw
all my ideas into this project, and
we selected the best ones in order
to shape the frame of a first season
for a potential TV show. I went on to
shoot the scenes, though initially they
were not supposed to be connected
but just individual vignettes designed
to showcase the world. Through the
process, I’ve written several web
series treatments, a one hour TV
pilot, a feature script, and several
character arc treatments. The usual
process is that I always share my
drafts with a writing partner in the UK
who proof-reads my work before I
submit anything to anyone in the US,
including producers or friends, who
eventually give me notes and make
corrections.
What is interesting is that each
component of this world (the short
movie, the web series, the TV series,
and the motion picture) have
become independent components
of a greater “mythology”. The one
who inspired me a lot was my visual
design partner, Ben Mauro. We
worked very closely on the artwork
and Ben has a lot of talent. I felt we
owed it to all these people to do
something, and not just keep a few
scenes on the production’s drives.
I wanted to combine these scenes
into a short. Around the same time I
was approached by Little Minx/RSA
(the Ridley Scott Agency) about my
directing work and they also asked
A Talk with K-Michel Parandi
me why I hadn’t cut these scenes into
a movie - so I went back to the editing
room and turned this into “From the
Future with Love”. I shared my cut
with my partner and we finally put it
on youtube. We’ve been very happy
with people’s reactions. People seem
to like it and are excited by it. On the
side, we’ve been developing the TV
serial and the feature
What was the production like for
From the Future with Love? We’d
love to hear some technical
details. How long did all this
take?
Creatively, it was a long process. Most
of the concepts were recycled from
previous scripts or projects that were
gathering dust on my desk. Privatized
police selling insurance is the core
concept I’ve been playing with in
my head for a couple of years, and
the idea of rival corporations being
at war is linked to this. I had wanted
to showcase a mock-documentary
about the future, so I was exploring
a lot of different ideas and bouncing
July 2013
just moved to New York (almost a
decade ago - in Sunnyside, Queens),
and I knew I wanted to shoot there,
but I couldn’t remember the exact
address. So we walked all the way
long on Queens Boulevard, back and
forth, trying to find it. Eventually when
we found it I was disappointed, it
didn’t look the way I remembered it,
but we decided to go for it anyway.
I don’t regret it. The place actually
comes out great.
How big of a crew did it take
to achieve From the Future
with Love? Are there any juicy
production tales you’d like to
talk about?
these ideas off James (producer). As
we went on, even before the show
was written, we discussed what the
best scenes to introduce the world
would be, and ‘body-jacker’ was the
first one chosen. This comes from the
concept of “mind migration”, which
is something I’ve had in several other
scripts as well, so I figured it would be
a good way to show a new breed of
criminals. Later on I wrote the scene
with rival cops shooting each other,
and then went on to the diner scene.
The Grand Central bit was just us
walking in the train station and testing
the costume, I had no idea what to
do with that at the time. The idea of
turning this into an advert came to
me while editing. There are a couple
more scenes I wanted to write and
shoot but we had a very limited
budget. I think my biggest regret is
that I didn’t get to show a “Precinct”.
The first pilot script was about a cop
giving us a tour of a precinct in the
future, showing us the equipment,
etc… but we took another path.
Now, in terms of producing these
pieces, frankly it was very difficult.
James Lawler brought the finance
and I brought the creative crew.
There wasn’t enough money to do
everything we wanted and we nearly
crashed, but I think we were very
lucky to have some good friends that
believed in the vision who helped us
pull it off. I’m thinking of Lauren Beck
and Mark Kubbinga who brought all
the CGI into this project. They did an
incredible job. We ended up shooting
in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, which is
where I used to lived for years, so it felt
like shooting at home, surrounded by
friends and people I was very close
with.
The scene where the cop shoots the
other cop (in the donut joint) is a
place where I used to eat when I had
We went from ten to thirty people
depending on the scene. While
we were shooting, a mistake was
made regarding permission for one
of the locations, a contract or some
insurance paper wasn’t signed in time,
so the owner of the location decided
to kick us out right as we were ready
to start shooting (after spending one
full day and night rigging the place).
This was only a 5 day shoot, so losing a
day was dramatic, but we managed.
I had to cross off a lot of shots, and
I was worried I wouldn’t be able to
make that specific scene work (the
one where they swap bodies). But
working with three cameras helps
to wrap things faster. You take more
time setting things up, but when you
ready, you can roll on all three cams,
wrap it, and move to the next set up.
One of my friends Louis came from
the UK to help. He bought his own
ticket and came to be a production
assistant, and in exchange asked
me if he could be an extra. One
morning, after shooting all night, the
entire crew went home, but Louis,
James and I ended up waiting for
a Production Assistant to come pick
us up. That PA never made it, so we
took a cab, all sleep deprived, and
got caught in Manhattan’s morning
traffic. Somehow, being very nervous
and tired, we all started laughing for
no reason, all three of us, and we
couldn’t stop; it went on and on. It
became insane. These moments,
however rare in a production, have
a real beauty. It happens on movie
sets, or in between people working
on high-stress projects, that they
share these surreal moments. I think
we somehow realized that we had
slipped into some sort of dimension
where nothing made sense anymore.
None of us were making any money,
and we were just insane for trying to
do this. It’s a great feeling, and at the
same time it’s frightening. After all
that it feels great to have your work
acknowledges, it gives meaning and
helps you get on with life.
Are there plans to turn this into a
feature film?
Absolutely. It’s been one of our top
priorities. There are a couple of
treatments and screenplays, and one
of them is still in active development.
Why do you want to tell visual
stories? Why did you become a
filmmaker?
I’ve worked in advertising as a
creative director and I learned a lot
through that, but I also developed a
frustration as you have a very limited
amount of control over your creative
work when dealing with corporate
clients. I think making films is just a
mode of expression, like writing. I
started writing in French, and now
I write in English. I’ve been working
with a friend named Jack Coulton
for several years now, and we both
learned a lot through this process.
Initially he was my assistant proofreading the English in my scripts, but
eventually he started revising some
of my work. I usually come with the
stories and then we discuss the form.
He’s been helping me develop a
specific style and voice in English. I
think writing is a very powerful way
of expressing ideas. At some point,
when I’m done writing, I end up
contemplating the story in a very
graphic way. A cinematic script
is visual to start with, as you read it
you project the images inside your
mind. From the light you describe you
conceive a blueprint you can use to
bring life onto the set, so it’s important
to share not just the core emotions
but also the graphic sensations when
writing. Filming to some people is
the natural extension of the same
process. I think writing provides a very
intimate pleasure, but by turning a
written scene into a scene with actors
we bring it to life. There is a deeper
emotional dimension when we reach
production. I love interacting with
actors and people in general, so
film-making is somehow a crossroads
where story telling, visual work, art
direction, and human interaction all
meet.
