FWLS FAQ (A Future We'd Like to See FAQ) or, "An FAQ We'd Like To See" Questions/answers about the net.publicated story series, And other miscellaneous weirdness. By Stefan Gagne AKA Twoflower v 2.0 last updated 6/27/94 REVISIONS FROM 1.3 : - Added a few tidbits here and there. - Longer timeline and title list. TABLE OF THINGS AND STUFF *1* What IS FWLS? *2* Who is 'Twoflower'? *3* What's his E-Mail address? *4* What stories exist in the series, and what is the correct order? *5* Where can I find these stories? *6* What's with the varying writing quality? *7* Twoflower poked fun at me, can I sue? *8* What are the influences behind the series / recommended reading? *9* What are the details about the multiuser game FWLS? *10* What's planned for the future *11* An index of all FWLS short stories. *12* A timeline of historical events, and why the exact date is never, ever made clear. *13* Technical information on the five major species. *14* Technical information on FWLS law enforcement. -=- *1* What IS FWLS? FWLS is a comedy / science fiction / dark future / silliness series of stories, all set in a Future We'd Like to See (FWLS). They are written by me (Twoflower), and distributed to you via the net for no money at all. The genre is the seldom used but always unusual 'Cyberpunk Humor'. It started out as a class writing project, and I found I digged the writing thang, so I kept going and going and going and... this is the result. This FAQ should answer any questions someone might have, and inform interested readers as to where they can find the stories. If you have any questions not listed here, read section 3 to find out how to ask Twoflower about them. I figured, hey, if Elf had an FAQ file for his net.stories, I might as well draft one up too... :) Please excuse any spelling errors... trying to spellcheck a document about a fictional universe with its own language and terminology can be very harrowing. *2* Who is Twoflower? That's my pen name, although it's rather loose (it's not used in Space Patrol's byline, for instance). Real name is Stefan Gagne. I'm a student amateur writer, who has only been published in one or two local, school based writing journals. I muck about with computers and enjoy watching anime in my spare time. If you'd like to chat with me live, I frequent around FurryMUCK and RealmsMUCK to a few times daily. *3* What's his E-Mail address? I've got three addresses where I can be reached... gagne@etext.org This is my new one, very nice, powerful little account where I can store all my stuff and check out the writing newsgroups. Fan mail or story requests go here. If this address gives you errors, try gagne@locust.cic.net. jengagne@glue.umd.edu If all else fails, mail my sister here and tell her to get me to read my mail. :) Don't worry, we're on good terms. *4* What stories exist in the series, and what is the correct order? This is a list of stories currently written in the series, and their order in the FWLS timeline, as they were not released in the order they were written. -=- 1. Space Patrol (Novel - Released) The first series, a HUGE novel with many stories inside featuring a common crew of social deviants. Writing quality here ranges from okay to pretty nifty; these are literally the first few stories I had ever written. This lays the basis for FWLS. 2. Haven Born (Novel - Released) Follows up on a lead in Space Patrol about artifical intelligence. Grittier, darker than the rampant silliness in SP. This actually has some redeeming social value. 3. A Future We'd Like To See (Short Story Series - Released, still being written) Random mishaps and tales of the FWLS universe, after the events of SP and HB. Ranges from dark to silly, with stories anywhere from 4k-44k long. -=- *5* Where can I find these stories? Almost the entire series is archived FTPwise at: AVATAR.SNC.EDU, in pub/furry/stories/downloads as patrol.txt (Space Patrol) AFutureWedLikeToSee1-??.sto (FWLS) HavenBorn.txt (Haven Born) There is another site which has faster updates and is available via FTP, Goper, AND World Wide Web, which provided me with net.access in exchange for keeping the FWLS archive up and running. Use your various file 'xfer clients to : etext.archive.umich.edu, in pub/Fiction/FWLS SpacePatrol.txt.gz (Space Patrol) FWLS??.txt (FWLS) HavenBorn.txt.gz (Haven Born) If anybody knows of other sites that archive it, please tell me. Or, if you'd like to carry current archives of any of the stories, mail me, I'll help you set it up. *6* What's with the varying writing quality? Well, Space Patrol's stories were written as class projects in my writing class. Therefore, they are the first things I have ever written. However, halfway through SP, the quality boosts up dramatically (the transition stories were cut in the final draft), and that level is maintained throughout the rest of the series, with only a few 'off' stories. In short : If SP looks bad, don't worry, it picks up real