Fictional Book #4 The Ash Connection by I am Lu

A while ago, back in the transition from January to February, a fit of desire for distraction made me do something for the first time - explore the rolls of Pokémon fan-fiction on fanfiction.net.

On this internet adventure I discovered this story - The Ash Connection by I am Lu.

It's a well-researched conspiracy thriller involving Team Rocket's recapture of Mewtwo and Giovanni's plot for world domination, through the control of the Earth's climate controls. It only makes a lot of sense if you have (like me) been an avid viewer of the Pokémon TV series (which is still going on today). The writer knows this, and wrote this dedication...

Dedicated to the fans
Who have stuck with the series
From 1997 to 2013
This is for those
Who still believe in Ash

It's a cracking read. 33 chapters and 340,693 words. A story worth reading for any Pokémon fan. The writer has even written a sequel (which is still in writing by the time of this writing) - The Ash Connection II; The Rising. It's involves a bio-terror plot in Unova by Team Plasma (only those who were watching since 2010 will know what those nouns are).

What I really like about this story is its plausibility. The writer has done the research. I can emphasize with that. Really, I can. Don't believe me? If you have read the Act of Cultural Vandalism I made in April 2013 entitled An observation about a boy who like cake! I mentioned that for "research purposes" I read all 14 volumes of the Manga and watched all 150-odd episodes of the first era of the franchise Beyblade. The reason I wrote then was to find out whether the character Max Tate was ever depicted consuming anything sweet (despite his many depictions of been a sugar junkie in the fan fiction). The REAL reason I did this research was for something more ambitious.

Yes, among my many ideas in my projects folder is a piece of fiction involving Beyblade. That is how I can emphasize with I am Lu and that is how I knew with confidence that Max Tate hasn't really got an exaggerated sweet tooth. 

Back to the reason for this post. I have liked this story so much that I decided that it'll be the subject of my next fictional book cover....

I admit I could have done the "photographs" better. I wanted to have this done before April, so I was a bit rushed.

If I am Lu is seeing this, if you like to use this image, go ahead and use it.

Fictional Book #3 Forever Reborn by theakapanda

A couple of years ago when I first encountered fanfiction.net, one story that caught my eye was this...

Forever Reborn

by theakapanda

Published in 2005 by the South African writer who calls himself "theakapanda," Forever Reborn deals with the concept of human cloning and the lengths upper class hierarchies would take for their name to continue. High brow sci-fi stuff so far. Been a fan fiction it has to involve a beloved franchise or character, and in this story the character in question is.... (drum roll please)

 Kai Hiwatari from Beyblade

(sigh) Yes, Kai Hiwatari..... the Chris Waddle of this blog. (Its not a reference about his performance in sport, its a reference that he gets mentioned a lot on The Fast Show.) He is the grandson of a rich heartless owner of a multimillion corporation that deals mostly with military hardware and research in cybernetics. Research that has gone well past the line that marks off when a scientific endeavor is borderline ethical (or "morally grey").  In the series, Kai has dabbled into his granddad's "crazy schemes for world domination" as a subject. He didn't become a cyborg (been the boss's grandson) but the rough training (which borderlines to torture) he got in Balkov Abbey made him one of the toughest beybladers (Jeremy Clarkson pause) in the world. As you can tell from this episode in his past, his relationship with his granddad ins't that good. If you have watched the series, like I have (for research purposes), the idea of his granddad cloning him to make a fresh start in insuring his legacy isn't that farfetched. 

But, there is another thing about Kai that makes him the ideal character in this story, and its referenced in the title. Kai is the owner of a bit-beast (just click the link. I have incriminated myself too much already in this entry.) that is in the form of a phoenix (the mythical firebird that has the ability to "regenerate" after death, so it'll never die). By been cloned, Kai becomes a sort of metaphoric phoenix. That's enough about the story.