We heard that you studied
media production in France.
Are you currently still making
films there? Is it much different
making films in New York?
It’s very different. In Europe, things
are more academic. I only shot a
few short films there but I’ve worked
on bigger projects with other people,
A talk with K-Michel Parandi
17
WAYLINES
I was very young at the time, and
they were very experimental, so
I’m not sure I have the authority to
make any such judgment. My gut
instinct is that in France you have
more freedom. Once something is
financed a director can do pretty
much whatever he wants, which
is not always a good thing. On the
other hand, in Hollywood it’s really
hard to do anything new or intelligent
without fighting for it, but you have
more resources as well. I think here in
the States the real challenge is to fight
for a good idea without alienating
the people you are fighting since you
invariably need their support. It takes
time to learn these things. I’m still
getting to grips with the mechanics
of Hollywood.
What has influenced you most,
as a filmmaker?
There are a couple of things. One
was an underground movie theater
I used to go when I was a kid. They
only played cult movies, edgy stuff.
I loved the feeling of this theater.
I felt I was part of a secret club, so
I would take my bag and pretend I
was going to school but often end up
there, watching a movie in an empty
projection room, discovering some of
the key independent directors. This
place shaped me . My step-father
played an important role as well; he’s
a video (and board) game addict
and it was very stimulating to interact
with him. The other one is my uncle.
He was a movie addict, and would
put me in front of movies other kids
wouldn’t usually see, basically until I
was old enough to understand what
directors I actually liked and I would
pick my movies not based on the
actors but based on the director’s
track record. I think this is where we
cross a line with the mainstream
audience: when you really look at
filmmakers as people with a voice and
not just a production tool designed
to entertain college audiences. I do
have a lot of respect for the notion of
an “auteur”. I’ve had the chance to
work closely with Ben Barenholtz, and
it was very humbling to discuss storytelling dynamics in depth with a guy
who’s swept the board at Cannes
(with the Coen Brothers’ Barton Fink).
I think Authorship matters. Without
it there can be no soul in a project.
You can surround yourself with a top
team to create a perfect product,
but it will never be personal enough
to be meaningful for its creators,
and therefore for the audience. We
need voices in literature, painting,
architecture, and we need them in
movies as well, and sometimes it’s
18
very challenging to protect these
notions of authorship and creative
integrity. By always seeking consensus
you destroy a lot of great ideas. There
are different types of directors and
different types of movies out there.
Some project needs consensus,
some don’t. Ridley Scott makes a
distinction between movies and
films. A movie is an Americanism,
a consumable product that you
use and throw away, where a film
is something you want to own and
put on your shelf. This is where the
definition of authorship kicks in. The
early directors I admired were fully in
control, and they definitely inspired
me. Sometimes I feel that if I can’t
retain basic control over a project
then there’s no point pursuing it. It’s
just not worth it. When there is a lot
of stake it’s important to generate a
collaborative dynamic, but integrity
is by far one of the most important
things. A lot of movies don’t work,
especially big ones, because they
lack a clear vision and direction.
What are your plans for the
future?
I just moved to a new place, and it’s a
new start. I really want to give “From
the future with love” the best possible
shot, in a way, that no only make
sense in terms of business but also
helps me show one vision of a future
I’ve been wanting to share for years.
I think it’s haunting me. There are
two other projects I’ve been working
on. One is a psychological thriller set
in the future and the other one is a
high-concept sci-fi movie that is in
development with Lucas Foster. These
projects are all involving different
people, different screenplays and
different settings.
Once, I was flying from Detroit’s
airport and I saw a sign that I found
very inspiring “The best way to predict
the future is to invent it” It’s from Alan
Kay. I feel that some of us have a
responsibility when telling stories, to
entertain a broad demographic, but
also show the potential we have as
a civilization, to make things great,
worse, and what is the most realistic
and possible way the world can go. It’s
funny because I always feel that you
can change a system by challenging
and changing the culture of such
system, and entertainment are by far
one of the most powerful medium in
terms of cultural-impact these days.
America partially won the cold war
and the world to it’s cause because
it had Hollywood to showcase a way
of life. It excites my imagination, on
the other hand, I could be making
A talk with K-Michel Parandi
plans, but who knows what tomorrow
is made of, how TV, Gaming industry,
or the next generation of augmented
reality devices will affect this business.
What are you currently working
on?
Lately I’ve been writing a movie for
20th Century Fox for a Chinese coproduction. I’ve met with Rocky
Morton
from
MJZ
(advertising
company) and we want to do
something together as well. I’m very
excited about that. That may be
next after I’m done with Fox. Also,
my talent manager has introduced
me to Legendary Entertainment
and I was impressed by their desire
and capacity to develop interesting
projects based on new models.
Overall, it’s really difficult to keep
things moving in this business. Most
things end up not happening, and
you need to keep five or six fishing
lines in the water in order to catch
something that is real. It’s always
about timing. James Lawler, who’s
been producing for years, is now
writing and directing a short project
of his own and we’re all very excited
about this. On my end, I think we are
waiting to see what is going to be
the most realistic option for From the
Future with Love. We don’t want to
just enter into an option deal for the
sake of signing something but we
are seeking opportunities that are
real. There is serious interest on three
different fronts: the motion picture
side, the TV serial, and the video
game. In a perfect world, we would
do a motion picture with a company
that would have the desire, power,
and ability to produce the TV show
afterward if they wanted to. I think
the video game is a thing on it’s own,
and doesn’t necessarily have to be
connected though it could be. I’ve
been talking with Interplay (who
created the Fallout franchise) about
turning this into a Playstation 4 game.
And there is this new project titled
Brokenkites I just finished writing that I
would like to direct. The sky is the limit,
but to answer your question, I have
no idea what I’m working on. I’m just
going with all I have, trying to do the
best out of it, while trying to keep an
open mind and all my options open.
From the classics to the recently released, these are some of our favorite films. Find
something great to watch today. All reviewed from a film maker’s perspective
sci-fi
fantasy
horror
SCREEN GEMS
19
WAYLINES
In a off-kilter future, a virus has devastated the world, and only one
man can go back in time to save the travesty from every happening.
It may not sound like the most groundbreaking story, but Twelve
Monkeys is one of the best written time travel films ever. Unlike most
time travel adventures, usually a paradox occurs (EX: if John went
back and killed his father before John was born, how could John
exist in the future to go back and kill his father). What sets 12 Monkeys
apart is the tense, yet skillfully constructed story. On top of this, Pitt’s
over-the-top (yet very watchable) performance and Gilliam’s wide
angles, and zany direction, bring a sense of insanity to the tale,
making the characters (and audience) wonder whether everything
is truly happening in reality, or simply in Cole’s head. A must see!
