Gopher Wood Lounge Interviews the Incensepunk Team
The crew get together with D.J. Butler, editor extraordinaire and one of the prime movers at Ark Press
Watch the full interview below!
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I really don't even know where to begin, without turning this into an essay.
I love what you guys are doing, love the idea of the genre.
I am from the 'failed state' of Canada, of Ukrainian heritage, Russian Greek Orthodox upbringing. My main interest in writing is based upon my education, wanting to write historical fiction based on the Byzantine Empire. I have sent out what will hopefully be the first novel of a series to a publisher, in which I stick to actual history, but try to put an element of Christian folk magic in it. You know, the kind of things the official Church tried to stamp out, but not necessarily with all its might. After all, miraculous cures by icons kind of actually work in the Church's favour, even on an unofficial level, don't they?
But I am also interested in other areas, particularly WH40K, and have also actually submitted a story to your magazine.
That said, I wanted to follow up on so many things, but like I said, you probably don't want an essay.
First of all, yes, humanity wins. I hate those dark cosmic horror, everything ends type of stories. Or the (maybe literally) God-damned ones where we are the 'infestation', or otherwise the problem for something or someone who is simply better than us.
How do we do it , for real? By becoming a multi-planet, multi-solar system species. By starting by getting to Mars and farther out, no matter how hard it is, and regardless of the cost. And there will be blood and accidents and strife along the way. That is the actual 'grim dark' of our future.
One point that was made was about the lack of 'religious literacy' that currently abounds. People just don't get the references.
How will our mainstream Churches react to, in some reasonably distant future, contact with intelligent aliens? Will our belief system be incorporated into a larger one (of our own Churches' making) that God revealed Himself in different ways to different species? And at what point in the evolution into sentience does a creature acquire the capacity to have a soul? Or will we go with a 'human exceptionalism'/'manifest destiny' wherein we cleave closer to the commandments to the Israelites in the Pentateuch to exterminate the Canaanites, the Moabites, the Jebusites, etc.? [ 'Fear the alien, hate the alien, kill the alien']
Lastly, I think you guys aren't allowing for the depth there potentially is in WH40K. If I remember some of my lore correctly, the Emperor revealed Himself several earlier times in human history, as the Buddha, as Christ, etc. And think for one second - there is this guy who willingly (I think) cast himself into an eternity of agony for the benefit of mankind. I think WH40K can be treated more seriously, and mined a lot more deeply if some of its elements were better explored. And that whole idea that is apparently becoming more prevalent with regard to the Emperor never having meant to have been worshipped the way he conventionally is - is that not the very basis underlying the original rebellion of some of the Traitor Legions? And what about the Word Bearers, whose original sin, if you will pardon the expression, was to do too much to glorify the Emperor in the wake of the Great Crusade, and in doing so, the legions of which they were one? The sin of pride, a little like the one the Son of the Morning was cast down from Heaven for?
So much cool stuff, so little time. And so little money! Yet.
Really, guys, thanks for starting what I hope will be a long conversation with many contributors.