Tuesday, November 04, 2008

An Escape In More Ways Than One

I'll bet you all thought I was eaten by the Great Cthulhu or at least locked up for losing my sanity, but I wasn't, I escaped Cthulhu month with my sanity.




We had a costume contest and a cubicle decorating contest at work. I lost both, but here are some pics.



I went as a Man in Charcoal from Area 51 7/22. I have included a photo of myself and Max Brazel.




The other escape of which I speak is my escape from a dreaded virus (I suppose it was a virus and not a spore from Yuggoth) that kept me sick all weekend and even made me miss Church on Sunday and work on Monday. If things are as I figure they are with the whole "God Thing" then missing church doesn't really matter.

I am doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I'll post my synopsis in a later post and keep you all abreast of my meanderings.
Oh, and someone voted on the poll that they were going to dance naked in the woods for Halloween. It was warm enough, but you didn't invite me!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

RANDOM Problems, Random Cthulhu

For some reason Blogger won't let me go on to Illini 6 and then do any thing here. I can come on the blog and read, but it crashes the whole internet connection thingie if I try to do anything. I had to go through Flowers of Mundelein to post this.

So, in honor of this completely random problem I'm having, I give you a completely random Cthuloid image. I shuffled the files around in the folder a bit, closed my eyes and let the Elder Gods guide my mouse-clicking hand. This happens to be a smallish image so I decided to make it an icon for a folder on my desktop.

I've made a folder for all those little shortcuts that you want nearby, but don't want cluttering up your desktop (especially if you have a lovely photo of Cthulhu on there). I called it "Messy Desktop Stuff" so I thought a "cool" little Chulhu could be the god of that folder.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Do You Remember...?


But, do you remember when Pluto was Yuggoth?
I always have fun telling my kids about the future when I would hold my grandchildren on my knee (my artificial knee, btw) and tell them about how when I was in college there was no such thing as the internet.
"That was way back '85." I'd say. They would stare wide-eyed in amazement.
"You mean 1985, Grandpa?"
"That's right, WAY back in the dark ages of the TWENTIETH century. We thought Pluto was a planet, Michael Jackson was a human, oil was for burning, and computers weren't things surgically inplanted into your skulls, no sir."

Monday, October 27, 2008

Stories, HORROR Stories

I've submitted another story to the Mirible Visu contest. This one is anonymous so try to guess which one is mine and vote on it.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Religion and Timeliness

Last week we went to see my Dad, who is getting chemo for Pancreatic Cancer.

I had gone to the Marytown giftshop and told the lady there (I think she is a nun, but you can't tell these days) that my Dad had cancer. She started running around and loading my arms with things, "I needed" some of them, "right away." I got him a Perpetual Mass (they say his name for people to pray for him in every mass at the chapel there, I told my Dad, "they'll be reading your name in the mass..." in homage to The Quiet Man), a couple of candles, a scapular, two prayer cards, and a bottle of holy water from Lourdes.

With my own flagging faith I didn't know if this would do any good, but I figured I didn't want to be like the man in the joke that by passed a 4x4, a boat and a helicopter because he was waiting for the Lord to save him from the flood, never realizing that the Lord sent all those things. My situation is the other way around, but if God was going to save him by Holy water or chemo, I wasn't going to ignor anything.

I also didn't know if my Dad would appreciate the gifts. He and my Mom are donating their bodies to science and neither of them care what happens to their bodies, "when they're done with them." My Mom is a vocal atheist (I don't know if that's the right term, since I think she is mad because God isn't running things the way she thinks they should be run and therefore she refuses to believe in him), so I didn't know if they would just roll their eyes at me. In fact, my Dad said that only my Mom felt that way about God and he was willing to take any and everything. I guess he agreed with my opinion about the man in the joke.

The timeliness I speak of is this, it seems strange that in order for me to really think clearly about the existance of God I need the latest books and articles. Because science is advancing rapidly on the origins of the universe, the presumed territory of religion, in order to counter the very latest arguements against God's existence, I need the very latest information.

I've found two books that might help me in this, both published in 2008. The first is Spiritual Evolution by George E. Vaillant and the second is The Big Questions in Science and Religion by Keith Ward. I haven't gotten very deep into either, but they seem to be acknowledging science and the advances being made and not dealing with the entire issue in strictly a spiritual sense.

I've been reading and listening to the "Skeptic Newsletter" and Skepticality. I know that the usual defense of faith by those skeptics who are still believers is that faith has NO basis in science and is not testable. It is therefore NOT subject to skeptisism. You can choose to believe or not believe, there can be no proof of it either way.

Douglas Adams confronted such an arguement in the first Hitchhikers' book. His result was God responding, "I never thought of that" and disappearing in a puff of logic.

I've never agreed with Adams, but I do need a better logical arguement, and more. I need a way to view God for what God means to us.

I'll let you know how the books turn out later.

4,000 Unwitting Souls Have Joined Us!

Muh ha ha ha ha! Illini 6 went past 4,000 visitors this week, I mean the four thousandth visitor fell under my sway this week.

It's taken almost two years to break that mark, and I've had my ups and downs. Lately it's been a bit up, but I owe that to the Great Cthulhu, I'm sure.

Congrats Illini 6 and thank you Great Cthulhu (Bawk Bawk!).

Friday, October 24, 2008

Dream of the Unknown Administration


I swear by all the unholy gods that I dreamt last night that Barrack Obama won the election. As soon as it was announced Al Quida launched an attack that included nuclear suicide bombers.

What do you suppose this could mean?

Honestly, I did dream that.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Oh the Pain!

When I said I fell off the wagon I really fell hard. Tuesday and Wednesday my legs and arms were terribly sore. Today my triceps are still sore and I can barely bring my hands to my head. I must have hurt them seriously.

It's something of a godsend (Outer Gods-send?) that for the second day in a row our evening activities kept me from exercising. In my program I'm back to a cardio night. That's a mercy. I'll do cardio today and lighten up on the weights a lot on Friday.

Man, my arms hurt. Maybe mommy can kiss the pain away.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Falling Off the Wagon

My daughter read me something the other day about saving money. It suggested adding chicken broth to left-over chinese food. I tried it yesterdaya and it was great. Not at all like this picture.

In other news. I started my exercise program on Monday by jumping right in to Level 3/4 with 25lbs. Ow. I was really sore (still am). I may have over done it, but I was going to soldier on.

