“Left” & “Walk” by Andrew T. Jayroe at Amazon

Just wanted to let everyone know that my short stories “Left” and “Walk” are now available for download at Amazon.com!  If you didn’t have the chance to read them when they were posted here, grab your Kindle and download them today!

Real Lightsaber | Science Suggests Lightsaber Technology Is Possible

The Lightsaber & Ultra-Sword Trope

There’s no denying it – I’m a Star Wars geek.  But I will also admit that – though I did run out to see the three prequels in theaters as close to the release date as possible – the movies just aren’t that good.  What drew me into the fandom is the universe in which these movies take place; a universe that I will admit to fantasizing frequently about being a part of.

Droids, starships, aliens, the Force are all facets of the whole that drew me in.  But if it were to all boil down to a single element that makes me love Star Wars so much, it’s the mystical and mysterious weapon known as the lightsaber.  You can’t tell me that you’ve never watched a Star Wars movie and thought, Damn, I wish I had one of those.

The lightsaber is almost entirely unique to the Star Wars series because it has become such a staple of that universe.  But that fact doesn’t come from lack of trying.  Many have attempted to re-invent the lightsaber with bladed weapons charged with laser energy, electric swords, and magical extensions of the protagonist’s own soul (see Soul Reaver).

There is also some evidence to support the idea that the lightsaber was directly influenced from a mystical energy force depicted in Edgar Rice Burroughs Princess of Mars novels known as the 9th Ray.

However, this is a long-held trope in  fantasy that I like to call the Ultra-Sword – that is to say a blade that never dulls, never breaks, and can cut through anything save for another Ultra-Sword.  The lightsaber is little more than a sci-fi friendly redressing of that concept.

So what makes the lightsaber so appealing to me over, say, Excalibur?  Again, I have to say that it is the lore and universe that surrounds it.  King Arthur didn’t do epic battle with Darth Vader holding Excalibur.

Luckily for me and other like-minded fanboys in the world, a recent scientific discovery has made the lightsaber a little less impossible, and made my (possibly shameful) obsession with the Star Wars universe some tiny bit closer to reality.

Geek Rage | Scientists Discover A New Form Of Matter

Called “photonic molecules,” scientists have managed to stick photons together to create a kind of heavy photon that simultaneously retains it’s light-like attributes while behaving like an object with mass.  Until very recently, this was thought to be impossible because it goes against everything ever observed about photons.  This breakthrough has many implications, such as creating more efficient quantum computers or the fabled “hard-light hologram” – but none of these can make a geek salivate more than the possibility of building a working lightsaber in our lifetime.

The theory is simple:  Line up a whole bunch of photonic molecules into a cylindrical shape approximately a meter long, excite them to the point where they generate heat, battle the Dark Side.

Unfortunately, there are still a few problems to solve, such as making the photons interact and repel each other to parry an enemy lightsaber, and how to contain the massive amounts of heat necessary to allow it cut instantly through metal without also igniting the atmosphere – but who cares?  Lightsabers!

Why I Hate Twilight | Another Example Of A Shameful Rip-Off

As I would hope that you might have picked up on by now, I love tropes.  Science fiction, fantasy, and horror – in my mind – loose something essential when the themes I have come to know and love are taken away or so bastardized that you don’t recognize them anymore.

The Twilight Saga is absolutely full of tropes:

•    Vampires drink blood.
•    Vampires are especially seductive and romantic for some reason.
•    Vampire babies are unique, and have unique properties.
•    Vampires fight werewolves.
•    Vampire lover must control his urge to rip out his loved one’s throat.
•    For some reason, the vampire’s lover is especially appetizing (see True Blood for further details).
•    Vampires have some form of psychic ability.
•    The vampire’s lover has some immunity to the vampire’s powers (again, see True Blood).
•    Vampires “mainstream” and find another source of sustenance other than human blood.
•    Dark and evil vampire overlord-like authority that messes with the main characters.
•    Vampires move around periodically to avoid any number of social afflictions.

