Nanowrimo starts today. I’m about 3/4 of the way to my daily quota, but I’ve been rethinking the direction I want to go in, so I may toss it and start over.
It’s Still Funny Edition
I’ve recently started reading Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe Novels. I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m enjoying these, despite the fact that I don’t much care for Wolfe himself. Archie’s narration is great, and the mysteries are fun, so that’s enough for me.
Anyway, I’m currently reading In the Best Families, and came across this passage, which amused me to no end:
He straightened up. “Your chief trouble,” he said, not offensively, “is that you think you’ve got a sense of humor. It confuses people, and you ought to get over it. You thought it would be funny to have a talk with Rackham, and it may be alright this time, but someday something that you think is funny will blow your goddam head right off your shoulders.”
Only after he had gone did it occur to me that that wouldn’t prove it wasn’t funny.
Did I mention that I think Archie’s hilarious?
One of the problems with the way that I consume stories of all types in any format I can get (television, movies, short stories, novels, comics, etc.) is that they form a jumble in my mind, and I often can’t remember exactly where I’ve encountered certain plot points or, indeed, entire stories. What usually happens is that I’ll remember some little aspect of a story, and I’ll spend the next few days or weeks agonizing about it, trying to remember details. As often as not, I simply give up.
Some time back, I encountered a science fiction story about instantaneous teleportation. I don’t remember where I encountered it, whether I read it or what. I think I read the story, but the more I think about it, the more I think that it’s possible that I saw it on an episode of The Outer Limits. Possibly both, or neither.
If anyone thinks they might know where I can find it, I’d appreciate it.
Here’s what I remember (or think I remember):
The story was set in a universe where humans had been given technology that would let them teleport huge distances instantly by creating a duplicate of whatever (or whomever) was being transported in its new location, then destroying the original. The aliens that had provided the technology closely monitored its use, ensuring that the original was destroyed.
A spoiler warning for a story that I’m not even sure I ever really read may seem silly, but I am going to give away all of the plot I remember, including the (possibly completely misremembered) ending, I’m cutting the rest.