Jed On: The Other Side Of The Spectrum. · 11:01am Jul 21st, 2014
So: I recently posted a side story for The Conversion Bureau: The Other Side Of The Spectrum, called The King's Speech. That was, shall we say, something of a surreal thing for me to do, and I'll explain why.
I got into MLP properly about three or four weeks before I started writing The Avatar of Albion (with I started writing about a week and a half before I started posting it, so this was some time in March/April). It was mainly my friend Isaac's fault - he spent a lot of time discussing MLP stuff with me, and his enthusiasm for it - especially some of the darker stories the fandom had come out with - was infectious. Thanks to the discussions I had with him, especially about the concept of the Conversion Bureau (more specifically, the stuff that's labelled "Alternative Conversion Bureau") I decided to go read stuff. One of the first big things I read was The Other Side Of The Spectrum.
Now, The Other Side Of The Spectrum isn't perfect! I'll get that out of the way right now. I wouldn't say it is, and I doubt the writers would either. But from all practical perspectives, it's essentially one of the best Alternative Conversion Bureau stories out there: it's in depth, has an epic scale, a good mix of action and character development, and there's also some of the most disturbing and downright horrible stuff to ever be written about ponies ever. It's pretty darn grim, pretty expletiving epic (in the traditional use of the word, as in SCALE), and you will not find a better example of Alt-TCB for sheer deconstructive WHOOMPH.
Now, I've already said this in AOA's author's notes, but it's worth reiterating that The Avatar of Albion was inspired by Other Side of the Spectrum. To clarify, AOA was me thinking, "if I did that kind of story, what would I do?" I'd been inspired by the idea of the hopeless conflict with a more powerful, ruthless and downright unpleasant enemy.
The result is a story that is at once more desperate and less so, a story with more Earth mysticism, a little less out-there technology, more character death (in some respects: I've certainly killed off more fan favourites than Spectrum), some crazy homages (Star Wars being a big one) and some sheer lunacy.
Now: quite apart from AOA being the longest story I've ever written (it really is), I wasn't honestly expecting that much from it. Well, imagine my surprise when, shortly after the story got added to the "Alternative Conversion Bureau" group, a certain redskin122004 decides to comment on my story. Before I know it, I've been invited to join the Spectrum team.
Needless to say, something of an honour. But it did leave me with the question of how in God's name am I gonna write something that fits into this universe? The answer to that question - after about two weeks (?) of thinking - is The King's Speech. Call me a sentimental old monarchist, but since Wills is still alive and is now the King in the Spectrumverse, I just had to write a story with him in it, and the King's Speech seemed as good a concept as any to run with. Anyone reading it might recognise three or four names from AOA: well, coming up with OC names is a pain, and I'm a firm believer in multiverses, so I couldn't really help myself.
Anyway: with that done, now all I need to do is figure out what I'm gonna write next...
Jed.
Whatever you want. The world of TCB is your playground. Just keep up the good work.
If you want to help out the Spectrum crew, just email any of us and ask.
Our doors are always open.