Freaky. Trippy. Weird. Just a few words you might say after seeing
Altered States. One thing is for sure, however, this film is a hell of
a trip. Much of the sci-fi from the 60’s and 70’s was very ‘drug
influenced.’ Even in the greatest sci-films, it is very visible (2001
A Space Odyssey). Altered States is no different, and maybe
that is what makes it so good. It is a psychedelic trip turned into
a physiological experience. The concept is both amazing and
ridiculous. I mean, how plausible is this concept -- munching on a
few shrooms and getting into a deprivation tank can open up a
rift in space time, causing you to digress to a primordial self. But at
the same time, this physio-psychological exploration is fascinating
and it’s amazing to see such ideas in a Hollywood film. The thing is,
everything is done so right that whether the concept sounds cool
or silly to you, it doesn’t matter. It comes off as believable and
thrilling and thought-provoking and scary, all at the same time.
Hurt also gives a great performance
as the obsessed professor looking
for God. This is sci-fi done right.
20
SCREEN GEMS
July 2013
How to make a great animation: 1.) Use dragons. Everybody loves
dragons. 2.) Don’t just use one dragon, but design a slew of creative
beasts each with unique abilities (to appeal to the gamers and
geeks) 3.) Add a story of an underdog who connects only to his
best friend, his dog...er...dragon, designed in a lovable-fashion,
like the black cat from Kiki’s Delivery Service (to get the girl crowd)
4.) Mix in a little coming of age satire (to please the cynics) 5.) Top
it all off with a thrilling tale of adventure (to get everybody else).
RESULT: How to Train your Dragon -- a
great ride which will satisfy everything
you could want from a movie.
Psychotic. Eccentric. Insane. These are some of the adjectives one
might use for the brilliant film that is Amelie. With amazing editing,
an eccentric sense of style, and a wonderfuly weird story of an
abnormal, yet lovable girl, Jeunet has definitely made his mark on
world cinema. Telling the story of an oridinary girl and the ordinary
people around her might not sound like the most compelling of
ideas, but the way Jeunet puts them all together with an amazingly
rich vocabulary of film techniques,
Amelie will cast a spell on you. A must see.
SCREEN GEMS
21
WAYLINES
Everyone knows Dracula. It’s almost impossible to make a film
about the subject that hasn’t been done before. Coppola’s
version, however, is by far one of the best. Visually it is entrancing,
using techniques from throughout film making’s history to capture
some creepily amazing visuals WITHOUT CG. It also features a
stellar cast with some great performances from Oldman and
Hopkins (and Reeves and Ryder ...well...
they are so pretty to look at). This is
‘traditional horror’ done right. Watch it.
Who knew Paxton was such a good director? With a chilling
“Stephen King” like story, some decent performances and great
directing and visuals, this B-rate thriller is able to overcome the pitfalls
of its genre and be a great film. The only weak part to the film was
Paxton himself, as an actor that is. His customary persona (present
in most of his films) just didn’t seem to
lend insight into his character’s thinking.
That aside, this is a great mystery/thriller.
22
SCREEN GEMS
Dearest Chandra:
I was the first to wake, one month out from our new home to be and twenty-four hours before
everyone else. The bulk of the deceleration is already done; we’re at a bit less than normal
Earth gravity now. Remember those little sleeper jaunts we used to do out to Io? It’s nothing
like that, Chandra. I feel like the inside of my head’s been scrubbed with a wire brush, sinuses
desiccated and tongue glued in place. I don’t think any language has suitable words for how
I feel.
But if you’re viewing this message, you already know that, don’t you. You’ll have had your own
unpleasant awakening from long-term cold sleep on the colony ship and be what... three weeks
out from this planet? I know they weren’t planning to wake you engineers in the first round. I
have to remind myself of that; time has gone out of joint, with me awake in the future and you
in the unreachable past. I can’t wrap my mind around it. Discussion of general relativity was
notably lacking from my medical school curriculum.
But a year and a half from now, I’ll get to hear your own complaints in something close to real
time instead of a recorded vid. And I’ll be oh-so-sympathetic, I promise, down on the surface
Rachael acks
23
WAYLINES
of HD 108874. Or what did you say the Chinese techs were calling it - Dragon’s Horn? Less of a
mouthful at least. Maybe I’ll take the vid feed on a little stroll through a grassy meadow, so you
know what you’re waiting for.
Just a second, I’ve got to sit down. My quadriceps are cracking like freezer-burned meat.
Where was I... right. Before we left, I had no idea why they wanted to give me a full day by
myself, doing nothing but wandering the halls. Now I understand. I could barely take care of
myself the first twenty-four hours, let alone anyone else.
Six hours of cramping and crying. I feel like a wimp, complaining about it, when I was always
the tough girl. All that got me through was the vid you made. That one of you reading from the
newspaper. Listening to you laugh through the dry columns in the financial section helped. It
really did. And I have so many more messages from you, just waiting to be opened like gifts.
See, I am a genius. You should listen to your wife more often.
Well, I have to get going. It’s three hours until the rest of the crew starts to thaw, all at once.
Wish me luck, I’m going to need it. I’ll be glad to have the technical officers awake, and not just
because it’s eerie, just wandering through the smooth corridors alone and listening for echoes.
There’s an alert flag on the comm, but not one I recognize.
Dearest Chandra:
Time locks on your messages? Cruel, my love. But maybe you were right. Its given me something
to look forward to at the end of the day. And I need that right now, more than you can imagine.
I have so many worries right now.
The thaw is much worse than I expected. Forty-eight hours of grown men and women crying,
screaming at hallucinations, and vomiting. I never would have guessed my head full of rusty
nails was the easy version of waking. And I’m still not done yet... there are six left.
I’m sorry to report your brother was one of the vomiters. Which I think he’ll ultimately find less
humiliating than hallucinations. Param’s always taken himself a little too seriously - you know
it’s true - and I don’t think he’d be able to stand it if I saw him scrambling around barefoot on
the decking, screaming about seven-eyed owls or Shiva dancing or being eaten by a paper
lantern during Diwali.
Instead, I just held his head while he threw up into a recycler. His hair was still slimy with cryonic
fluids, the cloying smell of them nothing short of choking.
He asked for you. He was so out of it, I had to remind him you were following behind. He grinned
at me like a twelve-year-old. I think I’ve got a better understanding now about how he had
your mother wrapped around his finger. He just said--can you believe this? Well, of course you
can: “I thought if I felt this hung over, Chandra had to be somewhere nearby.”
