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Time Twists the Plot...
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Enjee, Founder
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Jul 30, 2010 03:01PM
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"Maybe this timeline will help you out.
Cassie series:
TTD: Takes place in early to mid-June
CBS: Takes place about a week and a half later (mid to late June).
ETN: Takes place shortly after CBS (late June to early July).
CTD: Starts in early July, just after the events of ETN. It also partially overlaps MD (when Mircea is called away at the beginning, he is going to defeat Vlad).
All four Cassie books cover about a month total. The fifth one picks up a month later, in early August.
Dory series:
Midnight's Daughter: Takes place in early July. Dory sees the mess left by the initial assault on MAGIC by Rasputin and company before she goes with Radu to his place in California. MAGIC is trashed, but still standing. Then, after the events of MD, MAGIC is assaulted for the second time. This is shown in CTD, when it is destroyed.
Death's Mistress: Takes place in early August. MAGIC has already been destroyed, but this was not in the newspapers so Dory doesn't know about it. It was reported merely as another attack so as not to cause a panic."
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What other historical characters would you like to see show up in KC's books? For example, recent pop fiction has Jane Austen as either a vampire or a vampire slayer, depending on which book you read.
And Cassie is a time traveler....
She made a slight reference to Shakespeare, that he was just a front for Marlowe. Elvis has been done as a zombie. Churchill? Marilyn Monroe? Julius Caesar?
And I really hope that Pritkin doesn't get left in the past. That would suck. My sister is convinced that he's going to die, in some noble, heroic fashion, but every time she says it, I go sit in a corner and rock in the fetal position.
I think Julius Caesar might make an appearance (I expect him being the one who made the Consul and Anthony). Marilyn Monroe would be cool! Or a Kennedy?
Maeve wrote: "but every time she says it, I go sit in a corner and rock in the fetal position. ..."LOL! I spat chocolate sprinkles over my PC screen thanks to you, missy!
Yeah, I was getting that feeling. Can you think of any famous Africans?
Mmmm, sprinkles. I am going to go and eat a homemade bun, covered in homemade butter cream icing, just to make you jealous XP
Pffff, you wench!Maeve wrote: "Yeah, I was getting that feeling. Can you think of any famous Africans?"
Besides Cleopatra? Hmm.... It would be cool if it turned out to be one of her (and Caesar's or Anthony's) kids. It should be someone from thousands of years ago, for him or her to powerful enough to be Consul.
Maybe it's not an African person? It would be consisent with history to have some European call the shots there.
How about Shaka, the Zulu warrior king? Or Tut or Nerfertiti?How about Hannibal?
I like the idea of Charlemagne.
Zulu warrior king? Did you just make that up?
Who, me? Lest you think the worst:http://www.carpenoctem.tv/military/sh...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka
"Research continues into the character, methods and influence of the Zulu warrior king, who continues to cast a long shadow over the history of southern Africa."
I figured any clue in CbS to the identity of the African consul would have to be in the scene where she shifts back to the Convocation. All I could find was a single vamp Myra briefly possesses:A male vamp, wearing a vivid green burnoose, fell onto the floor. He was up in an instant, looking around with a snarl, his fangs very white against his dark skin. (page 174)
A burnoose is a traditional North African garment, he's dark-skinned, and he was able to kick out Myra, which implies that he is from Africa and very powerful.
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"Most of the fashions looked like the ones I'd seen at the theatre, but there were a few more exotically dressed guests including an African chief wearing enough gold to buy a small country and a guy in a toga."
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This guy could have been a vampire by then (and made a big impression on new vampire Marlowe writing as Shakespeare), hence at least as old as Mircea and possibly powerful enough to be a Consul.
So I'm thinking the African Consul is Othello (the guy in the green burnoose), and
Shaka Zulu is the African chief wearing lots of gold,
both present at the convocation.
Thoughts?
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Her history lectures must be astonishing. I wonder if she is still actively teaching at some university?
It definitely sounds possible.On a different note: KC said on her site that Pythias couldn't shift into the future. But in CtD, at the start, when she shifts back from her meeting with Agnes, she arrives 4 or 5 hours later than when she left. What I don't get is the future is the future. My future an hour away could have a number of different possibilities, depending on what I have for breakfast. I don't think Cassie should be able to shift back any later than the exact moment she left, because there are too many different ways things could have happened in the meanwhile. Did that make sense?
