Restoration of Byron on Wells

Copperfox

Copperfox

Well-known member
THE GREAT BADGER IS LOOKING AT THE COMPLEX BUT REWARDING PROSPECT OF RESTORING OLD UNFINISHED PLOT ARCS!!

IF WE WANT SOMETHING NARNIAN CO-EXISTING IN CHRONOLOGY WITH US LIVING, BREATHING FANS OF C.S. LEWIS, we have to get past Original Narnia having been eliminated, as its animals and good-aligned sapient beings ascended into Aslan's Country. But I, Joseph Ravitts alias Copperfox, have just been messaging with John Burkitt alias Evening Star, and we think that it can work to do something a bit like "Spacebullies." If in some fashion a new Narnian world could come to be, the one and only Aslan would still be there to guide new generations of Narnians.

>> Watch this space! I'll be brainstorming further with Evening Star, and maybe with Timbalionguy as well, to see how this can be done to the best effect. One thing for sure: if you remember John's character Willoughby the Narnian rabbit, he is intended to be an important part of this venture, or of its backstory-- if anyone can remember WHAT HE DID.

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It is daunting after a long hiatus to pick up the threads where I left off, but I'll start here with a few words about Byron on Wells. If I wanted a fantasy about humans for humans and stated in the framework of human society, I wouldn't have begun with the Chronicles of Narnia. I would have spent my time with the Prisoner of Zenda, Robin Hood, or the Dragonriders of Pern. The talking animals of Narnia are its crown jewel, the very folk that the human kings and queens of Narnia were meant to prosper and protect.

Some people have compared the Byron on Wells stories to Wind in the Willows. And while I love that story, my work is more like (google it) Our Town. My creatures aren't smurfs or elves with no visible means of support. They worked hard, played hard, were born, grew, lived...and died. Their enemies were our enemies...making a living, fighting an illness, losing a loved one, and learning a dark secret. Their friends were family, neighbors, community, faith, and cheery optimism.

I think one of my pivotal characters, hard working beaver Horace Beaverlee, put it best. "Sure son, I had dreams. But I learned that my wife Crystal was my princess, the lodge is my castle, the pond was my ocean, and erosion was my war...a war I have not lost and shall not lose."

Since I left here, I co-founded a nationwide outdoor adventure ministry and serve as chaplain for the south central region and member of the National Advisory Council. My writing is still important to me, yet much of it is dominated by the need to pass important life lessons from old torchbearers to young strong arms.

In retirement, I spend a lot of time in the workshop turning ideas and concepts into items you can see and touch. You know, kind of like God becoming man, and not without irony the very line of work St. Joseph the Carpenter did to support the Holy Family. I have daddy's and granddaddy's hammer which they held, and when I put my hand on the handle I am--in a sense--shaking hands with them across time and space.

The people who originally read and loved Byron on Wells have largely moved on. Perhaps you would want to take their space--for no one takes anyone's place--and enjoy some tea and scones with Ye Olde Badger. If so, pull nigh to the fire, settle in for a tale of old, and try some of Mrs. Badger's ginger biscuits.

Esse quam videri!

John Burkitt (EveningStar)
 
JOHN, YOU HAVE SENIORITY IN THIS CONTEXT. WHAT I DISCUSSED WITH YOU BY PHONE MESSAGES THIS WEEK CAN BE ALTERED TO ACCOMMODATE YOUR OWN VISION.
 
I only do this figurative shouting when the action is partly or entirely intended to emphasize something for the benefit of the readers-- for instance, to announce a change of scene or a forward time-jump in my narrative. And while I understand your disappointment with low readership for older material, I have more than once been able to bring old material forward, back into the light. So unless you STRENUOUSLY DEMAND that I give up on anything which originated with you, I shall retain Byron on Wells in my own multi-storyline mixture. ​
 
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Yay, Tim! Oh, so very Huzzah! Roar, team, roar! {OBSCURE PRIVATE JOKE} Up till now, there was hardly any time overlap in our feline epics. The Lions went east, ninety degrees off the Tigers' course; therefore, it shouldn't be hard for you to avoid any inconsistencies. Maybe bring back Ranshuk, the wolf-turned human who married an elvish sort of woman? And the seven Djinn Brothers, who were very strong and possessed a degree of healing power? Also the Tiger Hookpaw, who lost his eyesight but gained Aslan's forgiveness for past sins and ended up helping against the sea monster.

Since what Evening Star and I have begun working on is far ahead in the future as compared with the years when Mister Lewis wrote the Chronicles, after you fill in "Lion's Share" to its own proper ending, we invite you to pretend that DESCENDANTS of Zendragund & Company (even descendants of the Gander Knight Fear-No-Blast) are present on the specialized fantasy planet where the Badger is placing his restored version of the Narnian town Byron-on-Wells.
 
This is very important for my fans to know. There are people--most people--who start writing a story without being sure how it will end. They write it a chapter at a time and see where it goes. I am not most people. I have a project in which I have full confidence, and it's being worked on at both ends and in the middle. I already know how it will begin and end and what path it will take. What it needs is like the old Magnavox ads said, "The quality goes in before the name goes on." When it's done, I will post it.
 
I'll give you a hint. Good fantasy stories...all of the greatest ones...have a doorway. With Lewis Carrol, Wonderland was down a rabbit hole, then through a mirror. C.S. Lewis drew us into Narnia through a Wardrobe, then pulled us into the sea through a living painting. In a way, it's like leaving your spacecraft through the airlock and finding yourself surrounded by wonder. I'm writing a story with a most unique doorway in it, one that may have you wondering where reality ends and fantasy begins.
 
Copperfox here, still standing by to hear about options in story creation.

Breathing down my neck is a veteran hero of "Spacebullies" action: Jamsorvad, a baboon-shaped sapient who possesses Green Lantern powers. He's been around the virtual block, and is eager to learn what share in the Fourth-Galaxy action he and his wife Wistamu might be allowed to play. This is being sporadically discussed with EveningStar.

RESUMING THE NEXT DAY: Our brainstorming has emphasized how much action stays within a Narnia-rooted setting, how much is marginally connected, and how much has NO link to Narnia unless Aslan or His deputies go to the outliers to reach souls. Very much outlying would be a possibility which I just mentioned to EveningStar today.

Established followers of "Spacebullies" know how I turned the Halo game into a thread among my many threads. Starting from a premise filled with existential despair, I revised the universe of Master Chief and the sentient A/I named Cortana who was doomed to crash into something where love and a future could exist. I was and am pleased with how I redirected Halo. But there's another military sci-fi roleplaying game, compared with which Halo is Donkey Kong. I refer to Henry Cavill's personal favorite wargame, Warhammer 40,000. The Great Badger has yet to answer my text.

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OKAY, I >SHALL< DO SOMETHING WITH WARHAMMER, AND AM CONFIDENT THAT I >CAN< DO THIS WITHOUT CREATING PLOT PROBLEMS.
 
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