At 11:04 PM 11/16/98 EST, Alan Harnum wrote:

Well, Matt, so far, these stories have been simply great.  Not
your typical Ranma fanfiction by any means.  As you've said in your
'infamous' preludes, the reasoning behind some characterization
is frighteningly plausible.

You know, I was going to wait a little bit before I started calling
them 'infamous,' another Soul of Ice preface or two, but then I
said "to heck with it," and decided they could be infamous now...
^_^

	It's always cool to see an author you read, enjoy and respect
say that they like what you've done.... Now, if I respected anyone
that would.... ^_-
(I'm joking, I'm joking, and you all should know enough by now that
I am!)

What do I see?  A number of things.  I see Cologne and Happosai
becoming the polarized sides of one of the oldest philosophical
debates in history:  the conflict between spirituality and
physicality, whether it is better to indulge oneself in the
joys and sorrows and pains of mortal life, or to abstain in the 
hope of some sort of apotheosis, an enlightened state where the
spirit becomes free from the chains of the so-called "corrupt" 
body.

The renouncing of earthly desire as opposed to the tenets of hedonism?

I see Ranma as a pawn between these two old masters, but by the
end, at least, of 'Thesis', pawn has become king.  And I see, I

A weapon that won't cut both ways is a poor weapon. A tool can
always be turned against you-- Cologne forgets this lesson.

think, the great danger of becoming too much of any one thing;
the need, as I have always seen it, is one of balance, not of
polarization.

A philosophy I've always been a proponent of-- the main thrust of
the preface, in fact. Like Aristotle taught, the mind has links to
the body.

The oppositional forces of the fire and ice are old as human
history, mirrored by dozens of other symbols of conflict; the
Yin and the Yang, the darkness and the light, the heavens and the
earth, etc, etc, etc...

To some extent, this is a theme that I have tried to deal with 
(among many others) throughout Waters Under Earth.  Soul of Ice,

The imagery in the first several chapters is especially evocative
of that, I have found.

however, cuts straight to the bone with this theme, shortly and
sharply.  In 'Thesis', Ranma becomes 'perfect' from the

That would be because of length. Waters Under Earth is much longer,
so you can explore more subjects, indeed, it is necessary for you
to. Also, my Soul of Ice is a pretty didactic work, with not that
many voices, only following Ranma around. The narrative choice,
don't you know. Waters Under Earth encompasses more voices, more
points of view-- much more polyphonic a text, able to deal with more
issues. Well, it's my theory, at least.... ^_^

perspective of some philosophies; he is free of all human
compunctions of love, guilt, fear, morality, ethics or otherwise.
And perfect as he may be, he is also a monster of sorts; in his
quest for the purity of soul, perhaps he has lost his own along
the way.

That's why Ranma admits that he's technically human-- in a physical
sense he still is, but there's nothing else which is human about
Ranma. He is outside of us and outside of human concerns or needs.
A monster then because of his absolute perfection and terrible
oneness of spirit.

I am very anxious to see what else you do with this concept, Matt.  
Excellent work.

You know of course I'm so absolutely jealous of that signed copy of
Sailing to Sarantium, don't you?

(everyone: read Guy Gavriel Kay! Good fantasy author!)

Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
InDefinitelyso on IRC
See him on FFIRC [bachman.newberry.edu fanfic]
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
Playing the fool in a foolish world
____________________________________________________________

Sheen watched his flight. "I forgot to mention the most
important thing," he murmured. "If there's one thing a mind
can't avoid, it is its automatic aversion to evil. The
moment he lets it into himself, he places his feet on the
road to demolition."
 		    -excerpt from A Billion Days of Earth
			by Doris Piserchia
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