I think it’s safe to say your brother sends his love. I thought about telling him, about the comm
flag, but he didn’t seem to be in any condition to deal with it.
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samsara
July 2013
I just hope everyone will be back up to spec or close to it soon. We have a month until planetfall
but there’s so much to do, and-Sorry, I had to check on Germaine. He’s one of the hallucinators, but he’s finally come down. I
think I’m in the home stretch, but I’m so tired Chandra. I caught myself singing in the hall, that
love song you like. There’s a strange echo that brought my voice back; for a moment I didn’t
sound alone.
Maybe you were here with me, in spirit. I know you don’t believe in that, and I don’t really
either, but it’s a nice thought.
That’s the alarm for the next thaw, so I’ll just say goodnight to you now. It’s Xinfa’s turn I think...
yes. Good. She’ll be able to deal with the alert on the comm.
Dearest Chandra:
The alert flag turned out to be something... big. I don’t know how to say this.
No, I know how to say this. I just don’t want to.
It was the outer marker for an occupied system.
And no, not what we’ve trained for. Not first contact. The voice that came from the beacon
was human, pleasant and cheerful, speaking a Mandarin dialect with an accent none of us
recognized.
“You have entered space of Colony AF-391, known as Guanyin. Please identify yourself. We
welcome you in peace,”
The way we all went quiet, it might as well have been the delivery of a death sentence. The
message repeated twice.
Param just said, over and over, that this couldn’t be right. As if he could overrule the message
somehow by volume alone. I wanted to shake him, like he was broken and that would somehow
get him unstuck.
Xinfa was the one who finally did something about it. She just keyed open the channel and
called the beacon, had it bounce our signal back to its master array. There was a fifteen second
delay, just long enough to make me hope... I don’t know. Make me hope that it was a mistake,
somehow. But then another woman, though her voice was very different from the one on the
beacon, answered. She asked us to identify ourselves again.
It made me so angry, hearing someone sound so pleasant as they shook the world upsidedown.
I’ve seen expressions like that on Xinfa’s face before, when I’ve called a husband or mother
and said that I’m from the hospital and am the bearer of bad news. It’s the look of a waking
Rachael acks
25
WAYLINES
nightmare. Everyone just stared at her, even your brother. I’ve never seen him look so... so...
blank. I couldn’t stand it any more and just jammed my knuckle into his shoulder blade. Then all
he said was, “Send them our registry code,”
The next pause was far longer than fifteen seconds. We just waited and waited. Then the woman
said almost in a surprised tone: “Advanced Scout Sita, welcome to Guanyin. We thought you
were lost.”
Thought we were lost? What does that even mean?
Param was angry. He still is. He’s the Captain; he was supposed to be briefed on everything. He
started shouting questions at Xinfa to relay to this new voice in the night, demanding to know
how we could be lost, how was this even possible? But she gave us no answers in return, just,
“This is a conversation best had in person.” What does that even mean? How can anyone be
that cruel?
And that was that. We’re still over three weeks out with deceleration to deal with, and her
words are a stone in my stomach. A conversation best had in person?
I wish our conversation was in person.
Dearest Chandra:
I’m worried about your brother. He hasn’t been sleeping during deceleration. Just walking up
and down the hall. I tried to talk to him this morning, even brought him a little sip bag of spice
tea since I remember you using that as a peace offering when you two were at odds.
He took the tea but didn’t drink. He just ranted at me, paranoid, afraid. He thinks the exploration
company sold us out. That they, “fed us bullshit stories about being pioneers and fucking heroes.”
That they sent us off on this one-way mission, and then just sent a faster ship at our back to
overtake us.
None of that makes any sense. There aren’t any faster ships than the Sita. Well... there weren’t.
Why would they have just sent another ship to beat us here? It makes no sense. They must have
thought something had happened.
Param thinks the money they expect to make from the resources on Dragon’s Horn has just
become so great that they didn’t care about losing the investment they made in us. Maybe
there was another rare earth shortage.
I don’t want to think like that. But the alternative... I don’t want to think like that either.
That’s not that point. It never was. We did this because we wanted a new home, we wanted
open skies and fields and clear skies without domes. You and I, Chandra, we wanted a new
kind of life together. I tried to remind Param of that, since I thought it would help, and...
He just shouted in my face,hands curled like he wanted to squeeze my words off at my throat.
“Don’t bring my sister into this!” and “She followed you into this black hell!” His face was so red
26
samsara
July 2013
and contorted. Like a stranger wearing a Param mask.
But it wasn’t like that, it never was, right? It was you and him that came up with this grand idea
of pushing out into the black and making a new home, and he damn well knows it. Everyone
knows that I’m the follower. That I’ve been your satellite, caught in your orbit ever since I first
spotted you in that park at the top of the university arcology in Mumbai. I suppose I could have
pulled rank on him as the doctor. But I didn’t think that would help, not in that state. And... to
be honest, I was far too angry.
We’ll arrive at Guanyin’s orbital dock tomorrow. Maybe once Param’s off the ship and has
something else to do, he’ll stop brooding. But he’s making me nervous, and the crew too. Like
there’s a static buildup just waiting to pop.
Dearest Chandra:
The company didn’t sell us out like your brother thought. Instead, it seems we had a comm
malfunction and they lost track of us twenty years into the trip. It just makes me think about all
those stupid ‘lowest bidder’ jokes--no. Never mind that. The point is that the company decided
to dispatch another colonial mission, with faster ships. They pushed out to the Dragon’s Horn at
.2 Gs, compared to our .05. They’ve been here for well over a generation, fair and square.
Everyone took the news with grim grace. What else can you do? It is what it is, no amount of
shouting will change that. Even Param was quiet through the explanation, the official greetings.
I expected him to be angry about it again. But now his shoulders are slumped when he walks.
He’s gone from angry to broken. Because... no. I... don’t want to think about that any more. Let
me tell you about our arrival.
They had us put the ship down in the middle of a field. The vegetation was a yellow-green and
dotted with pink, spherical flowers that I’ve been since told are actually exceedingly slowmoving animals. They smell peculiar, like nothing from Earth, sort of green and spicy and a bit
sharp like lemon, all at once. When all our manifests were handed over and medical exams
done, we were invited into the colony by the governor, Andre Clausson. They made quite the
ceremony of it. Leena, his daughter and the woman who answered the comm channel, had
a little garland of hothouse flowers for each of us. She couldn’t get the flowers over my braids
and just settled them in my hair, smiling and laughing all the while.
