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12:04 PM
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As recently as a hundred years ago, the decay of a human corpse was evidence of vampirism, and little girls who spoke in tongues or heard the Devil were possessed, not schizophrenic. The modern medical world continues to identify and treat the “supernatural” that made up our ancestors’ nightmares. Some things, however, still defy category, medication, or logical explanation, even now. History is filled with stories of people who hear a second voice in their minds, a voice not their own. In English, they named it an “Alter.” Unlike the kaleidoscopic hallucinations of a schizophrenic, this voice never multiplies, and always, consistently, identifies itself as a major character of fiction. From legend or history, at first, and then from fairy tales, and now novels, comics, television, movies - the Alters are characters that people know and love. Las Vegas, America’s Sin City, has drawn this generation of people with Alters together, shown them a mouldering hotel just off the strip and allowed each one a Door. Doors that lead to a world where the Alters can be themselves, and that open in ways science could never hope to explain. Wanted: His Dark Materials, Gone With The Wind, DC Comics, Inception, BBC Sherlock, Avengers, Stardust, Game of Thrones. |