The list goes on and on… and on.  And I’m not forgetting that the vampire’s glisten like a club tramp on Friday night when exposed to sunlight instead of bursting into flames.  This is a direct trope reversal, which I’m usually all for.  Unfortunately, it was used so poorly in sparingly in Twilight that it just didn’t work.

So, with all of these tropes to see in love, why did I dislike the saga so much?  The truth of the matter is that, despite the way that it was so virally marketed to teenie-boppers – which I will admit didn’t win any brownie points with me – I can’t say that its overall popularity somehow diminished its overall value for me.

Likewise, the mediocre plot points and shameful acting didn’t hurt Twilight’s appeal to me much.  Though the half-dumbfounded leading man and the emotionless stone-faced protagonist were fairly off-putting, I am a cautious fan of B-movies, which usually feature such problems.

One reason I so despised this film series full of tropes is quite simply that they forgot the most important one:

•    Vampires and werewolves are monsters.

That’s not to say that some of the villainous antagonists of the film weren’t disturbing, and certainly evil (though some of them were apparently just jerks), I never found a single character in the series that was scary in any way.

Quite the opposite, really.  Most of the vampires seemed like people that might be kinda cool to hang out with.  And the werewolves, though enormous and intimidating, were mostly cuddly teddy-bears – even when they were ripping some evil vampire apart.

Any of the above tropes that can successfully applied to a vampire or werewolf has to be applied with the sticky adhesive of horror.

One might make the claim that the nice, friendly monster is another trope reversal, which I already admitted that I liked.  And, in fact, that usually works:  Love at First Bite, Teen Wolf… classics.

The difference?  Those were comedies.

Now, I can respect what Twilight was supposed to be; a nice, romantic movie with an exciting little twist, and a complex love triangle.

Once again, see True Blood.  More specifically, the Sookie Stackhouse novels that True Blood is based on.

That’s right, my main beef with Twilight is that it stole everything that Charlaine Harris did right in Sookie Stackhouse, dumbed it down, cleaned it up, and repackaged it and a brilliant, fresh approach to vampire drama.  Twilight is a complete and total rip-off.

Some of you might be saying, “Isn’t that what a trope is; just a reused idea?”  And to that I say, check out my Inheritance – Star Wars comparison a little down the blog-line.

Tropes Gone Bad | When Cliches Become Rip-Offs

Let us all take a moment to reflect on certain, familiar storyline that I’m sure many of us will recognize without much prompting:

•    A young farm boy meets an old and wise mentor who hints at having a mystical past.

•    The mentor tells the farm boy that he too shares this mystical power.

•    The farm boy flees from pursuing forces with his mentor after his family is murdered.

•    The farm boy is trained in the ways of combat and mysticism by his mentor.

•    A scruffy, adventurous character is introduced who travels with them.

•    Together, they save a princess from a terrible prison, where the old mentor meets his fate.

•    The princess leads the remainder of the team (as well as the enemy) to a hidden location that houses a rebellious force that stands to challenge an oppressive and decidedly evil government entity ruled by a half-insane man that is out to corrupt or destroy the farm boy.

•    The farm boy is called to a mysterious forest psychically by the last of their ancient, knightly order.

•    The farm boy studies under the tutelage of the master as his friends proceed to have their own adventures.

Sound familiar?  Of course it does.  It’s the story line of Christopher Paolini’s Eragon – the first book of the Inheritance Cycle.

Why?  What did you think I was talking about?

While Paolini’s debut novel series certainly contained many, many, many tropes that I found myself very fond of, the story as a whole was a direct and none-too-subtle rip-off of Star Wars.  Many have said that Star Wars itself was a rip-off of classical Greek monomyth story structures – which may be true, but at least George Lucas had the courtesy to not entirely retell a story that already existed.