quick. FWLS should be very consistent, as is HB. Latter FWLSes (25 onward) get really nifty indeed! By the time I hit the time-passage (FWLS 42), quality is near publishing. *7* Twoflower poked fun at me, can I sue? Yes and no. Yes, if he violated your copyright, you can sue the tar out of him, unless it (usually) falls into that fun little gray area called 'parody'. No, because he's a penniless student, and you'll get diddley / squat for it. I will apologize and send you a nice letter, however. :) Generally, if you take offense or start screaming in legalese, I can recommend this : It's just a story. Relax. Usually I mean no ill will if I use a trademark for parody purposes, it's more for comedic effect than slander. Rest assured that any FWLS stories in the grey of legality aren't going to be published in any other format by me. *8* What are the influences behind the series / recommended reading? I am often influenced (sometimes consciously, sometimes not) by a variety of sources. Douglas Adams is the strongest, just in the sense that we both write comedy science fiction. Terry Pratchett as well, Dave Barry, and some dark elements are throwbacks to either William Gibson or Patrick MacGoohan. I've been overdosing on Anime lately, particularly the few cyberpunk and or humor ones I can see. Ranma 1/2 springs to mind. If you like the series, I can recommend the following book serieseseses as well... Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Discworld novels, and Dave Barry Slept Here. For your viewing pleasure, try Red Dwarf or The Prisoner (a must see to really grasp the Number Two character that pops up every now and then.) *9* What are the details about the multiuser game FWLS? There exists a sort of multiuser game, written by Twoflower last summer, on the net. It's located on RealmsMUCK, as one of the six realms you can explore (including cyberpunk, fantasy, and even a Pendor area for fans of Elf). Simply telnet to 128.95.10.106 7765 (or use a mud client) and follow thier registration procedures. Usage is very, very low, mostly in the Pendor area because of its adult theme... let's help bring the place back to life, eh? *10* What's planned for the future? Here are a few projects I'm trying to tackle in addition to normal schoolwork and such. - Very little. See, I was working on a program called PONG KOMBAT awhile back. It was fun and all, but responding to pong e-mail took about 1/3rd of my free time! As a result, I hadn't been able to fiddle with my writing or any other cool stuff. *11* An index of all FWLS short stories. Listed by index number. Last update - 6/27/94. New ones may have been added since then, check the sites mentioned above, rec.arts.prose, or alt.cyberpunk.chatsubo. -=- 1.0 - Introduction 1.1 - Live Slow, Die Hard 1.2 - Burning Nonrecyclable Plastic 1.3 - Where No One Has Really Felt Like Going Before 1.4 - The Common Sense 1.5 - Rebel Without a Spine 1.6 - Belief in the Dollar 1.7 - 20th Century Park 1.8 - Todo's Guide to C'atel 1.9 - 293 Channels 1.10 - 37047734 : The Next Generation 1.11 - Tales of the Rainy City Act 1 (*) 1.12 - Tales of the Rainy City Act 2 (*) 1.13 - Tales of the Rainy City Act 3 (*) 1.14 - Making the Grade 1.15 - Excitement, Danger and Intrigue 1.16 - Interview in Motivated Rock, Issue #234, July 1.17 - The Shell Game, Pt. 1 1.18 - The Shell Game, Pt. 2 (Transition) 1.18(.1) - The Shell Game, Pt. 3 1.19 - Bad Trip 1.20 - Junk Drawer 1.21 - Death Before Yielding (*) 1.22 - New and Improved 1.23 - Spatulas of Fury 1.24 - The Bridge 1.25 - Real to Real Editing (*) 1.26 - The Oracle 1.27 - The Universe, v 2.0 1.28 - The Run 1.29 - The Christmas Episode (rated RG, Really Gross) (*) 1.30 - Ah, Drama 1.31 - Gilligan's Matrix 1.32 - Profit and Tradition 1.33 - Research and Design 1.34 - Hell (*) 1.35 - The Spaminator 1.36 - Dangerous Toys (*) 1.37 - Net.Gods (*) 1.38 - Hard Sell 1.39 - Misery Date 1.40 - Rain nor Sleet nor Snow (*) 1.41 - Good Bad Guy 1.42 - On the Writer's Block (*) 1.43 - Rock and Roll Will Never Die 1.44 - The Big Time (*) 1.45 - Help (*) = Can mean a few things. 1. Required Reading to really get a handle on FWLSHistorik 2. Voted 'best of the bunch' by e-mail response 3. Author faves. *12* A timeline of historical events, and why the exact date is never, ever made clear. Since I'm not sure myself how far into the future the series should logically be, I simply avoid telling when it takes place like the plague. However, there IS a timelime of sorts, tracing important events leading off from present day. It simply lacks labels. -=- PRESENT DAY... 1. The world is at war. The HAAFF is created when President Doofman vomits after being asked what the new army is going to be called. 2. A caravan of Yttian tourists show up near the end of the war and give Earth FTL travel technology. 3. Earth wanders around, bumping into the Ytt/Murfle war. Doofman manages to get everybody completely drunk and have them sign complicated, binding treaties. 