Angel - Thanks
©2000 David Farnell

Thanks, Acknowledgements, and Inspirations

"Angel" is dedicated to the members of the Delta Green Mailing List. It was stuck in my head for years, and you let me get it out. Now maybe I can get some sleep.

In particular, I want to thank those who encouraged me with comments and criticism, on- and off-list, especially Mark "Lizard" McFadden, Davide "Dr. Dee" Mana, Andy "Glove Cleaner" Robertson, Chris "Crusty" Womack, and Shane "2 a.m. Feeding" Ivey, and many others.

For assistance with language questions, sincere thanks to Junko Nishiyama, Claude Poulin, Francisco "Shoggoth" Javier Rodriguez Cabanas, Junnon Merigoux and Francois Sawamura, Kai Allen Chang, and Maria Ortiz. 

For playing in the scenarios that led to this story, and in some cases inspiring characters, thanks to Myles Derven (Derek Williams), Rhys Truman (Ahmed Shah), Emily Dolan, Travis Latham, Kevin Fowler, Matt "The Fat Man Who Shoots a Lot" Hutzell, Mayumi Shigeno, Alfred Griffin, Alison Thomas, Kerstin Purschel, Steve Ziggerelli, Maria Ortiz, and Gurmit and Amrita Singh. Oh yes: the MiB (Chapter 10) was inspired by the MiB.

And of course thanks to Pagan Publishing for the Delta Green setting and the re-exploration of RW Chambers' works, and for providing this mailing list, which is the most fertile ground for discussion and inspiration about these topics one could hope for. I have borrowed (i.e: ripped off) numberless ideas from our discussions, many of which I can no longer disentangle to discover their original author. Of course many aspects of this story (novella? novel?) are copyrighted creations of Pagan Publishing and its associated authors.

In addition to the most obvious inspirations--the works of Robert W Chambers and HP Lovecraft, and Detwiller, Glancy, and Tynes' Delta Green and associated works--I gained great inspiration from John Tynes' Ambrose/Broadalbin/Sosostris series and some stuff he wrote back when he was a student at the University of Missouri, which eventually became the "Hastur Mythos" chapter of DG: Countdown. Shane Ivey's "Blacker Than Black" and "lesserdark" also inspired me to see not only the possibilities of the Hastur Mythos, but moreover got me thinking about trying to write again after a somnolescence of several years. And it was Davide Mana's "Chasing the Bride" and Mark McFadden's "Callahan's Endtimes Saloon" that woke me up to the possibilities of the Dreamlands.

Finally, thanks to my long-enduring and loving wife, Junko, and daughter, Natsumi, for putting up with my pounding the keyboard in the kitchen long into the night. Aishiteru.

And now for a request: "Angel" is not really finished. Originally it was meant as just a lark, to shake the rust off my writing before moving on to other things. But before doing that, I've decided to rewrite (as in tear down and completely rebuild) the story to create another, longer, fuller, and hopefully better story over the next year or so (it will not be re-serialized onlist). If any of you feel like giving me feedback, please do so offlist at chaucerwatch23@yahoo.com. I am especially interested in what you thought worked well and didn't work well, and why. I know well that it is easy to get myopic with one's own stuff. Also, if you catch any continuity errors or other little mistakes that got past me (and I know there are several, some even done on purpose), I'd appreciate being alerted. That way I can fix them in this first version of the story, too. And, for those DGML members whose ideas I've borrowed (ripped off): if you have any objections or concerns, or want acknowledgement for your contribution, please contact me and we'll work it out.

Mahalo,
Dave