The fact of the matter is, reading Eragon and its sequel, Eldest, shows that the entire storyline was just ripped and reset into a medieval atmosphere.  Star Wars with metal swords, magic, demons, dragons, and demihumans.

I honestly did enjoy the Eragon and Eldest novels, but I have no intention of reading the third book and forward.  I figure that re-watching Return of the Jedi will pretty much fill the rest of the story out.

For these reasons, I was never able to fully respect Paolini as a serious writer.  This may be because he was very young when he began the series, and was only 19 when Eragon was published.

Interestingly enough, Christopher Paolini is almost exactly 1 month older than I am.  Looking back at some of the drivel I wrote in my teenage years makes it easy for me to relate to the guy on some fundamental level.  I might even be willing to give him a second chance if and when he moves on from Inheritance into a new series of novels.

But, for now, I will have to settle for the vague illusion of good storytelling by mixing in science fiction tropes with fantasy tropes.  Good luck on your future endeavors, Mr. Paolini.

Races of Fantasy | Part One: The Origin of the Dwarf

A loyal friend – if not too loyal a reader (*shakes fist) –solicited this article based on a conversation that we had some time ago as he played a now venerable Dwarf character in D&D named Thāgor.  Yes, I’m that kind of geek as well.

Expanding on that request, I have decided to create a periodic series of articles that delves into the history and origin of classical high fantasy demihuman races that I call “Races of Fantasy.”  This first installment of the series focuses on one of my all-time favorites – the Dwarves.

As with most of the classic demihuman races, J.R.R. Tolkien set the standard for Dwarves in The Hobbit, and later, The Lord of the Rings (as well as several subsequent installments that I’m too embarrassed to mention).  This standard has been ripped off many times, and a few authors have attempted to reformat the culture of the Dwarves – all of which, in my opinion, failed miserably.

However, over the years, I have been happy to read through dozens of fantasy novels by various authors that featured the diminutive, yet fearsome and honorable, race.  From Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle to the endless novelizations of the Dungeons & Dragons shared universe, the many retellings of Tolkien’s Dwarves have won a well-deserved place in the hearts of fantasy lovers.

So how did Tolkien create such wondrous creatures as these – so intrinsically foreign yet easy to identify with?  Well, strictly speaking, he didn’t.

Dwarves as we know and love them today are indeed the brainchild of Tolkien – no arguments here.  However, Dwarves had existed long before Tolkien in the form old Scandinavian mythology – and many of their most famous traits were inspired by either those mythologies or the real-life Scandinavian cultures of history.

Let’s take a moment to examine some of these traits:

•    Great Stone & Metal Workers – The Dwarves of Middle-Earth – and by extension almost all Dwarves in the genre – were known as the greatest stone and metal workers of the world.  The Old Norse dvergr, on which the Dwarves were based, were also associated with great stone and metalwork.

•    Greed – The Dwarves of Moria, as any fantasy fan can tell you, were driven by greed to dig so deep under the mountains that they fell to ruin when they released the formidable Balrog demon.  The dvergr were also known to be greedy even unto their own destruction.

•    Beards – Dwarves have beards.  Even Dwarven women have beards – seriously, well known fact.  The dvergr, by what few classical representations we have to judge by, were also seen almost exclusively as having beards.  Did dvergr women have beards?  I don’t know, they’ve never been seen by modern men.

•    Armor – Dwarves were often seen as wearing mail and lamellar armors, as well as clad in leathers and fur.  The Vikings of Scandinavia were purported to make use of all of these in their battles and various shenanigans.

•    Helmets – Even more important than Dwarven armor, are their helmets.  The helmets of the Dwarves are blatantly obvious to have been inspired by Viking helms – with some fantasy depictions going as far as to add the stylized horns or wings.

•    Weapons – Battleaxes and warhammers are the staple weapons of almost any Dwarf imaginable.  Though the battleaxes are highly stylized – perhaps to lend credence to the Dwarven smithing abilities – they are similar to the bearded axes wielded in combat by – you guessed it – Vikings.

