Dreams and Dementations

by AShadowOfCygnus

Blue Sekai Illimitado

Babble-babble goes the brook, along its countless ways;
Winding paths and lapping tides: the infinitude of days.

Many waters course its banks, each branching fork a storm
Chattering and arguing, thronging each amongst the swarm.

But nowhere could you hope to go, once each has had its say,
And find a thronging river that empties not into a bay.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

The synopsis makes this story sound like it needs an anthology tag.

[AShadowOfCygnus]

10467584
Huh. In all my years on the site, I never actually knew that was a thing. Recent addition?

Either way, amended with thanks.

[AShadowOfCygnus]

10469485
Peace is at a premium these days. Lake actually warm for once?

[Thornquill]

Once again, you leave me awestruck.

It is so tempting to respond to each piece and gush about how well they work; but in the interest of not creating a comment that needlessly hogs screenspace from the work itself, I'll (quite reluctantly, you must understand) restrict myself to a few most pressing highlights. The balance of time you give to each piece is perfect. You constantly hit that balance of creating something where I always want more of the story and the characters, even though I know it's said everything it wanted to say. (This goes most of all I think for "Home by the Sea" and "Coming of Age." Yes, fine, break my heart a just a little more, why don't you?) Indeed, the longer pieces--"The Tower on its Side", and most especially "MOSAIC"--are easily strong enough to have warranted publication on their own. Yet I do love how they blend into the whole and the myriad recurring themes, and how "The Tower" gets a unique breakup to its pacing that it could not have had as a single unit.

Lastly, your ever-growing skill for bringing to mind complete, tangible entities out of the tiniest snatches of unexpected detail and glimpses of character is on full display here. Yes, I'm envious. ;) This is truly more than just a collection, and I'm still a little in shock from suddenly seeing the whole thing just appear almost out of nowhere. Good grief, I loved reading this. Well done my friend!

[FanOfMostEverything]

Exquisite from start to finish. In some cases, I just couldn't think of anything worth saying beyond "This was really good." Thank you for it.

[Admiral Biscuit]

10472089
I’ve got the same problem (for more reasons than you’d think) . . . I’m not good at literary critique, but every chapter reached me on an almost visceral level, combined in part with where I read some of ‘em--that’s not authorial intent, but that’s how it happens. And that’s how some things reach a different level, one that perhaps the author never intended. For example, and not related to this story, I’ll never hear R.E.M.’s Drive without thinking of blasting down a dirt road in my dad’s Camaro on a rainy day at just the right speed to glide over the washboarding. And this chapter will be forever locked in the lazy streams and cloudyblue wavey Lake Michigan waters, ‘cause I read it up North on vacation.

[Admiral Biscuit]

10470303

Lake actually warm for once?

I don’t know; I didn’t go in. This time of year, it’s probably warmer than air temperature--gotta figure the lake’s in the mid- to high-60s (whatever that is in Centigrade), and the air very much wasn’t.

[AShadowOfCygnus]

Thank you all for your kind words, truly -- given that it took me six months to finally push this thing to print, I'm glad so much of the prose struck home. Now that I've gotten myself where I want to be on the next story for this month (), I can finally start responding to your thoughts properly.

10472089

Thanks, Fan. I always look forward to reading your thoughts on these things, especially what I put out involving Celestia, Luna, or Twilight -- you seem to have your finger on the pulse of what makes a really excellent Alicorn fic, so hearing that you seem to have gotten what I was going for out of Tower is deeply reassuring.

10472084
10472451

Alright, admission time--the reason this one ended up in the anthology rather than as a standalone work is a combination of length and the conviction that I absolutely could not put it into words in a way that wouldn't take away from the message. Or, well, I could, but it would take an entire novel to do it proper justice and that slot's already filled. I won't spoil unless asked, but suffice it to say that it's as much about the careful use of ideas as much as the things themselves--which I think we can agree does hit at the very roots of human (or indeed pony) behaviour. Glad you both liked, either way.

10478883
Oh hey! I was hoping you'd get a chance to read this. Hopefully proof positive that I'm not DOA, and that the much-vaunted, long-awaited, alcoholism-inducing PM is indeed on its way. I suspect this one may fall a little flatter than Salarymare or Nothing, but I think there's still value to be had in it, and I'm glad the style of writing continues to do it justice.

Nineteen Eighty-Four makes for an . . . interesting point of comparison, especially with regard to the setting, but I don't want to give anything away on that front until you've had the chance to read through to the end. As per the author's endnote, there are definite parallels to those other two stories in how they handle individuality, personal agency, and choice.

[AShadowOfCygnus]

10472457
Hm. I know I've read a couple of stories that touch on similar themes (and a fair few episodes of the 90s Outer Limits would fit that mould as well), but the closest I'm getting is that old short retelling John Carpenter's The Thing from the creature's perspective.

As to MOSAIC -- eh. I'm glad it seems to have gone over well, but I'm still not convinced that I got across everything I was trying to with it. But then, given its decidedly incoherent origins, maybe it's better that way.