Follow TV Tropes

Following

History Creator / StephenDedman

Go To

OR

Added: 305

Changed: 312

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
cross wicking


* LivingDinosaurs: ''North of the Dragonlands'' is a medieval fantasy in which the fantastic elements are unfamiliar non-magical things that the characters are trying to understand in terms of familiar concepts; the "dragons" are dinosaurs and pterosaurs that have somehow survived from prehistoric times.



* PuppeteerParasite: The existence of these is a key plot point in "As Wise As Serpents".

to:

* PuppeteerParasite: The existence of these is PuppeteerParasite: In "Wise as Serpents", a key plot point in "As Wise As Serpents".is the existence of snake-like alien puppeteer parasites whose host bodies can't be restored, so the only thing to do when you come across them is to kill them before they do any damage. Which is fine as long as you don't panic and start killing people who aren't actually host bodies...
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
now that there is a page for The Art Of Arrow Cutting and Shadows Bite, examples go there


* BrownNote: ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'' features a mujina (shapeshifting creature from Japanese mythology) whose true face is a blank gray void that causes humans who see it to become mindless vegetables.



* TeleportersVisualizationClause: In ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', the MacGuffin artifact can (among other powers) teleport the holder, dependent on the holder's ability to picture themself at their intended destination. This effectively limits it to destinations that the user has either been before or has a good photo of. Toward the end of the novel, the protagonist tests his control of the artifact by teleporting to the moon and back by way of a photo of one of the Apollo landing sites.
* UrbanFantasy: ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', ''Shadows Bite''
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', an urban fantasy in which an itinerant photographer gets stuck with a magical MacGuffin and has to figure out how to use it before the BigBad kills him to get hold of it.

to:

* ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', ''Literature/TheArtOfArrowCutting'', an urban fantasy in which an itinerant photographer gets stuck with a magical MacGuffin and has to figure out how to use it before the BigBad kills him to get hold of it.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* TeleportersVisualizationClause: In ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', the MacGuffin artifact can (among other powers) teleport the holder, dependent on the holder's ability to picture themself at their intended destination. This effectively limits it to destinations that the user has either been before or has a good photo of. Toward the end of the novel, the protagonist tests his control of the artifact by teleporting to the moon and back by way of a photo of one of the Apollo landing sites.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dedman.png]]

Changed: 196

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** "As Wise As Serpents" is from Literature/TheBible.

to:

** "As Wise As Serpents" is from Literature/TheBible.[[Literature/TheFourGospels The Gospel According to Matthew]].



** "Honest Ghosts" and "Nothing Like the Sun" are from Creator/WilliamShakespeare.

to:

** "Honest Ghosts" and "Nothing Like the Sun" are from Creator/WilliamShakespeare.Creator/WilliamShakespeare's ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' and "Sonnet 130" respectively.



** "They Shoot Mobsters, Don't They?" and ''[[Film/AFistfulOfDollars A Fistful of Data]]'' are misquoted movie titles. "The Ghoul Goes West" is an actual movie title (one of Creator/EdWood's).

to:

** "They Shoot Mobsters, Don't They?" and ''[[Film/AFistfulOfDollars A ''A Fistful of Data]]'' Data'' are misquoted movie titles.titles (''Film/TheyShootHorsesDontThey'' and ''Film/AFistfulOfDollars''). "The Ghoul Goes West" is an actual movie title (one of Creator/EdWood's).
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** "I've Got a Little List" is from ''TheMikado''.

to:

** "I've Got a Little List" is from ''TheMikado''.''Theatre/TheMikado''.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* MedievalPrehistory: ''North of the Dragonlands'' is medieval fantasy set in an alternate history with surviving populations of prehistoric creatures.

Added: 432

Changed: 135

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


Stephen Dedman is an Australian SF author. His works include four novels, several roleplaying supplements, and numerous short stories.

to:

Stephen Dedman is an Australian SF author. His works include four five novels, several roleplaying supplements, and numerous short stories.




to:

* ''North of the Dragonlands'', an adventure story in which two children are the only hope of a city besieged by the Dragonlords.


Added DiffLines:

** ''North of the Dragonlands'', though it plays with the tropes of ConstructedWorld fantasy, is actually an alternate history, and the "dragons" and "elves" are non-magical things being described by characters trying to fit them into a familiar context.


