Help me reality check this idea.

[Honky-Tonk Dragon]

This story idea was quite intriguing initially, and is only getting more so.
Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[Anachronist]

You have my steel, you have my head, and you have my guns. I can think of no nobler death than one in persuit of such a cause.

Damn the air-kraken, full steam ahead!

Regards,
Alexander

[Caffeinated Gent]

You have my steel, you have my head, and you have my guns.

And my... Wrecking Iron?

[Mr. Shank]

You have my steel, you have my head, and you have my guns.

And my... Wrecking Iron?

lol,

But back to the original question, i was reconsidering and the thought came that i may not go along, Personally Id rather stay behind but be the rich guy supporting it...

[phineas sheridan]

You have my steel, you have my head, and you have my guns.

And my... Wrecking Iron?

lol,

But back to the original question, i was reconsidering and the thought came that i may not go along, Personally Id rather stay behind but be the rich guy supporting it...

that's just like you isn't it??

never did like to get your hands dirty........



haha m/f  that would be fun too

d


p.s. Mr. Shank is one of my personal friends, so i can slam him

[Caffeinated Gent]

You have my steel, you have my head, and you have my guns.

And my... Wrecking Iron?

lol,

But back to the original question, i was reconsidering and the thought came that i may not go along, Personally Id rather stay behind but be the rich guy supporting it...

No, sir, no! We can't have such a spirited supporter of the idea left at the wayside, you must come along! Think of the adventure! No need to be modest, sir! 

[Lazaras]

I believe that is exactly what he is thinking of, as well as the preservation of his life. Just remember, while some of us most certainly won't have space on the airship taking us back there is still room for a few to make the return trip. That and depending on what brand of nameless horror we must face there is a chance, even if an infinitesimally slim one, that those left behind could make their own way back to civilization.

[Caffeinated Gent]

Why fly back when there's the once-in-a-lifetime chance to ride the library itself back?

[phineas sheridan]

I will volunteer to lead the return party on land
we will have a massive adventure guiding the library back and meeting/fighting fantastical beings along the way

all who are with me give a resounding "AYE!!!"

d

[Lazaras]

For the chance to see prehistoric wonders and explore the mystery taht is the now mobile building I would gladly forgo my seat on the return flight. Of course this is working under the presumption that all goes well and the only wounds suffered are either very minor and easily treatable, or merely to our pride.

[Mr. Sable]

This idea is brilliant!  Count me in.

[Charleson Mambo]

Once again I wish to thank you all for your coments, it has been most helpful to my endeavors.

(Although I am having a dificult time finding a real library that would be a worthy setting for this fictitious endeavor.)

I think I will set aside my presence in this thread and get to writing, before I talk all life and spark from the idea.


Charleson Mambo

[Lazaras]

Why not have it set in something akin to Alexandria's ancient library? That'd solve the grand architecture problem AND the problem of why go into a suicidal mission for a bunch of books. Alexandria I consider one of the largest tragedies of human history since it set mankind back so far. Imagian if a second such disaster was known about and could possibly be avoided through a retrieval?

[Charleson Mambo]

Why not have it set in something akin to Alexandria's ancient library? That'd solve the grand architecture problem AND the problem of why go into a suicidal mission for a bunch of books. Alexandria I consider one of the largest tragedies of human history since it set mankind back so far. Imagian if a second such disaster was known about and could possibly be avoided through a retrieval?

The story is near future. A "race" against the oncoming glaciers of a new Ice Age.
Also, it's more, well cyberpunk, more about the irony of reaching the "Technological Singularity" just in time for a new Ice Age.

Of course I've got enough backstory for next years NaNoWriMo instead of having a punchy little idea for a short story.


Charleson Mambo

[fixed_expression]

My first thought would be to make it the Library of Congress. It's currently the biggest library in the world, right? That kind of marks it as a parallel to Alexandria. It'd be a pretty huge job, but you want this to be a thrilling adventure story; why aim small? You wouldn't even have to take the whole thing, you could just pile all the most important books into one building, and use your giant mechanical legs to tear that part free and sent it walking Southwards.

Of course that's the only problem that springs to mind...it might be a little far South to be effected by the coming Ice Age: I don't know exactly how your thought processes are running on this one. Also I'm not American and have never been to the library myself, so perhaps there's some other reason that makes this idea patently absurd that I haven't thought of. Just an idea, though.

Oh, and I'd gladly come along on the trip, but only if I get a turn at driving the walking building.

