A postmortem account of Silver Water, Inc.'s breakthrough communication with sperm whales and the tragic events that transpired off the coast of Baja California Sur in August 2022...
Deep parallel symbolism in how Moby becomes an orphan, both in the story and archetypally.
This entire series is a brilliant and memory-inducing tale of the tragedy of humanity (thus far.) The main issue summed up in a footnote, really: “Noel Muckraker was not concerned with the associations or troubled by the irony.”
This is stunning. In all senses. It’s a challenging experience to read, to toggle between the detailed information that my learning-mind loves and the poetic language for my heart and the obscene disregard of this miraculous life that leaves me apoplectic with rage. And weak with grief. I feel like I’ve been through something.
Adam, I had to tell you, I am sitting at my kitchen table, drinking tea and started reading THE GRAND ARMADA. Barely into the second paragraph, I was hit hard by your words, swallowing down a rising wave of emotion. I have never read such a stunningly raw description of human carelessness in the seas from the eyes under water.
Ok, I’m taking a deep cleansing breath and will head back to the rest of the story. I felt it important to tell you that your words have this much effect, before the story even unfolds.
Thank you for commenting. Hearing a reader's experience is such a gift for a writer, provided, I suppose, it isn't terrible. Lots of work on those paragraphs. Lots of work. The last paragraphs, too. Fuller responses after next week.
its literally making feel heartbroken because for all that it is fiction it is actually the truth of the world and the money and the personalities that control it. AAAARGH how can we take it back???
leaving emotion aside
the way you write the whale thought/experience is so well done (it feels plausibly real) given how little we can really comprehend what goes on in their colossal brains and in the context of a world of water and the absence of opposable thumbs. really good work.
In this story and throughout history, human failure has a name , and it is called arrogance. There is so much packed into this story, and I am very glad I took the time to read every detail. Fact or fiction, how little we understand of the entirety of all beings that share this earth with us.
August 22nd, 3:42pm
Everything was a ‘wet blur’ after that. I had to go back and reread, relive it a second time.
Eona making the ultimate sacrifice. You gave her a glorious , poetic and heart wrenching death that she so deserved.
“He uttered life’s one, fundamental word. I will not share it with you.”
"Feel something" is the euphemism of the century after reading this. I feel enraged, sad for Eona and her calf, and devastated at our disconnection from other lives on this planet. Orphans, indeed. I am in awe of your writing and storytelling skills.
Truth be told, your story has left me in a bit of a mess. Have read it all until now basically in one go. Need a break.
Deep parallel symbolism in how Moby becomes an orphan, both in the story and archetypally.
This entire series is a brilliant and memory-inducing tale of the tragedy of humanity (thus far.) The main issue summed up in a footnote, really: “Noel Muckraker was not concerned with the associations or troubled by the irony.”
I keep wanting to respond exhaustively to these observations, but I'm biting my tongue for a bit. Next week this wraps.
Well-said, E.T. Allen
This is stunning. In all senses. It’s a challenging experience to read, to toggle between the detailed information that my learning-mind loves and the poetic language for my heart and the obscene disregard of this miraculous life that leaves me apoplectic with rage. And weak with grief. I feel like I’ve been through something.
Adam, I had to tell you, I am sitting at my kitchen table, drinking tea and started reading THE GRAND ARMADA. Barely into the second paragraph, I was hit hard by your words, swallowing down a rising wave of emotion. I have never read such a stunningly raw description of human carelessness in the seas from the eyes under water.
Ok, I’m taking a deep cleansing breath and will head back to the rest of the story. I felt it important to tell you that your words have this much effect, before the story even unfolds.
Thank you for commenting. Hearing a reader's experience is such a gift for a writer, provided, I suppose, it isn't terrible. Lots of work on those paragraphs. Lots of work. The last paragraphs, too. Fuller responses after next week.
“He will never leave my side as long as I’m alive…”
Rendered silent with this sacrifice. Oof.
its literally making feel heartbroken because for all that it is fiction it is actually the truth of the world and the money and the personalities that control it. AAAARGH how can we take it back???
leaving emotion aside
the way you write the whale thought/experience is so well done (it feels plausibly real) given how little we can really comprehend what goes on in their colossal brains and in the context of a world of water and the absence of opposable thumbs. really good work.
In this story and throughout history, human failure has a name , and it is called arrogance. There is so much packed into this story, and I am very glad I took the time to read every detail. Fact or fiction, how little we understand of the entirety of all beings that share this earth with us.
August 22nd, 3:42pm
Everything was a ‘wet blur’ after that. I had to go back and reread, relive it a second time.
Eona making the ultimate sacrifice. You gave her a glorious , poetic and heart wrenching death that she so deserved.
“He uttered life’s one, fundamental word. I will not share it with you.”
I feel Eona’s grief, helplessness, rage and release coursing through my body… waiting for the next one Adam
So much depth here as you mine the allusions to characters in _Moby Dick_.
I am literally fucking devastated
"Feel something" is the euphemism of the century after reading this. I feel enraged, sad for Eona and her calf, and devastated at our disconnection from other lives on this planet. Orphans, indeed. I am in awe of your writing and storytelling skills.
Truth be told, your story has left me in a bit of a mess. Have read it all until now basically in one go. Need a break.