Thursday, November 02, 2006

The first few days....

Here it is. Tomorrow I plan on quadrupling the word count... the past couple days have been filled with sick and sleepy. Anywho here the start : ) Erm.. I think I'll post a word doc next time... thats formatted really nasty...


Underhouse.

“We look and we look for mysteries and wonders, but in doing so we overlook the obvious. Why point your nose to the sky in awe when there are many, many more marvels much closer. At times, it is those who stumble who find the greatest treasures, the ones right under our feet”
Old Gypsy Proverb.
It begins.
Light from power globes struck through the darkness, creating fantastic shadows on the cavern walls. It bobbed wildly, its owner running in the direction of a loud call.
“Jacob! Jacob! Here, come here, bring the tools man.”
“What is it?” Jacob yelled back, straining his voice to be heard over his breath. He was not a large man, but plump and far too old to have just run the amount of stairs he had without some ill side effect. He near collapsed with his load of tools when he came to the work site, the hat he'd taped a power globe to tipping down over his eyes and exposing a balding spot that was normally kept carefully hidden.
“What... is .... it?” Jacob gestured at the walls, “you know... you know its not safe to be so loud. Covert, thats whats needed... covert, silence.”
Robert shook his head without turning his face away from the wall, mouth moving silently as he made out the characters on the surface by the light that came from a hand globe.
“What is it? Its it!” He reached out and grabbed Jacob's shoulder, pulling the older man closer to the wall and the script. Shorter but fit from crawling through caves most of his life, Robert Dawn had little trouble dragging his tired counter part nearer.
“You're the academic, I never had a head for these things like you, what do they say? I think... I think they're important!”
“All that shouting for an 'I think' ?” Jacob frowned, “dangerous, just plain dangerous. Theres things in these caves that make loud people like you disappear.”
Robert finally turned, blue eyes bright in the old mans globe, “theres the mark Jacob, the door mark! And theres a map! I think, I think we've found it!
“Door mark? Where show me!”
“Here, and another, here!”
“I see... yes, yes its the mark they used for doors. Locked doors maybe. No, this ones for unlocking. And the map its... here take the light, shine it up there...”
Robert scrambled for a globe in amid the tools, fumbled with the switch and finally got it set on its stand so that soft illumination reached to the high ceiling of the room, some thirty lengths above them.
“Its huge...” Robert breathed in awe.
“Yes, its all here! Like you thought it wold be! Robert this is it! Or at least the first part of where it is! We've found the map! See, here, this must be us right here!” Jacob's finger brushed a symbol on the map. Even in the bright lights, the glow could be seen, a passing pulse that caught Robert's eye.
“What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That! You pressed something and there was a light, it glowed light it was lit.”
“By globes you mean?”
“No, something different...” Robert leaned closer and brushed his fingers against the symbol again, the light repeated.
“Its powered! It can't be...”
“It must be, here get the tools, the instruments. We need to take readings, pictures, this is the find of the century!” Robert brushed his hand against it again, a little harder. The pulse of light rippled and lit up four node around it. Jacob, half way to the pile of tools froze when the grinding began, like blocks of rock moving against each other.
Robert staggered back, looking around wildly, trying to find what had made the noise. A rush of sour air poured down over top each of them, carrying mold and dust and the scent of long dead things. In the next instant a shape darted past the lights, casting a fleeting shadow. A hunting scream sounded instants later.
“What is it?”
“Who cares what, where is it? Get the gun, wheres the gun?”
“I left it... back at camp, where yours?”
Robert crouched low, holding a pistol up in front of him in response. Jacob followed him, cowering near the light.
“If its a nocturn the light will hurt its eyes.”
“if it has eyes, some just use sound you know, nothing but sonar and teeth...”
“Shhh, it'll hear you.”
Overhead another whoosing shape passed.
“Two, or one? I can't tell, they're so fast!”
“Shhh!” Robert hissed again, “we need to make it back to camp. You go first, I'll cover you.”
“Age before beauty eh? Alright.” Jacob glanced around, then straightened, “if we don't make it, just remember. We found it. We really found it Jacob. If we don't make it, thats alright. I can die happy right now, knowing that i was right.”
“If you don't hurry our ghosts will guard it too you old fool, move!”
Bobbing his head, Jacob wound the power globe on his hat to full strength and started off sprinting in the direction he had come. They were too fast, too dark in the black of the caves shadows. Robert shot twice, sound fantastically loud in the cavern and then silence amid the dying lights of globes.

