AT THE BRINK
SOUNDS not so good, things today being generally “at the brink,” but it might not be so bad.
First, there’s the history of John Brink (https://cl-hs.org/local-history/histo...) a surveyor who, on a separate 1831 assignment, passed through “Chicago in December, 1831. It consisted of Mark Beaubien, John H. Kinzie, Indian agent, and George W. Dole, sutler, and about 300 officers and men at old Fort Dearborn. The whole town at that time could now be stored away in some small corner of any of the Chicago’s present big buildings and the room would hardly be missed.” Eh?
Second, there’s the reported origin of the phrase “at the brink” — According to The Word Detective (http://www.word-detective.com/2012/08...) “brink” first appeared in English around 1300 meaning a “bank of a river, edge of the sea, etc.” In other words, it could be simply the restful bank of a slowly moving river or the edge or border of anything, even the brim of a cup or hat.
But it was the second “look out below” sense that produced, around 1600, the figurative use of “brink” to mean, as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says, “The very verge of some state, time, event, or action…” This use of “brink” a bad possible outcome produced, in the 1950s, the term “brinkmanship,” defined by the OED as “the art of advancing to the very brink of war but not engaging in it.” Ah, so: thrillers as we call them today.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, almost by title definition, is clearly “at the brink.” Since it’s based on plausible extensions of current scientific, technological and sociological events and beliefs, I’ve taken to calling it a “Science Futuring” work, projecting the reader into a future that is not just plausible but likely should things today continue on “as usual.” The point of this kind of work is that being “on the brink” isn’t at all bad, but maybe really good as it gives readers both a broader perspective (weltanschuuang) and choice. It’s not as bad as one might imagine standing on the brink of The Edge of Madness. In fact, take one more mental step beyond the edge of madness and you might be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised at what you see.
The Edge of Madness
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is available in printed, digital and audio book versions, and has been purchased by K. Simmons Productions for manga, animation and cinematic treatment.
First, there’s the history of John Brink (https://cl-hs.org/local-history/histo...) a surveyor who, on a separate 1831 assignment, passed through “Chicago in December, 1831. It consisted of Mark Beaubien, John H. Kinzie, Indian agent, and George W. Dole, sutler, and about 300 officers and men at old Fort Dearborn. The whole town at that time could now be stored away in some small corner of any of the Chicago’s present big buildings and the room would hardly be missed.” Eh?
Second, there’s the reported origin of the phrase “at the brink” — According to The Word Detective (http://www.word-detective.com/2012/08...) “brink” first appeared in English around 1300 meaning a “bank of a river, edge of the sea, etc.” In other words, it could be simply the restful bank of a slowly moving river or the edge or border of anything, even the brim of a cup or hat.
But it was the second “look out below” sense that produced, around 1600, the figurative use of “brink” to mean, as the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says, “The very verge of some state, time, event, or action…” This use of “brink” a bad possible outcome produced, in the 1950s, the term “brinkmanship,” defined by the OED as “the art of advancing to the very brink of war but not engaging in it.” Ah, so: thrillers as we call them today.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, almost by title definition, is clearly “at the brink.” Since it’s based on plausible extensions of current scientific, technological and sociological events and beliefs, I’ve taken to calling it a “Science Futuring” work, projecting the reader into a future that is not just plausible but likely should things today continue on “as usual.” The point of this kind of work is that being “on the brink” isn’t at all bad, but maybe really good as it gives readers both a broader perspective (weltanschuuang) and choice. It’s not as bad as one might imagine standing on the brink of The Edge of Madness. In fact, take one more mental step beyond the edge of madness and you might be pleasantly (or unpleasantly) surprised at what you see.
The Edge of Madness
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is available in printed, digital and audio book versions, and has been purchased by K. Simmons Productions for manga, animation and cinematic treatment.
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