Coober Pedy Cave Clash 100 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page Coober Pedy Cave Clash 100.

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ch00bakka 18 Mar 2024 13:19

We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond Thunderdome

COMBOCON - Hideaway + Construct. The hideaway is the big ol' hole under the desert, the constructs are the kaiju.

Sofia Haugen makes her triumphant Wanderers' Library debut! She's immortal because why the hell not, I can't let my beautiful lesbian disaster OC die to something as mundane as AGING. She's not even the oldest person in the world, that's like idk Peter Thiel or something, but the rest of the top 10 are billionaires or trillionaires or whatever so they're barely even people at this point.

I figured hey, kaiju and megacorps and shit would probably shake the political situation up so Cascadia (currency: CascadiYen) and California (currency: Californian Dollars) are independent I guess? You can fit a lot of worldbuilding in a newspaper header if you make it real small.

Please don't do the math and figure out how big a koala or a horned devil would have to be for those weights. I didn't. They're big fuckers, ok? Big.

Thank u to Tsercele for critique & copyediting.

licensing

Filename: breakaways.jpg
Name: The Breakaways Coober Pedy
Author(s): Brett
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Source Link: Flickr

Filename: Brenda.jpg
Author(s): ch00bakka, FotoSleuth
License: CC BY 2.0
Derivative of: Wikimedia

Filename: cavearena.jpg
Author(s): ch00bakka, Roan Fourie, Dennis Hill
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
Derivative of: Flickr, Flickr

Filename: moloch.jpg
Author(s): Smithsonian Institution
License: Public Domain
Cropped from: Wikimedia

Filename: koalas.jpg
Name: Koalas at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, photographed for Mrs Forgan Smith, October 1939
Author(s): Queensland State Archives
License: Public Domain
Source Link: Flickr

Last edited on 18 Mar 2024 13:22 by ch00bakka Show more

Stygian Blue 18 Mar 2024 16:49

WONDERFUL. BOMBASTIC. SPLENDOROUS.

It becomes less and less like a newspaper post over time, but I loved the Fear and Loathing breathless tone and language here — talking about religion, drugs, conversion, and immediate reversal in the span of two short paragraphs and in-world minutes is quite the feat. It all felt surreal and immediately personal, like it was written right then and more than that was written from the perspective of their own actions as they happened. Things jump like jumping beans: they can be followed (and are!) but are not expected — it is a surprise each time, every second unique, a kaleidoscope of time, and I am so very thrilled to be part of it. It is delicious. It is fondant cake. It is a cinnamon roll (my very favourite thing). And I am so very ravenous. Beautiful work!! I am pleased.

Oh, and a teleporting koala with a folding chair? The best thing ever made. What a turnaround. What a show.

-Styg

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What is life if not the contrast between what has been and what will become?

FleshMaddAvalon 19 Mar 2024 18:43

This was such a an excellent read. Your use of first person perspective was a phenomenal choice that I love. The character here is such a trip- like styg said, its peak fear and loathing in an even worse universe. Kudos to capturing such insanity so judiciously and effectively.

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I watch the yonder hills
See foodwrenches toil in dust
Let their cacophonous calls
Rend our bodies to rust

AKAM80 21 Mar 2024 17:30

This piece proved to be a gonzo romp through the Australian sands that I did not expect going into this. Holy hell, what a ride. Sofia proves to be a heroic journalist (likely in dosage as well), braving the ever changing world around her (with some spite, though who can blame her when apparently Mad Max is out of fashion?) I loved how you played the "old as can be" into the piece, biting the reader constantly, weaving in the possibilities for personal experience over such a massive span of time, like trepanation. Apparently. Excellent piece, so glad that you're bringing more public awareness to the menace of drop bears. Though, I'm afraid we're gonna come to blows over who gets to name their Australian kaiju "Road Train." But we'll burn that bridge when we get there.

Actually, in retrospect, ripoffs in a corporate world are a common thing. Still wanna fight you though. Just 'cause.

