--- Dana Shilling dshilling@worldnet.att.net wrote:
Neil said:
ObB7? Er, Mission to Destiny owes too much to
Agatha Christie, who was crap.
Well, crappish.
But Agatha Christie (although she couldn't write a character if you nailed HER feet to the floor) was one of the most brilliant technicians of pure plot in all genre fiction. ObB7: it's beginning to look like there are at least as many fen who like detective stories as who like science fiction--I've often wondered why there are so few B7 detective story fanfics.
Having tried and failed myself I suggest that one reason may be because writing a good Detective story is damned difficult !
A more fundamental reason may be that Detective stories tend to take place in a society where murder is a crime and not a tool of statecraft. (It is not a coincidence that MtD takes place on a neutral spacecraft belonging to a society where the rule of law still holds). Most murders in B7 take place in the open.
I suppose it might be possible - if you enjoy rather bleak irony - to write a story where a murder was being investigated against a back drop of, say, the purges on Saurian Major with a very pedantic police official attempting to solve a crime oblivious of the far greater crime being committed by the authorities. I'm not sure if that would work though.
Stephen.
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