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{{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Series of Queer Events'' (short story)}}{{Short Story | {{DISPLAYTITLE:''A Series of Queer Events'' (short story)}}{{Short Story | ||
| title1=''A Series of Queer Events'' | | title1=''A Series of Queer Events'' | ||
| image1= A Series of Queer Events.png | | image1= <gallery> | ||
A Series of Queer Events.png|2022 title illustration | |||
A Series of Queer Events - Title.png|2024 title illustration | |||
</gallery> | |||
| caption1= | | caption1= | ||
| other_titles= | | other_titles= | ||
| hero(es)= [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]]<br>[[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]]<br>[[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|The Man in Grey]] | | hero(es)= [[Jenny Over-There (925th Universe)|Jenny Over-There]]<br>[[Dynamite Thor (Fox universe)|Dynamite Thor]]<br>[[The Man in Grey (925th Universe)|The Man in Grey]] | ||
| featuring= [[Alice]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Bisclavret]]<br>[[Jenny Everywhere#Members of the Interdimensional Pride Council|Jenny Everywhere]]<br>[[Stardust the Super-Wizard (925th Universe)|Stardust the Super-Wizard]]<br>[[Captain Ahab]]<br>[[Moby Dick]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Ishmael]]<br>[[Queequeg]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Mammon Mouse]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Henribald]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Beauty]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Beast]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Loki#General Loki|General Loki]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Mulan]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dorian Gray]]<br>[[Oscar Diggs (925th Universe)|Oscar Diggs]]<br>[[Professor Wogglebug (925th Universe)|Professor Wogglebug]]<br>[[Ozma (925th Universe)|Ozma]]<br>[[Munchkin (A Series of Queer Events)|Unnamed Munchkin]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Nyarlathotep (A Series of Queer Events)|Nyarlathotep]]<br>[[Atlas the Traveller]]<br>[[Dracula#At DollarGraveClub|Dracula]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Professor Helvetius]]<br>[[Doctor Omega]]<br>[[Doctor Know (925th Universe)|Doctor Know]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dionysus]]<ref>In originally-released version, [[Gloon]] occupied the role of Dionysus.</ref><br>[[Carmilla#At DollarGraveClub|Carmilla]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Ruthven#At DollarGraveClub|Lord Ruthven]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Varney#At DollarGraveClub|Mr Varney]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Mombi]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Scarecrow (925th Universe)|The Scarecrow]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dorothy Gale (925th Universe)|Dorothy Gale]]<br>[[Denis Borrel]]<br>[[Fred]]<br>[[Audrey Junior]]<br>[[Jenny Everywhere#In Reality 18|Jenny Everywhere]]<br>[[Grandmother Ginger]]<br>[[The Red Hot Roach]]<br>[[Supertrans]]<br>[[The Invisible Pink Unicorn]] | | featuring= [[Alice]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Bisclavret]]<br>[[Jenny Everywhere#Members of the Interdimensional Pride Council|Jenny Everywhere]]<br>[[Stardust the Super-Wizard (925th Universe)|Stardust the Super-Wizard]]<br>[[Captain Ahab]]<br>[[Moby Dick]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Ishmael]]<br>[[Queequeg]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Mammon Mouse]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Henribald]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Beauty]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Beast]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Loki#General Loki|General Loki]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Mulan]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dorian Gray]]<br>[[Oscar Diggs (925th Universe)|Oscar Diggs]]<br>[[Professor Wogglebug (925th Universe)|Professor Wogglebug]]<br>[[Ozma (925th Universe)|Ozma]]<br>[[Munchkin (A Series of Queer Events)|Unnamed Munchkin]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Nyarlathotep (A Series of Queer Events)|Nyarlathotep]]<br>[[Atlas the Traveller]]<br>[[Dracula#At DollarGraveClub|Dracula]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Professor Helvetius]]<br>[[Doctor Omega]]<br>[[Doctor Know (925th Universe)|Doctor Know]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dionysus]]<ref>In originally-released version, [[Gloon]] occupied the role of Dionysus.