I was, until I had to run middle daughter to friend's house for a project they're working on, run knee pads and shorts to oldest daughter, run youngest daughter to Greek school, wait until Greek school was over, pick up middle daughter and then pick up pizza (also a no no on the P90 path) for my family AND my brother's family, because they came by last night to watch oldest daughter's game.

All the running around and such was over at 22:30 last night. Far too late to do anything. I know that this is an entirely valid reason not to work out, but I still feel guilty. I'll have to do my bit today.

BTW, I wrote a short story while waiting on youngest daughter.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Let the Exercises Begin

I started my exercise program yesterday. I started with Phase 3/4 circuit of the Power 90 system from Beachbody.

I have done this program before and went from 242 to 216 lbs. I like it, but it is very hard to stick to when your schedule changes SEVEN times in a year.


I think I will be doing strictly P90 for the first 30 days and then use Muscle Confusion by switching between P90, Slim in 6 (another Beachbody product), Tae Bo and anything else I can think of including Plyometrics, kettlebells (maybe I'll ask for them for Christmas) and medicine balls.
I had photos taken of my starting state. I'll post those tomorrow.

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my sister-in-law's birthday and we forgot until very late last night, so I'm sending out this special birthday message. Happy Birthday H!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Cthulhu Workout? Exercise? Health Plan?

Took my blood pressure yesterday for the first time in a while. It was 159/88.

Now remember, I'm taking THREE medications for my BP. I took it again after taking my meds for the day and waiting an hour. 164/92.

GAH!!!!!! This stoopid blood pressure! Every time I go to my doctor he tells me that if I lose ten pounds that it will go down.

Bit of history. When I was in my mid-twenties I noticed that sometimes my blood pressure would be high. When I was in my early thirties it was regularly too high to give blood. Back then I weighed in the neighborhood of 200 pounds. My BP back then was about 150/88.

Now it's about twelve years later and I'm about 240. If a forty pound and twelve year increase didn't really increase the pressure, why would a ten pound decrease lower it?

All telling me to lose weight does is aggravate me and raise my BP.

I am going to start exercising again. When I was exercising like a demon last year my pressure was easier to control (I managed to get down to only two meds). Also, less weight makes it easier to play Rugby and looks a bit better.

There are two very bad things about that. The first is, I don't like to exercise that much. I was never a jock so I have to find novel ways to motivate myself and keep myself interested. The second is, I do like to write, but a heavy exercise routine means no writing. There just isn't' enough time to do both. Also, no camping trips. I've been trying to get the family interested in camping (and sailing, STILL haven't taken my boat out this year) and that takes a lot of effort. If I'm putting my effort into exercising then that goes to the wayside too.

GRRR!

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Dream Story

I had a pretty vivid dream last night that I just might be able to base a story on.

I dreamed that I was hearing dogs going crazy outside my front door. When I went out to look, the bushes in front of my house were all torn up, like the dogs had been digging there to get at something. The dogs were all dead around the yard.

Oo, spooky.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Sleeping Late

I overslept by an hour this morning. Now I know how Cthulhu feels.

Except for the sleeping for uncounted eons at the bottom of the Pacific in a sunken city built in my wretched honor; except that my alarm clock is not the stars themselves coming right again; except for the carnage, rage, dancing and murder that my waking will wreck upon the globe to the utter horror of all mankind...I understand completely how Cthulhu feels.

And on top of that I ran out of coffee!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Original Cthulhu Image

This apparently is the drawing that HPL made when writing "The Call of Cthulhu."

Looks like something I might do.

Although it is crude, I think artists should take note when trying to make their own images. THIS is the author's vision. Cthulhu is actually only a product of HPL's mind and this is what he had in mind.

[EDIT: Link added to give Jimmy Akin credit for the image and the story.]

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Source of Morality and Other Thoughts

I didn't have time last Sunday to write this, but I took notes at church.

How come people look at you strange when you take notes in church? It's not like I wasn't paying attention, in fact I was probably paying more attention than they were. After all, while I was paying attention and processing the sermon enough to write notes, they were watching me.

The sermon was given by the Metropolis of Denver (Greek Orthodox Bishop of Denver). He said some interesting things that fell right into what I'm struggling with right now.

Where do morals come from, what are their bases if there is no God? The bishop maintained that if there is no God then there are no morals. He said that if you don't have God you have no higher authority to answer to.

I disagree. Secularly you have the legal authorities to answer to. That's enough for some. Otherwise you have your community or the good of all humanity to guide you on the moral path.

Maybe there is such a thing as True Good. If there is, and there is no GOD, is there also True Evil?

I think that if there is a GOD, and G is Love and Good; and G created everything from Gself then everything is basically good and there can be no evil. In this theory I maintain that evil is only an illusion, there so we can have the Free Will to have something to choose from. In the end all will be good, made right.

The Bishop held a similar view that everything will be all right in the end, but he said that God allows evil because He'll make everything all right in the end. He was far too flippant about it.

I also came up with what I think may be a truly original concept / analogy. Newtonian physics is to Einsteinian physics as human experience is to divine experience. Newtonian physics is fine for every day, but at the extreme end of things it falls apart and you need something else, something more. This is something that's completely different, almost unrecognizable from the point of view of the former.

I don't know where that leaves me.

I'll keep thinking and meditating on it.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Another Cthulhu Beach "Lady"

Somehow I don't think this one is planning on surfing or swimming.

I imagine that Cthulhu isn't that picky about virgin sacrifices either. Probably a good thing.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Cthulhu Summer

It's been unseasonably hot around here and Cthulhu has taken advantage of it. Personally, I've been busy, Busy, BUSY. I'll just have to owe you Friday and Saturday's Cthulhoid images. I'm evil that way,

Bwahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

"Clarity" of Purpose

I have a long class today on some new system at work called Clarity. It's supposed to track our work hours and output.

Sounds elderitch to me.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Skeptical Cthulhu




Seems they missed one, or maybe Cthulhu is outside the realm that this depicts.

Anyway I couldn't decide which to put on the tree so I posted both.

I've been listening to the podcast called Scepticality. They've got some very good points and it made me think about the Darwin fish and this Cthulhu fish.

The funny thing is, the Skeptics say that they aren't specifically against religion, but only because religion does not rely on evidence at all and is therefore untestable. I'm sure any evidence anyone ever offered for religion or god would be fodder for investigation.

