Tag Archives: sequels

Revisiting the Well

This post’s title is a bit vague. Someone familiar with my interests might suppose it has something to do with the Well World series by Jack L. ChalkerI’ve posted about it before. I won’t draw out whatever suspense you might have — the well in question is humanity’s wellspring of stories.

The revisiting is our love of nostalgia in all the sequels, serials, remakes, reboots, adaptations, borrowings, homages, parodies, and pastiches. To name but some. And make no mistake, all stories have elements of other stories. Boil stories down enough and the reductions begin to look similar (the infamous seven plots).

But I find myself bemused by how obsessed we get about drinking from the same well over and over when there are so many other interesting wells.

Continue reading


BB #53: Fan Bubbles

BrainFireIn its early days, circa 1990, social media provided a ready platform for fan communities of TV shows and movies. I spent a lot of time in a group devoted to Star Trek. We fans believed the creators were aware of our groups, that they even silently monitored them, but it was very rare that they ever engaged us.

Today the power and allure of social media has broken down the wall. Artists of all stripes use these public platforms to reach, and be reached by, fans. The visible connection between artist and fan has never been stronger.

And as always, there’s a Yang to the Yin…

Continue reading