Strangetown: What if?

[strangetomato]

Every now and then, I get to thinking about alternative ways of approaching the Strangetown story, like that version where Ophelia follows in Olive's black widow footsteps, and I've recently been thinking about a good one: what if alien pregnancies were fatal for the men who carried them to term? That would really change the story, wouldn't it? I think I'm going to toy with the idea, and maybe it will develop into a short stand-alone story at some point. I think it could play out into something interesting.








Pretty awful, right? It would raise questions of why the Curious Brothers were allowing themselves to get pregnant, and they probably wouldn't be willing participants in this breeding experiment (though with Glarn's involvement, you'd have to wonder... and why they'd be willing to do it despite the consequences). The whole connection with PT would be a lot more grim too, but that could also be interesting.

I'm really not sure how I would attempt to answer these questions, but I'm enjoying this darker "what if?" scenario.

I got to thinking about this after reading an article by Katura Reynolds called "Birthing the Monster: What if a Bug-Eyed Alien Was Your Baby Daddy?" in the Genesis Issue of Bitch magazine. It was a great read. The Sims 2 wasn't mentioned as a pop culture example of this alien birthing trend in science fiction, but it's definitely following in this tradition.

So, what do you think of the idea? I'll bet there are also plenty of other ways to approach it, if one was well-versed in sci-fi. 



 

Comments

[melody-curious.livejournal.com]

Yep, Cindy's right. I did look into the angle of fatal male births. It was the first thing I ever wrote really... and looking back at it, boy does it show.

The brothers had researched abductions and realised all those that were to single males resulted in death. Thought they couldn't figure out why the male/female couples survived. Vidcund and Lazlo nearly loss Pascal when he gave birth and this drove vid to attempting sucide rather then bleed to death in agony.

Now can someone explain to me why that one wasn't banned from the forum? *shrugs*

But it's an interesting concept and I'll be fascinated to see how it pans out in your realm.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

I loved that concept you had! It was a bit morbid (hee hee, but we all like to wax morbid every now and then, lol!) but sweet at the same time, with the role the females played in it. :)

Ah good old TSR! It's nothing if inconsistant, lol!