The previous religious post I put up said that maybe we can look at God as ourselves outside of this dream that we call life. If that is so it fits exactly into what the skeptics are saying.
Whatever scientific experiments you conduct in a dream are only valid within the dream logic and reality. If God is outside that then God is untestable, but not unknowable.

Can't you tell something about a person by examining his dreams?

I dreamt of unknown Kadath last night, what does that mean?

BTW, FSM is Flying Spaghetti Monster for those of you who didn't talk like a pirate on 19 Sep.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Feeling a Bit Green

My youngest has been having assignements lately where she has to collect leaves, flowers etc. so I'm feeling a bit green.

I don't know enough about trees so I'm going to pick up a book at the library tomorrow.

Um, this guy here, although technically "green" I don't think he would make anybody from Greenpeace happy.

Actually, I don't think he could make anyone happy, although:

"The time would be easy to know, for then mankind would have become as the Great Old Ones; free and wild and beyond good and evil, with laws and morals thrown aside and all men shouting and killing and revelling in joy. Then the liberated Old Ones would teach them new ways to shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves, and all the earth would flame with a holocaust of ecstasy and freedom." From "The Call of Cthulhu" by H. P. Lovecraft

Monday, October 06, 2008

Just Another Cthulhu Monday

I'm just keeping with the girly theme.

That movie was a bit disturbing.

My favorite part was when Ben Stiller mangled Bret Favre's name. I agree. It should be Fav-ray or Fav-er. No way should it be Far-v.

GO BEARS!

Sunday, October 05, 2008

Religion and Faith: Introducing Lucidment

I mentioned before that my faith had become untethered. I had read an article in the July Scientific American and it shook my faith badly enough to set it adrift.

I had been thinking, "What if Life is the worst it gets?" What if this life that we are living right now is as bad as it is going to get and that Heaven is going to be better. I already said that I don't believe in Hell so that made sense, but I never looked at it that way. If it were true then all the pain and injustice in life is just because this is our lesser existence. It isn't a trial, it just is bad. Some times life isn't too bad, but if it is then don't worry because Heaven is better.

That doesn't address the fundamental problems I was having with my faith, mainly that there is no way that God can be both omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent; and revealed. Science is revealing a universe too complex and random from a participants view to be knowable in the whole.

I had been thinking that God was like a clockmaker and that he had set the rules of the universe and let it run itself. This may have been the reason that increased knowledge in the physical laws made the existence of God less tenable. What if that isn't the nature of God, but then what would account for all that science tells us and still leave room for God?

I recently listened to most of a podcast by the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD). In podcast 8, the speaker was Tim Freke. He said something that really rang true to me. It also addressed the problem I was having. He said that life as we know it is a dream. Everything and everyone in the dream is really us. This is very similar to the Buddhist view and I had heard it before, but I never looked at it this way.

He said basically that enlightenment is like having a lucid dream. If you are enlightened, you are like a dreamer that knows he's dreaming. When we are not enlightened you are like a dreamer who doesn't know he is dreaming and you think your life is real.

I am going to call this state of knowing that you are "dreaming" as "Lucidment." This will help me understand enlightenment better and help me think of it in terms of "the dream."

This world view means several things to me right off:

1. God is not separate from us.

2. Life can be good or bad but it doesn't REALLY affect us.

3. There are no alternatives (Hell vs. Heaven) to waking.

4. Life can be beautiful. We can enjoy it and we can make it more beautiful.

5. The universe is the dream and it obeys different "dream" logic and rules. All our scientific knowledge is based on "dream" logic and laws. This means that everything science is telling us is about the "Dream" and has nothing to do with God or the "Waking State."

6. "God" doesn't have to be omniscient or omnipotent. We don't know everything in our dreams, but the dreams are us, everything in the dream is us really, although it seems like different people and things happening to us, they are really things we are thinking about and "doing" to ourselves.


This also immediately begs many questions to me, but the questions don't diminish my hope for a renewed faith:

1. Who is the dreamer?

2. What is the nature of the dreamer?

3. If the dreamer is me then am I everyone or am I only me and everyone else is no one?

4. Do we lose ourselves when we wake?

5. What is the goal of life?

6. Do we want to be a remembered dream?

7. Is life outside the dream good or bad?

8. Is the dreamer good or bad or something else?

9. Is there good and evil?

10. Can you make moral decisions (for instance, in dreams you can commit crimes, but you can't be prosecuted for them)?



I will want to address these questions in later posts. Also, because church is a perfect time to reflect on faith, I think that Sunday would be a perfect time to record here my thoughts on religion and faith.

Other issues I thought of today that I want to cover eventually:
- What is religion?
- What is prayer, what is it good for, what is it not?
- Why should you attend church?
- What do you do with Bible readings?
- What about preset prayers, the Creed and the Our Father?
- Why are we not in communion with God?
- If there are no miracles then there can be no transubstantiation, what does this mean?

I Owe You One

I missed yesterday so I owed you one. Here are two Cthulhoid images of ladies corrupted by the Great Old One's influence.
The first one is because I was thinking in church today about the Holocaust. I was thinking that the Holocaust should become part of the Jewish tradition and be honored and remembered by holy days and such.
Isn't Chanuka the remembrance of a siege won with the help of God? Wasn't the story of David and Goliath about Israel winning in a war with God's help? I should think that the Holocaust is on a par with any of what Christian's call the Old Testament. I don't know the Talmud (I think that's where you find Chanuka), but I would think it rivals those deliverances there too.
Who decides these things? What would it take to get the Holocaust into the holy books?

Friday, October 03, 2008

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Cubs Lose

This was from the '04 campaign when the real slogan was either, "four more years," or "four more years?"

It struck me this morning that it could also be similar to the Cubs mantra this past century, next year, next year.

I suppose it could also be political if you consider any Republican win as four more years of Bushism.

I'll have another political one tomorrow, or are there no more tomorrows?

I don't know, ask the Cubs.

A Faith Adrift

As I said, this is a webLOG and this post is the first in what I think will be the log part of my blog.

This will probably change as I go along. I may edit this post, or I may just add more posts.

I put in my PDA some of the things I was thinking about God, faith and religion.

Here it is straight out of the handheld:

"A religion that venerates god, but does not appeal to god for intercession? I never thought god would step in and "fix" everything. Miracles are how you choose to view or experience events AND/OR how they Affect YOU.


