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Sometimes I read online conspiracy theories to get into the nutjob mindset and ready to write.  It usually discourages me when a work of fiction is published that sounds similar to my work, like Heroes’ super-Homeland Security agency… anything close enough that people might say “BMac is ripping off Heroes!” But I love finding out that well-established (?) conspiracy theories dovetail with what I have written– it makes me feel like I’m really probing the depths of insanity.  Haha.

For example, I’ve discovered that a major (?) theorized extraterrestrial lifeform is the “reptoid,” which according to the always authoritative Wikipedia, is a race of “reptilian humanoid… behind a worldwide conspiracy directed at manipulation and control of humanity… Most of our world’s leaders, from President Bush to the British royal family, are in fact 7-foot tall, blood-drinking reptilians from the star system Alpha Draconia.”

“Truth” really is weirder than fiction, though the fiction I designed before I heard of this lurid theory sounds pretty similar. My dragons were bipedal, influencing (but not really controlling) human institutions, taller than human, etc.  Plus, a race that comes from Alpha Draconia could quite naturally be called “dragons.” I didn’t have the dragons drinking blood (eww…) but I did use their blood as one of the recurring sources of superpowers in my universe. Go figure.

Conspiracy theory #2: Magic 12. OR: The Crisis of Infinite OSIs

The Magic 12, a cabal leading the US government, has systematically concealed the presence of aliens on Earth since the Truman administration.

This conspiracy also parallels pretty closely the world I’ve created– aliens and humans concealing the truth together for reasons even I don’t know yet.

I’m not sure who would be among the Magic 12 but it would definitely include:

1. Office of Special Investigation Assistant Director for Human Resources. That’s Agent Orange.
2. Atrios. Now, he’s a Social Justice Leaguer, but he was murkily affiliated with the government during WWII, when the conspiracy originated.
3. Special Operations Commandant. The”Commando-in-Chief” oversees the special forces community.
4. Director of the Search for E.T. Intelligence. They’re still searching, but he isn’t optimistic.
5. The Postmaster Generallisimo. More on him later, but he’s not just delivering letters.
6. OSI Assistant Director for Retroactive Continuity– RETCON makes sure that unpleasant information is removed from the public awareness. (This is a comic book injoke… “retconning” a series is editing the backstory so the present doesn’t create plotholes). OSI-RETCON is like a government-run Men in Black.

Since this conspiracy dates back to around World War II, and even the most hardened proto-Social Justice Leaguer would help against the Nazis, it makes sense that the Magic 12 conspiracy was in some way deeply involved with the war effort.

MAGIC was the codename of the American operation to secretly decode Japanese transmissions, coincidentally… Or was it coincidence? Obviously, the aliens were critical to the decryption process, providing both advanced technology and more super-humans (superscientists, for example). The US kept the aliens secret to prevent Japan from figuring out that its messages were being decrypted (and how). After the war, Magic 12 maintained the conspiracy up to retain an edge against other states, particularly the USSR.

In real life, a set of documents allegedly revealing the MAGIC 12 conspiracy was released. In the ensuing public investigation, the FBI concluded that they were fraudulent, based on confidential analysis provided by… the Office of Special Investigations. Haha!  When I decided to use the OSI as the government superagency, I had only heard of them as Nazi hunters.

• The conspiracy thickens! There were two OSIs*. The Department of Justice OSI hunted Nazis. The Air Force OSI handles counterintelligence and terrorist/criminal threats to the military. Here’s some trivia… in my header graphic, Agent Orange’s badge is the AFOSI seal. Two swords next to a winged world under a genie’s lamp… not that a winged government agent is granting wishes or anything.

*I don’t want to blow your mind right away, but there’s also a third OSI in the Government Accountability Office.

• On the sidebar to your right, you’ll now see a HOW DO I READ THIS? link that provides some explanation how to use the site. A well-designed website probably wouldn’t need such an explanation; I’ll take it down when I have a well-designed website.
• I adjusted the header graphic.  I added:
  • Copyright information for the artist who did Catastrophe’s pencil-work.  (I only colored it).  The opening sketch was quite fantastic– that actually inspired the Catastrophe character (that, and the question “What is a moonbat?”… but more on that some time later).
  • The site’s title to the graphic and then deleted the title that had been superimposed on it.
  • Computer-generated color to Catastrophe’s large eye.  I think the yellow blended pretty nicely, but in hindsight, the eye looks really weird because the white is uniform.  The small eye is actually more of a focal point because it has many shades of white that makes the brightest spots appear to glow.
    • I’ll probably go back and redo the white part of the large eye.  My changes took away the depth.

• I have completed a truly crude and bare outline of the third short story (I didn’t post it online).  I’ve established a deadline for myself to have the story itself ready to read by May 24, two weeks after finals end.
  • I’m actually not sure at this point whether the third story will be Oliver Ryan’s Unarmed and Dangerous or the journalist’s First Draft of History.  So I did an outline for both.  It looks like I have a clearer idea where History is going, so I’ll probably finish it first.  I might end up writing UAD into the gap between Only Human and History.  We’ll see.
• I watched Heroes episode 20, the one where the episode is set 5 years in the future.  I loved the episode, what with a great twist in the Oval Office, but I was a bit annoyed that they got to the idea of a super-Homeland Security before I did.  Oh well.  I’ll pursue legal action if they start dropping words like “assistatory…” haha.  (I love making fun of entertainers suing each other… thank YOU, Marvel).