MCP 011 – MAKING THE CUT: Chapter 03
Posted by Raven on 10 Feb 2008 at 12:01 am | Tagged as: Brian, Callie, Daniel, Evan/Eva, Fiona, Making the Cut, Podcast Episodes, Rebecca, Sasha, Victor, fantasy, novel, podiobook, science fiction
Show notes on the Archives page.
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Listening to this novel has reminded me that authors often have very different styles when they write novels as opposed to short stories. The cliffhanger at the end of each chapter so far definitely keeps listeners coming back, but I think this is a little too much introduction. Three chapters of lead up before some kind of main event pretty much demands a lot of sparks to go up by chapter 4.
I do find these characters to be engaging, and I agree with many of your comments regarding human interaction, but at this juncture I would like to see a little less talk and a little more action.
Also, I would be curious to learn about the relationship the local psy collective has with collectives in neighboring countries. Especially since these people are used by the Metamor government, does this give Metamor an advantage or do all governments do this. If so, does this lead to conflict within the collective when telepaths find themselves on opposing sides?
Thanks for the feedback, David! I knew when I debuted this story that the additional time devoted to characterization would appeal to some people more than others. Worry not, in Chapter 4 the mission begins, and Chapters 5-6 should have enough action to satisfy even a die-hard Sigler fan.
The Metamor City Hive does share information with other Psi Collective hives elsewhere in the world, but they don’t generally coordinate their activities unless there is a problem that concerns both hives. They keep each other informed when they’re conducting psi-op missions in each other’s territory, though, and the Collective will not accept missions from one government that would bring them into conflict with a contract they already have with another government.
Practically speaking, this means that the Psi Collective does most of its spy work for a relatively small number of governments, and the Empire of Metamor is one of its most frequent customers. This does give the Empire an advantage over its enemies, but since the Empire is one of the most progressive and tolerant nations on the planet, the Collective is willing to pick sides.
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks Raven for making sure that this tale gets told. So few people understand the truth of these events. I can only hope that through your efforts more will come to understand that the ’story’ you are telling has implications for the future that we all will see.
With an ominous statement like that, you would think I was running a tavern or something. Trying to scare people into drinking. I might own some stock…
I would like to invite anyone interested over to TheCursed.org for some conversation. The paint is still wet, some baseboard and a few doors are missing, but there are plenty of chairs.
Great story. Engaging and powerful. I sense we’re almost at the top of the first big hill of this rollercoaster, the one that starts it all off. Beautiful vocal talent (Especially the Lovely Ladies of the breeding cell), and realistic dialogue(even the dialogue within people’s heads).
Bravo.
If you have time, I’d like to shoot you an email re: Spookies, as the novel I’ve been (lazily) writing the past 4 years that also involves psionics, and I have a few questions on Psi meta-theory.
OK, this story Rocks!
The entire podcast has been truly one the the best things to come out of 2007. The intricacies of the characters make this story believable. Weaving of multiple story lines is truly Tolkienesk in scope.
If this was on the bookshelf of my local Borders…
Awesome.
OK, I have a comfession to make, While waiting for the next installment of “Playing for Keeps”, I found your feed, it was just what i was looking for at the time. However, after listening to the first episode, I had to download the entire series up to date, and , well…
I had to listen to the entire set. I stopped listen to Mur’s feed and didn’t start listening to it again until I had your entire feed caught up to date!
Sorry Mighty Mur…
Keep up the Outstanding storytelling.
1 Question…Will we ever get stories about the Rookie cop from the first story?
Anywho thanks again for a great Alternate reality to sink my head into.
The_witt
Oh…
I have 2 sites:
Forgotten realms of the Mind:
http://www.frotm.blogspot.com/
and
Forgotten Realms of the Mind ~ The Book:
http://www.frotmbook.blogspot.com/
Hi, Witt! Wow, I bumped back Mur Lafferty in your queue? I am humbled and honored.
We will indeed see Michael Perelli again. He doesn’t show up in MAKING THE CUT, which takes place long before he comes to Metamor, but there is a short story coming soon that will give him some time in the spotlight. Watch for that story to run in bonus episodes between installments of MAKING THE CUT — sometime in late spring or early summer.
I was also a bit bothered by the same thing as Nobilis, the exclusion of the low-power men from the breeding cells, for much the same reason. Why not use artificial insemination? I need to add a another assumption to accept your reason, that a breeding cell can give more support than a nuclear family. We have here a total of four people (three of them women) directly looking after the kids, probably with indirect financial support from the excluded men through their contributions to the psi collective. If those same men were included in the breeding cell as step fathers, even if they are not going to be biological fathers, there’d be more people around for child rearing and they would be more motivated to provide financial support if they bond with their step children. The only reason I can imagine why that might not happen is if the step fathers were inevitably jealous and telepathic kids would be bothered by picking that up.
The Psi collective still has another way of including the low power guys in the breeding programme, and prevent them from going off their heads with sexual frustration: let them take the curse so they can change sex. Those who don’t want to have sex with a man can opt for artificial insemination, possibly even from a female lover if she takes the curse as well.
I had the impression not everyone in the Psi collective is telepathic, but only the telepaths have a big problem with sex with a non-telepath. Doesn’t that mean that only the telepaths are a separate breeding population, and that they have to stay separate even within the Psi collective?
I don’t mean to pick the story apart, after all, I will listen to the next installment. It’s just that I am a biologist, it’s the kind of thing that springs to my mind. A professional hazard which doesn’t stop me from liking the stories.
One more question: the father of Abbey’s child in a previous story, who stabbed her and killed the child, wouldn’t he have to be a telepath, one whom Abbey would know better than any mundane can ever know another? Will you tell the story of how he could go off the rails so badly, and with so little warning that Abbey couldn’t avoid him?
Hi Inquiring! I’m a biologist, too, so I’ve done my own share of pondering about this stuff.
Re: artificial insemination – The Hive does use this sometimes, but only in carefully-selected cases, and only when the decision has the approval of all members of the cell. Most people only adopt if they are physically unable to have children of their own, for one reason or another; as mentioned in Ep#12, the Hive tries to keep children with their bio-parents whenever possible.
Re: stepfathers – While it may work in some cases, jealousy is definitely a major concern here. Most species that live in packs have a social structure that is characterized by infighting, as the males fight for dominance and the right to breed. Since the choice of “alpha” is imposed by the Hive, this would lead to resentment and harm the unity of the breeding cell. There is also a risk of “sneaking”, as the subordinate males try to have children of their own and pass them off as the alpha’s. None of these things are conducive to the sort of unity that the Hive wants in its breeding cells.
Re: taking the Curse – It’s definitely an option, but it’s one that hasn’t really occurred to the Hive … yet.
The Curse isn’t all that common among psis at this time in history, perhaps because they feel like their powers already set them apart from the rest of humanity. And that’s all I’m going to say right now. 
Re: sex and telepaths – Yes, there are non-telepathic psis, and most teeps can only have sex with other teeps. (Generally speaking, anyone of Power Level 2 or above has this restriction, while those with Power Level 1 or less can safely have sex with mundies.) Roughly 70% of the Collective has some degree of telepathic ability, though, and that number is rising with each generation, partly because of non-teep females accepting artificial insemination from telepathic males. (Telepathy only develops in utero when the mother is herself a teep.)
Re: the father of Abbey’s child – Yes, the father was a teep. The questions of how he went off the rails, and why Abbey wasn’t able to foresee the attack, will be answered over the course of the book.
Good questions!
Keep it on the bright side,
Chris