John Ottinger: You avoided using the traditional races of epic fantasy (elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.) instead giving the reader variations on humanity. Why did you avoid using the standard tropes, but still create significant physical deviations in your races?
Brandon Sanderson: [...] For me as a reader, it was a little bit frustrating because I read this and felt that fantasy should be the genre that should be able to do anything. It should be the most imaginative genre. It should not be the genre where you expect the same stories and the same creatures. This is playing into what I like as a reader and my own personal philosophies and hobby horses, but it really just comes down to what I think makes the best story.
Brandon Sanderson: [...] For me as a reader, it was a little bit frustrating because I read this and felt that fantasy should be the genre that should be able to do anything. It should be the most imaginative genre. It should not be the genre where you expect the same stories and the same creatures. This is playing into what I like as a reader and my own personal philosophies and hobby horses, but it really just comes down to what I think makes the best story.
"This is precisely my point — the word 'fantasy' is supposed to evoke any wondrous scenario the imagination can conjure, but for some reason, we keep coming back to the elves and dwarves! Elves and dwarves, elves and dwarves, elves and motherfucking dwarves. Also wizards. Mass Effect brought us a race of all-female bisexuals culturally obliged to bang anything that moves, and you wonder why I prefer sci-fi these days."
Yesterday
,
I watched three men die because one man sneezed in a room full of blood and shit and light.
Today,
three more men go in, cheap mops and each other's lives in their hands.
Yesterday,
I watched a man I admired gunned down for leaving a rose for a girl whose life was tattered by trauma she never deserved.
Today,
she doesn't remember, and three halls down I can hear her screaming.
Yesterday,
I watched a group of soldiers go down fighting against the corpses of comrades who'd died before them.
Today,
we test another sample, this time on children.
Yesterday,
I watched five men and women gunned down in an abandoned factory no one cares about.
Today,
it happens again and again. Every eleven seconds. Forever.
Yesterday,
I watched a man sit comfortably in a nice armchair, sipping scotch and laughing as he ordered a woman to simply stop breathing.
Today,
he gets the day off of work detail for good behavior.
Yesterday,
I watched hundreds of men and women in orange jumpsuits herded like animals into empty rooms that filled with gas and fire.
Today,
hundreds more are told they have a chance for a lighter sentence, and a chance to serve their country.
Yesterday,
I watched the world nearly die in a thousand thousand terrible ways. Sometimes we would have had time to scream.
Today,
I'm alive to write about it. You want happy endings? Fuck you.
You're alive to read it.
God help us all.
Secure. Contain. Protect.
, I watched three men die because one man sneezed in a room full of blood and shit and light.
Today,
three more men go in, cheap mops and each other's lives in their hands.
Yesterday
, I watched a man I admired gunned down for leaving a rose for a girl whose life was tattered by trauma she never deserved.
Today,
she doesn't remember, and three halls down I can hear her screaming.
Yesterday
, I watched a group of soldiers go down fighting against the corpses of comrades who'd died before them.
Today,
we test another sample, this time on children.
Yesterday
, I watched five men and women gunned down in an abandoned factory no one cares about.
Today,
it happens again and again. Every eleven seconds. Forever.
Yesterday
, I watched a man sit comfortably in a nice armchair, sipping scotch and laughing as he ordered a woman to simply stop breathing.
Today,
he gets the day off of work detail for good behavior.
Yesterday,
I watched hundreds of men and women in orange jumpsuits herded like animals into empty rooms that filled with gas and fire.
Today,
hundreds more are told they have a chance for a lighter sentence, and a chance to serve their country.
Yesterday,
I watched the world nearly die in a thousand thousand terrible ways. Sometimes we would have had time to scream.
Today,
I'm alive to write about it. You want happy endings? Fuck you.
You're alive to read it.
God help us all.
Secure. Contain. Protect.
At the edge of understanding
The border of the known
The breaking point of reason
Where logic is dethroned
Where sense is defenceless
And festers on the bone
You'll find entropy's offensive is rendered in the stone
The border of the known
The breaking point of reason
Where logic is dethroned
Where sense is defenceless
And festers on the bone
You'll find entropy's offensive is rendered in the stone
West: Just because the forces of the universe are indifferent to you doesn't make them malignant. They're not out to destroy you or drive you mad. They just don't care. Paradise exists, as your human mind defines it. In a thousand worlds, in a thousand different forms. As do ten-thousand hellish realities and everything in between.
Diana: Well that's keen.
Diana: Well that's keen.
I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. [REDACTED]. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world. I'm a plaid suit in a pinstripe world.
— Control, "Pinstripe World"
