Both for me and Nichole. Twelve hours ago, I had nothing. Now, I’ve Eps 4 & 5. Four is below; don’t think I can transcribe five until tomorrow: off to Mass in a few, then making steaks for the family afterwards, then anime in the basement.
By the by, I know zero – ZERO – about fashion. If what I describe Nichole as wearing is wrong, please let me know.
On my drive home this evening – after a stop at the UPS Store (work related) – I suddenly knew something about Nichole I did not just seconds earlier. Even better, I “saw” the reveal (in the episode below the fold) as well as something about her physically; that I don’t think will come out for a bit yet, but I might be wrong.
It’s such a joy to be writing again. To be creating again.
Pretentious titles are pretentious. I’ve seen more of Nichole’s story. More than I’ve written here, in fact, but I need to go make dinner. I’d like to write ep3 tomorrow, then show y’all something else that I worked on a year ago. Up until three days ago, it had nothing to do with Machine Civilization; now, I know who one of the welders was at the demonstration reactor north of Pataskala in “Echoes of Family Lost.” That’s for later; back to Portland….
Yes: I’ve been away. I’ll address that at some later post. I’m here to write, so write I shall, after a brief preamble.
As you might have guessed from the name of this blog, my stories are in and about what I call Machine Civilization. Some ideas that I didn’t think were originally, seemed to change over time so that they “fit in” somewhere. And I’ve come to see that the entirety of the MC world itself changes, as well. There are obviously parts of the future history that cannot change as they’re part of canon from my two novels, but I’ve noticed fluxuations in the concept.
I would say I’m coming to a point, but I’m not.
Down below, from some months back, I posted the scenes I wrote for the Voltage competition from a story I called “Combination Play.” I didn’t win the competition – which is fine – but what ticked me off is that no one did! A cynical person would say that Voltage faked the contest just to shake people down for free stories and character art. Nonetheless, I’m fond of the characters that I breathed life into, and have thought some more about the story. Voltage, of course, owns the names, so that will change, and to fit into MC, I will change the location. So now, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before: I’m going to start a story at the beginning. Further, whether you call these ‘chapters’ or ‘episodes,’ I’m going to try to publish 2-3 each week. They won’t be all from the same “novel,” but they will all take place in my world of Machine Civilization. “A Writer writes,” and I wasn’t; this will give me the freedom of movement to begin, again.
Enough with me. Take a look below the fold to meet Nichole. She’s very young in our home.
This past weekend, I marathoned the series “Man in the High Castle.” It was everything I expected from a PKD-Ridley Scott combination. I was pleased to see Rufus Sewell again, even if he is playing a Nazi. One of my favorite movies is “Dark City,” and he did superlative work in that.
Anyway. At the end of Ep10, I sat and thought a bit and came to the conclusion that – at this point of my life – I simply do not have what it takes to write political-espionage. I am shelving “Crosses and Doublecrosses,” for now. So… what now? I stared at the empty formal dining table, wondering when my wife would come home from her radiation treatments and what the Hell I was to do with my life.
Dated it may be, but my all-time favorite anime is “Haibane Renmei.” A brief review can be found here. A huge, spoiler-laden takedown can be found here. It’s very difficult for me to say what it’s about without ruining it; I could do it with a single word. It’s an extremely complex moral and theological story; amazing that a non-Christian Japanese writer seems to have a better feel for my faith than many of my co-religionists.
Some years back, a chap took the character models from HR and made a 30s video, based on a trailer for “Constantine,” a good, but very erratic movie. You can see the video here. While there are icebergs of story just below the surface of HR proper, just to look at it, it appears to be cute-girls doing cute-things. Guristantine is not that at all. Just as with the two ideas that were the genesis of “The Fourth Law,” the series and the video curled up in my unconscious, and waited.
Going back to our collaboration of 3-AR Studios LLC for our visual novels, my friend and colleague, Will, and I, had long thought of a live-action Haibane Renmei. We talked scenes, locations, actors… but nothing came of it. A few days after deciding to abandon “C&DC,” it came to me (how? how does this stuff just come to me??) to make a live-action series, based on HR; not just an adaptation….
One set in hard-edged Abandoned Factory, not the safety of Old home. One with deeply flawed characters, desperate to understand themselves and where they are. One where violence and sex are – if not out in the open – not pretended to not exist. One where the abandonment of either wing of the human soul (faith and reason) leads quickly to madness. One where… okay; you get it: I saw quite a lot, quickly.
Below the fold is a pretty raw treatment of what you could call a trailer for a six-episode series of 30-minute shows. I’m bricked in to swim meets for my girls all this weekend, and will be writing as much as I see, which, so far, is quite a bit. If any of this tickles your forebrain, leave a comment. I’m planning on throwing a couple of grand of my money at this, at least for the trailer. We’ll see what happens beyond that.
Just finished another lovely deep-fried turkey. Wife wanted that to eat before she left tomorrow afternoon for Houston and radiation at MD Anderson . I exist to serve…dinner.
As I’ve mentioned, my machines have made me older that there are no such things as coincidences. This was seconded by a part-time pharmacist I work with. She’s also an illustrator. Her and her husband’s website is here. I’ve looked at their works and proposed that I commission them for either a webcomic or graphic novel. They’re more – allow (mich-allow?) me to blunt here – much more ‘artsy-fartsy’ than Will is, so I had to see a story that is more in line with their style.
The opening scene is below the fold. Thoughts?
Next week is busy: wife’s last in-patient chemo, girls busy with school and swimming, and, at the end of the week: Ohayocon! Since 2011 it’s been a great family outing for us: we stay in a hotel in downtown Columbus that’s attached to the Convention Center, get our cosplay on, and have fun!
This year…not so much. There’s an alpaca panel at 1400 on Friday that Daughter #1 wants to see, so that means I pull them both from school at lunch. Another three hours of an hundred-year old Prussian education system designed to produce docile technicians, or fun with the family? Tough call. Daughter #1 has at three cosplays she’s bringing. I wasn’t really planning on anything, but my wife suggested that since this year’s theme is ‘science,’ just put on a lab coat and go. Of course, that got me thinking… so I’ll add my white wig (last year I was Ginko from Mushishi) and perch my steampunk welder’s goggles atop it. Add a pocket-protector, and I’m good!
That’s Friday. Saturday AM I’ll release the kids and drive a few miles north to get the missus. Right now the plan is to take her back to the hotel room to rest and hang out – rather than driving 45 minutes back home. With her red/white cell count, there’s absolutely no way she can go to the con: a head cold would be enough to give her pneumonia and kill her. Too bad, really: hairless after the chemo, she’d make a fantastic One Punch Man!
After that, as I told a co-worker, I’m setting the hard end date for Crosses & Doublecrosses for Easter. If it’s not done by then, I abandon it. The first thing I’m going to do is write down all I’ve seen; there’s quite a bit of material, actually, probably around 18k words. Trying to fit them into a coherent story has been killing me. So, I’ll just worry about that later. My New Zealand illustrator has showed me some colored pages for Henge’s Big Day! They are wonderful! I encourage all of you to patronize her site and get some portraits of you, your kids, and your pets done!
Busy week ahead.
Finally finished flogging the story for that contest I mentioned in the post just below. Had to add a little more story in Scene 2. After that, I had to format the text into what they wanted for submission; anyone who’s ever programmed a visual novel with instantly recognize the style. For whomever they pick as a winner, Voltage’s staff will just have to slap some “scene” and “show” commands in and they’re finished.
Anyway, I sent off my entry a bit ago. If you’d like to read it, the story’s below the fold. I definitely do ‘cute’ better than ‘political terror.’
machciv 