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Camera Shy (short story): Difference between revisions
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| other_titles= | | other_titles= | ||
| hero(es)= [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]] | | hero(es)= [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]] | ||
| villain(s)= [[The Vampire King]] | | villain(s)= [[The Vampire King]] | ||
| featuring= [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]<br>[[Ulysses Dumas]]<br>[[Pan]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small> | | featuring= [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]<br>[[Fiona]]<br>[[Ulysses Dumas]]<br>[[Pan]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small> | ||
| setting= [[Faux Fur End]] | | setting= [[The Vampire King]]'s lair<br>[[Faux Fur End]]<br>([[Universe (Parallax)|Unnamed universe]]) | ||
| length= 1570 words | | length= <small>'''Total''':</small><br>2473 words<br><small>'''Main body:'''</small><br>1570 words<br><small>'''The Lost Prologue:'''</small><br>903 words | ||
| writer(s)= [[Scott Sanford]] | | writer(s)= [[Scott Sanford]] | ||
| artist(s)= | | artist(s)= | ||
| dates= 2008 | | dates= 2008<br><small>(creation, release of main part)</small><br>September 10th, 2022<br><small>(release of the Lost Prologue)</small> | ||
| original_link= [https://sites.google.com/site/scotthsanford/je-camera-shy]<br>[https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40297.html] | | original_link= [https://sites.google.com/site/scotthsanford/je-camera-shy]<br>[https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40297.html]<br>[https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/50638.html] | ||
| seriesnav = [[Scott Sanford]] stories | | seriesnav = [[Scott Sanford]] stories | ||
| previous = ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]'' | | previous = ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]'' | ||
| next = ''[[Tweetstorm (short story)|Tweetstorm]]'' | | next = ''[[Tweetstorm (short story)|Tweetstorm]]'' | ||
}}'''''Camera Shy''''' was the third and final [[Jenny Everywhere]] short story published by [[Scott Sanford]] in 2008 (although a [[Tweetstorm (short story)|fourth]] was completed and only released a decade later). It was notable for being written in the first person from the point of view of [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny herself]]. | }}'''''Camera Shy''''' was the third and final [[Jenny Everywhere]] short story published by [[Scott Sanford]] in 2008 (although a [[Tweetstorm (short story)|fourth]] was completed and only released a decade later). It was notable for being written in the first person from the point of view of [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny herself]]. With a prologue written in 2008 but originally discarded being eventually published in September of 2022, it is also technically the ''Jenny Everywhere'' whose release spanned the longest length of time. | ||
== Contents == | == Contents == | ||
===Plot === | ===Plot === | ||
==== Prologue ==== | |||
[[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]] and her friends [[Fiona]] and [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]] are mounting an attack on the lair of [[the Vampire King]]. Jenny, the only human, uses a detonator to blow open the doors and join her friends, already inside. She is unsurprised to find the King's two [[revenant]]s already slain, with [[Fiona's sword]] still lodged in one's ribcage. | |||
Moving further in, Jenny finds Fiona (in [[Werewolf|quadrupedal]] form) and Kim fighting the King head-on. With the King batting Fiona aside, it is soon down to the good vampire versus the bad, with each of them armed with a wooden stake. Jenny shouts for Kim to get clear, and waits for her to move away from the King while Fiona charges at him again. Only then does fire her shotgun at the King's chest, also hitting Fiona. The bullets she used are made of hardwood and technically count as stakes, meaning that after a few shots to ensure she reaches his heart, the King quickly crumbles into dust. | |||
As the dust literally clears, Fiona informs the other two women that she smells that there's still another “living” vampire in the lair. They briefly become worried, but he turns out to be a man shackled in a cell in the King's dungeon, who was ostensibly turned into a vampire spawn as a form of torture. Jenny recognises him as “Ulysses something, (…) a musician wannabe in one of the local garage bands”, and informs Kim that he's now her problem. | |||
==== Main plot ==== | |||
Sixth month later, while in bed, [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]] gets a harried phone call from [[Ulysses Dumas]], a musician she rescued from [[the Vampire King]] some time before, who says he needs her help with something and makes her an appointment at the [[Faux Fur End]] next evening, when the band [[Umlaut]] will be playing. | |||
