you know John when you said the idea was that it was all nanobots I recoiled, but to be honest the chapters make it pretty plausible. Theres still mysery about the origin. In some ways its a best of both, a reasonable explanation as well as a mystery.
Frankly, seeing Zsallia come to grips with humanity - being human - was the best ending for her. Shes not dead. At least not to me. Any other ending where she gets to be inhuman and *different* is just a escape hatch for her. This way she does finally have to grow up.
Heck, I'm sure they (John and Dean) could have explained Zsallia's immortality as because she was half velociraptor and they could have made it make sense. Doesn't mean it's a good idea (unless you're making a SciFi Channel Original Movie).
Nanobots leave only two (count 'em - two) possible explanations and they each kinda suck. Aliens or time travel (ala The 4440). Well... there's a third... and I think it's kinda awesome!
I think it's important before anyone comment on this that they read the chapters in question.
Kevin had some interesting ideas he shared with me but honestly to discuss any of this requires understanding what we were doing and where we are going.
This issue more or less torpedoed our collaboration not out of anger but because it became a creative impasse. I've been thinking for years about how to get out of it.
I may have more to write on it later, I wasn't expecting this quite tonight. ;-) But I do hope others read it and comment, regardless of what they have to say.
the more i think about it, the more i am sure that Zsallia being human is critical. If shes a mutant or something else, then who cares about her? its the questoin of how a human would cope wth what she endured that makes her relevant.
Zsallia was always human, or at least she was once I got out of my teens and started thinking like an adult. A large part of her simply did not want to know the how or the why- as stated in the last chapter, she used that ignorance as a shield to protect her from the pain of always being an outsider.
Perhaps it really boils down to my own unwillingness to take that shield away from her. This thread, as short as it is, has opened up my eyes a bit.
By the way- Zsallia will never discover HOW she became what she is. That's one thing Dean and I both agreed on, that whatever happened to her was lost in the past and there's simply no way to know it.
John, keep in mind I am not taking sides, but thinking of the character as a characyer. I am retconning to some extent.
That said, I think that without an explanation of WHAT makes her immortal (and agreed, never mind the HOW), the basic question of her humanity remains open. She was quite inhuman through most of the book. Only her love for Jeremy really seems humanesque, but love is not a trait we humans have a monopoly on. Species inferior to us love. Species superior to us may well love as well. If Zsallia is a metahuman, then I dont want her to succeed. She's a threat, an alien. How much emotional sympathy do we have for Superman? For the Predator?
Suppose zsallia wa a simple genetic mutation. Or a genuine alien. Or even touched by the supernatural. All of these things make her something more than what you and I are. Unless she chooses to dress up in tights and patrol New York City, she is a threat to us. Literally - look at what she did in Rome, what she almost did before Jeremy.
But the way you wrote that last pair of chapters, she was just like us. And that casts the *entire* preceding series ina new light. I'm rereading it as I get time with this new information and I cant tell you how much more poignant she becomes. Because, but for the grace of (deus ex machina), there go we as well.
incidentally, theres no reason that zsallia's HOW couldnt have been the product of ancient humans either. There are many scifi stories about previous human civilizations predating our own. Jerry Purnelle's series are a good example, another is an old short story I cant recall where humans had a starfaring civ and were hyper aggressive, almost eradicated all life in the galactic arm, then were driven back. Millenia later our own civ arises and astronauts go out into space seeking first contact, wondering why there isnt any life anywhere. They then encounter an alien race who figure ou who we are... and they freak out. God I wish i could remember who wrote it...
Commenting on Dean's World is a privilege, not a right. Dean is your host, you are his guest, and you should behave in that fashion. Dean is not your babysitter, nor is he your punching bag. Please remember this. In general, you are free to disagree with anyone on any subject you wish, but abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.
Frankly, seeing Zsallia come to grips with humanity - being human - was the best ending for her. Shes not dead. At least not to me. Any other ending where she gets to be inhuman and *different* is just a escape hatch for her. This way she does finally have to grow up.
Nanobots leave only two (count 'em - two) possible explanations and they each kinda suck. Aliens or time travel (ala The 4440). Well... there's a third... and I think it's kinda awesome!
Crap! John, I need to talk to you.
I think it's important before anyone comment on this that they read the chapters in question.
Kevin had some interesting ideas he shared with me but honestly to discuss any of this requires understanding what we were doing and where we are going.
This issue more or less torpedoed our collaboration not out of anger but because it became a creative impasse. I've been thinking for years about how to get out of it.
I may have more to write on it later, I wasn't expecting this quite tonight. ;-) But I do hope others read it and comment, regardless of what they have to say.
Zsallia was always human, or at least she was once I got out of my teens and started thinking like an adult. A large part of her simply did not want to know the how or the why- as stated in the last chapter, she used that ignorance as a shield to protect her from the pain of always being an outsider.
Perhaps it really boils down to my own unwillingness to take that shield away from her. This thread, as short as it is, has opened up my eyes a bit.
By the way- Zsallia will never discover HOW she became what she is. That's one thing Dean and I both agreed on, that whatever happened to her was lost in the past and there's simply no way to know it.
That said, I think that without an explanation of WHAT makes her immortal (and agreed, never mind the HOW), the basic question of her humanity remains open. She was quite inhuman through most of the book. Only her love for Jeremy really seems humanesque, but love is not a trait we humans have a monopoly on. Species inferior to us love. Species superior to us may well love as well. If Zsallia is a metahuman, then I dont want her to succeed. She's a threat, an alien. How much emotional sympathy do we have for Superman? For the Predator?
Suppose zsallia wa a simple genetic mutation. Or a genuine alien. Or even touched by the supernatural. All of these things make her something more than what you and I are. Unless she chooses to dress up in tights and patrol New York City, she is a threat to us. Literally - look at what she did in Rome, what she almost did before Jeremy.
But the way you wrote that last pair of chapters, she was just like us. And that casts the *entire* preceding series ina new light. I'm rereading it as I get time with this new information and I cant tell you how much more poignant she becomes. Because, but for the grace of (deus ex machina), there go we as well.
Of course we all lose our tempers now and then. Dean freely admits to being imperfect in this regard, which is why regulars to this establishment will generally be cut more slack than people who we don't know very well.
Still: behave like an adult, or go find somewhere else to play. Thanks.