Warhammers, on the other hand, are a decided English style weapon.  They too were likely used by Vikings, as many Viking tools and implements of war were seized by the aforementioned shenanigans.  Also, there is a certain Norse god that wields a certain weapon of choice.

•    Deity – The god of Tolkien’s Dwarves was a wise master of smithing called Aule.  A similar figure is found in Norse mythology, known as Volundr.

•    Language – Though the language of the Tolkien’s Dwarves was apparently a jealously guarded secret, the few words that are known in Khuzdul (Khasad, Nogrod, Belegost, Nargothrond, etc.) have very similar phonetics to names and words in various Scandinavian languages.

•    Runes – Even the written language of the Dwarves, Cirth, is a runic language that looks similar to the Norse and Germanic runes still used today in magical formulae.

•    Clans – Dwarves exist almost exclusively in clan social structures.  Scandinavian and Germanic Migratory cultures, such as the Scotch and Irish, are most famous for practicing a similar clan structure.

Irrefutable evidence that Tolkien based his Dwarves from Scandinavian culture:  The names of twelve of the thirteen Dwarves from Bilbo Baggins’ party in The Hobbit, taken directly from an Old Norse tale known as Voluspa.  Oh, and Gandalf, too.

As a side note, I know that I have failed to use many special phonetic characters for both Norse and Dwarven words.  But, as I’ve said before… not your monkey.

Leaving Earth | Man’s Fascination With The Stars

Tonight, as I stare up at the stars – as I do many nights – I took to wondering why I was so fascinated with the science fiction and the thought of leaving the Earth behind.  The current state of our planet aside, I believe that my – and possibly many others’ – preoccupation with jumping the first starship to another world is very closely related to the old “mortal coil” syndrome.

So, is the Earth just some extension of our mortal selves, a husk that would be so easy to shed in the light of new discovery around some distant star?  For me, I think it is.
Does that mean that I have no respect, no reverence for Mother Earth – the planet that bore not only myself but all I’ve ever known?

No.  But still, what could be out there fascinates me to an extent that is impossible to ignore.
I’ve heard many say that man is destined to die without so much as dipping a finger into the vast ocean that is the Milky Way – that the science is impossible, and warp drives are better left to fiction.  I don’t believe that to be true.  Moreover, I can’t believe that’s true.

Look at what science has wrought in only the past hundred years:
•    Worldwide Communications
•    Nuclear Power (I didn’t say they were all good)
•    The Space Shuttle
•    Genetic Engineering
•    String Theory

And in only the last ten years:
•    3D Printing
•    Discovery of the Higgs Boson
•    A Working Hypothesis For Faster-Than-Light Travel

Did you read that last one?

The so-called “Alcubierre Drive” is a speculative device conceived by the extraordinary calculations of one Miguel Alcubierre (remember that name – he might well be the real-life equivalent to Star Trek’s Zefram Cochrane).  The Alcubierre Drive works by… wait for it… quite literally warping space.

So, you’re probably asking “what does this all have to do with Tropes of Sci-Fi & Fantasy?”
I could pull some long and contrived comparative study out of my hat here.  But honestly, this is just a rant.

I’m not your monkey.

What Is A Trope In The Science Fiction & Fantasy Genre?

The word “trope” literally refers to the use of figurative language in any media – be it literature, television, movies, or even real life.  Examples of tropes used in this fashion include:
•    Allegories
•    Ironies
•    Metaphors
•    Hyperboles
•    Oxymorons
•    And Puns

However, modern language has come to describe common literary devices as tropes – especially literary devices which are considered recurring, overused, and cliché.