</ref><br>[[Carmilla#At DollarGraveClub|Carmilla]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Ruthven#At DollarGraveClub|Lord Ruthven]]<br><small>(mentioned; original edition only)</small><br>[[Varney#At DollarGraveClub|Mr Varney]]<br><small>(mentioned; original edition only)</small><br>[[Mombi]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[The Scarecrow (925th Universe)|The Scarecrow]]<br><small>(mentioned)</small><br>[[Dorothy Gale (925th Universe)|Dorothy Gale]]<br>[[Denis Borrel]]<br>[[Fred]]<br>[[Audrey Junior]]<br>[[Jenny Everywhere#In Reality 18|Jenny Everywhere]]<br><small>(original edition only)</small><br>[[Grandmother Ginger]]<br><small>(original edition only)</small><br>[[The Red Hot Roach]]<br>[[Supertrans]]<br>[[The Invisible Pink Unicorn]]<br>[[Jenny Everywhere (38167th Universe)|Jenny Everywhere]]<br><small>(2024 edition)</small><br>[[Tetra-None Hepta-Oct (925th Universe)|Tetra-None Hepta-Oct]]<br><small>(2024 edition)</small> | ||
| setting= [[M.F.S. office]], [[925th Universe]]<br>[[Diggs estate]], [[Land of Oz]]<br>[[Professor Helvetius's Convenient Pride Decorations Shop]] | | setting= [[M.F.S. office]], [[925th Universe]]<br>[[Diggs estate]], [[Land of Oz]]<br>[[Professor Helvetius's Convenient Pride Decorations Shop]] | ||
| length= | | length= 5,307 words<br><small>(original edition)</small><br>9,725 words<br><small>(2024 edition)</small> | ||
| writer(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]] | | writer(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]] | ||
| artist(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]] | | artist(s)= [[Callum Phillpott]] | ||
| series= | | series= | ||
| dates= June 24th, 2022 | | dates= June 24th, 2022<br>July 12th, 2024<small>(updated edition)</small> | ||
| original_link= [https://archiveofourown.org/works/39859500] | | original_link= [https://archiveofourown.org/works/39859500]<br>[https://ninetwofiveuniverse.wordpress.com/2024/07/08/a-series-of-queer-events/] | ||
| seriesnav= ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' stories | | seriesnav= ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' stories | ||
| previous= ''[[Open Sourcing (short story)|Open Sourcing]]'' | | previous= ''[[Open Sourcing (short story)|Open Sourcing]]'' | ||
| next= ''[[Workplace Reunion (short story)|Workplace Reunion]]'' | | next= ''[[Workplace Reunion (short story)|Workplace Reunion]]'' | ||
}}'''''A Series of Queer Events''''' was a short story written by [[Callum Phillpott]]. It was the third in Phillpott's ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' series, and released in celebration of {{w|Pride Month|Pride Month}}. Par for the course for the series, it featured appearances by multiple other public-domain and open-source characters beyond the central recurring cast. | }}'''''A Series of Queer Events''''' was a short story written by [[Callum Phillpott]]. It was the third in Phillpott's ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' series, and released in celebration of {{w|Pride Month|Pride Month}}. Par for the course for the series, it featured appearances by multiple other public-domain and open-source characters beyond the central recurring cast. | ||
In 2024, a heavily updated version was published on the official Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe website with several new illustrations by Phillpott himself. | |||
==Contents== | ==Contents== | ||
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An early version of the story featured the Lovecraftian character of [https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Gloon Gloon] in place of the role ultimately given to [[Dionysus]]. This was changed by the author upon realising that the name of Gloon was not actually in the public domain as they'd mistakenly assumed. | An early version of the story featured the Lovecraftian character of [https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Gloon Gloon] in place of the role ultimately given to [[Dionysus]]. This was changed by the author upon realising that the name of Gloon was not actually in the public domain as they'd mistakenly assumed. | ||