4. The Terran Confederation is born. Several traders flip the bird at the new regime and settle outside borders, in the Anarchy Zones. No more wars ensue. SPACE PATROL.. 5. VOSNet, a massive virtual reality network is set up, linking many computers around the galaxy to each other and creating an entirely new breed of criminal. HAVEN BORN.. 6. Somewhere in the fray, artifical intelligences are created. They breifly appear on a system called the Septic Tank, then vanish without a trace to a rumored system called 'haven'. FWLS... 7. VOSNet flourishes in more ways than one. A few AIs are illegally made, mayhem ensues, people die, people are born, life goes on. 8. We learn that somewhere in the multiverse there exists a race of beings so evolved that they can create new Realms, or universes. The universe FWLS is the cock-up that got a C+ for effort. 9. The existence of an afterlife is confirmed by a few rare individuals, including evidence of immortals roaming the universe. 10. We learn about Reality, Inc., a mysterious corporation in charge of maintaining the status quo of everything that exists. They also seem to have a stake in the reincarnation system and interdimensional holovision broadcasts. 11. A large group of AIs gain cyborg bodies and slip secretly and sometimes not so secretly into society. 12. A new species of AI, bigger, badder and harder to kill shows up called Thinkers. Nobody knows where they're from or why they're here, just that now the net is infected with piles of sentient data. Most of them pose no threat, however. 13. The Disgruntled Postal Workers show up, a courier service more skilled than HAAFF and much more destructive. TEN YEARS LATER IN THE FWLS TIME LINE... (story #42) 14. The Thinkers vanish (they were too damn hard to write:). 15. DPW has taken over the courier industry, HAAFF goes bankrupt. Economy slumps, government in trouble. 16. The AI Cyborgs officially announce their presence. Mayhem ensues in the struggle for AI rights. Military adopts a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy about weither you're robotic or not. 17. Biotech advances greatly, allowing for cyber-enhanced limbs and other mad science. 18. The net splits; VOSNet, the original, now only carries corporations and information access services. UberNet carries the hackers and college types. -=- *13* Technical information on the five major species. All this information is leeched off of RealmsMUCK. Excuse any spacing errors. There are actually six species now that the AIs are considered official. Species - Humans Homeworld - Terra (obviously) Leader - President Doofman Even though the official title is the Terran Confederation, Terrans don't really run the show; all the major races have equal stake in the organization, so that the endless bickering goes nowhere and the universe is pretty much left in the hands of those who live there. The only major decisions they seem to make are who to blow up and who to call friend. There are several major races of humans. Long, long, long ago these races had some difficulty cooperating : fortunately, with the advent of space travel, hate groups concentrate on disliking other species more than other races. Note : Humans don't know any languages other than English, usually. Species - Ytt Homeworld - Yttia Leader - Unknown (because I haven't written in one yet) Ytts are rabbit-like humanoids, who are usually bilingual (speaking Yttian and English). They have green fur, long ears, and are on the whole an easygoing, peaceful bunch, unless you strongly provoke them. Ytts on the whole aren't very strong, but they have high intelligence. There is a strong anti-human sentiment on the Yttian homeworld; colony Ytts are placid enough, however. The Yttian homeworld is known for street grime/crime, and the largest, nastiest, most sadistic highway system ever devised by a sane creature. Ytts GENERALLY come in two styles, the skinny, agile, smart ones and big, slow, dumb muscular ones. There are some which are built like a brick wall and smart, or thin and stupid, but they are a rarity. Ytt names usually have double consonants and apostrophes, like Brrgy, Y'kkilla, or G'ill'ir. Species - Murfle Homeworld - Murf Leader - A king of some sort, usually assassinated twice monthly. Murfles are cute, short (2-foot tall!), purple furry guys with oval-shaped heads and black marble eyes, and a perpetual chip on their shoulder. In fact, they're one of the most belligerent races in the galaxy, quick to anger and ready to pick a fight. As a result of their size and temper however, they don't fight really well against other races, and they get too angry to work efficently in the cockpit of a fighting craft. On a scientific note, they have to wear special earmuffs due to heat loss through their ears even in room temperature. A good way to get a Murfle angry is to treat him like a cute stuffed doll. Only female murfles have hair. Males have one little Charlie