Naow here's ol' WPD tellin' Paulie haow t' wroite his books!

Will he be tellin' the Pope haow t' say Mass next?:p

Not at all. It's just my opinion, and nothing more, that certain elements of stories are left intact. After all, isn't that what a forum is for, asking questions and expressing opinions? The very reason he changed it is the reason I would have liked it to NOT change. Because it is so dark, that's what made it so powerful. Anyway that last comment was a joke, not a put down, hence the smiley face. Although, I wonder if BTS would have ended differently if that change hadn't been made. I can't see FPW having Jack deal the final death blow to a child.

As far as the pope, don't even get me started...

Not at all. It's just my opinion, and nothing more, that certain elements of stories are left intact. After all, isn't that what a forum is for, asking questions and expressing opinions? The very reason he changed it is the reason I would have liked it to NOT change. Because it is so dark, that's what made it so powerful. Anyway that last comment was a joke, not a put down, hence the smiley face. Although, I wonder if BTS would have ended differently if that change hadn't been made. I can't see FPW having Jack deal the final death blow to a child.

As far as the pope, don't even get me started...

I was just kidding with you, WPD. We're free and easy here.

Though, "to a child..." I've wondered how Jack would handle killing an innocent by accident...

[quote=Bluesman Mike Lindner]I was just kidding with you, WPD. We're free and easy here.

QUOTE]

No problem. Just wanted to make sure my comment wasn't taken wrong. The fact is, Black Wind was my favorite book (although it's a toss up between that and The Keep) and I'm a firm believer in the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The irony is, the first time I tried to read BW, I hated it!

I'm probably going to ramble here a bit, so feel free to stop reading.The first book I read by FPW was The Keep and I loved it! Then my father told me about the other books in the Adversary Cycle (the original six) and I read them all back to back, then moving on to the RJ books (up to
Crisscross at that time) and "Demon Song". I was hooked. (still am). Then, with no more RJ books available at the time, my father told me about Black Wind, saying it was FPW's best book. I picked it up at the library and couldn't get into it (must've been in the wrong frame of mind at the time). I thought my dad was nuts. I stopped reading before Matsuo even left for Japan. Then, several months later, I was laid up in bed for a week with pneumonia, so I gave it another shot and finished it in one day. I loved it! I have read it several times since. It is such a unique work, totally unclassifiable, covering so many genres (which ironically is probably why it was not a commercial success). Anyway, that's why I felt compelled to put in my two cents. I feel that that book is a masterpiece, and I hate to see the story changed in any way.

No problem. Just wanted to make sure my comment wasn't taken wrong. The fact is, Black Wind was my favorite book (although it's a toss up between that and The Keep) and I'm a firm believer in the old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The irony is, the first time I tried to read BW, I hated it!

I'm probably going to ramble here a bit, so feel free to stop reading.The first book I read by FPW was The Keep and I loved it! Then my father told me about the other books in the Adversary Cycle (the original six) and I read them all back to back, then moving on to the RJ books (up to
Crisscross at that time) and "Demon Song". I was hooked. (still am). Then, with no more RJ books available at the time, my father told me about Black Wind, saying it was FPW's best book. I picked it up at the library and couldn't get into it (must've been in the wrong frame of mind at the time). I thought my dad was nuts. I stopped reading before Matsuo even left for Japan. Then, several months later, I was laid up in bed for a week with pneumonia, so I gave it another shot and finished it in one day. I loved it! I have read it several times since. It is such a unique work, totally unclassifiable, covering so many genres (which ironically is probably why it was not a commercial success). Anyway, that's why I felt compelled to put in my two cents. I feel that that book is a masterpiece, and I hate to see the story changed in any way.

Haven't been around for a few weeks, WPD...but I'm back!

Welcome! You'll like it here.

I also felt a bit let-down when the whole adults-can-be-shoten thing was introduced...it reduced the horror of the KK's fanaticism by an order of magnitude, for me.

I first read Black Wind when my son was 1&1/2 years old and it touched a deep, chilling chord with me.

I like certain elements of Black Wind a great deal but, while the whole historical romance portion of the plot is integral to the overall story and speaks volumes about FPW's ability as a writer, I've never been a fan of that genre.

-Wapitikev

It's been a while since I have read BLACKWIND, so I could be mistaken. I have the impression that the Mongol invasion was stopped by an actual storm in the Inland Sea, (this was the second invasion attempt, which encountered a typhoon and spawned the belief in a Kamikaze, or Divine Wind) and that the earliest use of the Kakureta Kao-generated Blackwind was in a land battle during the Toyotomi (or was it Nobunaga) "unification" of Japan.

Ken V.