+1

ch00bakka 21 Mar 2024 17:33

Road Train has been the name of at least sixteen Australian-made kaiju over the years, with forms ranging from titanic millipedes to transparent Optimus Prime ripoffs to big ol' snakey-snakes. The hog-thing described here is only the latest in a long line of Aussies going "damn. that sounds like a good name for my horrible longboy."

Din-Bidor 22 Mar 2024 02:49

When I first read your stuff on Third Law some years ago, I was seized by a desire to not only devour anything you wrote, but incorporate at least a tiny bit of your madness into my work. Someday you'll let me know if I succeeded, but for now I can tell you that this is the exact shit that I live and breathe for. If your story was drugs, I'd inhale them without blinking and then go ballistic on someone's car with a blowtorch and a pair of firecrackers. Overkill is the best way to describe anything you write that even resembles your Deer College newspaper stuff, and I'm beyond elated to have it here on the Library — and on a canon that I proposed, of all places!

A very decadent +1 for you.

Last edited on 22 Mar 2024 02:50 by Din-Bidor Show more

ch00bakka 05 Apr 2024 14:07

The secret sauce - what some have called "writing like a chad" - is reading a lot of trashy pulp scifi-fantasy paperbacks in middle school and integrating them into your brain so deeply that they flavor everything you do. I would suggest starting with Simon R. Green's Nightside series, which is not good, but is fun.

Rounderhouse 01 Apr 2024 23:23

Maybe some sort of under-Vegas, if we're hyphenating

SHE SAID THE LINE

An absolute splash. Every square nanometer of this is dripping with voice and character, and the gonzo vibe is only escalated by Sofia’s bizarre offbeat tangents and rambling jokes. It manages to build a very cool setting and vibe while also being really really funny and engaging to read — aggressively Australian. Sofia is a character the Library certainly needs more of. Great stuff.

Spoddetman 02 Apr 2024 18:15

This piece was laugh-out-loud funny (I shouldn't have read it in class) and awash in outrageous character. I adored every inane tangent and was gripped until the very end. I haven't read your other stuff, but if it's as good as this, I sure as hell want to. I'm pretty sure I speak for everyone when I say we would be happy to see more of Sofia, if you're so inclined.

Eye-bleeding neon +1.

NotAnOligarch 02 Apr 2024 18:40

I never commented on this??? Swore I did. Anyhow, this is very, very good. Gonzo is, as I hope it will remain, a staple of the WL. Even so, you have put your unique, humorous twist on it. What subtly in the worldbuilding! What a wonderful gleam to the character! She has a mature voice, and breathes with life that imbues the whole work. And this is all besides the fact that a literal cyborg DEATH ARENA is the focus—which, I will add, is perfect for the frame you have here. Splendidly well done, +1
One thing I do wish is that the footnotes were outside the punctuation but that is a minor nitpick and nothing against the pillar of writing this is.
— Oli

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Fires rage just below the surface of the ice.

Last edited on 02 Apr 2024 18:41 by NotAnOligarch Show more

ch00bakka 05 Apr 2024 14:09

Your wish is my command; the footnotes have been moved. I'm glad you like Sofia - she's basically a horrible little goblin that lives in the back of my brain and occasionally compels me to think about sports. I'm worried that she'll take over one day and I'll start wearing aloha shirts and going to women's soccer games.

zipzipskins 02 Apr 2024 19:09

i am upvoting this on things like presentation and strength of writing and structure — i think it's very clearly a piece with a lot of love and heart poured into it and i can't find any faults in the writing or the style at all. i also think a lot of the details (the newspaper header, the worldbuilding elements) pack a real punch. it's completely saturated in the gonzo style. unfortunately the gonzo style doesn't appeal to me personally — there have been comparisons made with fear & loathing, which i also dislike — but that's not a reflection on the strength of the piece at all, just my own personal preferences and the things i like to consume. good work. +1

Sobek109 04 Apr 2024 20:01

Were you there when Drop Bear pummelled MOLOCH into a fine paste in front of ten million screaming Bearamaniacs? I was.

This is great, the pacing and tone was perfect, I just loved everything about it. Certified good shit.

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