Nate Cull – Page 4

Honestly, I was happy with Novas 2.2 being the second of a pair. But then I stumbled on ELO’s “I’m Alive” and it needed a home. So it found some friends. This third part of a trilogy fits in the act gap of Novas 5.5, in the aftermath of Jack’s return to Earth and his strange new relationship with Susan… whatever she’s become.

Yes, there’s also subtext. (Novas is nothing but subtext). I began assembling 1.1 in the first days of COVID-19, when the monster hadn’t yet left China, not quite sure what the tea leaves were telling me. 3.3 was assembled in lockdown. This one is about what comes after the end, about how fearful things can reveal themselves as friends, and how above all in a time of crisis we need to choose what we want to dream.

BEGIN PROGRAM ELEVEN/II MODULE THREE.

Novas 3.3: A Trail Of Desire

Walk softly through the desert sand, careful where you tread. Underfoot are the visions list, sleeping not yet dead.

Playlist Notes: Novas 2.2: A Billion Candles Burning

(previously in Program Eleven/II: Novas 1.1)

(previously in story time: Novas 2)

While Novas 1.1 is a bridge between Novas 1 and Novas 2, it’s very much unresolved and needed a counterpart. The obvious place for that story was the gap between Novas 2 and 3.

BEGIN PROGRAM ELEVEN/II MODULE TWO.

Novas 2.2: A Billion Candles Burning

Echoes, from the wall. Visitor, come to call…

Playlist Notes: Novas 1.1: A Silence Over Cities

(previously in release time: Novas 0.6, last module of Program Eleven/I)

(previously in story time: Novas 1)

Novas 0.x was complete. I wasn’t planning on any more in the Eleven series except that I stumbled on the 1984 Spoons film project Listen To The City. And the song Sundown called to me. I felt that it fitted perfectly for mood and tone in 1983, the gap between Novas 1 and 2.

BEGIN PROGRAM ELEVEN/II MODULE ONE.

Novas 1.1: A Silence Over Cities

I remember the day the world gave birth to me. I remember waiting to be born.

Playlist Notes: Novas 0.6: The Day After Tomorrow

(previously in Program Eleven/I: Novas 0.5) (also in story time if this is a dream sequence)

(previously in story time: Novas 3.9) (the end point of the main story)

(previously in story time: Novas 6 Act 2) (a possible coda)

Hexaptych.

More of an end credits, really. 0.5 leads straight into ‘Tomorrow’, but 0.6 follows up quite a long time afterwards. After the Simulation, after the Revolution, after the Satellite, after… everything.

In terms of actual vs fictional 1980s theming: while 0.5 was sort of inspired by Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland and EPCOT Center, this one is the 1988 Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.

Novas 0.6: The Day After Tomorrow

Hey everybody, tell me how do you feel? Are you satisfied with your life? Do you think it’s real?

Playlist Notes: Novas 0.5: The Wonders Of Today

(previously in Program Eleven/I: Novas 0.1)

(previously in Program Eleven/I: Novas 0.4)

Pentaptych, then.

I felt like we still needed an explanation for how Jack and Susan got back together. And a kind of emotional buffer to round out the 0.x series so it plays together as a unit, whether or not you listen to the core trilogy or the 5.x series. And in fact this one does have an internal palindrome structure too, so it bookends nicely.

Susan and Jack have both lost their conscious memories of each other, but something beyond the System keeps drawing them back together.

Novas 0.5: The Wonders Of Today

Here’s to the future, here’s to the future, here’s to the future. Here’s to the future and you.

Author: Nate Cull

Playlist Notes: Novas 3.3: A Trail Of Desire

Playlist Notes: Novas 2.2: A Billion Candles Burning

Playlist Notes: Novas 1.1: A Silence Over Cities

Playlist Notes: Novas 0.6: The Day After Tomorrow

Playlist Notes: Novas 0.5: The Wonders Of Today