Kevin L. O'Brien's Blog: Songs of the Seanchaí, page 38

Bio of Dr. Mabuse

Elizabeth Rebecca Mabuse was born in 1956 in St. Louis to a prostitute who abandoned her at the hospital. She gave the baby’s name for the birth certificate, but refused to give her own or name the father. She then disappeared during the night.

Mabuse was given over to foster care, but she was bounced from one loveless home to another. In at least one instance she was emotionally and physically abused, and in another sexually abused. Unlike other children in her situation, however, she had a highly intelligent and disciplined mind and she used it to cope by suppressing her emotions and training herself in logic and rational thought, so that she could dissociate herself from whatever was being done to her.

When she turned fifteen, however, her life changed forever. She was approached by a lawyer who gave her three items entrusted to his care. The first was a file of documents, the second a business card for a Swiss bank with an account number printed on it, and the third a key to a storage facility. The documents explained her heritage, while the storage unit contained notebooks and laboratory paraphernalia, but the Swiss bank account caught everyone’s attention: it showed a balance of close to ten million dollars. Her current foster parents tried to seize control of the funds, citing her as a minor. However, she sued for emancipation with the lawyer’s help on the grounds of financial self-sufficiency, and was granted adult status, due in no small part to her apparent maturity.

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Medb's Early Years

This post describes the early years of the life of Medb hErenn in Bronze Age Ireland, from shortly before her birth to her exile. It is based on Irish mythology and Irish pseudohistory.

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In 1516 B.C.E., Ireland was occupied by three races: the Fir Bholg, the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Heidhbernigh. Nine years previously, the Danann had arrived in Ireland and claimed the northeast corner of the island for themselves. Though they ruled themselves, they had pledged fealty to the king of the Fir Bholgs in exchange for peace. Nonetheless, a kind of cold war state existed between them and tensions sometimes ran high. As of that time, the Danann are unaware that the Fir Bholg are simply proxies, acting on behalf of the true rulers of Ireland, the Fomóraigh. The Danann were ruled by their king, Nuada, whereas the king of the Fir Bholg was Sláinge Mac Dela. The Fomóraigh had a number of kings, but over them all was the High King, Balor of the Baleful Eye.

That same year, a minor Fir Bholg chieftain named Eochaidh Mac Eirc was conducting a raid against a Heidhbernigh village allied to the Danann, when he spied a Danann maiden bathing in a pool. He became enamored of her, seized her, and carried her back to his stronghold in Connacht, where he forced himself on her and got her with child. Only afterward did he discover that he had taken a cousin of Nuada, the Danann king, named Cruacha. Having been defiled with alien blood, Nuada refused to ransom her, so Eochaidh sent her to live in a nearby Heidhbernigh village as a bondwoman. The Heidhbernigh were frightened of her at first, partly because of the stories their Fir Bholg overseers told of Danann atrocities, partly because she was so alien looking, and partly because at first her attitude was one of haughty superiority. However, it soon became obvious that she was not used to the drudgery of working in the fields or tending animals, so they took pity on her and adopted her. Medb was born the following year.

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Next eBook: Gruff Tolls

The next story in my schedule to be published through Smashwords will be:

Gruff Tolls

Medb hErenn and her companions Morgiana the Thief and Mephitis the Apothecary are trying to get out off the Plateau of Leng, but the only way is across a deep chasm bridged by a web spun by a Leng Spider. No doubt it will charge some kind of toll, but can they pay its price?

This will be another free ebook.

New eBook: Far-Sight

I have just published my latest ebook:

Far-Sight

Jeremiah Arkenton is a dedicated and consummate theoretical scientist, while his wife Kathleen is a technological genius in her own right. Together they have made many breakthroughs for the US government and military while pursuing their own pet projects. They more than anyone, even among their fellow scientists, understand the risk inherent in scientific research, especially when investigations push beyond the boundary of what is known into the unknown, to deliberately probe the limits of what is possible versus what is impossible.

Jeremiah and Kathleen are asked by their good friend Laban Shrewsbury to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a scientist working at the Natural History Museum in Denver, Colorado, at the request of a former student who heads the research department. It turns out to be a classic "locked room" mystery, with the only clue being an enigmatic device that resembles a telescope. The researcher's notes describe it as a "tachyon television", which uses particles that travel faster than light to "see" objects farther away than is possible for any device that relies on normal electromagnetic waves, such as light or radio waves.

