Author Commentaries

Gordon

This little ditty by John and I is one of a collection of stories that was written prior to the staple Lame Trek universe that would become one of the hallmarks of our later writings. It may also be noted that the writing style is quite a bit different than in our later stories as well. Being rather new to the whole cooperative story format, the concept of cooperation was still escaping us in this one.

The main recollection that John and I had of this story (it was lost for quite some time before I found it again in a binder while cleaning out old textbooks in my house) was that we spent the majority of the time trying to undo the predicament that the other author had introduced into the story. And when poor hapless Gordran wasn't getting attacked by dragons, framed and demoted, or otherwise captured, John and I would mercilessly criticize the reference drawings we provided each other. Personally, I could never draw worth a diddly anyways, and to be honest, John's drawings on this one did look sub-par to many of his later illustrations, which as the years went by became mind-boggling.

Towards the end of the story when the narrative switches over to "real life", several inside references are made. Some of them can be explained as follows:

• Ben singing "Bag of Mexicans": This was a song that our friend Ben Avery had written for his brass band, Avery and the Aviators, which was a parody on the song "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi.
• Korbet grumbling about his date: I think this was around the time that our friend had broken up with a girlfriend of his. Why we referenced it in the story I'll never know. For the record, these days Korbet is happily married to a lovely woman and is quite the family man.
• Gordon pressing John about whether his story segment was completed: The most ironic inside reference of them all. I think this is one of the very FEW stories that I was the one pressuring John to finish his segments. In virtually all the other stories that we had written, the shoe was on the other foot.

Of course, none of this was ever intended to see the light of day, and its primary purpose was to stave off boredom as John and I waited around for an hour and a half for school to start. (Both of us arrived at school early since our parents were teachers or staff, but I believe John has elaborated on this elsewhere) Therefore, I think both of us should be forgiven somewhat for the rather haphazard quality of the work. However, seen in this light, The Adventures of Gordran does have its humorous moments sprinkled here and there.

Enjoy!

John

As the author who both started and ended this particular story, I can say that it's always great to have the last word! However, it's not necessarily the best thing to have the first word, especially when you haven't yet learned the real meaning of the word wench! My apologies to Gordran. I'm not sure why I didn't approve of Gordon's substitution, but we finally determined that he was a page, and that is explanation for the crossed-out lines in the first paragraph of the story.

I like Gordon's choice of words in the first line of the third paragraph: "Taking this chance to upgrade himself..." Gordon is and always has been a computer wizard, and I think this story may have been written around the time he was taking a class where part of the course of study was building a working computer from the ground up.

I'm still scratching my head as I write this trying to figure out where the "princess' nursemaid" came from... maybe a play on the title of the move The Princess Bride, but that's just a wild guess. I know I wrote that paragraph, but it looks to me as though I took the name from Gordon's drawing.

Until Gordon located Gordran, transcribed it into a text document, and e-mailed it to me with the pictures, the only clear memory I had of working on this story was the drawing I did of Sir Soopson. I remember painstakingly drawing his hair and moustache and goatee, trying to make it look as curly and intricate as possible. My love for that drawing might have been the reason I despised Gordon's "CHEEP" imitation of it enough to begin openly mocking his illustrations. I should have taken greater care in the drawings I added to the story afterwards, since from that point on he kept a careful lookout for any opportunity to return the "favor." Fortunately, it was all done in good fun, and nobody's feelings were hurt.

If Gordon's mother ever happens to read this, I want her to know that my characterization of Mrs. Gordran in the story was not in any way intended to represent my opinion of her!

Benbo^TM was a cooperative story written prior to Gordran by Ben Avery and me when we were lab partners in chemistry class. I think from the name, it's obvious that Benbo was a parody of the Rambo movie series, with Ben in the title role. At some point in that story, Benbo went on a killing rampage through the halls of our high school, and I borrowed that snippet for the conclusion of The Adventures of Gordran. Either Gordon couldn't think of a good "Ah, But!" to get himself out of being killed, or he just agreed with me that it was time to put this one to bed.

Check out: The Adventures of Gordran

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