This not the short I originally saw. After last night’s tragic news, I wanted to a little more about the West’s current attempt at suicide. But, there’s still hope. Hope, much like Evil, can often be found in the most unlikely places.
Thanks, everyone, for reading this story. I think I’ll try to make ‘Defiant’ into a proper novel, but I’m taking the rest of this weekend off.
Was originally going to stop this whole thing at #10. Momentum and the gathering thereof. So, maybe #15. This is a little shorter, as there’s not that much talking in it: Logres and Europa get some together-time and use their mouths for something else. If you’re below the age of twelve, this segment has icky-mushy stuff in it. You’ve been warned.
It’s the weekend, so I think I’ll get another drink and go ahead and write #11.
Learning to stop myself when I know the next dialog sequence between the characters. That allows me 24 hours to play with the beginning of the next section. Thus: I saw the first ten lines between Logres and Libby yesterday. I know what they talk about when the cross the Channel tonight. As to what happens next, I’ll know before I sit back down to write in 23 hours.
Sneaky, old, clever, and lazy works for me.
Skipped dinner to knock this out. I’ll grab some cheese before bed. I introduce three new characters in 1200 words. I hope that violates MANY guides to Proper Writing. Not sure where this is going tomorrow night, but I’m pretty sure busty, bossy Libby will be in it!
Back to normal, really. After nearly a 4-week hiatus getting “Cursed Hearts” released into the wild and dealing with some RealLife issues, things will be getting back on track here.
Yesterday was Matsuricon in Columbus, Ohio, the second biggest animecon in this area. Unlike making it a long family weekend as we do for Ohayocon, we just drop by on Saturday. Got there around 1030; was surprisingly empty, so Registration was a breeze. Suddenly filled up around 1200. Was everyone hungover and sleeping in?
Caught a panel about buying odd stuff from Japan, the creator of the Monogatari series, and a short performance by Kazha (they were okay). Also hit the Dealers Room and got some Angel Beats artbooks and a Saber Lily figurine for my wife.
Later, was chilling at the bar in the Hiatt. After determining that the kid next to me was 1, a girl and not a trap, and 2, legal, I started a chatting her up. A 20-something year old pastry chef, she was also part Hungarian, which I IMMEDIATELY brought up when my wife appeared, before she yelled “Lolicon!” and clouted me. We secured a table just as Friend Will made his appearance. Sometime during the next five Martinis I know my daughters dropped by, but reality was rather ephemeral at this point.
Even so, and even being a Race Realist, there was a moment when I looked about the table and thought, counterclockwise: me (pasty old white guy), 1/8 Jewess (half my age), Black guy (half my age), two Chinese girls, and my Central Asian wife, all there to celebrate and have a good time over Japanese comics and animation. What an amazing and too-short moment of Western Civilization!
Having recently published my flash-fiction that was the genesis of Cursed Hearts, the folks at Uprising Review were kind enough to follow on and request I submit to an interview. They seem a sound lot, so I do not think I’m violating Vox Day’s dictum about aiding the enemy.
The interview is here. After that, please look over the rest of their site: lots of good stories and commentary; bookmark them and come back often. I do.
I really would like an answer to the question I posited: what is it about horror, specifically, the notion of being eaten, that so fascinates people?
I’d just now put those words onto Maya’s lips. And that’s how I feel: at 57k words… why not introduce a new character! Eff me, why not?! What I needed was a victim to satisfy Maya’s cravings after being held captive by [person] in the machine’s home for one of our weeks, so, thinking about the sacrificial secretary at the start of Elfin Lied (06:41-07:24; subs don’t matter, this is just what I had in mind at the time), I came up with Emma Miller.
“Look at you.” The scowl was there, but Emma hoped it was a spark of mirth she saw in those odd eyes. “You’re a walking cliché: blue jeans and blue eyes; blonde hair and an unnecessarily large chest! All the while knowing nothing about how this world really works! Bismarck was right!”
