The online classroom of UH 300-002, Andy Duncan's fall 2010 science fiction seminar in the Honors College of the University of Alabama.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
"Froggy's Last Story"
I commend to your attention this New York Times profile of an acquaintance of mine, the late sf writer F. Gwynplaine "Froggy" MacIntyre. Note it's a three-page story.
That was truly one of the craziest stories I have read, and it was true! The entire time I read the article, I could only think about how this sounded just like a summary of some kind of crazy story about an eccentric recluse. I guess that was Froggy's point. I can't help but wonder if he had planned it for years by collecting all the random odds and ends to give more flavor to the story. And it did get very sci-fi at the end when the author of the article was pondering if he may be in some parallel dimension. I just want to know who the relative was that identified him!
In a way it's sad that it's been months since his death and he still has not been claimed, but the persona he seems to have adopted in life is very much like that of the "Gentleman Adventurer" archetype that is found in old stories about explorers and modern Steam-punk. His description seems like that of a character in Girl Genius, Othar Tryggvassen. (by the way, I highly recommend reading this if you like Steam-punk at all)
After reading this, I really do agree with the author's closing statement. It really does read like the summary of some over-the-top tale of adventure and intrigue.
I'm glad y'all are interested in the Froggy article. I have further Froggy stories to share in class, at the end of the period, if anyone's curious. Adam's right to think of Othar Tryggvassen, and I second his recommendation of Girl Genius, which won the Hugo Award for comics work earlier this month. I'm strongly considering adding Girl Genius to the 2011 sf syllabus; comments welcome.
3 comments:
That was truly one of the craziest stories I have read, and it was true! The entire time I read the article, I could only think about how this sounded just like a summary of some kind of crazy story about an eccentric recluse. I guess that was Froggy's point. I can't help but wonder if he had planned it for years by collecting all the random odds and ends to give more flavor to the story. And it did get very sci-fi at the end when the author of the article was pondering if he may be in some parallel dimension. I just want to know who the relative was that identified him!
In a way it's sad that it's been months since his death and he still has not been claimed, but the persona he seems to have adopted in life is very much like that of the "Gentleman Adventurer" archetype that is found in old stories about explorers and modern Steam-punk. His description seems like that of a character in Girl Genius, Othar Tryggvassen. (by the way, I highly recommend reading this if you like Steam-punk at all)
After reading this, I really do agree with the author's closing statement. It really does read like the summary of some over-the-top tale of adventure and intrigue.
I'm glad y'all are interested in the Froggy article. I have further Froggy stories to share in class, at the end of the period, if anyone's curious. Adam's right to think of Othar Tryggvassen, and I second his recommendation of Girl Genius, which won the Hugo Award for comics work earlier this month. I'm strongly considering adding Girl Genius to the 2011 sf syllabus; comments welcome.
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