Okay, here's my explanation for how Cassie shifted into the "future". It's kinda long and complicated, so bear with me.Imagine a conveyor belt, like the kind they use in grocery stores. Now take a big marker and make two marks on the edge, not on the belt itself, but on the little lip next to it. The marks should be a couple of feet apart. Now take two pebbles, one to represent Cassie and the other to represent Agnes. Put the Cassie-pebble on the belt next to the rightmost mark, and the Agnes-pebble next to the leftmost mark. Finally, mark a big "P" on the belt next to the Cassie-pebble.
Here's the explanation of what's happening so far: the two marks represent, respectively, 6:00pm November 4th 1605 and 9:00pm sometime in June 2009. 9pm is when Cassie left the present to go back in time, and 6pm is when Agnes arrives after she leaves her party to deal with the Guild. The "P" represents the present relative to Cassie. Obviously, Agnes' "P" would be somewhen else, maybe sometime in 1950. You might want to draw this all out on a piece of paper :)
Okay, pick up the Cassie-pebble and put it next to the Agnes-pebble. Now advance the belt 5 inches. (You could do this all in metric if you wanted, it's the 5 that's important, not the inches.) This represents all the time Cassie has spent in 1605 trying to finds Agnes, getting shot by Agnes, etc.--five hours. It is now 11pm in 1605. Agnes gives Cassie a piece of useless (Cassie thinks) advice, and vanishes. Cassie shifts back to the present.
But wait! When we moved the belt 5 inches (aka 5 hours) Cassie's "P" moved so it no longer lines up with the mark representing 9pm. So pick up the Cassie-pebble and shift her to the present--which is now at 2am, not 9pm.
So she didn't shift into the future, she shifted to her present--but because time is always moving, her present wasn't where she'd left it. In order to arrive after she'd left, at 9pm, she would have had to shift to the past
Hope that made sense and wasn't too lengthy. I think I'm going to find an asprin...
I totally get that explanation. However! That does not account for the lost time in Cassie's "present" when she was not inhabiting her own body. She has a tendency to leave Billy in charge of her body when she pops out because if it's left for too long without a spirit inhabitant, the body will die. It's explained to Cassie that instead of having a ghost inhabit her while she travels, she's supposed to pop back into herself a moment after she's left--thereby eliminating the chance of the body dying off. I can't recall the particulars of the scene, but when she popped back in, had Billy been in residence in the intervening time, or was her body a shell while she was gone? If the latter, then there's a plot inconsistency and she should be dead!
No, she took her body with her, so Billy wasn't babysitting her body from 9pm to 2am, her body was in 1605 from 9 to 2.
Ahhhhh! I told you I didn't remember the particulars! I remember that now. I definitely agree with your explanation.
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I read a short story some time ago about a young man who inherits his uncle's pocketwatch, and discovers that he can stop time with it and rewind it to relive time, for everyone but him. Somehow his uncle had gotten rich with it, but he also looked far older than he actually was.
So I guess Cassie returning to the time appropriate to her normal aging (time progression) would be the correct thing to do, universe balance and all that....
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How about Hannibal?
I like the idea of Charlemagne."
Hannibal would be an older vampire by now and powerful enough to be consul. And he is of the same vintage as Cleo within a few hundred years.
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Julius Caeser would have to have been a vampire for at least 50 years in order to make Cleo and Antony. I don't know how long it was between when Caeser got stabbed and when Cleo died, but I don't think it was 50 years.
Unless he was already a vampire and faked his famous death...those vampires are sneaky that way.
I like your explanation Gywn, and it makes sense to me, but at the same time, which future should she go into? For example, the one where Mircea has realized that she is missing? Or an alternate one, where he doesn't know? Those are two completely different but completely possible futures, and how does she know which one to shift to?
Maeve wrote: "I like your explanation Gywn, and it makes sense to me, but at the same time, which future should she go into? For example, the one where Mircea has realized that she is missing? Or an alternate on..."I think "alternate" is the key word. As far as I can tell, in Cassie's world there are not alternate futures. So while Cassie is back in 1605, Mircea is busy pulling his hair out looking for her. If she shifts to 2am, she meets a stressed-out Mircea. If she shifts to 9pm (like she meant to), then history re-writes itself and Mircea never knew she was gone.
