Jennifer Petkus's Blog, page 21
August 2, 2011
July 28, 2011
July 27, 2011
The dead outnumber the living
The dead outnumber the living. Simple fact. You may be surrounded by more disembodied people right now than living. You may be sharing your house with several dead people, in fact.
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July 26, 2011
The influence of A Christmas Carol
After writing GCDC, I was amazed at the influence of A Christmas Carol on the book. The story is a favorite of mine and I refer to it at least twice: Alex hoping he could clank chains like Marley’s ghost and he and Linda watching the Alastair Sim movie together.
But I realize now that the idea for the AfterNet probably grew out of the Dicken’s mention of the ghosts who wailed because being spirits they were no longer able to help the needy they saw:
The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.
And that is a particular torment for the disembodied in my book. Before the discovery of the afterlife, the dead could do nothing when they watched their loved ones suffering. They couldn’t tell a person oblivious to an oncoming truck “Look out!” They couldn’t comfort their children on the loss of their children.
More than a few people have commented on the bleak nature of the world I created. On the surface, of course, GCDC is your standard buddy cop scenario, but if you think about it a little, it’s really a bleak picture. (Of course, I like to think the characters and story keep you from thinking about the bleakness too much.)
Anyway, the ghosts in A Christmas Carol are doomed, but Scrooge is given a chance to redeem himself, just like Munroe realizes he’s been a misery guts all his life. Having had a taste of eternity without the ability to affect the world, he’s now more than ready to talk.
Now, I can’t make a claim that the AfterNet terminal gives everyone a chance at redemption, or that if this were actually true, God forbid, that people would make different choices in their lives with the knowledge that they would have an eternity to mull over the consequences of their actions.
I think the young will still think they’ll live forever. I think bad people will still commit murder. I think those contemplating suicide will still teeter on the brink of life and death. I don’t know if the knowledge of a tangible but tenuous afterlife will sway people for good or ill. Maybe in my fictional world, the AfterNet itself will make a difference as the living learn from the mistakes of the dead, or maybe evil people who have died will simply have another chance to be evil again from beyond the grave.
But I realize now that the idea for the AfterNet probably grew out of the Dicken’s mention of the ghosts who wailed because being spirits they were no longer able to help the needy they saw:
The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.
And that is a particular torment for the disembodied in my book. Before the discovery of the afterlife, the dead could do nothing when they watched their loved ones suffering. They couldn’t tell a person oblivious to an oncoming truck “Look out!” They couldn’t comfort their children on the loss of their children.
More than a few people have commented on the bleak nature of the world I created. On the surface, of course, GCDC is your standard buddy cop scenario, but if you think about it a little, it’s really a bleak picture. (Of course, I like to think the characters and story keep you from thinking about the bleakness too much.)
Anyway, the ghosts in A Christmas Carol are doomed, but Scrooge is given a chance to redeem himself, just like Munroe realizes he’s been a misery guts all his life. Having had a taste of eternity without the ability to affect the world, he’s now more than ready to talk.
Now, I can’t make a claim that the AfterNet terminal gives everyone a chance at redemption, or that if this were actually true, God forbid, that people would make different choices in their lives with the knowledge that they would have an eternity to mull over the consequences of their actions.
I think the young will still think they’ll live forever. I think bad people will still commit murder. I think those contemplating suicide will still teeter on the brink of life and death. I don’t know if the knowledge of a tangible but tenuous afterlife will sway people for good or ill. Maybe in my fictional world, the AfterNet itself will make a difference as the living learn from the mistakes of the dead, or maybe evil people who have died will simply have another chance to be evil again from beyond the grave.
Woke up dead and unemployed
Looking for work is probably not the first thing you’re going to do after waking up dead. You’ll have to suffer through all the stages of grief first and then you’ll have to learn how to use the AfterNet field so you can access the Internet. But after a while, you’ll probably give some thought to making a living, or whatever.
Because even though you’re dead, you’re going to want things. What!? That’s crazy, you say. What kind of stuff would a dead person want? After all, you no longer need to eat or sleep. You have no body so you can’t handle anything tangible.
But let’s say you’ve just died and your one consolation is that you now have time to read. Well how are you going to do that? You can’t take a book from a shelf or flip pages, so how are you going to read? The answer is obvious: e-books. But unless you’re willing to wait until that John Grisham courtroom thriller becomes available through your local library’s e-book rental, you’ll have to buy the e-book online and read it via the AfterNet.
Or maybe you like to travel and want to take a trip. Well you know it won’t be too long before the airlines decide they can’t just let the dead fly for free. They’ll either bar the dead from getting on a plane or charge extra for AfterNet access in flight.
So you’ll need money to buy those e-books or book that plane trip. Or you’ll need money to buy that anniversary present for your still living spouse. Or pay the lawyer who’s trying to nullify your will because you discovered after your death that your spouse was cheating on you.
I’m pretty sure the dead will acquire physical things as well. If you enjoyed collecting works of art when you were living, you may want to do continue doing so after you’re dead. But where do you put your black velvet Elvis paintings? Well you’ll need an apartment, of course. You won’t need a bathroom, kitchen or bedroom, of course, unless you plan on entertaining living guests.
Pretty soon, the dead will be buying real estate in competition with the living, which makes prices go up and makes it more necessary for the dead to accumulate wealth.
You see I don’t think being dead will make people better. Sure, a lot of the dead will become philosophic about the whole being disembodied thing, but I’m afraid many will still want what they wanted when alive: money and power.
Because even though you’re dead, you’re going to want things. What!? That’s crazy, you say. What kind of stuff would a dead person want? After all, you no longer need to eat or sleep. You have no body so you can’t handle anything tangible.