To solve the mystery, the couple decide they must activate the device to see what happens. At the same time, they must try to avoid the same fate of the hapless museum scientist.

This ebook is free and can be downloaded from Smashwords.

Plot Device: The McGuffin

[This is the first of what I plan to be a series explaining various plot devices used in fiction.]

There are many aspects of the nature and mechanics of writing with which even well established professional writers are unaware. It is a matter of some debate as to whether a writer needs to know what these are to be a good writer, but for myself, I find them fascinating, and I like investigating them simply for the sake of expanding my knowledge. Even so, I believe that knowing about them helps my writing, not only to create better plots, but also to avoid pitfalls that can trap unwary amateurs and beginners.

For example, there are two broad categories of important aspects of writing that make stories what they are. One is literary elements. These aspects exist inherently in fiction; they are well-nigh universal, and they appear as emergent characteristics in any work of literature. Examples include plot, theme, motif, protagonist, setting, narrator, and tone. The other category is literary techniques, also known as literary devices. Whereas elements are characteristic of the nature of writing, techniques are part of the mechanics of writing. They are aspects that writers intentionally use to tell their stories; essentially, they are important methods and tools. Though not universal, many appear in most stories. When used well, they can enhance a story, making it more interesting or profound, but if used clumsily, they can weaken a story to the point of rendering it inane or incomprehensible.

Among the many types of literary techniques available are plot devices. These are techniques whose only purpose is to advance, enhance, or maintain the story's plot. They epitomize the idea of how the way a technique is used can strengthen or degrade a story, because they are often misused, either through ignorance of their existence or inexperience of how to properly use them. They also display gradations of skill even when used correctly.

For example, the Ark of the Covenant is practically useless to the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, except when it's used as a deus ex machina (literally!) to save the hero and heroine; its only purpose until then is to impel Indiana Jones to acquire it before the Nazis do. In contrast, the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings is more than a mere plot device, because in addition to providing a motive for the adventure (though the real motive is to defeat Sauron), it also serves as a symbol of the lust for power, and it acts as a direct corrupting influence that threatens the success of the entire adventure.

In this and future posts, I make no attempt to instruct on how to use a particular plot device correct, because I am still trying to figure that out myself. Instead, I simply intend to state its existence and attempt to define and describe it. Hopefully, in doing so, I can make others aware of it and perhaps spur them to learn how to use it well.

One common plot device is the MacGuffin. It could almost be viewed as the quintessential plot device, because its sole purpose is to provide the motivating force for the characters in the story to pursue the actions that make up the plot. Essentially, without a MacGuffin, there would be no story. This doesn't mean that every story must have a MacGuffin; rather, it's to point out that it is the exceptional tale that doesn't.

Most MacGuffins are some specific object, place, or person, but they can also be more abstract, such as a general or basic desire for money, success, love, survival, or revenge. In other words, it is anything that spurs the characters to act. Since few stories do not have some kind of motivating force, nearly all stories have a MacGuffin by default. It is the one technique that could almost be an element.

There are two types of MacGuffins, weak and strong. The weak MacGuffin was popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, when he defined it as "nothing at all". By which he meant it was something around which the plot revolved, but whose specific identity was so unimportant that the audience didn't care about it. Basically, a weak MacGuffin has little or no affect on the plot beyond motivating the characters, and often there is virtually no explanation as to why the characters consider it so important. As such, it could appear once, at the beginning of the story, and then disappear never to return, or it could be mentioned but not actually appear at all until the end. It could be present throughout a story but only as a feature in the background, or it need not appear at all. The Maltese Falcon (pictured) is a good example of a weak MacGuffin.

I use the golden mushroom, in the eponymous story, as a weak MacGuffin to get Eile and Sunny into trouble. Other than it being needed by Mephitis the Apothecary to prepare her potions, I don't explain why the Girls refuse to forgo collecting it despite the danger. It makes an appearance at the beginning and end of the story, but plays no part in the events that occur in between. Its only purpose is to get Team Girl to agree to undertake a dangerous mission, but without it there would have been no story. (To be fair, the real motive spurring the Girls to succeed is to save the life of their feline friend, Shadow-stalker, but their desire for the golden mushroom brought that about as well.)

