I did a reading back in January. A dismal night as I remember. Afterwards, I started chatting with one of the audience. Without having read the book, she told me she felt that in the zot hierarchy, vampires are at the top.
Yeah—they wish. Vampires don't rule in most U.S. cities. But Seattle’s a special case. Kurt is one of the city’s founders, which allowed him to do two things: persuade his human timber baron partners to turn a more or less blind eye to zot labor, and take complete control over the flow of zot immigration to the new city. That Seattle is one of the few places where zots can live in relative peace (with emphasis on the word relative) is Kurt’s doing. It’s the debt all zots in the city owe him. And Kurt is not shy about collecting his due.
So that’s why vampires are on top in Seattle. How Kurt managed to do what he did is a book in itself. But the result was give him an iron grip over Seattle’s zot population. You wanna live here? Gotta talk to Kurt first. Of course, getting Kurt's permission is not quite as literal as it used to be, what with the public university and all. After all, it's in Kurt's best interest that the school attract in and out-of-state zots to Seattle because they spend money. And Kurt's got lots of business interests in the city besides his Last Chance nightclub and Boeing. Restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, you name it. But it's understood by all the university's zot students that they will leave after graduation. No exceptions. You want to stay in Seattle after graduating? Gotta talk to Kurt first...
Oh--you're wondering why a 600-odd year old vampire would have a major stake in an aircraft manufacturer? Well, Kurt is a Renaissance man...
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Revolutionary Politics
So if preternatural power makes zots all that and a bag of chips, why don’t they just enslave humans and take over?
Actually they have, from time to time. But it’s always short lived. The sheer power of human numbers is part of it. Enslave a human population and eventually you’ll face an invasion force you can’t beat. Too damn many of them. Then there’s the animosity between the different zot races. It runs so deep it’s almost ingrained. Historically, zots would sell each other out before they’d cooperate with each other. Humans know this--their sheer numbers and zots’ racial hatreds are their most effective weapons against preternatural power and permanent zot rule.
(That’s the short answer, anyway. The long one is a 10 to 15-page paper.)
But something new is happening. All across America—and the world—zots are uniting. They don’t want to take over. They want something way bigger than that. They want to change the rules. Legal recognition. Equal rights. Humans would never go for it but they know that. Hence the revolution—what they can’t get by negotiation, they’ll take by force.
(That too is the short answer. The long one is an even longer paper.)
Of course not all zots are a part of it. That animosity thing again. So the revolutionaries’ numbers are small. But it’s growing. And they are determined to get what they want.
You might say that Garrett and the revolutionaries are after the same thing: the freedom to openly be what they are without harassment (an understatement, to be sure). Garrett’s method is magick. Way more effective than using armed force. But then each doesn’t know what the other is doing. If they did, would they work together? Interesting question. We’ll never know.
Actually they have, from time to time. But it’s always short lived. The sheer power of human numbers is part of it. Enslave a human population and eventually you’ll face an invasion force you can’t beat. Too damn many of them. Then there’s the animosity between the different zot races. It runs so deep it’s almost ingrained. Historically, zots would sell each other out before they’d cooperate with each other. Humans know this--their sheer numbers and zots’ racial hatreds are their most effective weapons against preternatural power and permanent zot rule.
(That’s the short answer, anyway. The long one is a 10 to 15-page paper.)
But something new is happening. All across America—and the world—zots are uniting. They don’t want to take over. They want something way bigger than that. They want to change the rules. Legal recognition. Equal rights. Humans would never go for it but they know that. Hence the revolution—what they can’t get by negotiation, they’ll take by force.
(That too is the short answer. The long one is an even longer paper.)
Of course not all zots are a part of it. That animosity thing again. So the revolutionaries’ numbers are small. But it’s growing. And they are determined to get what they want.
You might say that Garrett and the revolutionaries are after the same thing: the freedom to openly be what they are without harassment (an understatement, to be sure). Garrett’s method is magick. Way more effective than using armed force. But then each doesn’t know what the other is doing. If they did, would they work together? Interesting question. We’ll never know.
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