Spanner R4 Update: Yuri vs. Cyberpunk: Too Much Love! It's Ruining My Beautiful Cynicism!

Last post I mentioned that the yuri element of Spanner is foregrounding itself more in Revision 4 so that I'm less reluctant to throw some shameless sentimentality into the story. There's a lot of emotional intensity in this version, and it's only getting more intense as the story goes on. I'm worrying that all this love is ruining my cynicism! I fear that it's diluting the cyberpunk.

Fear not, faithful readers. The cynicism remains where it still belongs: against institutions, religion, the conventional so-called wisdom, liberal wimpiness, and conservative neophobia. I've become even more cynical about superheroes now that I've made the connection between them and terrorists and realized what they have in common: they substitute individual heroism for mass action, encouraging the people to become passive. The ultimate link between superheroes and terrorists in Spanner is that archvillain Henry Becket, the leader of the Conservative Revolution, is both at the same time; in fact, in him, both are the same — the key to his character, and to the American imperial regime.

So I'm at the same time transgressive and defiantly sentimental when I write the love stories, but cynical where it counts, about the Man. The first vague vision I had in 1996 of combining yuri romance with punk science fiction and political thriller has finally become clear to me in 2012.

Also last post, I bet myself (and you, my readers) that once I stepped out of the house my muse would start assaulting me with story ideas for Chapter 3. Sure enough, she did: new bookend scenes with Leila, a new jailbreak scene linking Chapter 1 and the later Chapter 3 scenes where terrorists pop up. And so once I got home I threw them in. Then I edited the first two sections, now called "The Call" and "Stalking Minty Fresh", cutting and rewording until I put the most content in the fewest words; now they're done. That still leaves four sections to edit and 600 words to cut, though I suspect that once I condense those sections I'll have room for new content I can use for more continuity welding. I'll see if I can finish Chapter 3 R4 tonight.

And so the editing continues...