The updated, illustrated version published on the official ''[[Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe (series)|Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]]'' website on July 12th, 2024 nearly doubled the wordcount, from slightly over five thousand words to slightly under ten thousand. The most significant of these edits are: | |||
* The singular illustration of a badly-crafted Pride version of the [[M.F.S.]]'s logo is not only replaced with a sleeker version matching the reimagined M.F.S. logo used as part of the site's webdesign, but complemented with similar rainbow-capitalism versions of the [[Dibbsy]] and [[Kablamazon]] logos, and with a longer in-universe blurb. | |||
* The erroneous colours of the rainbow flag on the M.F.S. Pride logo is given a specific explanation beyond general carelessness: the Man in Grey designed it personally, staying up all night to do so, and, due to an Internet outage, was forced to try and remember the colours of the rainbow from memory — which he found very challenging. | |||
* The Man in Grey no longer kisses the logo after setting it up. | |||
* The description of Jenny as “tr[ying] to hide her rage for once” during her phonecall with [[Captain Ahab]] is excised, to be more in keeping with her definitive characterisation in subsequent stories as much less on-edge than she came across in the original drafts of the first few stories. | |||
* When Jenny first scries for the Man in Grey's location and notices he is in [[Land of Oz (925th Universe)|Oz]], the narration specifies that this is the first Jenny learns of Oz being a real place in (or rather “adjacent to”) her home reality, a development with which she is pleased, though not extravagantly so. | |||
* [[Dynamite Thor (925th Universe)|Dynamite Thor]] no longer babbles about never having been to [[Wales]] in his [[Fox universe|original home reality]]. | |||
* It is specified that ''[[Mulan (film)|Mulan]]'' is not included in Dibbsy's “First Gays” box set due to “a minor controversy-related issue”, instead of no rationale (however vague) being given as in the original edition. | |||
* Instead of the Man in Grey and [[Professor Wogglebug (925th Universe)|Professor Wogglebug]]'s first scene together in the story being their first encounter in-universe, it is now stated that the two first met in the 1950s when the Man in Grey was working at a café on Earth which the Wogglebug (who was, at the time, going by the name of [[Sullivan (A Series of Queer Events)|Sullivan]]) patronised with some regularity. Indeed, the two were friendly enough that Sullivan pulled some strings to allow the Man in Grey to enter the [[Miskatonic School of Business]]. Those details concur with [[The Man in Grey (short story)|the official Man in Grey biography]] which went up on the website at the same time as the revised ''Series of Queer Events''. | |||
* Instead of simply being “smartly dressed”, the Wogglebug's outfit is described as “a loud, purple tailcoat which drape[s] over [the Wogglebug's] stubby abdomen” and reminds the man in Grey of “something [[Doctor Know (925th Universe)|Doctor Know]] would wear if he went slightly loopy”. | |||
* It is established that the Wogglebug's seemingly-solid, mantis-like pincers can morph at will into more human-like hands. | |||
* The aside about the unfortunate [[Munchkin (A Series of Queer Events)|Munchkin]] who tested one of the Wogglebug's [[Information Pill]]s occurs at a different point in the scene, and goes into more detail both on the mishap and on its outcome. Foreshadowing [[PROSE]]: ''[[Lawyers and Tigers and Bears (short story)|Lawyers and Tigers and Bears]]'', it is suggested that the Munchkin dropped their case against the Wogglebug due to finding the Wogglebug's defence lawyer in Oz too annoying to deal with. | |||
* More directly foreshadowing their subsequent romantic relationship, the Wogglebug offers to kiss the Man in Grey out of enthusiasm before awkwardly backtracking. | |||
* [[Carmilla]] is now the only [[DollarGraveClub]] representative to be explicitly mentioned, with [[Varney]] and [[Ruthven]] no longer featuring by name; Carmilla is established to have been one of the business's foudners. Their “Bury Your Gays discount” on coffins no longer generally applies to “LGBT people buying coffins” but specifically to “vampire couples”, and it is noted that, as a marketing gimmick, they have dubbed the “queer coffins” they sell, “[[qoffin]]s”. (It is implied that there is nothing specifically queer about them besides the name and their usage in the marketing gimmick.) | |||