You are correct on the Nobunaga citation, Ken. Also about the Mongol armada...it was stopped by an actual storm, not by a "wind that bends-not the grass."

I also note that you slyly say that was the first time the KK use the Black Wind...Black Winds could certainly have been used prior to that by others...how else can a frozen woolly mamoth be found with unchewed food in its mouth...rapid glaciation never satisfied me as an explanation for that one.

The scrolls weren't lost until after the use of the Black Wind against Nobunaga's soldiers, so one would have to assume that children were considered by the KK, at that time, to be at least ideal, if not integral to the process. Mislead by Rasalom? Perhaps.

And the KK did discover the elixir at the very end of Black Wind, just prior to the re-location of the Temple, because Hiroki's master tells him about it and also brags to Matsuo about the elixir when he shows him the mutilated children.

I personally loved that development...that the Japanese super-weapon was perfected at almost the same time that the Americans successfully test theirs. It heightened the tension for me at the end of the book, despite already knowing the final outcome.

-Wapitikev

The very reason he changed it is the reason I would have liked it to NOT change. Because it is so dark, that's what made it so powerful. I wonder if BTS would have ended differently if that change hadn't been made. I can't see FPW having Jack deal the final death blow to a child.

YOWZA!

Jack, after losing his unborn child to the Ally's manipulations, forced into killing a child to stop the Black Wind in order to save a girl who is carrying a super-ODNA child? Now THAT would have made an OUTSTANDING and unsettling ending to the book. It would have been debated here and elsewhere for years! How did he decide? Was he right or wrong? How does he deal with it after the fact? Talk about a missed opportunity for future character development!

FPW! You have GOT to give us that little twist if there's ever a BTS screenplay!

-Wapitikev

Ah, yes. Back in the 80s I was uncomfortable with what was necessary to turn a child into a shoten, and on revisiting the rituals realized I was even more so now. A change in personal aesthetics went a long way toward that change.

Paul, while I totally understand that people mellow with age, I have often wondered why you seem to have it in so badly for non-voting aged children...for example:

[spoiler]
-Rasalom possesses a defenceless unborn foetus.
-all the deformed kids from the "Munroe incident"
-at the end of Sibs we are left wondering if the young daughter is now possessed.
-Innocent little Jeffy is left with the Touch.
-the KK's actions in Black Wind.
-the girl who disappeared (off screen) in Jack Secret Histories.
-Dawn in Bloodlines and BTS.
-Matsuo is tortured by nightmares of the KK as a boy.
-Vicky is kidnapped by a Rakosh.
-Vicky and her unborn sibling are hit by a truck.
-Rasalom likely enjoyed the despair of the Oculus' daughter when the job was forced upon her by his mudrer of her father.
-etc.
[/spoiler]

At first I thought that you were going for the easy sympathy-reaction from your readers. Upon reflection I had come to understand that you were masterfully playing on my and many other's revulsion to minors being involved in horror yarns...because it's horrific for innocents to be affected by evil.

While I appreciate that you are "giving the kids a break" this time, please do not make a habit of "sparing the child." Having the Shoten be a child in BTS would have made for one doozie of an ending; you could have avoided all the gory surgery rituals by just feeding them the elixir.

I've meddled in your business enough for one thread. Please excuse my presumptuousness.

-Wapitikev

[SIZE="3"]A doozie of an ending, to be sure. I thought of it but rejected it. Actually, thought of something even darker: Vicky as the shoten. Couldn't go there, couldn't make Jack go there. It would destroy him, leave him a basket case -- and he's still got lots of work to do.

We had a panel at Bouchercon that drifted into lines you will not cross as a writer. Reprisal is about as dark as I want to go with a child. I had to get up and walk away from the keyboard numerous times when writing those scenes.[/SIZE]

Just the thought of it.....shivers 'a fresh.....wow. And I will say, some of the more horrific scenes I have ever read.

[SIZE="3"]A doozie of an ending, to be sure. I thought of it but rejected it. Actually, thought of something even darker: Vicky as the shoten. Couldn't go there, couldn't make Jack go there. It would destroy him, leave him a basket case -- and he's still got lots of work to do.

We had a panel at Bouchercon that drifted into lines you will not cross as a writer. Reprisal is about as dark as a want to go with a child. I had to get up and walk away from the keyboard numerous times when writing those scenes.[/SIZE]

Oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph...

Vicky as a shoten...

While you certainly know Jack better than any of us, Paul, I wonder if that would "destroy him, leave him a basket case..."

I think maybe the darkness he fights down when he gets pushed might not be surpressed any longer.

I think he'd become a kamikaze.

The way he was in ALL THE RAGE, on bezerk, only more "rational".