The main reason for my interest in this story is the title, Forever Reborn. Its the sort of title you'll expect to find on a novel that is on sale in an airport bookshop. With that in mind, I think this story needs a book cover worthy of a good novel. A cover that'll look good on the shelves of an airport bookshop. In fact, here's several designs.....

I will make more designs for this book, so please bear with me.

Fictional Book #2 Blood, Magic, and Silver by Gordon Wallace

While doing the cover for Candy, Milk, and Iron I had this idea....

I'll leave you all to work out what the blood, the magic and the silver refer to.

Fictional Book #1 Candy, Milk, and Iron by Randall Munroe

Something I look up on the internet regularly is the What if? page on the xkcd web comic site. On this page, xkcd's creator (and former NASA roboticist) Randall Munroe would answer  hypothetical questions sent in by readers in a scientific (plus humorous) way.

Questions and scenarios the site has covered include...

What is the power output of Yoda?

Is it possible to retrieve Voyager 1 today?

How many printers will you need to update a printed Wikipedia?

If the Earth somehow began to expand 1cm in radius every second, how long would people take to notice?

Why can't Steve Brodovicz's daughter Keira, have a 1billion-story building?

and the classic...

What if everyone on Earth was at one place and all jumped at the same time? 

(That last one is a favorite of mine. In this scenario, everyone is transported to Rhode Island (the home of the Griffin family (and everyone else in Family Guy)) and after explaining what happens when they jump, he then explains the chaotic carnage that results when you transport everyone on Earth to the same place. Yelp, Randall thinks of the bits others neglect to think about.)

It was while reading one in that went out in May 2014 (What if all the pollen in the sky suddenly ignited?) that I found this text window....

screengrab from What if? page of xkcd (May 2014)

For those who can't make out the text, it says....

"Candy, Milk, and Iron was my unsucessful self-published follow-up to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel."

Guns, Germs, and Steel is a Pulitzer Prize winning non-fiction book by American science polymath Jared Diamond. It was so good that National Geographic produced a documentary based on it in 2005.

It will take me ages to explain in detail what the book is about, but I can sum it up in a way. It is about how a number of factors, from climate and geography to farming and technology, allowed the "civilizations" of Eurasia (plus Africa and the Americas) to become what they are and dominate the "primitive" tribes. The title references three key factors in his argument. The guns represent military superiority through more advanced weapons. The germs represent the diseases that tribes that mastered domestication got exposed to, became immune to, and then (unintentionally most of the time, due to lack of knowledge of bacteria and viruses)  used to wipe out "inferiors." And finally, the steel represents more robust transport systems, such as roads and railways.

(Please note: While writing this I have never read the book or seen the documentary, but I do get (from reading the Wikipedia page) the "jist" of Jared Diamond's argument, as I have done my own research and thinking on history, and I have come to similar conclusions. But please don't take my words as the "final word" on the subject. Look at other arguments too before you decide your own conclusions.
Also, I don't believe in the distinction between "civilizations" and "primitive" tribes. "Civilization" is a word used too much as a term of segregation by people who think themselves as "civilized" and refer to everyone else as "barbarians.")

It's a simple title. A title that (cryptively) describes what it is about. But such a title can be easily abused. Any list of three random things can became a pseudo-title of a similar book... like Candy, Milk and, Iron. With such a book title (which can be open to interpretation) and the huge scope of the original book, its the sort of book you'll imagine someone like Randall Munroe would write (if he wasn't busy drawing stick figurines).

But, if he'd ever try to do so, here's an idea for the cover (this is the reason why this joke picked my interest). Using the most recent cover design of the book as inspiration....

Most recent book cover for Guns, Germs, and Steel 

(still available in most bookshops that sell science books (or Amazon))

Here's my design for Candy, Milk, and Iron....

Its a bit rushed, but this is a proof of concept work. I didn't have access to an x-ray machine so I had to manipulate my photos by inverting them, solarizing them and turning them monochrome. But the effect is similar.

This may be the first of a series of fictional book covers, so watch out for more.....