In contrast, a strong MacGuffin, as defined by George Lucas, should have a powerful influence on the plot, and the audience should care about it as much as the main characters. As such, it should appear early, remain throughout the story, and not go away until the conflict is resolved. R2D2 in Star Wars is a good example of a strong MacGuffin, though the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings is a better one.

In my story The Denver Walker , the alien berserker robot serves as a strong MacGuffin. Not only are Eile and Sunny motivated to destroy it before it destroys Denver, they must fight their way through its defenses and avoid being destroyed by its main weapon. As such, the Walker not only initiates the story, but plays an important role as the events unfold. Similarly, in my story Youthful Indiscretion , the Lament Configuration summons Pinhead and the Cenobites to Differel's manor house, and Dr. Mabuse uses it to figure out how to defeat them. It then reappears at the very end to serve as a future threat.

Another way of looking at the MacGuffin, as defined by Yves Lavandier, is as the secret that motivates the villains. Similar to the weak MacGuffin, the protagonist may not know what it is, but neither does he care, not even about why the good guys or bad guys want it. His only interest is in extricating himself from the trouble he finds himself in because of it. In this special case, he feels no need to find it, and in fact would rather avoid finding it so as not to get himself in any deeper. Whether or not he, and by extension the audience, ever learn what the secret is, is left to the discretion of the creator of the story. In a broader sense, Lavandier's definition would be that a MacGuffin is any justification for the story's conflict.

My story The Lions of Inganok makes use of a Lavandier MacGuffin. Medb doesn't care why the idol of Bast has been stolen; all she cares about is finding and retrieving it. Even after the villain tells her why he took it, the explanation plays no part in resolving the conflict. My story Oak Do Hate uses a modified version, in that at first Differel doesn't know how or why her people disappeared, but when she does find out she uses it to devise a plan to restore them.

A final form of the MacGuffin is the "plot coupon". Often used as a term of derision, it refers to a MacGuffin, usually more than one, which is needed to bring about the climax. This is different from a strong MacGuffin in that a strong MacGuffin is virtually a character in its own right, such that any change to the MacGuffin drastically changes the plot, whereas a plot coupon is a random object, wherein any random object could substitute with virtually no change to the plot. An example would be the Sivalinga stone from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Indie needs to possess it to succeed, but in the end any powerful sacred object could substitute without changing the story.

The plot coupon is especially prominent when a story has multiple MacGuffins, all of which are needed to bring the story to a climax. As one critic described it, such a story becomes little more than a scavenger hunt to collect them all and trade them in for the ending. Interestingly enough, the typical mystery could be described in this way, with clues forming the plot coupons. After all, the detective (or reader) can't solve the mystery until he has collected all the legitimate clues and separated them from the red herrings. He then "cashes" them in to acquire the solution. However, mystery clues are more like strong MacGuffins, because they have an influence on the plot, and changing any clue changes the solution.

My story No Torrent Like Greed (which I co-wrote with CJ Henderson), uses plot coupons. I could be generous with myself and call them clues, except the story is not a true mystery but more like a detective story. Ultimately, Thorner has no hope of getting himself out of the mess he's found himself in without discovering each coupon in its proper sequence. The only saving grace is that he doesn't need any of them to resolve the story's conflict.

An Overview of the Dreamlands

There is no consensus among scholars as to the true nature of the Land of Dreams, other than the obvious fact that it seems to be an alternative reality that certain people can psychically visit while they sleep. Even the nature of the form of visitation is heavily disputed. Waking World experiments have shown that, with the exception of the overlay of an odd brainwave pattern, no change occurs in the physiology of the sleeper. Indeed, he or she will continue to cycle through the stages of sleep even as he or she sojourns through the Lands.

As such, there is no certainty as to whether the mind is a separate state from the biological brain, or if some other aspect separate from the mind, such as the soul or an animus spirit, makes the transition. Even whether the visitation can be called “dreaming” in any real sense is disputed, though Dreaming (note the capital ‘D’) is still used as a term of convenience.