There, she quickly guesses that Dumas has turned into a [[vampire]] himself, despite his beating around the bush. He eventually explains his problem: due to vampires being invisible in mirrors, some models of cameras cannot see him, hindering his career as a performer. With Jenny called away on another adventure (“it's raining frogs at the mosque again”), she promises to get back to him. Later, back home, she discusses Dumas's unlikely problem with her roommate [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | There, she quickly guesses that Dumas has turned into a [[vampire]] himself, despite his beating around the bush. He eventually explains his problem: due to vampires being invisible in mirrors, some models of cameras cannot see him, hindering his career as a performer. With Jenny called away on another adventure (“it's raining frogs at the mosque again”), she promises to get back to him. Later, back home, she discusses Dumas's unlikely problem with her roommate [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | ||
Two days later, as the parody band [[Dörx]] is playing at the Faux Fur End, Jenny goes to meet Dumas a second time, in the company of Kim. She suggests that he create a stage persona involving elaborate make-up, so that the cameras will pick up the body paint even if they can't see his actual skin — telling him that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band) it's been done before] on the musical scene. | Two days later, as the parody band [[Dörx]] is playing at the Faux Fur End, Jenny goes to meet Dumas a second time, in the company of Kim. She suggests that he create a stage persona involving elaborate make-up, so that the cameras will pick up the body paint even if they can't see his actual skin — telling him that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_(band) it's been done before] on the musical scene. | ||
===Worldbuilding=== | ===Worldbuilding=== | ||
====Jenny Everywhere==== | ====Jenny Everywhere==== | ||
* [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|The Jenny]] featured in this story is the one previously seen in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]''. She gets her income from being a professional music reviewer (or, as she puts it, “I get paid to tell musicians they suck”), although she says this is purely something she does for the money, and she would primarily describe herself as an adventurer. She also once describes herself as a superhero. She is roommates with [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | * [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|The Jenny]] featured in this story is the one previously seen in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]''. She gets her income from being a professional music reviewer (or, as she puts it, “I get paid to tell musicians they suck”), although she says this is purely something she does for the money, and she would primarily describe herself as an adventurer. She also once describes herself as a superhero. She is roommates with [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | ||
====Universes==== | ====Universes==== | ||
* The story begins in the [[Universe (Parallax)|home universe]] of [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. [[Vampire]]s are not known to the wider public but are apparently fairly common. | * The story begins in the [[Universe (Parallax)|home universe]] of [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. [[Vampire]]s are not known to the wider public but are apparently fairly common. | ||
====Other==== | ====Other==== | ||
* The night prior to the beginning of this story, Jenny was “out until past dawn saving the Internet from the [[Eye of Tripoli]]”. | * The night prior to the beginning of this story, [[Jenny Everywhere#Kim's friend|Jenny Everywhere]] was “out until past dawn saving the Internet from the [[Eye of Tripoli]]”. | ||
* Kim displays the ability to turn into a swarm of bats. | * [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]] displays the ability to turn into a swarm of bats, as well as sufficient strength to bend a metal door and rip it out of its hinges. She is unwilling to enter [[Ulysses Dumas|Ulysses]]'s bloodied cell, which Jenny seems to readily understand, suggesting that despite her peaceable disposition she does not deal well with the presence of blood right in front of her, and fears losing control. | ||
* [[Fiona]] is [[Ireland|Irish]]. At least in her lupine form, she is “bullet-proof”, with silver being her only weakness; being hit by the wooden bullets intended for [[the Vampire King|the King]] causes her momentary pain but no serious damage. | |||
===Continuity=== | ===Continuity=== | ||