09/27/08 more added 29Sep08

I believe:
1. Something or someone started the universe
2. There are powers greater than us
3. Free will
4. Evolution
5. If there is a god who is involved with us then he is good and loves us
6. There are other intelligent races in the universe other than human that are on a similar (IE not godlike) level
7. The universe is nearly infinitely complex and unknowable in the whole (analogy: you can know how bricks work and how to make and lay them, but not have knowledge of all of the Great Walls in China or even all the walls in all the houses in England).
8. Religion was created by man.
9. Religious people are not stupid
10. Non-religious people are not just people that haven't been enlightened (born again etc.)


I don't believe:
1. God is:
--a. Omnipotent, omniscient, knowable, revealed, AND interventionist (he may be some of these, but not all)
--b. Angry
--c. Predeterministic
--d. A conscious earth or biosphere
2. The universe is completely random
3. Miracles
4. Angels
5. Reincarnation
6. Satan
7. Hell
8. Ghosts
9. UFOs have visited us
10. Prayers can have any physical effect (see miracles)
11. Magic (see miracles)

I hope:
1. There is God
2. There is a heaven"

Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Are the Stars Right? The Atlantians Wanted to Know

Are the stars right again? Why yes they are. It is Cthulhu Month again. I'll be plopping a Cthulhoid image in a post daily (cross your fingers and hope to go insane).

The stars truely are right! The first of my mythos type stories, (Northern Faerie Ring) has appeared as a podcast on Yog Radio. The said they would be delighted to read aloud: "Bellwether's Asteroid" and "Northern Faerie Ring." I can't wait for Bellwether to show up too!

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

This Blog May Become a Web LOG

My dad has cancer (again). My sister-in-law had suggested that my mom keep a journal and I think I may have to do that. So that got me to thinking, this is a web LOG, or a journal. Then I thought, no that's too public. Then I thought, well, no one comments even if I beg them so the 20 or less people who come here a week are probably not here to read or participate, what the heck.

It's an entirely different perspective on this blog. I've always seen it as a soap box, a public forum, a mouthpiece, a place to publish my writing and my ideas. This new perspective is that it is a private, personal journal of things I write to me for me, except that it is left out on the coffee table of the public TV room for anyone to read. Since I'm not a millionare or a teen aged girl, no one is interested in reading my thoughts. I'm safe in leaving it here in the open.

As long as I don't expect a discussion this would be a fine place to record my thoughts and feelings.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love for this blog to become the hottest thing on the net. I'd love for people to flock here for a lively debate and a really good read. I'd love for some big shot producer (like maybe Speilberg) to call and say, "Hey Prop, I read that story on your blog and I'd love to make a movie out of it, have your people call my people..."

But I'm not expecting it.

And maybe I shouldn't be disappointed if it doesn't happen.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Happy Autumnal Equinox

"That's all I have to say about that."

Well, almost.

I'm not a tree hugger; I don't subscribe to the Gaia theory; I'm not Wiccan or Neopagan; heck, I don't even subscribe to the current notion of global warming (they still haven't shown me definitively that humans caused it, that it is a bad thing, that humans can "fix" it, that humans should "fix" it, that trying to "fix" it won't do more harm than the "problem", that we should spend any money on it...) but I am an Eagle Scout.

I believe we should live in harmony with the land. Is nature perfect, no. Are animals or trees more important than people, no. However, I think we should work to make our technology help nature and work with it instead of against it.

We have become too detached from nature. Heck, we ignore day and night by just moving the clocks as we will. Not only are we missing out on something truly spectacular, if we ignore nature, surely it will come back and bite us on our collective tushes.

And THAT is all I have to say about that.

Happy Autumnal Equinox!

Friday, September 19, 2008

ARGH It Be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

I done went ta the Talk Like a Pirate Day website an' took their bloomin' test. I mean I completed the test, I didn't take it, like booty or plunder.



The first time 'round they pegged me fer a pantywaist, but I came 'round agin and gave it 'nother broadsides. I scored me a Cap'n rate.








ARGH! I be good ta be the Cap'n!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

New Horror Story Ideas

I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo this year (I think I'm going to write a noir mystery), but because the weather was so bad last week, I felt like writing a horror story.
I did a lot of background work, but then I got an email that the deadline for the Whortleberry Christmas anthology is 1 Oct 08 so I have to stop for now and write that.
I really think I will come back to this story though, because I like it so much.

By the way, I didn't win the Wildclaw Theatre radio play contest. I entered two plays and I think there wer nine winners, but I'm not one of them. They did ask if they could keep all the plays so they could put them on later in the year if they have time. If they don't then I'll post them here.

Anyway, without further ado, I will post the background information I developed for my horror story. I'm calling it "Beneath the Altar of an Unnamable God."

I. Possible Story Titles:
A. Beneath the Altar of an Unnamable God
B. In the Hands of Angry Gods
C. Aliens Among Us
D. Darkness of the Book

