Story Time - Cromwell Universe
I took close to the last minute, but I decided before work yesterday what story I would publish. But know that this is a first, not a period.
I will be upfront about the fact that this story is not an easy one to digest. It is fun, ridiculously fun, for me to try to write. But I have no delusions that there are not a lot of people who will read this story and think "wow, this is absolutely stunning". Honestly I don't have that thought about any of my stories, but this one in particular doesn't strive to hit any of the zones that get people excited in stories nowadays. The topic area in general is fairly unexciting to most people; politics and universal conquest, sans military conflict.
The entire Book of the Shadows series is a sort of parody of the anime genre. Except that I'm not particularly good at comedy. But I am better with satire. Unfortunately not many people are versed in traditional satire, so the novelty of the idea that my entire Book of the Shadows series is meant as affectionate satire on the commonality of various characters in both appearance and personality, alongside the effective universality of story elements either escapes most, or is, like most satire, received as flat and unfunny. That would be under the best of circumstances, where you have a skilled and accomplished writer. Being of undetermined skill and no widespread accomplishment, my ability to overcome the boundary between satire and comedy is proportionally diminished.
While the Cromwell Universe is less on the side of satire, that doesn't necessarily make it much funnier. And again, when you're dealing with politics and crafting a story where the overriding intent is to avoid armed or violent conflicts, it isn't a story very many are going to find much appreciation. Nevertheless, I legitimately have had more fun writing this story than probably any other. For that reason I would like to see how well it is received.
As for what it's about, as I noted it is about politics and universal conquest. The main characters are Drusilla Arenzai and Yugi Asakura. This creates a mini-spoiler of sorts, and in turn spoils a bit of what comedy there is to be had in the very early going. This story began as a spin-off of the First Moon Saga. The exact setup point isn't for some time relative to the First Moon Saga (I've published through Book II, the setup comes in Book VII).
Drusilla isn't introduced in First Moon until sometime in Book IX or X, thus any story or mention of her technically spoils that surprise. That also makes it impossible to read into the sort of inside jokes about things she says or does throughout the story as they are meant to be framed against the backdrop of the Drusilla in First Moon. It is important to remember, however, that the Drusilla in this story is technically a different Drusilla from the one in First Moon - every character save one that will be plainly noted at the time, is different from any of the same name in First Moon as this is an alternate universe, as per the definition I assign to "universe" for the sake of the BotS series.
Past chapter one, the Cromwell Universe story tells of the love affair that Yugi and Drusilla are engaged in, not just between each other, but Drusilla's drive to engage in her "ideal conquest", a pursuit of uniting the entire inhabited and observed universe under her empire by way of diplomacy and negotiation. This also allowed me to embrace the original concept that started BotS, which is get as many anime and manga as I can think of into one cogent story. Each world they go to, that Drusilla conquers, is a different anime or manga or video game world, perceived through the story as merely a world in a different part of a single broader universe.
The name of the epic is Looking Glass. The saga is Cromwell Universe. The book is called Book of Cromwell. I should have it published on FanFiction.net by 1:00 PM EST. I'll link this post to it at that time, as well as the usual mention and link on the Book of the Shadows page.
I will be upfront about the fact that this story is not an easy one to digest. It is fun, ridiculously fun, for me to try to write. But I have no delusions that there are not a lot of people who will read this story and think "wow, this is absolutely stunning". Honestly I don't have that thought about any of my stories, but this one in particular doesn't strive to hit any of the zones that get people excited in stories nowadays. The topic area in general is fairly unexciting to most people; politics and universal conquest, sans military conflict.
The entire Book of the Shadows series is a sort of parody of the anime genre. Except that I'm not particularly good at comedy. But I am better with satire. Unfortunately not many people are versed in traditional satire, so the novelty of the idea that my entire Book of the Shadows series is meant as affectionate satire on the commonality of various characters in both appearance and personality, alongside the effective universality of story elements either escapes most, or is, like most satire, received as flat and unfunny. That would be under the best of circumstances, where you have a skilled and accomplished writer. Being of undetermined skill and no widespread accomplishment, my ability to overcome the boundary between satire and comedy is proportionally diminished.
While the Cromwell Universe is less on the side of satire, that doesn't necessarily make it much funnier. And again, when you're dealing with politics and crafting a story where the overriding intent is to avoid armed or violent conflicts, it isn't a story very many are going to find much appreciation. Nevertheless, I legitimately have had more fun writing this story than probably any other. For that reason I would like to see how well it is received.
As for what it's about, as I noted it is about politics and universal conquest. The main characters are Drusilla Arenzai and Yugi Asakura. This creates a mini-spoiler of sorts, and in turn spoils a bit of what comedy there is to be had in the very early going. This story began as a spin-off of the First Moon Saga. The exact setup point isn't for some time relative to the First Moon Saga (I've published through Book II, the setup comes in Book VII).
Drusilla isn't introduced in First Moon until sometime in Book IX or X, thus any story or mention of her technically spoils that surprise. That also makes it impossible to read into the sort of inside jokes about things she says or does throughout the story as they are meant to be framed against the backdrop of the Drusilla in First Moon. It is important to remember, however, that the Drusilla in this story is technically a different Drusilla from the one in First Moon - every character save one that will be plainly noted at the time, is different from any of the same name in First Moon as this is an alternate universe, as per the definition I assign to "universe" for the sake of the BotS series.
Past chapter one, the Cromwell Universe story tells of the love affair that Yugi and Drusilla are engaged in, not just between each other, but Drusilla's drive to engage in her "ideal conquest", a pursuit of uniting the entire inhabited and observed universe under her empire by way of diplomacy and negotiation. This also allowed me to embrace the original concept that started BotS, which is get as many anime and manga as I can think of into one cogent story. Each world they go to, that Drusilla conquers, is a different anime or manga or video game world, perceived through the story as merely a world in a different part of a single broader universe.
The name of the epic is Looking Glass. The saga is Cromwell Universe. The book is called Book of Cromwell. I should have it published on FanFiction.net by 1:00 PM EST. I'll link this post to it at that time, as well as the usual mention and link on the Book of the Shadows page.
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