wherein Liz muses on Narnian metaphysics and world-building while slightly tipsy and sleep-deprived

The trick, of course, is to decide whether Tash is the Devil or is merely a god of the Narnian world.

Jadis does not believe in him in either case; she is an atheist, or, more accurately, she does not acknowledge differences of kind between herself and the gods. The only difference is one of degree -- gods have more knowledge, more power -- and if she learns secrets and grows stronger, why then, she is better than the gods.

And, you know, she has a point. She kept Aslan out of Narnia for a hundred years; he had to work sideways through another world to start breaking her spell. (I find it very telling that the four prophesied humans came from England rather than, say, Archenland or Terebinthia.) Tash obviously never accomplished such a feat in Calormen.

But it matters whether Tash is bound to the Narnian world, or whether he can travel between them, as an opposite to... oh, depending on your theology, either to Jesus/God (claiming Satan as a reverse divinity), or to Michael (keeping him a rebel angel).

Hmm. Actually, if I put it that way, plot requirements say Tash must be bound to Narnia. If he had the secret of travel between worlds, my plot would fall apart.

Okay, that solves one of my two big problems with "South." Now I just need to decide the Zardeenah question.

*ponders*

You know, maybe I should skip this section for now and write "West" instead. I know exactly how "West" should go, and I can cannibalize all but the introduction from my rough draft of "Little Sister" anyway.

But this is a moot point at the moment, as I am going to bed now. Normal writing service will resume tomorrow. (Okay, technically later today, but it is functionally Tuesday until I wake up on Wednesday. That is just how I roll.)

beta request -- please help!

I have given up on finishing "The Corners of the World" in time to post it tomorrow for Femgenficathon. The third section is just not working (argh, theology and warfare and politics... *headdesk*), and I do not think I can beat it into shape in time.

But! I went back and tidied up "Little Sister" instead, which covers some of the same ground and makes a similar point, just differently, and with a lot less world-building and random geographical digression.

It's a Chronicles of Narnia fic, about 2,250 words long, about Jadis and the Lady of the Green Kirtle (and Jadis and her sister), set between The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Is anyone willing to do a quick beta-read for me? I feel as though the fic flails a bit thematically, and I think the pacing is erratic, but I don't know what to expand or what to compress to make it feel smoother. Those are my main issues.

If you are willing to look the story over and get it back to me by tomorrow evening (say, 9pm Eastern Standard, at the latest -- tomorrow morning would be even better), please leave your email in a comment or a private message, and I will send you the file ASAP.

Thank you in advance!

6 unrelated things: "Undertow," tv shows, smoke shop news, and family visits

1. I made some edits to Undertow, based mostly on Jade Rozes's review, and the revised version is now up on ff.net. Hopefully the changes reveal Team 7's employers, clarify Tsukimaru's motives, and make Mikatsuki's character more consistent.

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2. I am now caught up on season 4 of Heroes. Hulu is a wonderful service. :-) Now I need to find time to start watching season 1; I have the first disc from Netflix, but I keep getting distracted by other things.

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3. Vathara has an amazing talent for dragging me into new fandoms. I have a sinking feeling I will end up finding and watching Avatar: The Last Airbender now, after successfully avoiding everything beyond the random fringes of the fandom for several years. *sigh* Oh well, at least I am told it's a good show?

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4. We are selling office supplies at the smoke shop now. WTF???

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5. In other smoke shop news, on Monday night a customer named (so ET tells me) Mary Beth Fitzgerald shoplifted a pack of foreign cigarettes. I had brought up cigarettes and tobacco from the basement, and I left the box with the cigarettes on the pipe case while I put the tobacco supplies away. Then, as I went to the counter to throw out an empty bag, this woman looked furtively around, grabbed a cigarette pack from the box, and then distracted me with questions about Djarum clove cigars.

I know what she did because we have her on tape from two angles. Also, as soon as she left, I went to put up the foreign cigarettes and noticed a pack was gone. (I have to count them before I go to the basement, so I know how many packs to bring up, and then I count what I am bringing up so I can adjust inventory levels on our tally sheet. It is really obvious when the numbers don't add up.) Because I am not MS and do not have nifty psychic shoplifter radar, I did not immediately jump to 'OMG, shoplifter!' -- first I checked the basement to make sure I had not accidentally left a pack down there -- but then ET told me the woman was a known suspicious Commons rat, and I said, "I bet she stole it!"

We did not report it then, partly because we were busy, and partly because we didn't know how to make the security system replay the video of the relevant time. On Tuesday, PM showed me how to get a replay (I am not at all sure I remember the steps, but I can probably figure it out again if necessary), we called the police, and we gave a full report of the incident. Since the woman has most likely smoked the cigarettes by now I doubt much will come of it, but she is now banned from the store and if she comes in again, we can call the police and report her for trespassing.

Apparently we can do that for all banned people. I was unaware of this. The next time Criminal Brendon tries to sneak in -- as if getting a haircut will make me forget he shoplifted! -- I am totally calling the cops on his ass.

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6. My mom is coming up to visit this weekend, via a trip to Misericordia to collect a bunch of magazine boxes that the Drew library uses to file their political pamphlet collection (or related items). We originally planned this visit for September, when the weather was warmer, so I am not sure our plan to visit the Montezuma Wildlife sanctuary still holds. Perhaps we will visit the Cornell ornithology lab in Sapsucker Woods instead. And we may go to Bellweather Hard Cider as well; we've always skipped over that on our vineyard tours before, but I have recently become interested in cider.