II. CHARACTERS
A. Librarian - Jerome "Jerry" Lawrence
--1. Is an archivist
--2. Chews nicotine gum
--3. Wears glasses, tie and vest
--4. Wears leather shoes oxfords mostly
--5. Tall and thin
--6. Loves collecting books
--7. Awkward around women, but not a virgin
--8. Brand new grad student still in dorm, but never spends time there
--9. Tenor voice
B. Young woman - Imogene
--1. Cherub with platinum curly hair (recently permed), emerald eyes with flecks of forest green, freckles and a very curvy body. Often wears very low cut tops and the highest heels she can because she is only 5'. Today she is wearing knee high brown boots, jeans and an Icelandic sweater in blues, crème and green that accentuates her breasts. He can only smell her when she gets really close, and then it is a clean, healthy smell with very slight hint of lavender.
--2. He knows her or has seen her around
--3. Dies before the end
C. Femme Fatale - Chloe
--1. "Slender woman who moves, not like a cat or a dancer, but deliberately and forcefully, not a movement wasted, like a powerful athlete, but not built overly athletically." She wears a white blouse and a tight wool skirt with stilettos and her dark, straight hair in a ponytail. Her skin is olive.
--2. She too does not have a strong aroma, but when close she smells fresh and sharp like a cold ocean breeze.
--3. The first photo is her initial appearance to lure unsuspecting men; the second is used if she needs to entice a man.
--4. What does she do or say?
D. George Sebastian
--1. "There was a young man with an arm load of books who glanced at me and said, 'good morning,' but didn't stop moving his books. He had a white tee shirt and jeans on. He was barrel-chested and just a bit shorter than me. His skin was the color of dark chocolate and he wore his hair natural, but short. He put his books down and asked me, 'may I help you?' I said, 'I'm Jerry Lawrence, I'm going to be the librarian here.' He smiled broadly and extended his hand, "Happy to meet you sir. I'm George Sebastian."
--2. Son of a Chicago Firefighter. Learned good manners and hard work from his father who learned it from his farmer father. George loves to visit his grandfather's farm and he loves dirt and rocks. He is a natural geologist.
--3. Goes to lick the temple and is stopped. He seems confused that they are so afraid. Geologists do it all the time.
--4. Completely and unshakably sane.
--5. Not talkative
E. Peter Nicostratus PhD
--1. Blind prof. Heavyset and bearded. Looks evil, but is good
--2. No eyes
--3. Office next door to the library.
--4. Suspected of abducting Imogene
--5. "'You must understand, I had to stop the visions. I gouged my own eyes out with my fingers.' 'Dear god.' George said. 'Yes.' Nicostratus' breath was ragged and he smiled only with his mouth, 'The thing is, you don't dream with your eyes. It did me no good.' He shook his head and his smile spread to the rest of his face, 'so I got chummy with some people who were connected with the mafia. The interesting thing about mob doctors is they will do any thing for money and they won't tell a soul. I had my optic nerve severed and I could finally sleep at night.'"
F. Lucy La Barbara PhD
--1. Thin wears long clothes so you can't see her body.
--2. Evil. Member of the cult (or actually a modified version of an EA) and she's modified her body (maybe hairy or deformed and twisted with the power)
--3. Jerry's advisor
--4. "Professor La Barbara called me into her office. She was wearing a typical outfit for her, a long sleeve blue blouse and an ankle length peasant's skirt with blue and green paisleys. She never wore any jewelry that could be seen outside her clothes. The only parts of her body I had ever seen, in fact, were her ankles, hands, neck and face. I had the impression that she was a long distance runner because she always seemed to be swimming in her ubiquitous baggy clothing, but I had never been able to confirm her build as athletic and I had never seen any other evidence that she ever exercised. She was always full of energy, but not bouncy. Her skin was ivory white, like she had never seen the sun, but not veiny or sickly. Her face was pleasant enough, but highly angular and I couldn't tell how old she was. She had to be over thirty, because of her position and the fact that she just didn't have that glow and softness of youth, but she could have been anywhere between thirty and eighty. Her hair was almost black and she wore her waves long enough to cover her collar and her ears, but with no discernable style. Her eyes, too, were almost black. Her teeth were her own, I was sure, but they were almost too straight, too white. She arranged her face into a smile when I came into her office."


III. STORY
A. Jerry is assigned to the new Geology library for the Earth Science Department.
B. Chloe and George are there. Chloe is looking out the window smoking and notices the black stain of a fire on the roof below.
C. Jerry assigns handy work to G and shopping to C
D. Later I comes in and just wants to spend time with J
E. Prof N is seen and is scary
F. G finds the temple in the wall behind a crack caused by the '08 earthquake
G. They all examine in and I offers to take it to her GF to look at
--1. She never arrives with it
--2. Temple and I are missing, presumed dead, but the police won't investigate
--3. C tells J that he has to find out what happened
H. J dreams the translation of the temples carved words
I. Investigation ends up showing that the cult has been making sacrifices on the roof
--1. All the windows on the library wall are blackened or covered. The opposite wall is blank (the outside wall of a theater).
--2. J escapes with the knowledge of the cult, but they are watching him and he can't do anything about it. They let him live.
--3. N helps protect J because he knows things
--4. G physically helps J, pulls him out of somewhere, physically rescues him to take him to N
--5. I was killed by aliens, not the cult

IV. Possible Story Components
A. Statuette of temple that is made of 5 billion year old rocks and is wrong geometry. Or it's carved from fossils that are from before life in its current state existed on Earth (>4 billion yo)
B. Reel to reel tapes that contain information that someone died for. That person never intended to have anyone else see the info, but died before he could destroy it.
C. Same as above, but with floppies (not quite as old)

V. Possible Storylines
A. Librarian is sent to a new library (think NG armory) really a very small old office.
--1. Pile of books and old desks
---a. Tapes or floppies could be found in old desk or closet
--2. Two ROTC part time help or part time help from whatever college this is
B. Cherub approaches librarian (this could be a lot like Maltese Falcon) with
--1. Keys to grandfathers …
--2. Brother died trying to find out about the cult
--3. Offer to show him the temple
--4. A book
--5. 5.25" floppies or key to where they are stored
--6. Reel to reel tape or key to where they are stored
C. Librarian discovers the true nature of the Night of the Purple Fog
D. Illinois earthquake
--1. '08 Earthquake cracked open a wall revealing the temple statue
---a. In the library
---b. In Imogene's GF's or brother's
--2. There is an alien under the NMSA
---a. Revealed by the new Geology library find (tapes etc) (NM or recent)
---b. Revealed by Imogene's GF or Bro's investigation (NM and/or recent)
---c. Cult worship and prayers/spells CAUSED the earthquakes

I think these are three separate stories, but they could all be investigated by the same librarian:
§ Temple
§ Noir
§ Night of the Purple Fog
§ Earthquake

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Won't Get Fooled Again

I wrote this story for a contest somewhere a while ago. I didn't win. I'm going to write a radio play for a contest by Wildclaw Theatre and I'm going to use the antagonist in this story, I think.

The story is a sort of sequel to Bellwether's Asteroid and it concerns the entity Aachiang.

As a side note, I hate the proliferation of the present tense in contemporary speech and how it is corrupting literary skills. People use the present tense when they tell stories to each other and now I'm seeing it more and more in "literature." I don't think most even know they are doing it.

There is a time and place for present tense and talented writers can use it at time to draw the reader in and make the story more real and personal. That is what I tried to do here. I consciously chose the present tense and I hope I made it work.

EDIT: I just realized that this story was posted on Illini6 earlier. I took it off the previous post and I put it here.

CAUTION : CONTAINS SCENES OF A VIOLENT RAPE.

Won’t Get Fooled Again

“Don’t make a sound.” He slams me, face first against the car with his hand clamped on my mouth.

My asthma. Throat tightens.

He’s undoing his pants. Oh God! My eyes search the dark empty lot. Dear God. He’s hiking up my skirt with his free hand. He’s using his left thigh to press mine against the car. His erection is sticking me in the ass cheek.