The list of considered tropes in the science fiction and fantasy genre is already massive – and it continues to grow every day.  As the old saying goes, “there is nothing new under the sun.”  While that sentiment may be true – in some dubious and arguable manner – I would much prefer to ponder another term.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  There are quite literally hundreds-of-thousands of novels, movies, games, television shows, and short stories floating around that use familiar plot devices and character archetypes – and for good reason;  they work.

Or, at least they used to work.  Publishers today tend to frown upon such literary devices as:

•    Faster Than Light Travel – Warp speed, hyperdrives, and wormholes.  I love them all.  Faster than light travel is the perfect medium to open up a whole line of good, original sci-fi storylines.  Publishers, however, hate them.

•    Demi-Human Races – Elves, dwarves, goblins, and the like can add an air wonder and fascination to any high fantasy story.  Publishers hate these, too.

•    Cryogenic Suspension – Okay, so no warp drive.  Solve that by having a ship travel for centuries at a snail’s pace with its crew serenely frozen in cryo-tubes.  Sorry, cryogenics is a trope that will get your story in the slush pile for sure.

•    Deus-Ex Machina – This one is complicated.  Is it okay to end a story with “and the gods fixed it,” or “it was the gods all along?”  Maybe.  But using Deus-ex as an excuse to overcome a convoluted and contrived storyline should not be acceptable.

•    ET-Ex Machina – ET-ex machina is similar to Deus-ex machina… expect with more aliens.

•    Space Westerns – Cyborg sheriff keeps the peace on an alien planet full of downtrodden colonists.  Sound’s interesting right?  It was called “The Last Badge,” and it warranted one of my favorite rejection letters to date:  “Good story, but your themes are a little too cliché.  Not what we’re looking for at this time.”

•    Dark Vs. Light – Evil wizards and irreproachable paladins are out.  Gray characters that are simultaneously cooperating and stabbing each other in the back are in.  I personally love characters like this – but sometimes it’s nice to have the battle-lines drawn neatly in the sand, too.

There is host of other devices such as these that will get a would-be (and perhaps should-be) author laughed out of magazine submissions.

Publications today are looking for good, highly original, character-focused material.  And that’s fine – in fact that’s how it should be.  The coolest robot-armor doesn’t mean anything if you don’t care about the pilot in its head.

Unfortunately, many publications have expanded this criteria to such constraining extents that it stifles the creativity of many decent authors that have truly wonderful stories to tell.  Placing such constraints on the creative freedoms of authors forces them to write in realms that they never intended to – the first step to becoming a total hack.

If George Lucas had been focused on providing gray characters to please the critics at the time, the epic struggle of the Rebellion against the evil Emperor would have suffered – and Star Wars may well have fallen into obscurity.

Likewise, if Joss Whedon had made his main character seem too much like an established archetype, the genius of the Firefly series may have been canceled after only one season.  Wait a second… THERE!  YOU SEE!

Firefly really is the perfect example of a marketable trope.  Badass outlaw space-cowboys in a half-busted ship taking order from a Han Solo clone.  These overused plot and character devices not only earned Firefly a loyal fan base, but the single season that aired continues today to draw in new, die-hard fans.

The fact of the matter is this:  Sci-Fi and fantasy tropes are not only what drew us into those genres in the first place, they are still marketable to a whole new generation of geeks like us.

These are the reasons that I wanted to start Tropes of Sci-Fi & Fantasy – because I not only want to read and write new stories that involve tropes, I want to show the world that eliminating tropes does nothing more than hurt the genres that should still be displaying them proudly.

Welcome To Tropes Of Sci-Fi & Fantasy

This post serves as little more than a bookmark – but welcome to Tropes.  In coming months, this blog will feature articles and short stories featuring the overused plot devices and character types that fans of the science fiction and fantasy genre so love… and are normally rejected outright by other publications.

I, however, have a special place in my heart for things like warp drive, elves, magic, and stories where everything is wrapped up nicely in the end… as long as you can accept that aliens did it.

Check back often!  Content will begin to appear soon!