I did my best to laugh too, to smile. But I rolled the soft petals in my fingers and thought of a
different time, a different meeting, and hated this place. I don’t want to be grateful. I don’t
want to celebrate even as I stretch my hands out to touch the new sky. I’m so angry that these
people have taken everything from us, even though I know it isn’t true the moment the thought
forms. It’s not their fault. It’s not anyone’s fault and I feel terrible for thinking such things.
The rest of the colonists turned out to celebrate our arrival with music and dancing. Everyone
looks different from us; taller and more beautiful, androgynous. Their hair’s a bit strange, I’ll
admit. Like someone’s gotten a bit happy with the clippers: it’s all tactile patterns. I’d walk
around rubbing everyone’s heads if I wasn’t pretty certain that’s still considered rude, even in
the future.
Leena came by the ship after we’d had a little time to settle. To check in on us. She gave me
Rachael acks
27
WAYLINES
this shy smile, and apologized for giving us such a nasty shock. Param was hanging around like
the walking dead... what a luxury he’s allowed himself with that. I think he made her nervous;
she kept giving him these uncertain, worried looks.
I did my best to play the gracious guest since Param was no help. But I felt so numb the whole
time, cold. Like I was smiling with a face burned by frost. I thanked her for welcoming us, for
checking on us, for making sure we’re fed.
She offered to show me around, with one of those smiles. I guess they still flirt in the future to,
huh? I rubbed my nose, making certain to use my left hand so she could see my wedding
band. But sure, I said. Maybe she could help me find some housing. The ship’s getting a little
crowded. And... I hate to say it, but being around Param makes me feel like I’m drowning. Like
I can’t breathe.
She took my terribly subtle move well, even laughed about it. Just said marriage is “arcane” to
them.
I went shopping without you,with Leena as my guide. Try not to be angry, I know shopping is
your favorite hobby. But I think you’d like Leena. She has a twisted sense of humor that she hides
in a pretty smile. Just like you. I smiled back at her, even as my throat went tight.
God, I miss you.
Dearest Chandra:
Leena called in the middle of the night to warn me Param had been thrown out of a bar again.
At least she didn’t sound angry, just worried. We all worry about Param.
I fished him out of the gutter like a piece of trash. Only they don’t litter around here. Everything is
ridiculously clean... except Param. I told him, “You can’t keep doing this.” They have rules, and
this is the fifth time I’ve had to go clean him up off the street. The colony governor is not going
to keep turning a blind eye.
Param smelled like he’d been marinating in alcohol. He couldn’t even walk on his own, just
leaned on my shoulder (somehow I always forget he’s nearly a foot taller than me) and breathed
in my ear. You know what he said? Of all the stupid, frustrating things? “You can’t tell me what
to do. I’m the Captain.”
I was too angry to bother trying after that. I dropped him off in his bed and made sure there was
a trashcan nearby for the inevitable vomiting. I left as soon as I could. He wouldn’t stop glaring
at me.
I hope you can forgive me, Chandra. I’m not a saint, but we already knew that. I’m also not
your brother’s keeper.
In happier news, Leena helped me find a little apartment toward the outer edge of the
settlement. It seems palatial after being shipboard for so long. Especially with the view it has. A
thick forest of trees! Trees of all things, can you believe it? She also helped me requisition some
furniture, and was sympathetic about my request for a double bed, even if she did give me
28
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July 2013
one of those looks of hers, like her soul is about to pour out of her eyes. She eventually agreed.
The bed’s comfortable, better than the one we used to own, with that memory foam flattened
like a pancake. I slept there last night, away from the ship for the first time since we arrived. The
cacophony of insects came in the window I left open, as well as the sweet scent of flowers. I
tried to fill my heart with that smell, those memories, but I feel so crushingly empty, I couldn’t
breathe through the pain. It smelled like you.
Chandra:
Param is dead.
I say the words but it doesn’t make it feel any more real. Just three flat words to represent
a mountain of grief. We didn’t get along always, but he was my brother-in-law, he was my
Captain.
He hung himself, Chandra. In the temporary housing they’d given him because he refused to
look for anything else. He left no note.
I can guess well enough. It sounds horrible, but I’ll say it anyway. I don’t think he could handle
no longer being special, no longer being the hero. Here, he was just another man, a stranger,
a foreigner.
A selfish bastard.
I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry. I’m angry, at him. And also at myself. I let him push me
away. I went on without him. I should have paid more attention, should have done something.
This is my fault.
I’m sorry, Chandra. A million times, I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you like this, but I don’t
want you to feel like I’ve been hiding it when you arrive.
When you arrive... God, I can’t wait. Only six more weeks. Godspeed. I can’t keep this up much
longer.
Chandra,
Param’s funeral was two days ago. It was mostly just Sita’s crew. Our last get together, I guess.
Everyone else is moving on with their lives, adapting. Xinfa even brought a young man – I think
– with her, who held her when she cried. I made certain the proper ceremony was followed,
even if they weren’t my traditions. I could tell the ceremony made the colonists even more
uncomfortable. Maybe they don’t do cremation any more. Leena stood by me all the while,
and she held my hand. It helped, somehow. One more part of the future that’s just the same
as our past, right?
Rachael acks
29
WAYLINES
Because that’s where I am now, in the future. And you’re in the past. I’m still waiting.
Param left me to face this green purgatory alone. He was supposed to be the strong one. Where
does that leave me?
Where does it leave you?
Chandra:
It’s been over six months since your last message unlocked.
Six months. I’ve looked at it every day and I... I couldn’t.
It’s been-I can’t do this. I just can’t do this any more.
I have to move on. I have to stop pretending. But I wanted to believe, Chandra. I had to. You
have no idea how frightening it was, coming to a new place, finding it full of strangers, and then
being told-Being told that the love of your life is dead.
Well, you’ll never know, will you. Maybe you’re the lucky one. Isn’t peacefully in your sleep the
way everyone wants to go?
I’ve known it since we had our face to face meeting with Leena, but I just kept playing along
because... because I needed to do it, for me. For my sanity, what’s left of it. Our communications
array failed, but the entire navdat on your ship failed. You... were struck by an extrasolar object.
The ship was.
I had to pretend, Chandra. I needed to believe that you were still coming. Then Param...
We were so close, Chandra. So close. We were almost home.
I... have a confession. I thought of doing as Param did. Then I thought I was a coward because
I could not. Not when I had another six messages waiting, of all excuses. Now, the only way to
live is move on. And with Leena... forgive me, Chandra. Please.
But what am I doing? You can’t answer. I’m explaining myself to a ghost.
You’re gone. You’re dust in the empty space between stars, not even stirred by the solar wind.