Can’t breathe. Gasping through his fingers, mouth open wide.

“Not a sound bitch.” He’s growling. His breath is hot on my ear. It stinks. He reeks. I’m tasting it.

His hand moves to the back of my neck. He’s sliding me down to the hood of the car. He’s smashing my face into the steel. He’s kicking my feet apart.

I’m gasping and wheezing.

“I said shut the hell up bitch whore.” He hits me in the head. He’s ripping my panties off, finding his target. I feel hard, wide flesh pressing against.

The hood is hit with something like a bullet. The noise it makes is like a tiny airplane crashing.

“What the hell?”

Another hits, and punches right through. They are falling all around. Falling from the sky.

He’s looking up and loosens his grip. I’m looking up. The sky is filled with tiny glowing meteors. They strike the asphalt lighting it on fire.

“What the hell are they?” He’s saying just as one hits him in the head. Half his head is gone before he knows it. I’m splattered with blood and brains.

He’s falling away from me. Falling to the ground. I curl up beside the car.

His body is lying there in filthy rags. The meteors are punching the lot, melting it. They glow white-yellow, the size and shape of pumpkins seeds.

My breath is coming back. The car rocks as more strike, but I’m in the shadow.

The body is moving. God, he’s getting to his knees. I see it, the meteor glowing in the shattered eggshell of his head, but he’s moving. On his hands and knees now, head bowed toward me.

His brain is bubbling, sizzling. I’m smelling hot tar and burning flesh.

His bones are growing. His skull is closing around the boiling, glowing meteor-brain mix. It’s closing faster. It seals with a snap.

He’s lifting his head. His eyes have that same yellow-white glow. His face is blank.

He’s beginning to smile. It’s spreading across his face and up to his eyes. He’s looking at me.

He’s standing above me. He’s looking out over the car.

“Yes. This time Aachiang understand. Aachiang, I won’t misjudge again.”

He’s looking down at me. He’s licking his lips.

“Yes. A rape is an excellent way to start,” he’s laughing.

I wheeze and wheeze.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Fiction vs Nonfiction

I find fiction far easier to write than nonfiction.

That's probably why my posts here have been few and far between. I've been writing, but the stuff I've been writing I'm sending out to try to get published for money.

Crass I know, but if I'm going to have writing as a hobby I have to pay my way with it a bit. it seems selfish and a waste of time if my writing doesn't pay SOMETHING.

They say, do what you love and the money will follow. If that's true then money is taking the long way around.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I have a hard time writing nonfiction, maybe because the world doesn't work the way I think it ought to (see my last paragraph) but it will if I'm writing it. On this blog you get either original fiction, which means that I've abandoned all hope of making money off that particular piece; or nonfiction, which I struggle with.

Should I give out more free fiction or make my posts both nonfiction and very few and far between?

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Quick Update

This is going to be a quick update because I have been long absent from this site and I have a major change.

I have moved to a new shift and now work mornings and get off at 1430.

I will make more posts, some even backdated, I promise.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Barfight on Simplicity Genoid

Here is a story I wrote for a contest. The requirements for the contest were 1000 words or less, about a punch, and ending in the words, "until there was nothing left." This is the story in which I introduced the term "genoid" to mean an artificially created world (to replace the term "spabitat" for space habitat).

The Barfight at Simplicity Genoid

"The Barsoom Princess is ready to fly." Felton Lamy of the Medelhanian military officer caste looked down at me disapprovingly with his red eyes. I was far from ready to go.

"That woman is here isn't she?"

I smiled.

"I don't know why you have to see her every time she’s on a world we visit." He sat next to me and waved for a drink.

"Call it devotion."

If a woman wasn't of the genetically engineered caste Lamy was approved to mate with, he had no interest with her. Me, I liked Earth women on the rare occasion I could get them. Simplicity was probably the last world in the System I'd expected to find any Mudders, let alone my dear Sarah Durrah.

Simplicity was a backwater genoid off the Belt’s trade vectors. It was a hollow cylinder of rock, barely larger than a Bernal Sphere housing about twenty thousand "Simpletons." Like the Amish of twentieth century USA, the Simpletons didn't believe in “modern” technology, but they did believe in modern cash. Simplicity meant no danger from the League, just prudish local leaders.

They weren’t overly religious. The no-technology kick was more a philosophy than religion. They didn't believe in god any more than anyone else in the System. Their moral code did not extend to seedy bars, prostitution, or thankfully to, let’s call it exotic dancing.

The house lights went down, the stage was limned and tinny music played. Technology of the twentieth century was backward enough for these people. Electric lights and canned music were fine.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the voiceover announced, "please join me in welcoming a very special performer, Miss Sarah Durrah!"

Sarah leapt onto the stage. She was from Earth, with Earth grown muscles and bones. They were far more than adequate for the System Standard Gravity employed on Simplicity. SSG, dating back to the first missions to Mars, was equal to the gravity on that planet. It was used whenever humans had control of the level of gravity.

For Sarah Durrah it meant that she had to be careful not to launch herself into the ceiling or let her act get too acrobatic. She didn’t want to give her origin away to the xenophobic Simpletons. She was a master though, and within those constraints, she was amazing.

She jumped and twirled around the chrome poll center stage. She wore sheer silk pantaloons and a blouse, but their translucency revealed only promised glances as her body moved and swung in great arcs. Like a true artist, she was suggestive and exhilarating without being salacious, although the audience would later swear that she wore less and showed more than she ever did.

It was over all too soon. Long minutes had passed with no one noticing. The audience was satisfied, but not satiated. In content delirium, they gave her a standing ovation as she left the stage. I took the opportunity to grab Lamy's arm and encourage him to follow me to the back of the bar.

This place was so poor they didn’t have a backstage, just one dressing room for all the acts with a door leading right from the main room. Sarah made her way along the wall that led to the door. She had to wait for the next act, a blues band called The Old Chicago Five, to pass her.

As she moved and waited, men harassed her. They wanted a more personal dance, but she wouldn’t do that for all the money in this backward rock. They ignored her refusals. By the time we were close enough to hear, she had had enough.

The leader of the rude crew grabbed a couple of pieces of her topography that should have remained terra incognita and she forgot herself.

She delivered a right uppercut that broke his jaw and not only lifted him off his feet, her Earth-grown muscles, unleashed, threw him over the heads of those behind him.

Even the Simpletons couldn’t ignore her muscles and their undeniable origin. The cry went up, “Alien!”