Brown-like sprig. Note! Due to an influx of kiddie programming on Murflan holovision years back, a generation of Murfles were born with the teachings of such cutesy characters as purple plush dinosaurs and talking books. These Murfles are nice and cute and wonderful and kind and total social rejects from normal Murfle society. They are called BARNEYITES. Murfles speak english, but their written language is a complex, hard to read series of carefully placed dots. Slipping one dot out of place can change "Men's Restrooms" to read "Fish Torture Umbrella". Species - Saren Homeworld - Sara, various colonies, deep space Leader - None. Sarens make up most of the trading force in the Anarchy Zones, due to a shrewd business sense and natural charm. They're completely humanoid, except for a roundish head, purple skin and antennae with green sensors on the ends. Sarens can be found on management levels of most entertainment industries, and also as shop proprietors. Very few of the galaxy's Sarens are from the Sara homeworld, most from colonies or simply born into space on trading ships. They are not above a little illegal activity in the same way that the sea is not above the clouds, but very few of them act in a particularly evil manner. It's simply business as usual. Sarens take life-debts very seriously. If a Saren is saved from a life-or-death situation, they will be in debt to that person until the debt is cleared. In addition, Sarens can telepathically sense STRONG emotions, like anger, fear, panic, obsession, etc. Sarens that have lived together for a long time can 'sense' each other's presence from about 200 feet away. Sarens prefer the sound of 'ki' or 'key in their name somewhere, failing that, 'yu' or 'ee'. Examples, Luki, Ookie, Suuyu, Feeku. Note : Sarens can understand any language, English, Yttian or Murflan dotscript. Species - AI / Cyborgs Homeworld - Haven Two (location unknown) Leader - Ambiguous (rumored to be Number Two, rumored to be Qwerty) Although AIs have been around for a long time in both virtual reality form and cyborg/androids, they have been kept a secret. Now, with the official announcement, they number in the millions and make up a small minority. As a result, some planets haven't recognized them as 'people' yet, and the struggle for AI rights continues. In the Anarchy Zones, nobody cares, and they are truly equal. AIs match in personalty with humans, which they were based on. Most have human shells; few take on the robotic form of a Ytt or any other species. *14* Technical information on FWLS law enforcement. Starfleet PRICE : N/A Starfleet collapsed shortly after FWLS #42, when the economy faltered. This, and the other government-sponsored branch of space travel, the HAAFF, were dismantled due to debt concerns. - The Not-So-Secret-Agent Corporation PRICE : Ranging from Expensive to Real Expensive. This is a privately funded group of crack agents who specialize in covert operations. If you need ambassadors' daughters rescued, secret documents obtained, or hostages rescued, this is who you want. Agents tend to fall into two categories. Wild-eyed whipcracking stunt pilot Harrison Ford types, or impeccably dressed suave, slick foreign accent Sean Connery types. Both have large egos and guns to match. NSSAs are mostly human. - The Heavily Armed Ambassadors of Friendship and Fun (HAAFF) PRICE : N/A They used to handle the courier jobs, getting packages from one place to another like an armored car. However, they were nudged out of the market by the DPW, and the government dismantled the branch for budget reasons. - The Space Patrol PRICE : Ranging from Dirt Cheap to Inexpensive. The Space Patrol is essentially a not-so-crack team of nitwits and incompetent fools, who sometimes get the job done without blowing up a planet. However, they're better than nothing, and can handle guard duty or some emergency situations. In accordance with Dramatic Law, all of the really bizarre, twisted, warp-space-and-time sorts of missions invariably end up in the Patrol's lap. This is why Patrollers need frequent vacations and sometimes electroshock therapy to cope with everyday job rituals. - The Disgruntled Postal Workers PRICE : Ranging from cheap (the mailmen get the package there safely but get to blow up just about anything they want to do it) to expensive (the mailmen get the package there safely and have to exercise some self control in the are of wanton destruction) The DPW is staffed by the clinically insane. They deliberately seek out pilots with two qualifications : one, pilot and combat skill, two, a record for mass destruction and bloodlust. As a result, they form a formidable force, one no pirate wants to tangle with, since DPWs are known to use some really wild combat tactics and stop at nothing to see the package through. However, they almost never fail in getting your letter from A to B, and are very, very reliable. Just keep your breakables out of missile reach.