So You're Jenny Everywhere (short story)
So You're Jenny Everywhere was a Jenny Everywhere short story written by Scott Sanford for Jenny Everywhere Day 2022. It took the form of an in-universe document, a brochure by and for incarnations of Jenny Everywhere. Sanford's default Jenny appeared as an interview subject but was not the focus. A preexisting illustration by Fes Works was worked, with permission, into the narrative.
Contents
Plot
In the Infinite is a stack of brochures created by incarnations of Jenny Everywhere to help beginning Jennies to understand their multi-dimensional nature. Its sections include:
Congratulations, You're Jenny Everywhere!
An introduction. It explains the basic infinite nature of Jenny Everywhere, noting that versions of her live and die every day, and reassuring any beginner-Jenny reading the brochure that she's sure to get the hang of being the Shifter, having done so an incalculable number of times before, even if she can't remember it yet.
Infinite Worlds
The brochure restates what the reader probably already knows: there are “uncountable universes”, and a Jenny for each of them.
Knowing
The telepathic bond that binds all Jennies together and means they are all fundamentally one being is described, alongside some of its “side-effects” from it being easier for Jennies to pick up skills many other incarnations have mastered (like driving a car) to strange dreams and feelings of déjà-vu.
Shifting
Shifting is explained. The brochure warns that, even with lots of practice, “we all wind up somewhere unexpected once in a while”. It also cautions Jennies not to throw themselves into infinity without a second thought, noting that there are often good reasons to keep track of events in their home universe alone.
The Infinite
The Infinite is described, with the brochure explaining that any Jenny will know how to get to the Infinite as soon as she learns how to shift. It is specified that it is not technically a pocket universe, although it can be thought of as one for brevity.
I am Jenny Everywhere
The three basic tenets of Jenny's existence are restated in fine calligraphy and in the first person: “I exist in every universe; I can shift between universes; I can share the memories, skills and knowledge of my other selves”. An illustration of a Jenny who once met a “furry guy” is included, complete with a paragraph that describes Jenny as a public-domain fictional character; commentary on the picture advises Jennies to befriend “artists, singers, bards and other creative types”, not just because they have great stories to tell, but also so that they will record Jenny's own adventures.
Talking to Myself
Jennifer Dao Chu, a version of Jenny from Hong Kong, has been conducting interviews of her other selves. This version of the brochure prints #23, interviewing a music critic Jenny. They discuss the weak and strong versions of the omni-jennic principle, pop culture that may be relevant to Jenny's life, Laura Drake (whom the music-critic Jenny hasn't met) and Jenny Nowhere (whom she has), and end on a word of wisdom: the music critic Jenny advises other Jennies to keep looking for something they're particularly good at or want to do, without being overwhelmed by the fact that so many other versions of her already exist with their own tastes and areas of expertise. “When you know what your thing is, you'll have something special to show to the rest of us.”
Worldbuilding
Jenny Everywhere
- This story is about Jenny Everywhere in general. Incarnations specifically depicted or referenced include:
- A Jenny who was drawn by “a furry guy”.
- Jennifer Dao Chu, also rendered as Jen 到处, a Jenny from Hong Kong who has been conducting interviews of her other selves.
- A “music critic” version of Jenny interviewed by Jennifer Dao Chu, who is actually the default incarnation of Scott Sanford's Jenny Everywhere stories.
Universes
- The Infinite is described. It is specified that it is not technically a pocket universe.
- The “music critic” Jenny discusses her universe, the default universe of Scott Sanford's Jenny Everywhere stories. She states that she has yet to meet a Laura Drake from that universe, and also says that there exists a Doom Patrol TV series in her universe which she thought was more like the adventures her superhero selves get into than most superhero media.
Other
- The “music critic” Jenny discusses multiple media with possible parallels to her lives:
- According to her, superhero Jennies' adventures don't look much like most superhero comics and films, but a Doom Patrol TV series that does exist in her universe got pretty close.
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show is decried by her as unrealistic because “hardly any aliens sing in English”.
- She refers to “the Buckaroo Banzai movies”, which exist in several worlds, and describes Across the Eighth Dimension as “pretty typical”.
- Doctor Who is “fictional in some worlds” but “the stories people tell are wildly different; that might not help you”.
Continuity
- The “music critic” Jenny is familiar with Jenny Nowhere, having met one version of her in PROSE: Parallax.
Behind the scenes
Background
This story was released in the form of a two-page PDF that could be printed to actually create the physical flyer. Scott Sanford's author commentary gave pride of place to instructions on how to fold it properly.
| This one is a little different — it’s supposed to be a physical flier that can be quickly handed to someone who needs it. There’s probably a stack of them somewhere in the Infinite. The PDF should load when you follow the link. If it’s not obvious, the fold pattern is an S shape, with the front first column on the front when closed and the art on the back. This is particularly convenient because that puts the columns in default reading order for people like you who are reading it electronically. Your browser should render this correctly; that’s the whole point of the PDF format. It will certainly have some way of handling PDF files and may want to download them to local storage. Just do whatever you usually do with PDF files. Yes, there’s a specific target readership for this document, but if you’ve gotten this far you’ll enjoy it too. |
| —Scott Sanford |
The font used for the ornately-“hand”written sections was the appropriately-named free font, Planewalker.
Read online
The story is available on the author's Dreamwidth website.