Those that witnessed the punch knew the alarm was for Ms. Durrah, but not everyone had seen the earthly feat of strength. The majority only saw a crowd descending on their object of desire with intent to harm. Those rose to her defense. Some near us thought the warning was regarding Lamy, whose massive bulk and fiery red eyes could only be tolerated if he were spending money and his departure were imminent. Neither was true now and he posed a perceived threat. They attacked him.

I somehow escaped notice. I knew that if no weapons more dangerous than a falling piano were brandished both Sarah and Felton Lamy were in no real danger. Our mission on Simplicity was though.

I examined the situation for an exit strategy when I noticed the sax player from the band beckoning me toward the stage. I positioned myself so that Lamy’s fight would be canalized toward the stage. I had to throw a couple of elbows and knees, but I kept him moving in the right direction.

By the time we got to the stage the different native factions were so busy fighting each other for the chance to defend Sarah or to alternately attack her or Lamy that they were too preoccupied to actually fight either one. I focused Lamy’s attention to the aged sax player.

He seemed like a spry centenarian, old but with all his faculties. That is, until he opened his mouth and said, “Where are you from Miss?”

At that point I realized that the course I had designed for myself and my crewmate was also made clear for the originator of the fight. Sarah Durrah stood next to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“Earth,” she shouted above the din. The old man rolled his eyes.

“Where on Earth?”

“Chicago.”

“Ah! I thought so. I’m from ‘da cidy’ myself, but I left a hundred years ago.”

“Really?” He didn’t seem that old. He was well preserved.

“That’s why they call me ‘Old Chicago.’ Listen, we’re regulars here. There’s no back stage, but there is a back door. For a fellow Chicagoan and such a pretty lady to boot, I’ll show you the way. You’re with her, right?” He nodded to Lamy and me.

I hesitated.

“Falcon Butler, if you’ve got a fast ship I’m with you. I’m going to need a ride.”

A chair flew over my head, indicating that they belligerents had remembered their true enemy, but it didn’t register in my mind at all. Sarah Durrah knew my name. Sarah Durrah was coming with us. I was going to save Sarah Durrah.

“You got a boat Romeo?” Old Chicago asked. He had moved to the worn velvet curtain at the back of the stage.

“Yeah,” I looked into her eyes and she smiled.

“Then come on.” The old man pulled the curtain aside to reveal a door.

I later heard that the apes of Simplicity never did figure out our vanishing act. They took their frustration and xenophobia out on each other and the furniture of that bar until there was nothing left.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Whortlberry Summer and the Inner Prop

I'm in. I sold my global warming Godzilla story, named "The Northern Faerie Ring" to Whortleberry Press and it will be included in their summer anthology, Whortleberry Summer.

Woo Hoo! I have now doubled the amount of money I have made writing in the last 20 years. I could now buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Whortleberry Press are the same folks that published Cats Around the Christmas Tree with my story, "Carolers."

I like them. As soon as it is available you should go buy a copy.

Friday, April 25, 2008

New Contest, New Game

I wrote a new story for a new contest at Mirable Visu. This contest deadline is Sunday (so you too can enter).

The topics you can choose from are: Vibrate, Journey, or Despair. The additional challenges are: Set 50 years in the past or future, set in Asia and organize the words and the spaces to heighten the feeling of the piece.

I can't tell you what my story is about because this is an anonymous round. No one puts their names on the stories and everyone has to guess. It is also a prize round with $10 in Amazon.com credit going to the winner (now do you think you'll enter?).

I've been trying to get a sailing game worked out. I really like the spirit of pirate games, so I to write one. We played it about one and a half times and it is a bit too complicated. I wanted it to be more of a "Beer and pretzels" sort of game with more simple strategy and very little luck. The original game, Traders, Raiders and Pirates (TRP) is more of along the lines of an Axis and Allies or Risk (which may be considered BandP by some and VERY serious by others).

My second attempt kept some of the mechanics of TRP, but dispensed with the empire building aspects. I've played Buccaneers' Race once with my daughters and it had real potential as a BandP. I will have to play it a few times with my brothers and some friends that really know games. It may actually become something to share.

Then I realized that my youngest (barely 7) was not able to play any of these. The concept of wind and sail is too much for her. She does like the little ships I bought from the Pirates of the Spanish Main game. I wanted to come up with a game that she can play, but again wouldn't be entirely based on chance and wouldn't be boring to older players. This is my attempt.

CORSAIR BOAT RACE

1. SET UP
a. Place checkered cloth on table as the playing surface (we have fabric with black and white squares 2in on a side (like a victory flag).
b. Place the buoys so that they form an equilateral triangle with one point on the far right, this will be East and the wind will be from the East.
c. Buoys should be 18 squares apart.
d. Place all boats so
that they form a line on the outside of the eastern buoy. This will be the starting and finishing line.


2. WINNING
a. Determine how many laps the race is and the first ship to cross the finish line while sailing around the outside of the triangle formed by the buoys is the winner.

3. MOVING
a. Each player rolls one six sided die (1d6). The players will take turns in the order of their dice roll, highest goes first.
b. Players will move their ships up to 4 squares in any direction except directly to the right (East). That is into the wind.
c. When all players have moved roll again to determine the order of play for each following turn.
d. Ships cannot pass through or end their turn in the same square as another ship.
e. Ships may go "inside" the triangle, but it will not count unless they pass the buoys on the "outside."

That's it. What do you think?

This month's poll, What's your favorite type game. Comments welcome here.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Joining Archaeology Fieldwork.com

I'm joining a forum called Archaeologyfieldwork.com. I want to get my hand back into the Anthopological game again.

Mrs. Prop and I decided when we decided to get married, that I could continue my education and work on my doctorate in Anthropology when we retire.

I want to keep Anthropology very much alive in our thoughts plus there have been quite a few "developments" in Paleoarchaeology since I left school (good God!) eighteen years ago.

Which image do you think I should use as my avatar on that forum? I posted a couple of choices I like.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Monster Fungus

I'm working on a horror story for a book anthology that needs summer stories.

I working on the general premise of "Global Warming Godzilla."

I also added a poll on cryptids since my main character is a Cryptobiologist (Gudrun (formerly Cocaine) Forkbeard).

You are welcome to discuss cryptids and that sort of thing here too.

What do you think of the idea and the story brief?