Especially controversial is the metaphysical nature of the Dreamworld, whether it be a true physicality, or an illusory mental construct, or even a form of collective unconsciousness. All that is known for certain is that the form and substance of the Dreamlands may be altered by sheer force of will. In other words, one need only imagine a change and will it into existence, though this is easier said than done. Nonetheless, this seems to explain Dreamlands magic. A favorite explanation for this ability is that the Schrodinger wavefunction of the Lands is more easily manipulated than that of the Waking World, but this is by no means universally accepted.

Equally profound is the mystery as to why only certain persons are able to Dream, as well as why Dreaming is limited to certain species, specifically Humans, Cats, Dolphins, and Spiders. Also uncertain is whether other creatures, such as birds, are themselves Dreamers, or are constructs created by Dreamers.

Smart Girls Are Beautiful Too

Sharona Turing
Chief Analyst and Logician

When Abraham Van Helsing defeated Vlad Drakulya and took him as the family protector, he really didn't know what to do with him. It was Dindrane Amanda Pendragon who suggested he use him to hunt down and destroy monsters. Old Abraham realized that the best way to accomplish this was within an organization dedicated to that purpose, so he created the Caerleon Order of the Companions of St. George.

In the beginning the Order was very small, just Abraham as director and Dindrane as field agent, with Jonathon Harker as solicitor, Mina Harker as secretary, record keeper, and librarian, and Dr. John Seward as medical and scientific advisor. Arthur Holmwood Lord Godalming was their chief financial benefactor. At the time, government, military, and constabulary officials would forward reports of unusual or bizarre occurrences to the Order and Abraham evaluated them to determine which warranted further investigation. Dindrane would then investigate and either deal with the situation herself or call for backup, which meant Dracula. It wasn't long, however, before Abraham realized that the Order needed dedicated field agents trained to search out and investigate occurrences on their own. He began recruiting constables, soldiers, and spies, and setting them up in field stations, essentially buildings Abraham bought with Order funds. The agents would perform their own investigations and file reports for Abraham's review.

This system worked well for many years, but as the Order grew and the frequency and severity of paranormal events increased, too many reports came in for one person to handle. Abraham finally hired a small staff to perform the initial reviews and pass on to him the most important reports, but he also relied on his son George and later his daughter Angela, who seemed to have a knack for analysis.

When George became Director, he realized that the Order had grown too large for the Director to handle analysis, and he appointed his sister Angela to be Chief Analyst, with the support of his brother Reginald who served as Manager and their sister Lucille who was a field agent. Angela set about revamping the entire process by which the Order conducted investigations. It was largely due to her that the system of substations with field agents came about, though at the time there were no other main stations except Caerleon Hall in Denver. She also created the analysis section of the Order and set most of its policies.

She persuaded George to purchase a stately home in London to serve as the headquarters for the analysis section. She divided the United Kingdom into five districts --- the East centered on Norfolk, the South centered on London, the West and Midlands centered on Shropshire, the North centered on Northumberland, and Northern Ireland centered on Antrim --- and drew up plans for the acquisition of other property to serve as the main stations in those districts, though Castle Connarath outside of Shrewsbury was the only one purchased in her lifetime.

Her procedure was that the local substations would investigate paranormal events in their areas and send reports to their district stations. There they would be evaluated and the most urgent sent to Denver House in London. There they would be further scrutinized, with only the most critical sent to Caerleon Hall for a final review before presentation to the Director for action. At any point along the way, a station or substation could deal with the threat themselves; that way, only the most catastrophic need be handled by the Director personally.

This procedure is still used by the Order today, but it has undergone review and modification in recent years, thanks largely to Sharona Turing. An anomaly, she is the cousin of Alan Turing, the famous mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist, the father of artificial intelligence. She inherited his genius, but also her grandmother's breathtaking beauty.

What's more, while growing up she learned how to live with and blend both without hiding one or the other. Her teachers loved her despite her often provocative dress and flirtatious manner, she had numerous girl friends who were not intimidated either by her looks or her brain because she loved being girly as much as they did, and boys didn't care that she could perform integration calculus and differential analysis in her head while she made out with them.

She graduated college with a double PhD in mathematics and logic with a minor in computer science, and almost immediately was recruited by the Joint Intelligence Committee to work as part of the Government Communications Headquarters in Maths & Cryptoanalysis. While there she had to tone down her libido, but after a short while no one cared how she dressed or acted because when she was occupied by work she became a cold calculating machine who could crack any problem no matter how difficult.

