AU drabble for drivingblind -- an error in the paperwork

[incandescens]

Title: AU: an error in the paperwork
Requester: drivingblind
Series: Amber
Requested Topic: What if Zelazny's Amber was based more on Chinese (and other Asian) mythologies instead of Celtic, Norse, and Arthurian myths?
Due to http://incandescens.livejournal.com/857773.html

"You must understand," the young woman said, "that I am the fruit of Prince Benedict's unfortunate dalliance with a Minister of Hell. Naturally this has caused my family some concern, but my mother had been reincarnated by the point that this was discovered, and so no blame could be placed upon her."

I eyed her thoughtfully. My brother Benedict had never been one for unfortunate dalliances, or any dalliances at all. "And so you're hoping to meet your father?" I asked.

She bowed. "It is my fondest wish. Do you know the gentleman?"

"I'm his brother," I said. I might have smirked. I'm not sure.

She gasped. "Which one?"

"Corwin," I said, and took a swig of my tea.

She frowned. "I thought that your name had been written in the Register of Deaths some years ago."

"No, no," I said. "Error in the bookkeeping. Locked away for life, not killed. You must get a lot of that."

She shrugged. "Certainly if anyone could evade the Register, it would be a child of Amber."

Comments

[rfrancis]

This makes me want to ask something like "What if Amber were based on a World of Darkness LARP instead of the Society for Creative Anachronism"? :)

[incandescens]

Well, for a start, nobody would get around to spilling any blood on the Pattern -- they'd all be too busy diabolising each other. :)

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Oh, nice angle for reimagining Chaos. Thanks!

[incandescens]

A pleasure!

(Though I'm not sure where dragons would come in. There would have to be dragons, of course.)

[drivingblind.livejournal.com]

Julian has to ride something. ;)

[incandescens]

Now I have a truly glorious image of Julian out hunting. :)

[archangelbeth]

*giggles* I'm thinking of those detective stories now...

[incandescens]

The Liz William ones? I admit they were a factor... :)

[shirogiku.livejournal.com]

OH.

Drinking tea, reincarnation, Register of Deaths (and error in the bookkeeoing, hee), Dara's so differen manners, speech pattern and attitude... I'm sure I missed something.

I wish it was a longer AU, but this piece alone is very clever and subtle ♥

[incandescens]

I think I'd been reading some Liz Williams at the time. Or possibly rereading the Journey to the West. :) Thanks, anyhow.

[shirogiku.livejournal.com]

I'm not familiar with that writer. I googled her name and found out that she's a sci-fi writer, which means it might be down my alley, especially if she adds mythology into the mix in the way Zelazny did(?)

I've read relatively many old sci-fi novels thanks to my parents' large home library, but Zelazny was quite unique. (It's a pity he never wrote another arc of Chronicles of Amber like he was going to. I know the plot was starting to get convoluted, but compaired to series like Dune or Wheel of Time he was doing a splendid job at it, imho)

Would it be too much of a bother to ask you which of her books did you like most and, I don't know, what did you find interesting about them? Doesn't have to be a long comment.

I read the translation of Kazuya Minekura's compairson of her manga with the classic, and thanks to that I can pretend I know something about it.

[incandescens]

The Liz Williams books I've read are:

Snake Agent
The Demon and the City
Precious Dragon
The Shadow Pavilion

They focus on - well, it's difficult to describe, but the main characters are a police inspector and a demonic civil servant, in a future Singapore where Earth works fairly closely with Hell, in a sort of Asian setting. They're a bit variable, but definitely a fun read.

[shirogiku.livejournal.com]

Okay, thank you very much, it definitely sounds like fun!