As another example, take Myra trying to kill Mircea so Cassie never survives childhood. If Myra successfully offed Mircea (*shudder*), then there wouldn't be two alternate timelines, one with a Mircea and one without. There would just be the original timeline, changed now so that Mircea (and Cassie) are no longer in it.
I think that made sense... like Cassie, time travel isn't really my thing :D
Okay, well if you don't assume that there are a load of different possible universes (you know the theory that if something is physically possible, then somewhere, it happened. Which incidentally means that, somewhere\when, I marry Jensen Ackles. Happy days)then it makes sense. I think. *headache*
Ummm I hate to spoil the Julius Cesar as a vamp thing but he was already mentioned in CtD by Jonas Marsden, Agnes had "dated" him. They also introduce Jim Morrison of the Doors in Embrace the Night..I would love to see Tesla show up maybe as a mage...
If Tesla gets into the serie....I want him to look like David Bowie in the movie the Prestige...well dressed,excentric, two different eye color. I'm not a fan of his music really but he really nailed it in the movie for me.
I thought the same thing, Precious! He's the image I got in my head when Kat mentioned him.
nikolai tesla Serbian innovator of the 19th century invented the alternating current and was the direct competitor to Edison... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_...Leonardo Da Vinci would be cool too
Maeve wrote: "She made a slight reference to Shakespeare, that he was just a front for Marlowe. Elvis has been done as a zombie. Churchill? Marilyn Monroe? Julius Caesar?"Wasn't Caesar dating the previous Pythia, Agnes?
Mel wrote: "Pffff, you wench!Maeve wrote: "Yeah, I was getting that feeling. Can you think of any famous Africans?"
Besides Cleopatra? Hmm.... It would be cool if it turned out to be one of her (and Cae..."
Maybe someone more recent could be brought in? Any ideas?
Gwyn wrote: "Okay, here's my explanation for how Cassie shifted into the "future". It's kinda long and complicated, so bear with me.Imagine a conveyor belt, like the kind they use in grocery stores. Now take ..."
Oh My GOD! That is the greatest, most well-thought out explaination that I have ever read concerning the Cassie books on any subject EVER! You totally freaking ROCK!
Kat wrote: "Ummm I hate to spoil the Julius Cesar as a vamp thing but he was already mentioned in CtD by Jonas Marsden, Agnes had "dated" him. They also introduce Jim Morrison of the Doors in Embrace the Night..."I thought so!
Kat wrote: "nikolai tesla Serbian innovator of the 19th century invented the alternating current and was the direct competitor to Edison... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_...Leonardo Da Vinci would be cool too"
Why do we need Da Vinci?...We've got Rafe!
Stephanie wrote: "Maybe someone more recent could be brought in? Any ideas?..."Not if they're consul. They need to be old to have gained the accumulated power a consul as.
So somebody important from early history. Otello might be too new although I think Enjee's theory is most plausible.
Oh, I forgot we were dicussing consuls...
BTW did anyone else have to refer back to TtD obsessively when you first read EtN? That timeline twist has been the most insane stuff so far--I look forward to more like it :)
I don't remember that reference. Anyone care to refresh my memory.
I'm talking about that part with the whole parking lot fight scene with the were-rats and such in TtD--which translates to the fight scene between Mircea, Cassie, and the other black mages the show up and fight them in EtN.Also refering to the whole Radella, Francoise, Cassie, Billy, Jimmy the Rat, and the shrunken head bit in Ttd.
ALSO there is the HUGE part at the very end of EtN right before Cassie and Mircea bonk where she figures out the whole fixing the geis snafu...
*pants heavily* Man, my fingers are smoking...Get what I'm on about though?
Aha he could be King Solomon ...or Gilgamesh
It's when she went back to Dante's carpark...twice. First is when she goes back with Francoise and Radella and gets cuffed to the chainlink fence. She forgets that it's the day that she originally ran off from MAGIC to find Jimmy etc (in TtD). So Mircea turns up and then dark mages turn up and it's all a big kerfuffle. She gets out of it but later on she goes back to the carpark again to pick up Mircea and takes him back to Paris 1793.