* This story's Jenny previously appeared in another short story by [[Scott Sanford]], [[PROSE]]: ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]'', alongside [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | * This story's Jenny previously appeared in another short story by [[Scott Sanford]], [[PROSE]]: ''[[Parallax (short story)|Parallax]]'', alongside [[Kim#Jenny's roommate|Kim]]. | ||
* Sanford's later multi-part serial [[PROSE]]: ''[[Paying It Forward (novel)|Paying It Forward]]'' saw [[Cha Ni]] reminding this same incarnation of Jenny of the [[Eye of Tripoli]] affair. | * Sanford's later multi-part serial [[PROSE]]: ''[[Paying It Forward (novel)|Paying It Forward]]'' saw [[Cha Ni]] reminding this same incarnation of Jenny of the [[Eye of Tripoli]] affair. | ||
*Jenny mentions the Greek god [[Pan]], who another Jenny met in [[COMIC]]: [[Holiday Pandemonium (comic story)|Holiday Pandemonium]]. | *Jenny mentions the Greek god [[Pan]], who another Jenny met in [[COMIC]]: ''[[Holiday Pandemonium (comic story)|Holiday Pandemonium]]''. | ||
*[[The Vampire King]] would later be mentioned again in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cleaning Day (short story)|Cleaning Day]]'', where Jenny would be revealed to have retained the [[Crown of the Vampire King]]. | *[[The Vampire King]] would later be mentioned again in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cleaning Day (short story)|Cleaning Day]]'', where Jenny would be revealed to have retained the [[Crown of the Vampire King]]. | ||
== Behind the scenes == | == Behind the scenes == | ||
===Background=== | ===Background=== | ||
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But we leave off with Jenny feeling accomplished and relaxing over a beer. There are worse ways to wrap up a tale.|Scott Sanford}} | But we leave off with Jenny feeling accomplished and relaxing over a beer. There are worse ways to wrap up a tale.|Scott Sanford}} | ||
Among the minor changes made between the 2008 version of this story and its 2021 repost was the replacement of [[Ulysses Dumas]]' “knowing a guy at the [[Red Cross]]” with a mention of his knowing a guy “at a kosher butcher's”. This was presumably done to obviate the plot hole of how a vampire could get into a Red Cross building despite his allergy to crosses. | Among the minor changes made between the 2008 version of this story and its 2021 repost was the replacement of [[Ulysses Dumas]]' “knowing a guy at the [[Red Cross]]” with a mention of his knowing a guy “at a kosher butcher's”. This was presumably done to obviate the plot hole of how a vampire could get into a Red Cross building despite his allergy to crosses. | ||
The next year, Sanford rediscovered a prologue written for the story in 2008 but discarded for “tonal reasons”. He decided to publish it in its current state, in defiance of a minor plot hole introduced in the comparison of the Lost Prologue with the published version of the main body: the Prologue seems to end with Jenny and Kim already suspecting that Ulysse will turn into a [[vampire]] when they rescue him, whereas they are seemingly surprised by the development six months later in the main body. The commentary written in 2022 was as follows: | |||
{{quotebox|In September of 2022 I got a surprise from 2008! ''Camera Shy'' was not originally released with a prologue and I had completely forgotten I’d ever written such a thing until one night I ran across it in a forgotten archive directory.<br />I can see why I didn’t include it then, as it doesn’t fit the tone of the rest of the story and there's a continuity problem, but it was a delight to find an unexpected piece of history ready to share. Before I found it was an intact story and felt delight it was a shock and a surprise, greeted with exclamations of "What?!" and "Who the f* is Fiona?!?"<br /><br />The reader is welcome to accept this as a prequel to ''Camera Shy'' if you want to, or just treat it as a short standalone story.<br /><br />''Note:'' This is the original 2008 draft, presented as found.|Scott Sanford}} | |||
===Read online=== | ===Read online=== | ||
The story is available both [https://sites.google.com/site/scotthsanford/je-camera-shy Shy on Sanford's original ''Jenny Everywhere'' Google Site] and on [https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40297.html the author's Dreamwidth website]. There, it was given some [https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40590.html Author's Commentary]. | The story is available both [https://sites.google.com/site/scotthsanford/je-camera-shy Shy on Sanford's original ''Jenny Everywhere'' Google Site] and on [https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40297.html the author's Dreamwidth website]. There, it was given some [https://scott-sanford.dreamwidth.org/40590.html Author's Commentary]. | ||