[Mr. Sable]

Northern Texas was once covered with ice, so ice covering Washington, DC is no more fantastical than a walking building.

[fixed_expression]

My thought was that Mr Mambo may have something very particular in mind for his story; maybe ice being as far south as Washington would ruin some carefully planned aspect. A little unlikely I guess, but a possible sticking point.

[Fantômas]

With the city in the state you described it, I would go on the journey just for the spectacle. Reminds me of a circus or burning man...

there needs to be more...like...a single edition of something that could literally save lives, in the library vault.

[Mr. Sable]

With the city in the state you described it, I would go on the journey just for the spectacle. Reminds me of a circus or burning man...

there needs to be more...like...a single edition of something that could literally save lives, in the library vault.

I don't know about that.  Saving books themselves seems a worthy enough endeavour.  You don't want printed word inaccessibly buried, or crushed out of existance, under ice any more than you want fascist huns abritrarily burning them.

[Charleson Mambo]

I'm want the story to happen fairly early in the Ice Age, so I don't want the Ice to have reached too far south.

Also, the library can't be too important or famous, even in the midst of evacuating Canada and the northernmost American states someone is bound to raise a stink over ignoring the Library of Congress.

As for "aiming small", while I will certainly keep the setting around for later use in something larger in the short term I'm trying to come up with a short for an anthology. (The Chatsubo's third one.)


Charleson Mambo

[Lazaras]

Hmm. That does present a problem, something obscure enough to go overlooked in the initial phases of the cooldown, yet something unimportant enough to send a bunch of blokes on a suicide mission to retrieve.

I don't know, perhaps this is just the fact I'm American talking bundled with not knowing much of Europe's current affairs. However why not set it at some eccentric's compound/mansion way out west? I'm sure that there's plenty of folk out there doing research on their own, or have some singular book of occult knowledge(hell they still don't have all of Da Vinci's notes, THAT would be something anyone would want to go after).

[Fantômas]

Hmm. That does present a problem, something obscure enough to go overlooked in the initial phases of the cooldown, yet something unimportant enough to send a bunch of blokes on a suicide mission to retrieve.

I don't know, perhaps this is just the fact I'm American talking bundled with not knowing much of Europe's current affairs. However why not set it at some eccentric's compound/mansion way out west? I'm sure that there's plenty of folk out there doing research on their own, or have some singular book of occult knowledge(hell they still don't have all of Da Vinci's notes, THAT would be something anyone would want to go after).

antarctica

[5tephe]

I think making the library contain some actually important or vital books is kind of beside the point. The Library should be simply something a little bit special, that is being ignored even in our own time. Then, with the passing of time and the encroaching of ice, many such places begin to vanish or get destroyed, and suddenly the rareness of this one exquisite little place becomes a rallying point for a bunch of misfits, fanatics and loons.

Sure, it can emerge as a sub-plot or revelation later in the novel. The underlying reason that some wealthy 'philanthropist' funded the project was a hidden treasure of some sort - knowledge, or magical item, or actual hidden gold....

However, I feel that it would be an important part of the grand romantic feel of the novel that it was a doomed enterprise from the outset, a fools errand.

Thus attracting a stellar cast of fools.


Also... there is no need to set it in the U.S.A. There are much more interesting libraries scattered across Europe. Somewhere in northern Scotland would be reasonable. (Also give you FANTASTIC opportunities to be forced to take a detour via one of the Lochs -  improvising a way to make the building FLOAT down the loch, as well as motor along the ground. YEAH!)

[Tinker]

This town sounds like the one I already live in.  Luckily, we rescued the library last year, after vandals jacked the I-beams off the columns, just to see what would happen.  Yay for ignorance.  I WOULD put the whole thing on wheels and take it somewhere else if I could.

A.

[The Grand Duchess]

This town sounds like the one I already live in.  Luckily, we rescued the library last year, after vandals jacked the I-beams off the columns, just to see what would happen.  Yay for ignorance.  I WOULD put the whole thing on wheels and take it somewhere else if I could.

A.

As you say, we already living in a new Dark Age.  Most people do not see books as important- they consult the internet for everything, if they even bother doing that.  Card catalogues, many of which contained a century's worth of notations made by librarians, are now gone. Students think that a tuition buys them a diploma, not he right to work on becoming educated.

One would not have to be a fool to go on such an errand.  One would just have to like there to be one thing that has not yet been marred by vulgarity and idiocy.