Moby Dick and AHAB

[VampiraJen]

Okay Nigel, I got it wrong - Jen was right on this one

nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah

[El Spurioso]

It is indeed a very odd book...  every other chapter is more like an essay on whaling, period stuff, species of whale, etc etc.  All very interesting, but a bit disjointed from a narrative point of view.

For some reason my clearest memory of the book is the explanation for why 'Sperm Whales' are so-called.

Obsessed?  ME?

[Tiplodocus]

I've read it.

I found it pretty long and pretty boring but strangely, I'd still recommend it. (I was reading it immediately after Last of the Mohicans which was terrible (compared to the spiffing 1930s film).

Back to Ahab and chums, Si is right about the disjointed bit and Cthulouis is spot on about the chapter "The Whiteness of the Whale".

I took the kids to see three barking mad German actors do a semi-musical version of it (they had a lot of hats to wear) at the Palace in Kilmarnock a couple of years ago.  It was great.

Star Trek writers definitely have a thing about Moby Dick. Picard references it in First COntact as well "And if his chest had been a cannon he would have shot his heart out upon it's hump" (or something).   You get the feeling they are only marginally better read than some of us...


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Isn't there a bit of a cheat at the end of Moby Dick, by the way. The narrator isn't about to see the final fate of the Pequod but it is all described in loving detail. Surely that's a no no for first person tales...

[Mr D]

Moby Dick's a great book, but I'm not sure about AHAB. It seems ok, but it's going to have to be something more than a brief 'Moby Dick in space' to satisfy me...

[Nigel Kitching]

I've not really tried to write a 'brief Moby Dick in space' - or at least I hope not. One day, if anybody's interested, I'll explain how I came to write this series. Obviously there are key comparisons that are kind of unavoidable but I've tried my best to tell my own story. It's not for me to say if I have been successful of course...

I hope the Moby Dick connection isn't going to end up being a distraction.

Nigel

[VampiraJen]

One day, if anybody's interested, I'll explain how I came to write this series

go on then, explain away,

jen, who has yet to get this week's prog (bloody subscribers...grumble, grumble...)

[Oddboy]

go on then, explain away,

Unless it contains Spoilers, in which case why not leave it for a day when the series has finished?

[Dudley]

I've got a new game.

It's called "Torment Nigel Kitching".

To play, simply point out every time that AHAB deviates from the narrative of Moby Dick in any way.

I'll start.  It's in space, not in water, what's all that about?

[VampiraJen]

well, sometimes space is reffered to as an endless sea, so you can see the connection...

[Nigel Kitching]

I will but not today. It's a bit complicated and I don't want to confuse anybody (or myself). Today I am kind of busy but I'll come back to it.

Of course to me AHAB is endlessly fascination in all its many facets. However I don't expect it to be equally interesting to anybody else.

I'll tell you one thing that might be unusual though. I wrote this thing at the same rate that it was drawn. So when I wrote part three, I had already seen the art for part one (part two was with Rich and in progress). Does this make a great deal of difference? - I'm not sure. But it was nice to have all the visuals to inspire me as I went along. And, of course, I knew what everything actually looked like - it made the locations and so on feel specific and not just imagined.

If I get boring for goodness sake stop me...

Nigel

[Nigel Kitching]

"I've got a new game.

It's called "Torment Nigel Kitching". "

Is this the game where I end up flouncing off in a huff because the readers just aren't giving me the respect I so obviously deserve?

Nigel

[Queen Firey-Bou]

heh heh.... that sounds like an interesting way of working the art & scripting bit...

having read my prog last night i now realise what on earth yous are talking about, and yes theres a 'spoilers' tag on this thread.. DOH!

well i'm intreiged & impressed so far, the moby refs are enriching rather than distracting, the art  is great... ach i'll save this for the review thread huh ?
& i'm entertained by a female charachter called Ishmael, maybe i shoulda called my daughter that after all? tho she screams with horror when i tell her the tale of what she'd be called if she was a boy "whats wrong with james, or david or something MuuuuM!"... tsk , kids are so square daddio. She's not Izzy, But Ishie.

[GordonR]

Moby Dick is indeed a great book.  Just about the only thing I was made to read at uni that I wanted to read afterwards for my own pleasure.

Packed full of Biblical names and references - Ishmael, Ahab etc.

Basically, it's about man wanting to kill God.

[GordonR]

Rick Veitch's 'Abraxas and the Earthman', which ran in Marvel's old Heavy Metal clone Epic Illustrated, was basically Moby Dick in Space.

Worth checking out.  Being early 80s sub-Heavy metal stuff, of course, it's packed full of gratuitious female nudity.  Hurrah!

[Quirkafleeg]

I wonder if thats the thing with space whale and nudie girls I can remember reading back in the 80s. It also had trees in space and a bloke whos head was seperated from his body but both bits still functioned ok....