All that’s left of you is your voice. I know what you’d say - that no one is truly gone while they are
still remembered by someone that loved them.
Well, I love you, Chandra. But you’re still just a ghost at the edge of my vision. One quick smile
in the mirror, and when I turn you’re gone, ripped from my orbit, or maybe I’ve been torn from
yours. Gravity, you always said. But like you always said, ‘There are things greater than ourselves.’
I guess it’s time to think of that. Because to me, there was never anything greater than you.
30
samsara
July 2013
I’m going to listen to your story, your song one more time, and I’m going to weep one more
time for everything we were, and were going to be, and never can be. And then... I’m going
to meet Leena for dinner. And maybe tonight, I’ll have the strength to take off my wedding ring
and leave it sitting on the windowsill. Because I also know you’d be shaking your head at me,
lips pursed like you tasted something sour, and call me an idiot. ‘Fresh air, Laraine. Sights to see.
Go see them. Live, you silly woman.’
I will still dream of you. Every night. Maybe that’s enough.
My Laraine,
I’ve only got a few minutes before my work crew goes into coldsleep. My previous message
should have been enough. We’ll only really be apart for a year, and goodbyes feel unnecessary
and final, knowing that. Just another silly story and a song should hold you over the few weeks
until we reach the system’s heliopause. And yet.
And yet...
I try not to be superstitious but... but I find myself thinking, over and over, of all the important
things I want to tell you. First is, don’t blame yourself, Laraine, for anything that happens in these
decades and light-years apart. We are not as in control of the course of our own lives as we
would like. We are at the mercy of things greater than ourselves. I know you don’t believe in
fate, don’t make that awful face. It is not fate, but gravity, the simple mechanics of a moving
universe. It is this that brings us together and pulls us apart, lifts us up and crushes us, and there
is nothing we can do but hold tight and hope sometimes. I am only glad that it has brought us
together, and filled with sorrow it has kept us apart for so long.
But I know we will meet again soon. Our orbits, that perfect circle, will bring us back to where
we started. To a park in Mumbai, to a field on this new world, to wherever and whenever we
both may be. And you will spill your beer on me, and I will give you flowers for your hair and
smile, because it’s all right.
I love you, my Laraine, my heart.
I’ve got to go. I’ll see you when I wake.
---TRANSMISSION FAILURE---
© 2013 Rachael Acks
Rachael Acks is a geologist and writer. In addition to
her steampunk mystery series from Musa Publishing,
she’s had short stories published in Strange Horizons,
Penumbra, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. She’s a
proud member of the Northern Colorado Writers
Workshop. Rachael lives in Houston with her husband
and their two furry little bastards. In her not-socopious spare time she bikes and practices kung fu.
What was the inspiration for
the story?
The original idea came up
because I was (yet again)
trying to wrap my brain around
the concept of time dilation
and long distance travel. I liked
the idea of people separated
by the barrier of time in this
way still trying to communicate
with each other as best they
could. What actually got me
to sit down and write it was
the Of Monsters and Men song
“Little Talks” which is very much
about being haunted by the
presence of someone who is
gone. (And there is a reference
to the song in the story for that
reason.)
The story is a love story
at its core. It’s also one of
guilt and loss. Do you feel
that these themes are often
inseparable?
I think so. If you didn’t love
32
INSIDE THE WAYLINE
someone, it wouldn’t
hurt to lose them. It’s
part of the deal, one
of those agonizing and
beautiful things about
the impermanence of
life. To have the joy of
love, you also are forced
to face inevitable loss,
and it’s never easy. It
never should be. And
guilt comes hand in
hand with grief. We look
back into the past and wish we
could change things, or fear
that by moving on all of that
love and pain will somehow
become less real. Life is full of
difficult choices, and letting go
is always one of the hardest.
What themes do you find
yourself returning to in your
work?
I end up writing about
relationships a lot, which is not
something I expected to do
when I was a teenager and
writing horrible stories about
elves with laser guns. (Because
you know, relationships are
boring or something, despite
them
being
completely
fundamental to our every day
existence as social animals.)
I like writing about the way
something so short-lived and
tiny as humans relates to the
vast, ancient universe. I come
back to families a lot, which is
another thing I’ve only realized
in retrospect. I like touching
on the idea of commonalities,
those things that span culture
and experience and make us
all human--like love, and grief,
and loss.
July 2013
Why write?
find more Rachael Acks?
I can’t not write. I’ve been writing
ever since I figured out how to
hold a pencil, and just have
never stopped. I actually get
really cranky and twitchy if I go
for a while when I’m prevented
somehow from writing, like I get
a thought backlog in my head.
I’m currently working on more
Steampunk murder mysteries for
Musa Publishing; I’ll have two
more novellas coming out this
year, and three are already out
and eager for you to read them:
Murder on the Titania, The Ugly Tin
Orrery, and The Curious Case of
Miss Clementine Nimowitz (and
Her Exceedingly Tiny Dog). I have
three novels at various stages I’m
working on. I’m always writing
What are you currently
working on? Where can we
something! I’m also peripherally
involved in a documentary film
project (The Reel Britain) about
the British film industry and I’m
incredibly excited about that.
I’ve had several short stories
published, as well as this current
novella series. To see the list and
get all the relevant links (since
many of the stories are free to
read), please see my website!
INSIDE THE WAYLINE
33
Chip looked in the mirror at the loser with the greasy hair, the thick glasses, and the lame clothes.
He hated him. A new life was his only hope, and hope was right there in the corner of his
bedroom.
Beside his Xbox and under his Star Trek poster stood his patched together temporal displacement
device. It had taken Chip six months of painstaking and secretive work to finish it, and the
theoretical models all looked dubious at best. But it was a chance, and a chance was all he
wanted.
He glanced back, looked at himself in the mirror, and winked. Goodbye dork. He was going
back seven years to make the person in the mirror disappear. A new life. A new him.
Chip cleared the space around the device. The vortex would cover about three feet, and his
entire body had to be within it. He crouched down and pushed the button on the top of the
machine. He didn’t really know if it would work, but he didn’t care. He’d either go back in time
seven years and an opportunity to start over from the age of ten. Or he’d be a pile of goo. Either
was better than his current life.
As the vortex swirled about him, Chip squeezed his eyes shut. The first iteration of his life was over.
It was time for Iteration Two.
34
chips six attempts at popularity
July 2013
From zero to hero.
As his body exploded into a million particles, Chip cringed at his words. He promised to stop
saying such lame things in Iteration Two.
Chip opened his eyes to find himself in his ten year old body. He pumped his fist. It worked! The
same room. The same bed. Heck, some of the posters were the same. But everything was from
seven years earlier.
