Gripped by the mayhem, menace, and now murder through it all. The trope of the innocent girl as calculating manipulative monster was well applied, and uet I'm still on her side comoletely, like how? Fucking brilliant craftsmanship, that's how.
Akso, I don't know if there is a term for the method but using descriptors to expose the world to reader, without falling into lengthy explanatory text, or relying on the readers intelligence to connect the dots themselves is again well applied.
It's part of what pulls me and as I invests in building my inner vision of the world and takes me along with the storyline. So well done in giving the reader just enough to keep tying peices together and giving a throat grabbing cunning and mystery. Bravo! 👏🤌💋💯
It was fun to raise the curtain slowly, detail by detail; it was written for an anthology submission (topic: "mad science", which it doesn't entirely fulfill unless there is psychological horror mad science), and the editor had no prior exposure to my demented little world. I wanted to bring a sense of unease as what appeared to be a private school grew peculiar and then was revealed as a factory for slaves, Stepford-wifing their way to tweenhood.
The silver-haired Scyros women, as dangerous and terrible as they are, are interesting to write, and I learned a lot more about them working on The Pearl Crucible, but the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place here. Andromache's a monster, but she is exactly the monster that Iphigenia is specially capable of accidentally creating, a tool running amok and taking charge. I rooted for her the whole time, despite the wake of suffering she and her sisters for generations will leave behind her.
I am glad you enjoyed it. I don't know if I can catch lightning in a bottle again quite the same way, but I will try!
I don't think there was any other way for Andromache to be, as I think about it. She was created and raised by users as a slave and had no other moral inputs than domination. She became exactly what she saw, pirated the epistarchal fortunes of the Scyros family, and got into the business. Herme and all her foresisters are/were Investors with intimate connections to the Helioshad State Labor Facility; there's never been a moment's doubt or guilt in any of them since Andromache's time: Just self-satisfaction and an increase in wealth and power.
I can't think of any reason she would have chosen to go Joan of Arc*; even Spartacus, with an army in hand, had no interest in ending slavery, just getting out of Italy. She saw herself as used and had one interest only: turning the tables. Smashing success, too.
__________
*Another commenter in The Pearl Crucible noted that Dardana, in a YA novel, would have let forth her inner mockingjay and freed Iphigenia but socially and psychologically could have never tried and certainly would have failed.
Gripped by the mayhem, menace, and now murder through it all. The trope of the innocent girl as calculating manipulative monster was well applied, and uet I'm still on her side comoletely, like how? Fucking brilliant craftsmanship, that's how.
Akso, I don't know if there is a term for the method but using descriptors to expose the world to reader, without falling into lengthy explanatory text, or relying on the readers intelligence to connect the dots themselves is again well applied.
It's part of what pulls me and as I invests in building my inner vision of the world and takes me along with the storyline. So well done in giving the reader just enough to keep tying peices together and giving a throat grabbing cunning and mystery. Bravo! 👏🤌💋💯
It was fun to raise the curtain slowly, detail by detail; it was written for an anthology submission (topic: "mad science", which it doesn't entirely fulfill unless there is psychological horror mad science), and the editor had no prior exposure to my demented little world. I wanted to bring a sense of unease as what appeared to be a private school grew peculiar and then was revealed as a factory for slaves, Stepford-wifing their way to tweenhood.
The silver-haired Scyros women, as dangerous and terrible as they are, are interesting to write, and I learned a lot more about them working on The Pearl Crucible, but the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place here. Andromache's a monster, but she is exactly the monster that Iphigenia is specially capable of accidentally creating, a tool running amok and taking charge. I rooted for her the whole time, despite the wake of suffering she and her sisters for generations will leave behind her.
I am glad you enjoyed it. I don't know if I can catch lightning in a bottle again quite the same way, but I will try!
Perhaps the Director should address her as Reverend Mother...
Yes, you caught on there! :)
And they did... love it
Gosh (checks Pearl Crucible) that was a hundred and sixty-five years ago….
An uncomfortable thought, those women quietly running their business all that time …
I love highly calculated people (characters) they are the most intriguing to me *even if they don't share my moral compass
I don't think there was any other way for Andromache to be, as I think about it. She was created and raised by users as a slave and had no other moral inputs than domination. She became exactly what she saw, pirated the epistarchal fortunes of the Scyros family, and got into the business. Herme and all her foresisters are/were Investors with intimate connections to the Helioshad State Labor Facility; there's never been a moment's doubt or guilt in any of them since Andromache's time: Just self-satisfaction and an increase in wealth and power.
I can't think of any reason she would have chosen to go Joan of Arc*; even Spartacus, with an army in hand, had no interest in ending slavery, just getting out of Italy. She saw herself as used and had one interest only: turning the tables. Smashing success, too.
__________
*Another commenter in The Pearl Crucible noted that Dardana, in a YA novel, would have let forth her inner mockingjay and freed Iphigenia but socially and psychologically could have never tried and certainly would have failed.
I agree whole heartedly
No good guys, except that poor snitch Briseis.