Swellhead: Difference between revisions

** In a meta-sense, as well as the alternate universe that forms the crux of the plot, the story also references and hints at several other [[Alternate Universe|Alternate Universes]] and [[Alternate History|Alternate Histories]] Kim Newman has written or co-written, including ''[[Anno Dracula]]'', the ''Back In The USSA'' stories and an as-yet unpublished sequence in a Nazi-occupied Britain. Not to mention the ''[[Temps (Literature)|Temps]]'' [[Shared World]]; a very different Sewell Head first appeared in "Pitbull Brittan", Newman's contribution to the first ''Temps'' anthology.

* [[Creepy Souvenir]]: Swellhead's lair includes a hallway where the heads of his enemies are displayed like hunting trophies.

* [[Disco Dan]]: Both Richard Jeperson and Swellhead, in different ways; Richard, in his 'groovy' seventies gear, is completely behind the times -- however, he's cheerfully accepted it and is comfortable in his niche. Swellhead is also behind the times -- {{spoiler|he holds all pop music since about 1973 in contempt, which comes back to haunt him}} -- but one of the reasons he's doing what he's doing is to force everyone to like what he likes.

* [[Doing in The Scientist]]: Adam Onions. {{spoiler|Quite literally.}}

* [[Elaborate Underground Base]]: One seems to have appeared out of nowhere under the island of Skerra: {{spoiler|Turns out, it actually ''has'' appeared out of nowhere; or at least, an [[Alternate Universe]].}}

* [[Evil Gloating]]: Subverted with a lampshade; Swellhead claims he's not an inadequate who needs everyone to understand his plan. However, Jeperson is clever enough to figure it out anyway.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: The villain, Swellhead, is correctly convinced he's a Bond-style villain and uses his [[Reality Warper]] powers to make this the case. {{spoiler|Unfortunately for him, he inadvertently uses this to strengthen Richard Jeperson's own power; every villain needs a hero worthy enough to challenge him, after all...}}

* [[Grand Theft Me]]: A particularly insidious example; {{spoiler|Sewell Head is gradually taken over by Swellhead, an [[Alternate Universe]] version of himself who happens to be a Bond-style supervillain. He then proceeds to do the same to other members of the party; it's implied that everyone there in one way or another has an alternate self who is somehow involved.}}

* [[Mutual Kill]]: It's implied that the final conflict between the [[Alternate Universe]] versions of Richard Jeperson and Swellhead ended in one of these.

* [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]: Adam Onions ([[It Is Pronounced Tro PAY|It's pronounced Oh-NYE-ons]]), a pompous little man who's so consumed by using his special scanners to explore every single tree he comes across that he completely fails to notice that he's gotten trapped in a particularly nasty forest. To read; {{spoiler|he's so busy looking for evidence of ghosts that that he doesn't realize -- or accept -- that the ''entire structure he's in'' is one large ghost.}} Because he and Richard have a long-standing emnity, he's also quick to smirkingly dismiss anything Jeperson says. This comes back to bite him ''hard''.

* [[Reality Warper]]: {{spoiler|Sewell Head / Swellhead. His supervillain plan is essentially to recreate all of reality inside his head.}}

* [[Retired Badass]]: Richard Jeperson. Partly deconstructed, in that it's frequently pointed out -- and he increasingly comes to realize and accept -- that if he'd stayed in the game rather than retiring, things would have been a lot different, he could have made a lot more difference, and people might even still be alive. {{spoiler|The ending implies [[He's Back]] for good.}}

[[Category:Fantasy Literature]]

[[Category:Swellhead]]