But let’s say you’ve just died and your one consolation is that you now have time to read. Well how are you going to do that? You can’t take a book from a shelf or flip pages, so how are you going to read? The answer is obvious: e-books. But unless you’re willing to wait until that John Grisham courtroom thriller becomes available through your local library’s e-book rental, you’ll have to buy the e-book online and read it via the AfterNet.
Or maybe you like to travel and want to take a trip. Well you know it won’t be too long before the airlines decide they can’t just let the dead fly for free. They’ll either bar the dead from getting on a plane or charge extra for AfterNet access in flight.
So you’ll need money to buy those e-books or book that plane trip. Or you’ll need money to buy that anniversary present for your still living spouse. Or pay the lawyer who’s trying to nullify your will because you discovered after your death that your spouse was cheating on you.
I’m pretty sure the dead will acquire physical things as well. If you enjoyed collecting works of art when you were living, you may want to do continue doing so after you’re dead. But where do you put your black velvet Elvis paintings? Well you’ll need an apartment, of course. You won’t need a bathroom, kitchen or bedroom, of course, unless you plan on entertaining living guests.
Pretty soon, the dead will be buying real estate in competition with the living, which makes prices go up and makes it more necessary for the dead to accumulate wealth.
You see I don’t think being dead will make people better. Sure, a lot of the dead will become philosophic about the whole being disembodied thing, but I’m afraid many will still want what they wanted when alive: money and power.
July 25, 2011
GoodReads Book Giveaway!
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
Good Cop, Dead Cop
by Jennifer Petkus
Giveaway ends August 08, 2011.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter to win
July 23, 2011
Union Station photo
Here's the original photo of Denver's Union Station:
Chapter 6 Footnotes
There aren't many footnotes for Chapter 6, although it does introduce the central idea behind the plot of Good Cop, Dead Cop, and you might want to stop here if you haven't read or finished the book.
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July 22, 2011
The dead fly for free on Southwest
Well, at least I hope Southwest Airlines will never charge the dead for flying. OK, now that I have your attention, what is this all about?
If you’ve lived all your life in Lima, OH, which I am sure is a very nice town, and never traveled, after your death you might decide to take that European vacation you always dreamed of. But in the world of Good Cop, Dead Cop, the disembodied can’t just pop out of existence in Lima and end up in Rome. They can move at roughly walking speed, but can go faster if they really, really concentrate. In fact their speed is limited only by their ability to concentrate, but you can only concentrate on “go fast, go fast” for so long until you think about something else.
And walking across the ocean is both difficult — storms and waves — and boring. So most of the disembodied would prefer to fly — on a commercial airline — which makes the “How many souls on board?” question difficult to answer. Early on, the airlines provided free AfterNet hotspots that would allow the disembodied to chat amongst themselves or access the Internet. But as the purchasing power of the dead increased, the airlines decided to start charging for AfterNet access.
But then some bean counters decided they shouldn’t let the dead fly free. So United Airlines decided to experiment with putting low power fields that would prevent the dead from entering a plane, unless they paid for a ticket, admittedly a very low cost ticket. You’ll see something like this in Chapter 14 of Good Cop, Dead Cop:
Well, the experiment was a public relations fiasco and Southwest Airlines took advantage of their disembodied fly for free on Southwest campaign. Of course, they still charge the dead for AfterNet access. The dead can fly free, but you still have to pay to chat.
If you’ve lived all your life in Lima, OH, which I am sure is a very nice town, and never traveled, after your death you might decide to take that European vacation you always dreamed of. But in the world of Good Cop, Dead Cop, the disembodied can’t just pop out of existence in Lima and end up in Rome. They can move at roughly walking speed, but can go faster if they really, really concentrate. In fact their speed is limited only by their ability to concentrate, but you can only concentrate on “go fast, go fast” for so long until you think about something else.
And walking across the ocean is both difficult — storms and waves — and boring. So most of the disembodied would prefer to fly — on a commercial airline — which makes the “How many souls on board?” question difficult to answer. Early on, the airlines provided free AfterNet hotspots that would allow the disembodied to chat amongst themselves or access the Internet. But as the purchasing power of the dead increased, the airlines decided to start charging for AfterNet access.
But then some bean counters decided they shouldn’t let the dead fly free. So United Airlines decided to experiment with putting low power fields that would prevent the dead from entering a plane, unless they paid for a ticket, admittedly a very low cost ticket. You’ll see something like this in Chapter 14 of Good Cop, Dead Cop:
“He’s over here,” he said, motioning for her to follow. She followed him to another entrance, also a part of the large glass wall that bisected the lobby of the building. Glowing neon outlined the disembodied entrance.
“The neon doesn’t do anything,” he explained. “It just looks cool. The real deterrent is the coil that runs around the frame.”
She looked more closely and saw that a twisted band of copper wires, making an eighth of an inch bundle, was embedded in the glass that surrounded the entrance.
“That?” she asked, pointing. “Doesn’t look very thick.”
“It doesn’t take very much to stop the dead. A weak negative field prevents unauthorized visitors. You walked through the same field when you entered the Orgasmatron … the security carousel. It detects any disembodied who try to sneak in.”
Well, the experiment was a public relations fiasco and Southwest Airlines took advantage of their disembodied fly for free on Southwest campaign. Of course, they still charge the dead for AfterNet access. The dead can fly free, but you still have to pay to chat.
What was the AfterNet?
The AfterNet preceded Good Cop, Dead Cop. I'd actually had the idea for an online community for the dead long before the popularity of the Internet, even before the creation of the world wide web.
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