* The characters visit an alcove in the [[Diggs estate]] which contains a large ''papier-mâché'' head upon a table, evidently the one formerly used by [[Oscar Diggs (925th Universe)|Oscar Diggs]] as part of his “Wizard of Oz” persona, with him staring mournfully at it (and recalling how he spent a whole night making it) while pining for the good old days. | |||
* The list of commercial Pride ventures no longer repeats the earlier joke about Dibbsy's rerelease of queerbaity live-action remakes on DVD, instead mentioning “jagged rainbow pins” as the items sold by Dibbsy. | |||
* The eventual Pride party at [[Professor Helvetius's Convenient Pride Decorations Shop]] is now foreshadowed when Jenny and Peter first encounter the store thanks to the presence of a sign out front which highlights that Helvetius is also happy to rent the place out as a party venue. The sign also establishes upfront that all the items are being given away for free; this means that Thor no longer offers to pay for them. | |||
* Jenny and Thor's frolic through the Shop is rewritten from the ground up, including more banter and comic business | |||
* There is a description of Thor's “wallet”, a hollowed-out dynamite stick containing a curved checkbook. | |||
* When talking about his world, Peter cites generic Golden-Age-comic-book business to give a sense of the chaos that surrounded him losing track of his business responsibilities: “…there are gangs around every corner, there's a war going on, someone gave a gorilla a human brain…”. He also explains how the board ultimately ousted him because he'dbecome “a liability”. | |||
* Professor Helvetius now interrupts Jenny and Peter's conversation with a mystifying monologue which seems half philosophising about being stuck in a rut, and half technobabble about the nature of space-time; it serves as meta-acknowledgement of the rewrite, primarily concerning the way reality seems to change every time a story is repeated. In response, Jenny references the events of [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There (short story)|The Tribulations of Jenny Over-There]]'' by saying she learned to stop asking questions “when [[Doctor Omega (925th Universe)|Doctor Omega]] stole the toaster a few months back”. | |||
* [[Doctor Omega's people (925th Universe)|Doctor Omega's people]] are now identified by name as the [[Society of the Evaluators]], and Helvetius refers to Omega as her “brother”, telling Jenny: “I see my brother is still working on that little spaceship of his. Do tell him he still owes the Society recompense for— well, he’ll know. Just tell him it’s owed.”. She then hands Jenny a business card for the Society, whose logo depicts a pair of weighing-scales. Jenny makes a mental note to get rid both of that card, and of the rainbow version Helvetius additionally gives her after a moment's thought. | |||
* The punchline of the scene, with Helvetius charging 50 pounds per bag even though the items are free, is emphasised with Helvetius seemingly confirming the earlier monologue acknowledging the reedit as diegetically real by saying: “I wasn’t too sure about this bit, but maybe it’ll be funnier in this [[rotation]]”. | |||
* Oscar Diggs's realisation about the switched briefcases is displaced before the Kablamazon ad rather than after it. | |||
* The Kablamazon ad now explicitly states that Kablamazon has just completed its purchase of, and subsequent merger with, the [[Kooba Cola Corporation]], accounting for an apparent typo in the original which attributed the message to Kooba Cola mid-sentence despite it being introduced to and signed by Kablamazon; the plot point of the corporate merger had previously been noted in [[PROSE]]: ''[[A Very Jenny Over-There Christmas (short story)|A Very Jenny Over-There Christmas]]'', which the reedited passage now actively prequelises. | |||
* The Man in Grey and the Professor's conversation outside of the [[Interdimensional Pride Council]] meeting is entirely different, with the pair going over why each of their guests and sponsors were kicked out | |||
* The conversation is then interrupted by a direct phone call from an irate [[Dionysus]], who is stated to be highly respected by and involved with the Council, though not formally a member. Dionysus is particularly incensed at the idea of [[Stardust the Super-Wizard (925th Universe)|Stardust the Super-Wizard]] being present, with it being clarified that Stardust isn't even known to be queer, just a (very theoretical) ally. | |||