The first thing he did was rip all the posters down and stuff them in his garbage can. He had to
make room for his Lebron James and Kobe Bryant posters.
He had planned Iteration Two with meticulous detail. Ten thousand hours is what the performance
experts said it took to excel at something, so he put in fifteen thousand. The first two years were
nothing but physical conditioning--running, lifting weights, and agility drills that he invented
himself after hundreds of hours of meticulous research on the web. He cut out his beloved
potato chips and Mountain Dew from his diet. By the time he was twelve he was in tremendous
physical shape and still had room to grow.
He switched to contact lenses. He asked his mom for specific brands and types of clothes. She
looked at him funny at first, but then shrugged and bought them anyway. He styled his hair
based on pictures of teen heartthrobs. When he had the foundation in place, he started the
next phase of his plan.
He bought a basketball and practiced dribbling in his driveway around orange cones. He took
thousands and thousands of shots from every conceivable angle at the school gym. He spent
every daylight moment on the weekends playing pick-up games at the local park. Every time
he got beat by someone faster, he’d scream at his teammates for not backing him up and
then take it out on the opposing team by swishing an impossibly long three-pointer.
Chip was smart enough to not forget a Plan B, however. So he spent his remaining hours
reconstructing his temporal displacement device. Thankfully, he had a head start on the
knowledge he needed from Iteration One so it didn’t take much time to replicate.
The only things that suffered in this new improved Chip were his former geek hobbies and
the relationships with his old friends. He missed the video games and sci-fi movies, and--more
than anything--he missed spending time with his friends discussing everything from Steven
Spielberg’s talent as a director (overrated) to Philip K. Dick’s influence on contemporary
literature (underappreciated) to who was the hottest girl you could marry in Skyrim (Lydia, of
course).
But in the end he couldn’t find a way to fit them into his plan. He simply had no time. Charlie,
Dave, and Vineet quickly fell by the wayside. Chip figured it was for the best anyway. The three
of them were nerds, and he knew from Iteration One--that sad excuse of a life he left behind-that hanging out with them was a one way ticket to unpopularity.
When he didn’t start on the varsity basketball team his senior year, Chip realized that Iteration
Two was a failure. He hadn’t anticipated his own genetic shortcomings. He was a marksman on
the court, and he could handle the basketball, but he was slow. Depressingly, embarrassingly
slow.
He quit the team midway through the season. He finally blew up at the coach and asked him
why he never started a game. The coach slapped him on the back. “Look, Chip. You may be
jake kerr
35
WAYLINES
one of my best players, but you’re outside shooting makes you better off the bench. You’re my
Manu Ginobli and Jason Terry!”
“Give me a chance, coach. Let me start, and I’ll do even more damage.” Chip used his most
studied George Clooney smile.
“No way, Chip.” The coach leaned forward and whispered into Chip’s ear. “You’re my secret
weapon.”
Chip quit the next day. Secret weapons rarely become popular.
But what really made Iteration Two a failure was that Chip hadn’t realized that social interactions
required as much preparation as basketball, and he was woefully unprepared. He was invited
to the right parties. He was considered handsome and part of the jock crowd, but he was
awkward.
He could still remember the time he cracked a joke at the beginning of his senior year. He
wanted to impress Julie Davis, the most popular and pretty girl in school. It was a funny joke,
and it bothered him that he couldn’t understand the silence around him. He wanted to scream,
“I’m not being awkward. You’re all acting like idiots!” but instead just laughed it off. He felt
uncomfortable the rest of the night.
Over time he realized that he was tolerated, rather than included. Moving from excluded to
tolerated wasn’t good enough for Chip. He had worked too hard to settle for anything less
than the best, both on the court and in the school halls. If Julie wasn’t interested in him in
Iteration Two, she would be in Iteration Three.
Chip crouched next to his temporal displacement device. His limber muscular body fit easier
within the three foot radius of the time machine than his former self. Still, he wasn’t happy. Eight
wasted years. He pounded the switch on the device for the second time, this time not out of
self-loathing but frustration.
While Iteration Three was another attempt at becoming popular, it was also a source of research
and became more one of discovery.
It required a complicated plan of social engineering complemented by intense physical
conditioning, all while researching the perfect sport for his body type. There was one addition
to the core plan: He realized that he missed his old friends, so he allowed himself some time for
Vineet, Charlie, and Dave.
The trouble was that since he didn’t watch TV or movies and had no time to read or play video
games he became more and more distant from his friends’ cultural references. Eventually, the
distance was too great, and they grew apart. Chip didn’t realize if it was their fault or his.
He was driven, however, and didn’t let that stop his plan. The situation broke Chip’s heart,
but he couldn’t see a solution. He would go it alone. Then, at his lowest, he broke his leg while
training. Knowing the social and physical repercussions it would have he aborted Iteration
Three.
The research he had done in Iteration Three, however, bore fruit in Iteration Four.
He found the perfect sport--. Wrestling. It was at a low ebb of popularity. All the best athletes
played other sports.
36
chips six attempts at popularity
July 2013
With a lower level of competition, Chip could reasonably assure himself being a leading athlete
at school. At the same time, he used his Iteration Two and Three experience and research to
shape his social skills.
As a freshman, Chip was already a member of the varsity team. His sophomore year he was city
champion, the first individual wrestling champion in the school’s history. He broke the city record
for consecutive match victories as a junior and was state champion. He went undefeated his
senior year and repeated as state champion. At eighteen he was the most decorated varsity
athlete the school ever had.
And he was popular.
Unfortunately, while Chip wanted to be happy and enjoy his accomplishments, he really wasn’t.
He couldn’t quite understand why. He had everything--a series of pretty girlfriends, his classmates
looked up to him, people even recognized him in the street. But it wasn’t enough.
It first hit him when he won the city championship as a sophomore. He was standing over his
opponent, the referee holding his hand high with the crowd chanting his name, and the first
thing that went through his mind was that it wasn’t nearly as exciting as when he single-handedly
took down the Barnacle Boys nexus in League of Legends. Now that was hard.
He quickly shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the real issue--he had to admit that his
plan was coming up short. He didn’t sacrifice and work that hard to be just part of the popular
crowd. His girlfriend was never the most popular girl in the school. He was popular, and his
interactions at parties and in the halls were pleasant, but Chip didn’t have people fawning over
him.
So he worked harder.
But it wasn’t enough, and it all came crashing down one day when he came home from school.
He was mad that the football quarterback was taking Julie to the prom. He had asked her the
day before, and she led him to believe she would say yes. Julie--the hottest girl in the school, the
unreachable girl who he pined for since Iteration One--would go with him to the prom.
