Hi all,

I don't know about you all but between some personal stuff and world affairs, my head is spinning.  So I don't have a great deal of focus right now.  Thus, I'm leaning on one of my old standbys... tropes.  But to shake things up, I'm using the Random Trope button and then, no matter what trope it gives me, striving to find it in a Dyeland/Asteriana story.  I'll probably skip ones that feel inappropriate or are specific to video games/visuals, though.  But, otherwise, I'll abide by what the Random Trope button says. 

Until next time, I hope you're all doing well!  Remember, God loves you!

God bless,
Jenni
Random Tropes for Random Times
(all links to stories can be found here)



1.  Why Can't I Hate You?-  Starting off with a more basic one, thankfully.  So the closest I see to this in the stories is Andrew's view of Eliot.  For one, he can't hate him simply because he's an angel.  But, for another, Eliot is actually a really nice guy.  So despite his own inner turmoil, during JenniAnn's and Eliot's relationship, Andrew had to be kind to Eliot and even kind of encourage the relationship.  I think there are hints in "Abide with Me" that Adam was definitely not Team Eliot but also was never unkind to him cause, again, he's an angel and Eliot is just a very good dude.

2.  Elite Four- Honestly, I've never heard of this.  I think I tend to group people into pairs or triads.  A quick glance at the opening of "Shadowlands" gives me the names of four demons: Nen, Tzila, Haben, and Meron but I don't even remember the latter two.  And there could be others.  So I don't really consider them to be an Elite Four.  I suppose a different four demons have, at times, caused trouble for Andrew and Co.: Satan, Crowley, Ed, and Eben.  But they weren't really working together and two of them really didn't cause any harm.  And three out of the four defected from Hell, anyway.  So... I think no Elite Fours in the Asteriana stories.  Oh well!

3.  Comical Coffee Cup- Wow... I don't think I have this one but now it seems like I totally should!  So many coffee and tea drinks in my stories!  There *might* be a reference to JenniAnn having an "I Heart Andrew" mug somewhere... because I have said mug.  But I'm not even positive about that.  The only coffee mug related thing that comes to mind for me is that Joshua's designated mug is gold.  Not like shiny gold.  More like goldenrod gold. 

4.  X Days Since- Again, not in any stories that I can recall but I feel like Marty is keeping a mental "x days since last demonic attack" count in his head which is sad.  On a lighter note, probably a lot of Friends track "x days since Joshua last visited in the flesh."

5.  Sequel Episode- I mean, in a way, every story is either a sequel or prequel to whatever I last wrote.  But some are more direct "The Messiah" is a sequel to "The Carpenter"/"The King" and so is "The Shepherd" and so will be "The Advocate."  I think "Hope and Healing" is a sequel to "Abide With Me" since we reconnect with Badriya's family in it. 

6.  Down on the Farm- The Albany section of "The Carpenter" is the first time we get a series of scenes on a farm.  While I don't think I got too stereotypical with any of it, I suppose Dot and Randall do kinda have that "good ol' country folk" vibe.  I also think those more earthy scenes served to place Joshua in a setting more aligned with what we imagine of biblical times.  He really could preach on a hill side and not just a theatre stage.  He really was surrounded by lambs.  And I think that probably left an impression on some of the Friends... particularly the Romanos.  Albany continues to pop up as a sort of escape from the busy life of NYC. 

7.  Mechanical Lifeforms- Umm... no.  I did vampires.  I do demons.  But I don't see myself introducing robots into my stories. 

8.  Vampire Monarch-  Ha.  Funny this popped up right after I mentioned the vampires.  Anyway, no vampire monarch.  But I did have a vampire CEO for a good while.  Somehow that doesn't sound nearly as scary.  In any case, as of "Immortality," Josef isn't a vampire any more.  And I don't think he's really much of a CEO, either.  More like an advisor and probably an ex-officio board member.

9.  Vampire Hunter- Why is the random button stuck on vampires now???  Anyway, no vampire hunters.  Unless you count Joshua, I guess?  But he was just connecting with them to offer them a cure, not to kill them.  But I suppose, in a manner, he ended a bunch of vampires with an assist from Andrew and Marty.

10.  Living Crashpad- Not really.  I think the closest is when there's danger, Andrew tries his absolute best to shield JenniAnn from harm.  But that usually takes the form of covering her, not covering the ground so she doesn't hit it.  But, sure, he'd probably do that, too, if needed.  And we could get all spiritual and say Joshua does this all the time.

