Melodie Muses On Pixies
And gets an answer she didn’t expect!
The Reality Exchange by James Vigor is an exciting space adventure suitable for all ages. It whisks us off into the future of virtual reality. Oh, and the spaceships have great names, too. The incident that I asked the author about takes place aboard the Shameless Renegade.
a character called Paul keeps bugs in jars
I’m all about the animals when delving into these books, but this time, I’m going to approach closer to the human animal than I usually do, because I just have to find out about this one!!
There’s a character in The Reality Exchange called Paul who keeps bugs in jars. His bug collection is not central to the plot, but it intrigues me. And in particular, the contents of one jar that contains a small winged human — a pixie. In a throwaway comment, we learn that it is presumed to be a hoax. But… but…
I need to know more!
Here’s what I asked James Vigor:
The pixie in the jar in Paul’s collection. Did he ever find out where it came from?
Here’s James’ answer:
This was the scene that introduced Paul for the first time, in a simulation on the Shameless Renegade right near the start of their journey.
He says that the pixie was one of many inaccuracies he found with the simulation of the Amazon rainforest. In fact, he couldn’t find a single one of the creatures that should have been there. He insisted Gram should look into it on his behalf, but I imagine once he was out of the simulation it became the least of his concerns! He probably mentioned it to the crew at some point but I doubt they were feeling very helpful. So no, I don’t think he ever really got an answer.
All of the Renegade’s simulations were bought from third-party developers, probably quite cheaply. Anyone could have built some fantastical take on the rainforest and the Renegade crew would have done very little, if anything, to check its legitimacy before installing it. I don’t believe they would care enough.
Another answer would be that it was a deliberate effort of theirs to wind him up. It was clear to Paul that the crew held him in low regard, so I think he suspected them of ruining a perfectly good rainforest simulation with all this fantasy nonsense just to irk him.
Of course, the real answer is that the pixie came from me! I included it for a couple of reasons. The first was to explore, in a very minor way, the idea that these simulations could do anything — build any world. The SSR system has the potential to let people experience things they otherwise never could.
That’s something that takes a back seat when the story kicks off in earnest, so the pixie was a small way to stimulate the reader’s imagination about what a system like this could really do.
The second purpose was, to be honest, pure self-indulgence! I love fantasy and I felt like I had to include a nod to it in some form. I have a particular fascination for exploring scale in fantasy races, from fairies to giants and everything in between. It’s something I could talk on at some length so perhaps that’s a subject for another blog someday. For now, I’ll just say it felt like an opportunity for a bit of fun, and one I couldn’t pass up!
That has to rate as one of the best answers I’ve had during these musings!
The idea of taking an opportunity just for some fun is something I can wholly endorse. And I love the way James brings it all down to earth (not that they were on Earth at this point) with an explanation about the routine and sometimes lazy downloading and installing of apps without proper verification. Yes, of course, that’s going to go on. Dodgy apps don’t stop when the Sci-Fi starts. And dodgy apps are something we can all relate to.
Melodie Trudeaux Is All About The Animals
That’s why Melodie has homed in on the animal angles of every one of the books she muses on. Melodie Trudeaux is the alter-ego of crime writer, Penny Grubb.
Melodie’s latest, Horse of the Same Colour…
… is a MABLE 2022 spotlight book along with The Reality Exchange. Please come and join Melodie and all the other authors at Fantastic Books Publishing’s
It’s free and it’s fun!