All Maya has to do after running into her is grab her and steal her life… but, there’s a CCTV camera; if Gordon’s watching, he’ll know that what she told him about just wanting to meet her brother is a lie, and will alert Chris… so Maya hesitates. In that moment, Emma starts talking. I learn she’s a Masters in Computer Engineering, working on her PhD and is a better programmer than anyone at UCSD-SCS. But, since she’s low-man on the totem pole, she’s the one to bring coffee and donuts.
Until Maya literally runs into her.
And when Maya lets slip that Gordon is self-aware – an impossibility to Emma – the dialog started. Last I saw, they were on a bench on the north side of Giesel Library eating brats for breakfast. I couldn’t take it, so I vacuumed two floors of my house and did two loads of laundry. I’d the hook by the time I got back: Emma is a friend of Cat’s and has heard the name ‘Chris’ already. Maya’s already mentioned that, so Emma is running confused. She gets a text from Cat about lunch, and excuses herself from Maya… who can read a lying human like a book. She follows.
When Can I Kill These People?!?!? It’s as if I’m fond of them and –
Oh.
Krep.
Over 50k words, he said! Just another 8-10k to finish the book, he said!
Annnnd then, Dorina showed up. To quote from Band of Brothers: “…well, hello 2nd Armored!”
Look, it’s NOT exposition and I AM NOT LECTURING! I can prove it, below the fold! These people just keep showing up… this just keeps happening…!
Seriously: I need to start killing everyone. No! I mean it! Don’t you dare click on Continue reading “Baton”
Sorry: bad pun about how Chris, Cat, and Anton make their final stage north into the ‘no-go’ zone between San Diego and the LA basin.
From having nothing just over a week ago, I’m pleased with the 14k raw material words for how Chris and Cat fell in love with one another. I was also able to get a couple of more plates up and spinning for Maya to cast down in the next act. There was even a little Easter Egg from an unexpected guest appearance!
Below the fold is a some verbal sparring with Chris and Anton; Cat makes a brief appearance in a towel. After posting this, I’m making coffee – yes, with some bourbon – and will get Maya on her way out of the Vancouver BC Airport. She’s been cooped up there for three days (I think), waiting for one of the rare flights south. Not sure if she killed anyone… maybe. Through her eyes we might see the burnt-out, dead city of Seattle as they fly over. A few hours after that, Maya will be standing outside the San Diego Airport, just miles from her brother.
I cannot wait to see this!
Just over another 10k words this weekend! As I said to a friend of mine, I feel like a wrung-out dish rag. But, once I’d the key – the sight – from late Friday, it was so easy! Part of my last post was just that: Chris and Cat closing the gap between them. What I wrote since then was the 3+1 times they made love (slightly different than having sex), although I only covered #1 and #+1 in detail. That, plus another one of Chris’ recall-dreams of his time at Neuroi Corporation, this time, talking with his kid sister, Maya, made for a fantastic weekend!
Anton is sleeping with Chris & Cat’s next door neighbor; that’s complicated! And he’ll be giving them a tour of the northern ‘no-go’ zones around Camp Pendleton. The civilians of San Diego think the Mexican Army killed about 100k coming south from the 19MM in the LA Basin. Truth is hard, sometimes.
After what he sees, it finally occurs to Chris to reach out to experts beyond him: even machines suffer from the “if I’m good at this, I’m good at everything!” mental illness. The moment he does, he’s going to realize just what he’s overlooked, and how close he and his beloved are to an horrible, violent death.
This is SO COOL!
PS It was pointed out to me by someone in RealLife that my ‘below the folds’ are all banal (my word, not theirs), not ‘the good stuff!’ Well, duh! I welcome everyone into the world I’m making, but this is work, and I want to be paid for it. ‘Defiant’ was, and is, for free. Intellectual property is worth at least, if not more, than physical property. Example: a water pump is worth money; learning how to make a water pump, one or two orders of magnitude more. To continue the analogy, my snippets, in and of themselves, are slightly entertaining. I hope, once complete and edited, y’all think that they plus the other 45k words are worth US$7.
Thank you so much for reading!
machciv 