11.  Strike Episode- I haven't written anything where characters go on strike... unless it was during the goofy, pre-canon times.  Although in JABB 232 I did imagine what that would be like via a list.  But fair warning that it's a lil painful to look back on due to some references to John that were written very hopefully when he was alive.  The newsletter itself was inspired by the previous WGA strike.  That strike ended up altering the Asteriana stories, though, because it's been suggested Moonlight, which was doing quite well ratings-wise, wasn't renewed because of the disruption caused by the strike.  Had it been renewed, I probably would not have felt compelled to introduce those characters into the stories.  Assumedly, I would have gotten closure for them from the show itself.

12.  Prison Ship- None to be found!  But, ironically, Ed went from the prison of a cave in Hell to the freedom of captaining his own ship at sea during the course of "The Lost Sheep."

13.  Conspiracy Placement- I suppose the whole of the angels' work amongst humans is a benign version of this.  They've been with us from the beginning, guiding us by the will of God.  Usually they go unnoticed but sometimes they start dropping hints.  And Joshua does the same. 

14.  Great Big Book of Everything- Marty's records would be pretty close to this.  Where it differs from the trope is no one really has access to the "book" except God and Marty.  But even Marty's records aren't *everything.*  They read more like newspaper articles.  They could tell you that Andrew and JenniAnn became anam caras and the basic timeline of their relationship.  But the records aren't going to tell anyone how they felt, what it meant to them, etc.  That sort of emotional knowledge of every living being exists only in God.

15.  Wormsign- This hasn't been too fleshed out yet but, in the stories, the Watchers can tell when a demon is near whereas the regular angels cannot.  But I haven't gotten so far as to explain *how* the Watchers sense them.  I imagine it's something like an icky feeling in the pits of their stomachs or something.  Maybe a smell.  But I like the icky feeling better because it feels more true to life.  Bad actors don't automatically smell bad but often, if you're intuitive, you can pick up on bad vibes.

16.  Bazaar of the Bizarre- I love the idea of this but it doesn't really fit in very well with the mood of the Asteriana stories.  Other than a couple scenes at Renaissance Faires that evoke this mood, there's really not a reason for anyone to be trying to buy or sell magical, mystical stuff.

17.  Void Between the Worlds- Yep!  Albeit a not-too-scary just kinda eerie version.  I would classify the place Monica is sent in "Groundrush" as this.  In the Asteriana stories, it's my personal head canon that there and Joshua's Island are the same place.  It just appears differently depending on why the person is there.  For JenniAnn, Joshua's Island was beautiful and filled with people she loved because she was only there because her body was healing.  She hadn't done anything wrong.  Monica's vast expanse of sand wasn't as nice and comforting because she needed to sit with the wrongness of what she had done and make right with God again.  Eben was also sent there and I think, for him, the Island was a bit more mercurial as he dealt with the impact of his fall and reconnected with God.

18.  Silly Spook- Alas, there are no ghosts in the stories.  But John did want to appear ghoulish and mess around a bit without his head to get back at a harmful archbishop in "Broken Hallelujahs" which woulda been silly in a very macabre sort of way.  Thankfully, he was dissuaded.

19.  Learned from the News- I believe this happened to Beatrice in "The Messiah."  I think she learned about Joshua being shot via the news.  But it could have been via text... which itself would have originated with the news.  Loreena discovered that Joshua was helping with dead bodies during COVID via the news which troubled her since she wasn't aware he is God.  I feel like there have probably been other instances, too.  JenniAnn sometimes uses news coverage to try to guess at what assignments Andrew might be covering in a given location.

20.  Better Living Through Evil- I think TBAA had this trope operating in "Netherlands" when the Driver essentially promised Monica a husband and children if she chose to turn from God.  In "The Lost Sheep," Ed is promised a chance to get revenge on the man who killed every member of his iwi by infecting them with disease.  Thankfully, Monica rejected the offer and Ed eventually returned to God and came to realize revenge wasn't worth it. 



This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for giving me the lovely escape that is Dyeland/Asteriana.  I plan to start a re-read of "The Shepherd" this week so I can jump back into writing for my birthday month.

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(Photo Credits: The photograph used on this page is from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions.  It is not being used to seek profit.)