By Deputy Editor Sergeant Frosty.
Still me.
The meat-sack Editor is having difficulties. Not because of the case he is hearing, whatever that might be. As I’ve intimated, it’s a case that doesn’t involve a great deal of humour. It’s not the sort of thing that will be made into a Sitcom.
That’s not the problem. The main issue is that he’s not allowed to discuss the case. He’s a gregarious sort. He’s a journalist, a writer, and a publishing. And he’s being asked to keep a secret. It’s driving him insane.
On the plus side, if he does have a nervous breakdown, I get to keep this gig for longer. This whole business of getting you lot to do all the work could become a tradition. And, unless you are a goldfish, you will recall that tradition was the theme of yesterday’s challenge, where you were invited to develop an alternate holiday. Because we don’t have enough holidays.
The full discussion can be found HERE, with some selected highlights including:
Alex Richards, channelling his inner desire to be a rich man, put forward:
Hold on, I'll be right back, I just need to go deal with the Fiddler who appears to be sitting on my roof all of a sudden.
Alexander Rooksmoor said:
May not be particularly exciting but any AH which has a different Great War would have a different armistice day and then remembrance day. As it is, Germany, I believe has a different day to Britain, Belgium and France. Perhaps in a world with no Great War, there would be nothing like Remembrance Day or the Cenotaph and certainly if the war, or the culture that followed differed there would be no poppies used as a remembrance symbol, as that came very much from where the Western Front was fought and the landscape and flora there.
Pete U suggested:
19th May as Commonwealth Day in a world where the Restoration doesn't happen, or perhaps a date associated with the establishment of The Protectorate.
While, following that theme, FriendlyGhost added (in part):
Execution Day, officially titled ‘Day of Thankfulness for Release from Tyranny’ and known in some areas, particularly London, as Chopping Day, was an annual commemoration observed on 30th January, primarily in England, involving effigies and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the execution of King Charles on 30th January 1649, preceding the establishment of the Commonwealth of England on 19th May that year.
Some lovely little bits there. I look forward to seeing the latter two appearing sometime soon.
*****
Today, we turn our attention to something more whimsical. (Ed: More whimsical? Surely some mistake). We’ve all read and seen a lot of portal fiction, from Lest Darkness Fall through Narnia to The Shadowlands Chronicles . In portal fiction, the protagonist(s) find a way, by accident or design, to get to an alternate world. It may be a one-off trip, it may be a limited number of trips, or it may be unlimited trips.
Whichever it is, the person or people going through the portal always end up somewhere different and interesting. I suppose there would be no point writing about a trip to somewhere really boring.
A while ago (a while being 40 years or so), someone once put forward a theoretical challenge that I feel bears repeating here. Unfortunately, I can’t recall who it was who developed the challenge.
The premise is as follows: When you are at home, a portal to an unknown world (nature unknown but clearly habitable) opens up, and will remain open for ten minutes, after which it will close.
What part of the inside of your home currently looks like. More or less.
Picture courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
The questions are:
1) Do you go through?
and the more interesting question:
2) What do you gather in the ten minutes available to you and take with you?
Your time starts....
Now.
Discuss this HERE.
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