Added DiffLines:

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The dragons in ''North of the Dragonlands'' are recognizable from their descriptions as dinosaurs and pterosaurs that somehow survived into human times.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* PuppeteerParasites: The existence of these is a key plot point in "As Wise As Serpents".

to:

* PuppeteerParasites: PuppeteerParasite: The existence of these is a key plot point in "As Wise As Serpents".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

* FirstContactFauxPas: In "As Wise As Serpents", an alien visitor slaughters the party of high-ranking dignitaries welcoming him to Earth, apparently unprovoked. [[spoiler:It was the first time he'd seen humans wearing neckties, and his species has an unhappy history with a Puppeteer Parasite that latches on to its victim's throat and dangles down the victim's chest...]] Fortunately, in this case, the protagonist figures out the confusion before things escalate into outright hostility.


Added DiffLines:

* PuppeteerParasites: The existence of these is a key plot point in "As Wise As Serpents".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** "The Lady of Situations" and "Till Human Voices Wake Us" are from Creator/TSEliot's ''TheWasteLand'' and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" respectively.

to:

** "The Lady of Situations" and "Till Human Voices Wake Us" are from Creator/TSEliot's ''TheWasteLand'' ''Literature/TheWasteLand'' and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" respectively.

Removed: 113

Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
I\'m not saying you\'re wrong, but this is not the place for such warnings.


** Carroll lovers and sensitive readers in general be warned, the pedophilic themes are pretty heavy in this one.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


* AliceAllusion: In "Never Seen By Waking Eyes", a man meets a child vampire named Alice who knew LewisCarroll. (She makes a point of mentioning that he'd already written the Alice books when she met him.)

to:

* AliceAllusion: In "Never Seen By Waking Eyes", a man meets a child vampire named Alice who knew LewisCarroll.Creator/LewisCarroll. (She makes a point of mentioning that he'd already written the Alice books when she met him.)



** "Never Seen By Waking Eyes" and its sequel "The Vision of a Vanished Good" are from poems by LewisCarroll, as is "A Sentiment Open to Doubt".

to:

** "Never Seen By Waking Eyes" and its sequel "The Vision of a Vanished Good" are from poems by LewisCarroll, Creator/LewisCarroll, as is "A Sentiment Open to Doubt".
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None


** SylviaPlath makes a cameo appearance in "A Sort of Walking Miracle", which takes its title from one of her poems.

to:

** SylviaPlath Creator/SylviaPlath makes a cameo appearance in "A Sort of Walking Miracle", which takes its title from one of her poems.



** "But Smile No More" is from the last line of EdgarAllanPoe's "The Haunted Palace".

to:

** "But Smile No More" is from the last line of EdgarAllanPoe's Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's "The Haunted Palace".



** "A Sort of Walking Miracle" is from "Lady Lazarus" by SylviaPlath.

to:

** "A Sort of Walking Miracle" is from "Lady Lazarus" by SylviaPlath.Creator/SylviaPlath.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None

Added DiffLines:

Stephen Dedman is an Australian SF author. His works include four novels, several roleplaying supplements, and numerous short stories.

His novels are:

* ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', an urban fantasy in which an itinerant photographer gets stuck with a magical MacGuffin and has to figure out how to use it before the BigBad kills him to get hold of it.
* ''Foreign Bodies'', a science fiction novel featuring GrandTheftMe.
* ''Shadows Bite'', a sequel to ''The Art of Arrow Cutting''.
* ''A Fistful of Data'', a TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}} tie-in novel with a MagnificentSevenSamurai plot.

''Never Seen By Waking Eyes'' is a collection of his horror and dark fantasy short fiction. A planned companion volume containing his science fiction stories has not eventuated. An earlier collection, ''The Lady of Situations'', contains a mix of science fiction and horror, and one story that has not been printed anywhere else.
----
!!Stephen Dedman's works provide examples of:

* AliceAllusion: In "Never Seen By Waking Eyes", a man meets a child vampire named Alice who knew LewisCarroll. (She makes a point of mentioning that he'd already written the Alice books when she met him.)
** Carroll lovers and sensitive readers in general be warned, the pedophilic themes are pretty heavy in this one.
* AlternateHistory:
** "Amendment" is set in an alternate history where the right to bear firearms is differently understood.
** "From Whom All Blessings Flow" is about parallel-universe travellers discovering a history in which Christianity took a very different course.
* BrownNote: ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'' features a mujina (shapeshifting creature from Japanese mythology) whose true face is a blank gray void that causes humans who see it to become mindless vegetables.
* CultColony: In the short story "Founding Fathers", space colonies tend to be settled by groups of extremists of various kinds, because reasonable people don't tend to find anything attractive about undergoing the long, difficult, expensive journey and never seeing Earth again. The planet at the centre of the plot was settled by a bunch of people who were prepared to go to the trouble in order to live and raise their families on a world with no black people.
* {{Doppelganger}}: In "A Single Shadow".
* FantasticReligiousWeirdness:
** "Transit" features a group of Muslims from an off-world colony travelling to Earth on ''hajj''. The setting has regular interstellar travel, but places are strictly limited and considerably smaller than the waiting list; there's a lottery to allocate places, but it's implied that the results are not entirely impartial.
** "From Whom All Blessings Flow" has {{Alternate Histor|y}}ies arguing over which of them has the one true version of Christianity.
* FasterThanLightTravel: Several variations in different stories. In "Transit", an alien race has a monopoly on FTL, and only takes passengers that suit its rules. "Tourist Trade" likewise, but with a different alien race with different, and in some ways more disturbing, rules.
* FossilRevival: In "Founding Fathers", set on a newly-colonized planet, it's mentioned in passing that the animals the colonists brought with them as frozen embryos include not only the obvious things like cattle and deer but also mammoths and passenger pigeons.
* GrandTheftMe: Kicks off the plot of ''Foreign Bodies''.
* TheHecateSisters: The enigmatic BigGood in "A Sort of Walking Miracle". The protagonist isn't sure if she's three women, or the same woman at three different ages.
* HistoricalDomainCharacter:
** In "Depth of Field", Creator/EdWood gets recruited to a task force dealing with UFO sightings.
** In "The Godfather Paradox", time travellers attempt to change history by blackmailing J. Edgar Hoover.
** SylviaPlath makes a cameo appearance in "A Sort of Walking Miracle", which takes its title from one of her poems.
* LightspeedLeapfrog: In "Founding Fathers", the first ship capable of FasterThanLightTravel shows up after the colony's been established for a few years, but it's still a shock and an upset to the colonists, who had actually embraced leaving everything-and-everyone behind because it meant they'd be left alone to do things the way they felt things ought to be done.
* LiteraryAllusionTitle:
** "As Wise As Serpents" is from Literature/TheBible.
** "From Whom All Blessings Flow", "For Those in Peril on the Sea", and "Upon the Midnight Clear" are from hymns.
** "The Dance That Everyone Must Do" and "The Wind Shall Blow For Ever Mair" are from folk songs.
** "Honest Ghosts" and "Nothing Like the Sun" are from Creator/WilliamShakespeare.
** "I've Got a Little List" is from ''TheMikado''.
** "But Smile No More" is from the last line of EdgarAllanPoe's "The Haunted Palace".
** "Never Seen By Waking Eyes" and its sequel "The Vision of a Vanished Good" are from poems by LewisCarroll, as is "A Sentiment Open to Doubt".
** "The Lady of Situations" and "Till Human Voices Wake Us" are from Creator/TSEliot's ''TheWasteLand'' and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" respectively.
** "A Sort of Walking Miracle" is from "Lady Lazarus" by SylviaPlath.
** "Desired Dragons" is from an essay by Creator/JRRTolkien.
** "They Shoot Mobsters, Don't They?" and ''[[Film/AFistfulOfDollars A Fistful of Data]]'' are misquoted movie titles. "The Ghoul Goes West" is an actual movie title (one of Creator/EdWood's).
* MagnificentSevenSamurai: ''A Fistful of Data'' has an assorted band of characters protecting a poor community from corporate raiders.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent:
** ''Shadows Bite'' features a variety of vampires, from several Asian traditions as well as the classic European variety.
** In "Never Seen By Waking Eyes", vampires and several other legendary creatures are all inspired by the same thing, seen in different contexts and circumstances. For instance, it can also gain sustenance from vital fluids other than blood, and a vampire that makes a lifestyle of that is a succubus.
* UrbanFantasy: ''The Art of Arrow Cutting'', ''Shadows Bite''
----

Top