[UA] My own list of sources

[Kevin Mowery]

	The topic seems to be coming up again, so here's the stuff that I think
everyone should go out and read RIGHT NOW.  Or as close to right now as you
can manage.  I'd love to tout some stuff, like "The Invisibles", but I've
read so little of it that I won't.
	Also, this is being written in the order that things occur to me.  Don't
look for organization.

Tim Powers: As has been said elsewhere, LAST CALL and EXPIRATION DATE are
both modern day works and are worth reading.  I've been trying to get
through EARTHQUAKE WEATHER, but I've got too much going on right now, and
too much other stuff I'm trying to read.  ON STRANGER TIDES, THE STRESS OF
HER REGARD and THE ANUBIS GATES are all fine but only appropriate to get a
feel for what things might have been like in the past of the UnAverse.

James P. Blaylock: Another "fabulist", as his book jackets refer to him. 
THE PAPER GRAIL and THE LAST COIN are probably the most appropriate for UA,
but HOMUNCULUS and THE LAND OF DREAMS were fun historical romps.  ALL THE
BELLS ON EARTH could also be brought into UA very easily.  Blaylock tends
to be less hard on his protagonists than Powers--I can't remember a
Blaylock protagonist mutilating himself.

James Ellroy: If Tim Powers describes the magick of UA, Ellroy describes
the soul of the game.  Probably his best works are the "L.A. Quartet": THE
BLACK DAHLIA, THE BIG NOWHERE, WHITE JAZZ, and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL.  AMERICAN
TABLOID is set in the same universe, and deals with fun topics like the Bay
of Pigs and the Kennedy assassination.  These five books are set in the
recent past (late 1940s to early 1960s) and written so well that you feel
like you're there.  Everyone in Ellroy's world is cut off from everyone
else.  Even the good guys live in a moral vacuum.  There is no right, no
wrong, only what gets you through until tomorrow.  In spite of that, Ellroy
can make even a character like AMERICAN TABLOID's Pete Bondurant (an
ex-cop, murderer, pimp, extortionist, and drug pusher) a sympathetic, if
not likeable, character.  The movie version of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is also
well worth a look.  Also check out MY DARK PLACES, Ellroy's
autobiographical work dealing with the murder of his mother.

American Gothic (TV series): Before CBS started demanding changes, this was
the best show on television for people who liked to be creeped out.  Evil
small-town sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole) may be in league with the devil,
or he may be the devil himself.  He's after Caleb, a young boy with
mystical powers who may or may not be his son.  He's already killed Caleb's
father (or the man Caleb thought was his father) and Caleb's catatonic
sister Merly, who comes back as a ghost to help Caleb.  Also on Caleb's
side are Dr. Matt, a New England doctor who came to Trinity, North Carolina
after his alcoholism caused him to kill his wife and child in a car
accident, and Caleb's cousin Gail.  CBS execs decided the show was too dark
and had Dr. Matt locked away and a new, more manly Chunk Riprock-type
doctor brought in.  The show went downhill from there.  But it was fun
while it lasted.

Strange Luck (TV series): The main character, Chance, was blessed and
cursed with the kind of luck that always got him involved in strange
situations.  He was the only survivor of a plane crash, adopted by a nice
family, and spent a season or two trying to find out the truth about his
family.  There were long-lost relatives, conspiracies, and luck as an
apparently genetic characteristic.  In UA terms, Chance's real family were
probably all related in some way to the person who ascended to be The Fool.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (musical group):  Nick Cave has been making
strange music for over 20 years.  The music is influenced by punk rock and
southern blues.  The song RED RIGHT HAND has been a staple of soundtracks
recently, showing up on both SONGS IN THE KEY OF X and SCREAM.  That's just
one song, though.  Check out albums like TENDER PREY, YOUR FUNERAL . . . MY
TRIAL, LET LOVE IN, and HENRY'S DREAM.  There are more, but I think these 4
are the best for UA.  Also check out MURDER BALLADS for the tune SONG OF
JOY.  Dark, beautiful, compelling stuff on every album.

Tricky (musical artist) and Portishead (musical group): The musical style
is called "trip hop".  I'm not sure what that means, but it's smooth,
slinky music.  Tricky's PRE-MILLENNIUM TENSION is a masterpiece and
Portishead's DUMMY is lounge music for modern noir.  Check 'em both out. 
It's hard to describe, but it's worth taking my word for it.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series): Bear with me on this one, folks. 
Yeah, it's goofy at times.  But it's got well-developed characters (and not
just in a crude biological way--get your heads out of the gutter!) who grow
and change.  In UA terms, Buffy is the avatar of an archetype devoted to
protecting humanity from the supernatural and the Watchers are a conspiracy
not unlike the Sleepers.  Things can get silly, but for all of the jokes
and the supernatural elements, the show's often more true to life than more
realistic shows.  How many cop shows have had a plotline where one of the
heroes gets carried away and kills a (relatively) innocent man?  Also, the
main villain this season, the town's mayor, is perfect UA material: he's
jovial, pleasant, murderous, has a closet full of demon-worshipping gear,
and may be working on his own sort of ascension.

HOMICIDE: A YEAR ON THE KILLING STREETS, by David Simon: The TV show is a
shadow of its former glory, but the book is still great.  When your
characters run into trouble with the law, and they will, knowing how cops
think and what cops will do is useful.  This book was written by a crime
reporter who got full access to a Baltimore homicide unit for a year.  He
follows the detectives through their cases, finds out how far they'll go to
get a confession, and learns how crimes are really solved.  He's written
another book THE CORNER, which is the flip side of the coin, about
lower-income families in Baltimore, drugs, and the struggle for daily
survival.  I haven't read it, but if it's half as good as HOMICIDE, it's
worth a look.

Your local news and newspapers: Especially if you live in a middling big
city, there's plenty of tales of man's inhumanity to man available daily. 
Nothing in the occult underground is as scary as what real people do to
each other, because in the real world there's not a battle for the nature
of reality to justify things. 



Kevin "Professor Bobo" Mowery _____________________ profbobo at io.com
"The entire dismemberment of Vash Gar reveals an ignorance of anatomy so 
deep that I begin to question whether the author does, indeed, have a
body."
                       --ratmm's Norb on the "Seven Stars MSTing"
     **See the "Seven Stars MSTing" at http://www.io.com/~profbobo **