* Stardust's “apology” for “deleting France” is now presented as a quote printed in a newspaper (in all-caps), rather than a cutaway to a live press conference happening in parallel to the conversation. The quote sees Stardust, who is described in narration as an “extradimensional goliath”, declare himself ”[[the Son of Suns]], Master Manipulator of All Atomic Bodies”. His dialogue specifies that the robbery at the [[Louvre]] which he was trying to stop was, of course, an attempted theft of the ''[[Mona Lisa]]''. It is established that he was persuaded to ''un''-delete France by the [[Super Besties Justice Squad|other Super Besties]], who had to threaten him with the [[Atom Smasher]]. | |||
* Jenny and Peter hum in unison as they decorate the M.F.S. office; when Thor expresses mild surprise that they didn't break out into song altogether, an amused Jenny replies “Eh, I’m not a singer. I’m barely a talker”. | |||
* The decorating scene ends on Thor accidentally stepping on the hand of the Man in Grey, still lying on the floor as he wallows about the collapse of his sponsorship plans. | |||
* As Thor mopes about not getting to properly throw himself into what was supposed to be his first Pride celebration as a member of the community (with him stating he only realised he was asexual shortly after moving to the [[925th Universe]] earlier this year), he and Jenny vdiscuss Helvetius's talk of cyclical temporal rotations — which they still don't completely understand — and this prompts Jenny to phone Helvetius again to ask about renting out the Shop as a venue for a proper Pride party. The beginning of the phone call occurs on-“screen”, with Helvetius initially assuming that Jenny has phoned because she wants to join the Society of the Evaluators. | |||
* Professor Wogglebug is now much more heavily inebriated when the Man in Grey bumps into him at the bar; this turns out to be because he thoughtlessly paid for his drink with a large Oz emerald, and the bartender, instead of even trying to give him change, served him as many drinks as the ludicrously valuable stone would be worth, which the Wogglebug doesn't realise he isn't ''obliged'' to drink himself. | |||
* The party's attendees now include Doctor Know, who engages [[Ozma (925th Universe)|Ozma]] in conversation. It is also noted that Oscar Diggs attends the party in drag, in an outfit meant to resemble a campier version of the [[Cardinal Witch]]es' outfits. | |||
* Jenny is stated to have previously heard about the Cardinal Witches of Oz in a book about Oz politics which she had “found in a bin outside the Man's office”. | |||
* The party is described from Jenny's perspective. She and [[Tetra-None Hepta-Oct (925th Universe)|Tetra-None Hepta-Oct]] end up finding each other, and, with both of them agreeing that loud, busy parties aren't their thing, they head off into the night to find a pizza place, with Tetra having been meaning to get round to trying pizza on Doctor Know's advice. | |||
* While Tetra is talking to Jenny, the latter briefly gets the sense that the [[cyclock (925th Universe)|cyclock]] (the term is, here, uncapitalised) was trying to establish a psychic connection with her before realising that Jenny isn't the sort of being with which such a connection can be made. | |||
* The number of versions of Jenny Everywhere at the party is pegged as specifically five. There is no longer a specific reference to one of them being [[Jenny Everywhere (Reality 18)|the version]] from [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Apocryphal Journeys of Jenny Everywhere (novel)|The Apocryphal Journeys of Jenny Everywhere]]'', with [[Grandmother Ginger]] going unmentioned; on the other hand, another Jenny, for whose benefit Thor is seen trying to make a jukebox work, is described as wearing a “thick, greenish-brown button-up coat”, clearly marking her out as the recurring [[Jenny Everywhere (38167th Universe)|New Flaversham Jenny]] who had gone on to be confirmed in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Family Business (short story)|Family Business]]'' as one of the party attendees. | |||
===Read online=== | ===Read online=== | ||
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[[Category:Installments of Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]] | [[Category:Installments of Jenny Over-There: The Nine-Two-Five Universe]] | ||
[[Category:Featuring Dynamite Thor]] | [[Category:Featuring Dynamite Thor]] | ||
[[Category:Featuring Tetra-None Hepta-Oct]] | |||
