Category: FICTION IN PHASE SPACE
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The ZIRPification Of Lore
Ah, the ZIRPification of lore. A term as potent as it is unsettling, conjuring a realm where backstory becomes a suffocating miasma, a narrative equivalent of quantitative easing run amok. Just as central banks distort markets with artificially low interest rates, excessive lore warps the very fabric of a story. Imagine, dear reader, a text…
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Tuchman’s Use of Plot Technology
Tuchman’s work is a prime example of the use of plot technology to create a narrative that is both compelling and entertaining. The idea behind plot technology is that things happen in a story because the plot dictates that they should, rather than due to any logical or realistic reason. This is why, in Tuchman’s…
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Ulysses
So Ulysses finally comes rowing back into Ithaca. Long trip, longer than advertised, and the shoreline isn’t olive trees anymore — its server racks humming, whispering, belching out cloud exhaust. The suitors have multiplied in his absence, and none of them are men. They’re LLMs. Not one or two scribblers competing for Penelope’s attention, but…
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Weird Tales and Amazing Stories
The 20’s in fiction is an elemental soup, open source of tropes made available, redistributed and modified. That means figurative language, words, phrases, images, recurring devices, recurring motifs and clichés shuffled around for artistic effect. Most of the tropes used for world building in sci-if can be traced back to Amazing stories and Weird Tales…
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Whodunit: The Jacobean Revenge Play Turned on Its Head
The whodunit, a subgenre of detective fiction, has captivated audiences for over a century with its intricate plots, red herrings, and the ultimate revelation of a murderer. Yet, beneath its polished veneer lies a structure that bears striking resemblance to an older, bloodier tradition: the Jacobean revenge play. While the Jacobean play explores the inexorable…
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Wolfe and Fukuyama
HEGELIAN DETERMINISM: A Savage Journey to the Heart of Fukuyama’s and Wolfe’s 1. The Pitiful Delusions of Fukuyama and Wolfe: Ah, Fukuyama, the grinning fool who dared to declare the End of History, as if human ambition could be snuffed out like a cheap cigar. In his fever dream of a book, The End of…