The End of Cassandra

I believe I have completed my work on the Waking Cassandra project. There may still be a story about Lucerne in Japan… but for now, it’s complete. This is the announcement I sent to the mailing list:

Hello, friend and dreamer.

You’re getting this because you have expressed some interest in my games, The Nightmare Maze or The Sons of the Cherry. If you don’t want the rare email from me, please reply with “No, thank you” in the subject line.

The story of poor Vespasian continues.

The Gillingham Problem: In this game, you must stave off madness in order to solve the mystery of a man’s dark dreams. Every choice has a chance of going poorly…. Find the rest of the story at: http://gillingham.storynexus.com/s. Please consider this an invitation to playtest the game — if you have any issues, please contact me here.

Also, the stage play has been made available for purchase on Kindle. See how this chapter of the story ends! Find it here.

Thanks once again for your support and interest. Pleasant dreams.

Alex
wakingcassandra.weebly.com

I decided to put the play out there on Amazon for anyone interested in giving it a look. Since people made it to my mailing list after playing one of the games, I’m not really sure how many would eve consider it — but it’s out there for anyone who is. So much better than sitting in a drawer, I say.

NPR: What We Say About Our Religion, And What We Do

Oh, Shankar Vedantam. I’m not sure specifically what it is about this guy, but I love his stories on NPR.

Yesterday’s topic was a study which found a disparity between the number of Americans who say they go to church (79%) and the number who actually do (24%).

PHILIP BRENNER: … The respondent hears the question how often do you attend and interprets the question to be: Are you the sort of person who attends?

INSKEEP: What you’re really finding out here is I think I’m the sort of person who should attend church and I don’t want to admit otherwise, so I might tell you I go, whether I do or not.

VEDANTAM: Exactly. So the question is about your behavior. What is it you’re doing? The answer might be about people’s identity. Am I the kind of person who attends church?

The story does not try to encompass much of the why, which is wise. The question of why Americans feel they need to state they go to church regularly requires a great deal of analysis.

The Waking Cassandra content addresses this issue in part through its various forms. Why do American’s say they go to church? Because we have a long history of abusing people who don’t, or who attend the wrong ones.