Differel first met her when she gave a talk on the future of paranormal activity in the United Kingdom during the 21st century. She was impressed by the woman's understanding of her analysis and its flaws, and her defense of it when Lord Steele, President of the Privy Council, challenged it. After the conference, Differel corresponded with her and finally arranged for her to take a leave of absence from the GCHQ to come to Caerleon Hall to check her data and perform a more rigorous analysis. When Sharona questioned her basic assumptions, Differel gave her a free hand to do her own analysis from scratch.

Whereas it had taken Differel months to do her original analysis, Sharona finished in a week, though Differel had been an amateur working by trial and error and Sharona had used the Order computers to perform the number crunching. Her analysis was better, but differed from Differel's by at most only a percent, thereby indicating that it had been quite sound. She returned to the GCHQ, but found the work had suddenly become boring. She had become intrigued with the idea of paranormal events being real, and excited about new possibilities for analysis of the data. After a month she applied for a transfer to the Order, and Differel accepted her as soon as the request crossed her desk.

Sharona spent her first year as a regular analyst, working and living in Denver, while she learned about the Order and its purpose, and the limits of her behavior that would be tolerated. During that time she had tea with Differel frequently, and they discussed ways to improve the Order's analysis protocols. None of her recommendations were adopted, however, and she became frustrated. Even as she considered quitting, during tea one day Differel announced that the current Chief Analyst was retiring and Differel wanted her to take over. When she had Differel's assurances she could implement any reform she wished, she accepted.

Much of Sharona's reforms have so far been to make the analysis work more efficient and rigorous. She has, however, come to realize that some are not practical for the organization, while others don't improve the process, just make it more complicated. Differel has impressed on her that she wants the Order to be streamlined and fast, and not get bogged down in protocols that may be required for publication in a scientific journal but could cost lives by delaying action. Sharona has accepted this and adapted, while also insisting on rigor where it helps rather than hinders.

Sharona is still a flirt and dresses provocatively. Though she would draw the line at string bikinis and dressing like a tart, Differel largely doesn't care, since Sharona is a masterful logician and cryptanalyst. Sharona has formed a close friendship with Maggie King and is friendly with Madam Trumbo, but she and Mrs. Widget are antagonistic because of the differences in their personalities. Even so, they rarely cross paths and they do respect each other. Sharona also respects Aelfraed and treats him with deference, while he is amused rather than appalled by her behavior. She mercilessly teases Giles Holt, who takes it with good humor even while she embarrasses him. She could be friends with Differel, if the blue blood didn't prefer to keep even her closest associates at arm's length.

Medb hErenn's Bio

[image error]Medb hErenn is both the demiurge and the genius loci of Team Girl. She has determined, using mitochondrial DNA analysis, that Eile is her great-great-great-etc-granddaughter by direct matrilineal descent. That is, if Eile traced her ancestry back through her mother’s mother’s mother’s etc mother, she would come to Medb in Ireland sometime in the first century C.E. This gives Medb a proprietary interest in Eile’s welfare. She was also the person who arranged for Sunny’s parents to defect to the United States, and they made her Sunny’s godmother. As such, she has been watching over the Hiver family ever since. When the girls first met, she arranged for them to be together and has protected their welfare. She has served as their friend and mentor ever since.

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Word Portrait of Medb hErenn

A well defined word portrait is not only an asset for storytelling and illustration, it is also part of what is necessary to properly protect a fictional character from unauthorized use. When deciding whether a particular character deserves protection beyond the story itself, a court considers as one factor whether a 'literary character...has been delineated to the point at which its behavior is relatively predictable so that when placed in a new plot situation, it will react in ways that are at once distinctive and unsurprising.' To that end, the appearance and personality of Medb hErenn have been meticulously worked out and continues to evolve.

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Next eBook: Far-Sight

The next story in my schedule to be published through Smashwords will be:

Far-Sight

Many philosophers, past and present, have suggested that there are some things man was never meant to know, for his own good. H. P. Lovecraft wrote that space is a bottomless abyss from which any inconceivable horror can spring. This story illustrates both sentiments with avengeance.

This will be another free ebook.