I. Where: Just outside of Churchill, Manitoba Canada

II. When: Mid June

III. What: A team from the PAABGW investigates reports of a mysterious creature that is killing and eating polar bears. While investigating, a UFO launches from underground nearby. They find that an alien race had come to earth during the Little Ice Age to stop the spread of another alien (the "Mud Monster"). The aliens of the UFO created the LIA to stop the "creature" but now they are giving up on humanity because we just won’t help ourselves.

IV. Who:
A. Presidential Auxiliary Advisory Board on Global Warming (PAABGW)
-1. Roland Coaster PhD. - head of the board
-2. LtCmdr Tenesha Flax - USN military leader of the PAABGW
-3. Ezekiel Hose PhD - Leader of this investigation. PhD in Biology, Vet Med etc.
-4. Gudrun Forkbeard PhD - PhD in Cryptozoology, Biology, Anthropology
-5. Hoyt Beaubien PhD - Creole Geologist and Chemist
-6. Fatma Erdogan PhD - Turkish woman Meteorologist
-7. SGT Jesus Pena - driver and NCOIC
-8. SPC Videl Vega - driver
-9. CPT Robert Gullette - Canadian Army OIC

B. Natives
-1. Diane Gillock - PA and Tundra Buggy driver - guide to village
-2. Vernia Longwell - Tribal elder

C. Aliens
-1. "Mud Monster" aka "The Creature" [give this another, cool name] a portion of the same mold /fungus creature from "Nay So Much a Man." An ancient intelligence bent on destroying mankind [why?]
-2. [Cool named aliens that fly the UFO]

V. Storyline:
A. Gudrun joins the team in Churchill. They take two hummers with RV trailers to the village. Along the way, Gudrun talks to Diane and learns that Diane visits villages on a monthly medical round during the off-season. Recently the village told her that something, not of their legends, was killing and "eating" polar bears. Diane has seen one.

B. When they arrive at the village, they meet the elder, Vernia Longwell who leads them to one of the PB. It is dead with no decay and a circle of death all around. Anything that touches it dies. No natural decaying agents (mold, bacteria, insects etc) have invaded the corpse, even though it's been dead and above freezing temp for a week. The team investigates the rest of the day.

C. During the night, they hear some strange noise and something is strange about the night sky. In the morning, they get a call from NORAD to investigate a UFO nearby.

D. They go out to investigate the launch site of the UFO and find it is near the PB, which is now gone. They find a huge hole in the tundra.

E. At some point, they leave the hole and the last one out gets grabbed by something inside the hole. When they run to help they find that the hole has been filled in.

F. Gudrun realizes that it is the same entity that she found in Alaska and that they creature is really that big and trying to pull itself together.

G. Narrow escape and aftermath

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Fiction Story Ideas

I thought I would share some of the things that bang around in my fevered imagination.

I haven't written stories on any of these yet. You are welcome to use the ideas, but please let me know so I don't use them too!

The World Builders
SF Story Idea
26 June 2007


A story that is broken into very short scenes set at the time when building spabitats [must change that word, find a better one (I have since coined genoid and like it better)] has just been opened up to privatization. The story is centered around a company that builds worlds.
Among characters is

  • Top salesman who likes to focus on religious groups
  • A world designer [female, based on the women who have worked with us on our house].

[Back-story] The USA is waning in prestige and power when we begin space colonies. A fortuitous close pass of an asteroid provides the first spabitat. The US is revitalized when they catch the idea and run with it that we have manifest destiny to conquer the solar system. The US does actually work space like an empire in a race against the EU and East Asia (which unites). The US has the upper hand though, and the race is not head to head fighting, but a race [although a subtle undercutting of each empirical power is a good undercurrent].

  • Also at the setting time the first armed cargo escorts are hired. The story will center around one person who is related to someone in the world building company. I think the soldiers will be called Vacuums since Marines is short for Marine Infantry and these soldiers will be infantry for the vacuum of space. I don't like the name, "spacers."
  • Pirates have started stealing cargo off unmanned cargo vessels. The story can also interweave the story of a pirate ship.
  • The government has been providing Homesteader Worlds for some time at a very low cost.
  • These are still available, but they are just hollowed out asteroids, sealed with soil, atmosphere and mirrors. They have no external factories or farms and are easily amalgamated or conglomerated [what is the difference?].
  • Also follow the story of a homesteader family.

There are three types of Warships: Battleships, Frigates or Cutters.

  • The distinction between battleships and frigates is not based on ability, but on cost. The frigates are smaller and cheaper so they are more plentiful.
  • Battleships look for other battleships to fight. They are also symbols of an empire's power.
  • Frigates look to fight other frigates, perform convoy escort, perform patrols, do inspections and so on. Frigates are far more useful than battleships.
  • Cutters are not capable of long-range missions, simply because they don't have the capacity [or maybe engine type].

Of course developments in engines, weapons, armor sensors and the like make a wide variety of classes. When an older class becomes obsolete it may be given a different role.


[How prolific are warships? If the empires don't interact much, what is their point and if pirates are just now becoming a threat then would there really be a history of a navy? Maybe the development of the Vacuums will be echoed in the development of frigates.]

· 19 Jul 07
o "The Man Who Sent His Brain To Space" – a man has his brain replaced by a computer in order to exchange ethnographic data with an alien culture.
o He's a Xenoanthropolgist and he just lost his wife. He announces that he volunteered for the project to his family at Thanksgiving and he returns, changed, for Christmas.
o He wants to erase the memory of his wife.
o He is too much like the "real" man for the family to tolerate.
o Human brains and memories can be read, but only by taking apart (and destroying) the brain. Artificial brains are more efficient and have more capacity. They run the body more effectively and are not susceptible to strokes or other forms of brain damage. Human brains are too analog for transmission. You need a digital brain. The aliens and we can exchange brains (the software of the alien mind can be put into a human brain and vise-versa).
o There is no practical FTL travel, but information can be sent by Quantum Communication.

6 Oct 07 Horror detective story
Man just lost his job (he was a corp drone) and his wife so he starts a consulting firm to investigate spreadsheets and databases. His young female cousin is a college student who needs a roommate and a job. She convinces him to hire her as a secretary, but he can only pay her on a per case basis. She always tries to drum up business and gets him involved in supernatural cases until he gets a rep for those sorts. Eventually he teas up with a Muslim woman who a a Green Beret and loves guns. He also gets with Benji from "Alone." He gets a PI licence when he starts the consulting service.

  • First story is "The Thing in the Barn"

What do you think?