Hi Vince... Hi Ukyousama.

Um, I'm not sure how to do this, but I want to respond to
your wonderful story, Vince, and also respond to Ukyousama's
response in the same message. First of all, let me just add
a hearty "Me To!" to Ukyousama's praise. If I ever need to
illustrate the writing maxim, "Show it happening, don't just
tell about it." this story could work as a very good
example.

On Sat, 10 Apr 1999 Ukyousama@aol.com wrote:

[snippage]

It's really a pity how so few folks will probably end up reading 
it; between the Fire Tripper header (indicating a relatively 
obscure source) and the "spoiler" remarks at the beginning, 
so many folks will completely skip over this little gem.

I wanted to add that there may be some folks who will read
this because your first story was so good, Vince, even if
they know little or nothing about Fire Tripper. 

I only saw the anime once, a long time ago, at a science
fiction convention. At the time I knew little about anime
and less about Rumiko Takahashi. To be honest, a friend
dragged me, more or less unwilling, to see some Japanese
cartoon with subtitles. *yawn* 

Boy, was I surprised! It was dramatic. It was intelligent.
It was even moving. It was also too damned short! It was
also long enough ago that we watched a fan sub, and they
translated the title differently (Jump Through the Fire...
something like that), so I didn't recognize it when I saw
the story in my mailbox. I have to bashfully admit that it
was name recognition that got me to double click on it and
start reading. My memory started to tickle at me during the
introduction and by the time the story properly started I
realized this was more of that really neat anime I half
remembered. Another pleasant surprise.

I considered releasing it without a spoiler warning; after all, few
fanfics have them.  In the end, I decided to err on the side of courtesy,
trusting the reader to make an informed choice.  "Beacon" is really
written for readers who have already read or viewed "Fire Tripper", of
course, but I know we're in the minority. 

And it really is that - so much of it has the feel of its original 
creator that the reader can practically imagine Rumiko-
megami-sensei coming up with a continuance in this vein. 

"Original flavor" is exactly what I was trying for.  I'm glad I succeeded,
in a small way.  I'm constantly aware that I can't fill Takahashi's shoes;
the most I can hope is to walk a similar path.  I think that's the most
uncomfortable aspect of fanfiction, for me.

In no small way, IMHO. If there were a sequel to Firetripper,
this could well be it.

Ah... and the other thing of Ukyousama's I wanted to horn in
on:

Personally, I was surprised that Shukumaru 
and young Suzuko didn't actually, uh, get together 
(especially given that older Suzu had apparantly 
encouraged them at first) - I half-expected that when 
she went back the seven years, she'd arrive newly 
pregnant with Shuhei (although, come to think of it, 
I'm not sure I caught the boy's age).  The jealous-of-herself 
concept seems odd (I can't see myself bothered in such 
a situation, but I can't see myself in such a situation, 
after all.  Gee, if ONLY I was competing with myself for 
Ran-chan's affections  ^_^ ), but it makes better sense 
with the ending assertion.  Besides, it's certainly a 
plausible interpretation.

I was trying to write a story that would complement "Fire Tripper" rather
than loom awkwardly over it, but it kept trying to get away from me.  :) 
It could have been much longer and more complicated in several ways: the
older Shukumaru siring Shuhei on Suzuko is one.  The horrible prospect of
Suzuko's son turning out to BE the 1983 Shuhei, and hence Shukumaru,
occurred to me... but I didn't want to write that story. 

I'm glad you didn't open that can of temporal worms. 

The first draft ended with the reunion of Suzuko and Shukumaru implied but
not shown, leaving the possibility of more mishaps and adventures before
then open; this draft closes that... for the moment.

Time travel can be a seductive pitfall for the writer; it opens up so many
possibilities.  :)  Perhaps someone else will write more FT fanfic?

Oh yes! Time travel stories can be a blast to write, but you
always have to beware of what we could maybe call the "By
His Bootstraps" syndrome. And if anyone hasn't read that
Robert Heinlein story, go. now. read it. You'll thank me.

As for Suzuko and Suzu, well, what I wrote was what I thought would
happen. If I read Suzuko correctly, she's bright, shy, romantic, and
steadfast.  That she's possessive is conjecture on my part, but it seems
to be a common trait in Takahashi heroines.  The cerebral knowledge that
the other is self would conflict with the visceral feeling that the other
is other, I think, and the feeling would win.

As for the jealous-of-herself concept that Ukyousama
mentioned... it didn't seem odd at all to me. And for a very
easy to understand reason. Consider: seven years of living
and keeping house in medieval Japan, bearing two children
then raising them, and then suddenly she is confronted with
a tight bodied, smooth skinned, perky breasted, teen-age
version of herself. Suzu comes across as a very, very secure
and happily married woman, but there _are_ limits, you know.
*grin* 

Suzu wants Suzuko to make the fire trip that sets up her own life, and if
denying Suzuko the comfort of her husband will help pressure her into
doing that, then that's what she'll do.  She's also trying to make sure
everything happens the way she remembers it, so she won't take the chance
that Shukumaru WON'T invite Suzuko for a walk... but she can't let them
make love, because she didn't when she was Suzuko.  Suzu also wanted to
bring the romantic, sexual, and territorial tension out in the open, so it
could be handled.  It's...  tricky.  If feedback indicates that I need to
underline this, then I'll make revisions.

I dunno. If you want to strengthen the reasoning for her
about face, you could insert something like, "*gasp* I can't
believe I ever looked that good!" sort of thingy into Suzu's
stream of consciousness when she first sees Suzuko. I don't
know if it's needed, though.

A philosophical point: _can_ there be any variations in the
timestream? Verb tenses get difficult, but one version of
time travel puts it that it can't be different because it's
already happened this way, will always happen this way, is
happening this way. It's the quip universe or the erp
universe or whatever. From a story point of view, everyone
acts naturally and does what they do, then later, after
suitable time traveling, realize everything was just the
same. No, not the erp universe, that's the infinitely
branching timeline one. Maybe Bell's theorum? My brain is
cottage cheese today. Sorry.

Oh yeah, and the show it, don't tell about it thing... the
section of the story in 1944 Tokyo is what I was thinking
about. It _shows_ the bond between the two of them growing
stronger as they live in that hellish time and survive the
hardships they encounter... together. Bravo. Very well done,
indeed.

Thanks for sharing this story with us.

Best,

Bob Barnes 
rbarnes@moscow.com 
Moscow, Idaho 

"Absent some moment of clarity that none of us can imagine
coming along, we'll enter the millennium at warp speed with
our culture continuing to crumble just as our mainframes go
kablooey trying to figure out what day it is."

-- Robert X. Cringely