{"id":837,"date":"2012-03-04T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2012-03-04T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/?p=837"},"modified":"2025-10-23T00:11:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-23T04:11:40","slug":"scissors-cut-paper-wrap-stone-ian-mcdonald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/837\/scissors-cut-paper-wrap-stone-ian-mcdonald\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cScissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone\u201d by Ian McDonald"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a bril\u00adliant graph\u00adic arts stu\u00addent, Ethan Ring stum\u00adbled on a secret so awe\u00adsome that its exis\u00adtence could not remain hid\u00adden. The com\u00adput\u00ader-gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded images he helped cre\u00adate con\u00adtained infi\u00adnite pow\u00aders: the pow\u00ader to heal, erase mem\u00ado\u00adries, bring ecsta\u00adsy. kill sav\u00adage\u00adly. Locked into a dev\u00adil\u2019s bar\u00adgain with the mono\u00adlith\u00adic Euro\u00adpean gov\u00adern\u00adment, Ethan now sees his one change to escape the dark forces of destruc\u00adtion that have enslaved his soul. He will brave the treach\u00ader\u00adous ter\u00adrain, the law\u00adless bands of aki\u00adra<\/em>, and the pow\u00ader-armored secu\u00adri\u00adty forces to under\u00adtake a thou\u00adsand-mile pil\u00adgrim\u00adage. But the dan\u00adger Ethan fears most comes from with\u00adin. It is the seduc\u00adtive lure of his own gift, a pow\u00ader whose cost may be his own damnation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pri\u00admal man\u00addalas, pried loose from the deep\u00adest parts of the brain, capa\u00adble of affect\u00ading any\u00adone who sees them. One caus\u00ades reli\u00adgious ecsta\u00adsy. One engen\u00adders heal\u00ading. One caus\u00ades men\u00adtal blind spots and anoth\u00ader men\u00adtal blank\u00adness. One eras\u00ades memories.<\/p>\n

One caus\u00ades obe\u00addi\u00adence in who\u00adev\u00ader sees it.<\/p>\n

And one kills.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Descrip\u00adtion:<\/em> It was just a thought exper\u00adi\u00adment turned real and dan\u00adger\u00adous: an inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtion into a pri\u00admal images that affect the brain in deep\u00ader ways than just words or feel\u00adings can com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adcate. The per\u00adfect adver\u00adtis\u00ading medi\u00adum, the per\u00adfect means of con\u00adtrol: fonts that cause obe\u00addi\u00adence to what\u00adev\u00ader is writ\u00adten with them, images that com\u00admand emo\u00adtions. It all start\u00aded with a com\u00adput\u00ader\u00adized com\u00adpi\u00adla\u00adtion of the world\u2019s reli\u00adgious images and icons, boiled down and mashed togeth\u00ader to pro\u00adduces the per\u00adfect<\/em> icon\/image, one that gen\u00ader\u00adates feel\u00adings of reli\u00adgious ecsta\u00adsy in whomev\u00ader sees it. Based on that, the exper\u00adi\u00admenter sets out to cre\u00adate a num\u00adber of sim\u00adi\u00adlar man\u00addalas, which he names \u201cfrac\u00adters\u201d, until at last he cre\u00adates that last, fatal man\u00addala and falls to it.<\/p>\n

Ethan Ring becomes the hold\u00ader of the frac\u00adters, a pow\u00ader he is forced to use by the Euro\u00adpean secu\u00adri\u00adty forces until he at last rebels and flees to the fringes of Japan\u00adese soci\u00adety, under\u00adtak\u00ading a his\u00adtoric gru\u00adel\u00ading pil\u00adgrim\u00adage tour of 88 shrines by bicy\u00adcle, accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by his friend Masahiko, on a jour\u00adney of self-dis\u00adcov\u00adery and pen\u00adi\u00adtence, chased by the secu\u00adri\u00adty forces he fled and who want the secret of the frac\u00adters for themselves.<\/p>\n

As pro\u00adtec\u00adtion, Ethan has the two most use\u00adful frac\u00adters tat\u00adtooed to the palms of his hands by a blind tat\u00adtoo artist: on one hand is the pow\u00ader to com\u00admand, on the oth\u00ader the pow\u00ader to kill. Because of that, he is cursed to reg\u00adu\u00adlar\u00adly cov\u00ader the frac\u00adters, else he or some\u00adone else might fall prey to them.<\/p>\n

Com\u00admen\u00adtary:<\/em> Its a cyber\u00adpunk world, albeit one seen from the shad\u00adows and fringes of its soci\u00adety, one not seen in the usu\u00adal genre works. Nor is the pro\u00adtag\u00ado\u00adnist a typ\u00adi\u00adcal cyber\u00adpunk pro\u00adtag\u00ado\u00adnist, mere\u00adly an artist who fell into a vast pow\u00ader by virtue of being in the right place at the right time when his friend suc\u00adcumbed to the final frac\u00adter. As such, its a dif\u00adfer\u00adent look at an SF genre that isn\u2019t often found, as Ethan bicy\u00adcles through a Japan under\u00adgo\u00ading seis\u00admic changes in its cul\u00adture, where cycles gangs called aki\u00adras<\/em> (from the man\u00adga<\/a> series and movie<\/a>) prowl the streets as lat\u00adter-day samu\u00adrai<\/em> bat\u00adtling gov\u00adern\u00adment and pri\u00advate secu\u00adri\u00adty forces side-by-side areas revert\u00ading to feu\u00addal existence.<\/p>\n

Rec\u00adom\u00admen\u00adda\u00adtion:<\/em> Ian McDon\u00adald<\/a> is a writer with a num\u00adber of sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant award nom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtions and awards and this book, while not the sub\u00adject of any of those nom\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtions, is a wor\u00adthy addi\u00adtion to his over\u00adall writ\u00adten works. Def\u00adi\u00adnite\u00adly recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a bril\u00adliant graph\u00adic arts stu\u00addent, Ethan Ring stum\u00adbled on a secret so awe\u00adsome that its exis\u00adtence could not remain hid\u00adden. The com\u00adput\u00ader-gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded images he helped cre\u00adate con\u00adtained infi\u00adnite pow\u00aders:\u2026\u21d2 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201c\u201cScis\u00adsors Cut Paper Wrap Stone\u201d by Ian McDonald\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[198,26],"class_list":["post-837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-mandala","tag-mind-control"],"yoast_head":"\n"Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone" by Ian McDonald - Hypnosis in Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hypnosisinmedia.com\/blog\/837\/scissors-cut-paper-wrap-stone-ian-mcdonald\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone" by Ian McDonald - Hypnosis in Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a bril\u00adliant graph\u00adic arts stu\u00addent, Ethan Ring stum\u00adbled on a secret so awe\u00adsome that its exis\u00adtence could not remain hid\u00adden. 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