But then she picked the same loser she did in every other iteration. He pounded up the stairway
to his room when his mom yelled up, “Chip, remember that no matter how bad things are, your
Dad and I love you!”
It was the exact same thing his mom said to him over and over again in Iteration One, after he
got bullied, after girls laughed at him, after every insult. He swore to himself that his mom would
never use that phrase again. He had a different plan, a better one.
He slammed the button on the temporal displacement device in anger.
Iteration Five abandoned the physical approach for a wealth strategy.
Chip used his knowledge of the future to become ridiculously wealthy by his sophomore year.
The web heralded him as a financial prodigy, the next Warren Buffett. He even had time to
spend with Dave, Charlie, and Vineet. But it wasn’t the same. Chip didn’t like the way his money
changed them. Hanging out in the basement and making fun of pirated movies from the
Internet didn’t have as much appeal to his friends when they knew he could just pay for them
all to go to Hollywood and watch the movie being made, probably even get them a part in the
damned thing. They constantly wanted to buy things, rather than do things.
jake kerr
37
WAYLINES
Even at school, his successes felt empty. Julie--unobtainable, gorgeous, and popular Julie--went
to the prom with him and dated him all senior year. But her attention wasn’t on him; it was on his
money.
When he pushed the button on his temporal displacement device for the fifth time, he did so with
a sigh.
Iteration Six was an attempt to combine the strategies of Iteration Four and Iteration Five.
Even after cutting out his friends, navigating wealth planning, social engineering, and intense
athletic training was overwhelming. Chip bailed out when he suffered a myocardial infarction
after getting only than three hours of sleep a night.
Iteration Seven wouldn’t count.
It was intended to be a short break from the plan. He would replicate Iteration One: Hang out
with his loser friends, get fat, ugly, and wallow in unpopularity. He would then go into Iteration
Eight disgusted at this pathetic life, motivating himself with a renewed sense of purpose, the pain
of this repeat of Iteration One fresh in his mind.
An exhausted Chip pressed the button to start Iteration Seven.
He didn’t waste any time embracing his old habits. He scarfed down potato chips and chugged
Mountain Dew. He wore his “Han shot first” t-shirt to school. The popular kids ignored him when
they weren’t teasing him. He didn’t care--he was too busy having fun.
He argued with Charlie over whether Peter Jackson’s Hobbit adaptation butchered the source
material (it did). He argued with Vineet over whether Firefly was better than Star Trek (it was). Oh,
and he married Lydia in Skyrim.
There was no Iteration Eight.
© 2013 Jake Kerr
Jake Kerr is a science fiction author of short fiction whose
works have appeared in Lightspeed, Fireside, Escape
Pod, and other publications. His first published story, “The
Old Equations,” was nominated for the Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial, and the StorySouth Million Writers
awards. He lives in Texas, with his wife and three daughters.
What was the inspiration for But an odd thing
happened as I wrote
Chip’s story?
This is one of those stories where
my initial idea was turned on
its head. Like so many fans of
science fiction and fantasy, I
was one of the unpopular kids in
grade school. So I was working
on a prompt for a story, and it
hit me that I could write a story
where the nerd could get his
revenge by manufacturing the
details of his life to guaranty
his popularity. This is not a new
idea, but I thought that I could
make the journey a bit of a
puzzle piece, with plenty of trial
and error and fits and starts. I
was near the end of the story
when I realized that if I was in
Chip’s shoes I would probably
be getting frustrated after
a few failures. So I planned
on him revisiting his nerd life
and then going back for the
triumphant conclusion of him
being popular.
39
INSIDE THE WAYLINE
about his former life.
I realized that the
experience of reliving
his life gave him a new
appreciation of that
former life, difficult as it
was. Rather than seeing
it as an affirmation of
the pursuit of popularity,
it was a repudiation
of the value of popularity. So
the inspiration of the story--the
idea that a nerd could achieve
happiness by being infiltrating
the popular crowd--doesn’t
exist in the final story. In a way,
I like to think that I learned a
lesson myself in writing the story.
The story encompasses the
theme of the struggle for the
assertion of identity. How
do you feel this is changing
in more recent years with
the radical evolution in
communications?
There is this odd dichotomy
in the world today: It has
never been easier to assume
multiple
identities.
You
can have multiple email
addresses, multiple avatars,
and have multiple online
presences across numerous
Internet communities. You
can be an angry activist in
one community and a mildmannered hobbyist in another.
You can compartmentalize
your personality so that you
can feel at home everywhere
in some form or fashion.
WAYLINES
Yet, at the same time, our lives
have never been more public.
From social media to search
engines, the ability to hide your
words, photos, and behaviors
has never been more difficult.
I think that one of the biggest
challenges in the near future
for our youth is one that is
timeless--discovering who they
really are--but one that will be
substantially more difficult.
What did being nominated
for the Nebula mean
to you, personally and
professionally?
When I was twelve years old I
read the Science Fiction Hall
of Fame anthologies over
and over again. They were
compilations of stories that
the Science Fiction Writers of
America considered worthy
of the Nebula Award from a
time before the Nebula Award
existed.
From
Cordwainer
Smith to Theodore Sturgeon, I
was in awe. My bedroom was
in the basement of our house,
and I would curl up in bed,
read a story, and dream about
someday being able to write
stories like these, and maybe-just maybe--one day being
nominated for a Nebula.
Being nominated for a Nebula
was thus for me one of those
primal dreams of your youth
that you never expect to come
true, like telling your nephew
that of course he could grow
up to be president or your
own daughter that, yes, you
will someday be an astronaut.
We see them as dreams,
something to strive for but not
realistically attainable. Yet,
here I was living this dream.
It was the most humbling,
powerful, and extraordinary
moment of my life. That little
boy who lived in the basement
had lived his dream. I still
halfway can’t believe it as I
type it now.
Professionally, it certainly has
helped familiarize my name,
but ultimately people judge
you by the stories you write
and not the awards you are
nominated for. So I hope that
I am slowly creating a body
of work that will define my
writing more than an award
nomination.
Why write?
I answered this at length in a
post on my blog, but the short
answer is that I am so moved
by stories that I read that I find
it a powerful thing to be able
to do that to others. if I can
move others with my stories, I
know just how important that is,
because I have been moved,
as well.
What are you currently
working on? Where can we
find more Jake Kerr?
I’m working on a novel at the
moment, but I have a few
short stories coming up in
anthologies over the next year
or so. Even while working on a
novel, I continue to be drawn
to short fiction, so I doubt I will
ever become one of those
novel-only writers. The best way
to find more work by me is to
visit my website, www.jakekerr.
com.
INSIDE THE WAYLINE
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