Blue Root, technology and change
There’s a peculiar thing about writing a near future novel… If you’re not careful, technology might change before the book gets published.
I wrote Blue Root in early 2004. At the time, I didn’t know about Teledildonics yet. The ultimate in sex toy geekery. In fact, Jason found it somehow and sent me a link. I was beside myself just to see that I wasn’t the only one thinking about remote controlled sex toys. Just the other day, I found slashdong.org and was awe-inspired. I mean, I could totally write a sequel to Blue Root now. So many great new ideas!
Also, back in 2004, I didn’t know what a blog was. I barely knew what a forum was. Yeah, so I was a little behind the times, but still, I wrote variations of them into Blue Root. Well, that’s not entirely true…I had to go back and put in correct terminology for the nebulous ideas I’d sorta written about. Still, it was another thing that I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking about and could see how it was supposed to be done. I know, I know, sometimes it really looks like I’m living in a box. Well, I’m a writer…I live in my own little world(s).
I wrote Blue Root for fun. It was kind of a joke that I took pretty far and had a whole lot of fun with to the point where my friends were amazed and astounded at times that an idea that seemed so small could be so big.
As the last few years have gone by, I’ve watched as Second Life got bigger. At the time I wrote Blue Root, I didn’t know about Second Life or any other virtual world for that matter. If I had…well, I really could’ve had a field day! Much of the book would’ve still been the same…but different. There would’ve been more possibilities to play with and that would’ve been awesome. In fact, it was through Second Life that slashdong.org found me. There’s even programming now for toys hooked up through SL. How freakin’ amazingly cool is that?!?!?!
I dunno. I just find myself blogging right now, thinking about all the cool shit that’s happening that I never could’ve imagined. I suppose this is why Jason likes science fiction so much. Me, I just happened to like the idea of an upgradeable, programmable sex toy that could almost take over the world. That idea is what I explored and found it funny at the same time. Blue Root is the product of that fascination…and a whole lot more than I bargained for!
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November 7th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
How did Mike Moffatt wind up in your novel? I was a friend back in the old days of Bombay Gin, fine Columbian and Peruvian flake (’73-’78). I got in touch with him for a moment years ago (through Theta Digital), but he wasn’t in a communicative or nostalgic mood. I think Theatris was occupyng his mind- the last I saw him (’78?) he was weaning himself off chemicals and had adopted Scientology and the lovely wife Miriam from Peru. He was always our audio guru, awesome bullshitter and bon vivant in Long Beach and Communications Manufacturing Corporation where we all worked together. And his juxtaposition in your life and writing is very interesting, to say the least…
November 8th, 2007 at 9:58 am
All I can say is wow… Not only did you somehow find Blue Root, you also recognized Mike Moffat in my writing. Wow. Wow. Wow.
I’ve only known him since 2001. When I met him through my husband, he was divorced and drying up and happily engaged (now married) to a lovely lady named Rosemary with whom I share a love for theatre and thrift stores among many other things. He’s still a guru and awesome bullshitter, but I don’t remember exactly where he’s working these days. Some sort of electronics (of course!), but I don’t recall if it’s audio, video or both…or it could be digital cinema.
He landed in Blue Root because he’s a great character and at the time of writing that novel, the Theatris project was still ongoing. (Unfortunately, at the time, the general concensus was ‘who wants a DVD player that can play CDs and surf the internet? I just wanna play a DVD…’ and it was therefore a little too far ahead of its time.) It was also my first novel and I wanted to write from life a little. So, I borrowed Mike (among others) who seemed to enjoy the idea… 🙂
Wow! You totally made my day with your comment! Thank you!