Before there was Neil Gaiman, and before there was Alan Moore, I was a fan of Jack McKinney.
He is not a real person, yet he wrote more than 20 books. He is also not a fictional character. Jack McKinney is a composite identity of two authors who wrote the novelisation of Robotech.
Yeah, that's right. Robotech, a cartoon which is also a composite of three different animes - Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber Mospeada. They were brought to North America by Harmony Gold, as envisioned by the late Carl Macek.
These are separate animes with separate storylines. The only thing that connects them together before Harmony Gold went to work at it is the fact that Haruhiko 'HAL' Mikimoto designed all the characters.
And the first character he drew? Lynn Minmei.
ANyway, Jack McKinney, or the two authors, managed to create a mythology as well as a multi-layered tapestry to the novelisation of Robotech. In fact, I enjoy reading the book more, even though I have watched the thing at least three times (I got the DVD set).
I borrowed Battlehymn, the third book in the series, from my school library and didn't return it for eight months.
I read and reread the whole thing and memorized the quotes and the nice, clever little excerpts they put at the beginning of each chapter.
These excerpts are from autobiographies of the characters, news reports, stuff like that. It adds to the mythology of the whole thing.
They got stuff like:
1. Notes on the Run - Basically an autobiography of Rand (Red in Genesis Climber Mospeada).
2. When Evil Had Its Day - A Biography of TR Edwards.
3. Apocrypha, the Book of James - fake post-apocalyptic bible. Let's see if I still remember the verse:
And lo, I saw a winged giant walking among the clouds in the distant skies. Haloed within a globe of radiant glory, his body set to gleaming silver in the sun. Though his hands are raised in supplication, his spirit burned with all the fury of the holy fires. And I say unto you that this is the temple of mankind, risen and returned to do battle with the forces of evil.
And that's from memory, foo!
4. Upwardly Mobile - a bio of Jack Baker.
5. Lots of other stuff.
It's crazy.
McKinney's style has always been rationalizing and justifying the actions done by the characters and the happenings in the series. I thoroughly enjoyed his explanations. EVerything made more sense in the books than in the cartoon series.
Of course, in the anime, you get to see a naked Marlene, and possibly a naked Rook as well. And Lynn Minmei fan service.
Mmmm...
The character I would like to fuck most, though, is Lisa Hayes (Misa Hayase). Yeah, I'd like to fuck her and get her spade-shaped hair-space on her forehead in disarray.
She's a strong older woman, with flaws. FLAWS! Flaws I can exploit! A low self-esteem. A fear of intimacy. FLAWS!
I'll fuck her in the ass and she'll think about it for a year! Rationalizing, justifying.
Next would be Miriya Parino of the Quadrono. Or Miriya Sterling, nee Parino, or simply Miriya Jinias.
Yeah, all that green hair, and that icy demeanour just turns me on. And she's a fucking giant! The biggest boobs ever!
Yeah.
After that, Rook. Then, Claudia Grant. Then, the bridge bunnies - Kim, Vanessa and Sammie.
Then, Dana Sterling.
Anyway, Jack McKinney. Good writer. Even if he didn't exist.