Chapter One

“The following is written in the Journals of the Rulers of House. ..And the Ancestors came to this planet with Pride and Dreams, aspiring to create beauty and mansions on earth that rival those of Heavens perfect world. They built and brought and, in the likeness of lesser gods, made their dreams realities. They sought to create a perfect place. Outside Heaven, no such place exists, and thus in their Pride they were destroyed and we, the survivors and pure of thought and mind, were spared.”
Angelo Vicindii

Prince

Appendix

Of House
House or, more correctly, 'The House of Our Fathers' is a strange city. The planet on which it resides has long since ceased to have a name, House's inhabitants simply call it dangerous, murmuring about the environmental (storms) and ecological (predators) horrors of outside, not even daring to create children's stories from them. The fears are very real and as such House has wards and defenses unique to its situation.
Most of the city lies underground, built into the walls and floor of a long and wide canyon, its foundations set firmly on the remains of am ancient city sunk there by the Apocalypse. Its roof, the most amazing part of House, is a clear dome that House's Towers reach towards like grasping hands. At the Apex of the dome hangs the Seat of Power for House, where a Dynasty of Emperors have watched faithfully over the city.
Cascading down on ridges and ledges and man-made steps lies House, from the tallest towers majesty to the lower shambles and the forbidden basements of ancient ruins where massive predators still hunt, House is magnificent. Still, it holds no place next to the cities of old, the remains of which still sit dormant, waiting to be discovered.

Of the Rulers of House

Of Free Running

Of the Ancestors
The ancestors, that race of men that were the fathers of those that now live in House, hold a strange place in history. As fathers they are respected, but as men they are reviled. They are both praised for their part in making life possible in House and blamed for the current state of the planets environment. It is said they aspired too much and because of their ambitions they and their children for always will be punished. History tells us that they created the planet that House occupies from dust and built their utopia on it with tools and science so akin to magic that they must have had the Devils help in it. For this, God punished them, causing their creation to be taken from them in the Apocalypse.
The men descendant from the ancestors have lost most of the science that their predecessors once possessed, usually destroying what they do find as it is still considered black magic and devil craft. The keepers of House will not bring on another Apocalypse willingly.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

It'll be a cold day in Saskatchewan... today.

Hey! Um.. hmmm, yeah I have no excuses. None. To reimburse you all for this LACK of effort on my part, this complete disreguard for my Extensive (perhaps more correctly called intensive... is that the opposite of 'alot'?) fanbase, I bring you... National Novel Writing Month!! Haha ok ok so I don't bring it to you but as sure as the wind blows I'll going to try my darnest to hit the goal this year.

For those of you unfamiluar, NaNoWriMo happens every Novemeber and is a personal challenge for anyone who wants to try to write a novel in a month. The target is 50,000 words in a month, preferably coherent Novelish words and not "I am so great" copy and pasted over and over and over... check out the site here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I've managed to complete the task once in the past two years (last year school got in the way pretty hardcore) and I'd love to at least come close to the target this year. So that said, heres the story I'll be writing :)

Underhouse.
The city now called House is on a planet that was colonized 1000's of years ago by settlers from Earth and then abandoned to its own devises ( as many planets were ). The settlers had a dream to build up the planet to what they beleived was the golden age of Humanity, modeling their society after the Greeks and Romans. They built great cities and dedicated themselves to the pursuit of knowledge. To this end libraries and schools collected vast amounts of information. Then one day, it was all lost...

The Survivors fled to massive underground shelters, the world outside was deemed to too hazardous to survive as the air was poisoned and weather wreaked havoc. For a generation they huddled and survived in the shelters, until some emerged and, finding conditions ahd improved somewhat, began to rebuild in the shelter of cliffs, building new foundations on the ruins of the old. Humanity perceveres, though they forgot what was and the history of what happened is a mystery.

Present day finds some people venturing into the basements of House, into the ruins to ask the questions of what happened, and where they came from. The discoveries of these people are even strager than fables, the lost technology found there like magic to the present day inhabitants of House. The beginning of the story begins with the finding of the Seerian Grid... a most Anchient highway into untold Wonder and Danger!

Haha hopefully that was dramatic enough to catch at least one persons attention : ) thats the premise and the story idea, we'll see where it goes from there. My plan is to post wha 've written here every couple of days, or at least links to what I've written (Not sure how much this blog can take.) So for all of you that want to follow along, this is the place to do it.

I sincerely hope that this story is as enjoyable for you all to read as I know it will be for me to write. Thanks for your interest,

John, the once and future Writer.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Black Nines! The first chaper of Episode One: The Furies! Enjoy


Pilots called the supply run between Iliad and Sanction's station rich asteroid fields the Anaconda; long and dangerous. Seven days of deep space flight strewn with wandering rock field and barren moons meant little hope of rescue if anything went wrong half way. Pilots ranked the run among one of the most treacherous, demanding high pay and heavy gunship escort before considering to run heavy haulers through the stretch of desolation. Pirates loved the anaconda, basing camps and raiding parties out of the thousands upon thousands of rock fields that made Sanction such a hotbed of industry and striking convoys halfway. The gunship escorts weren't just for show, a lot of money changed hands in Sanction; legally and otherwise.
Three days into the Anaconda Charlie Davis pulled his point ship out of jump and locked the controls into slow burn. The rest of Interstar Postal fleet 47 phased into existence behind him, engines still flickering blue residue. Haulers, point ships and heavy escort pulled into a tight, textbook formation. Postmen prided themselves in precision. Davis watched his computer preform its standard sweep and come up with the all clear before unplugging and pulling off his helmet in the cramped cockpit
“Another one for the books, eh Gadd?”
Nathon Gadd marked the time on the flight logs and nodded.
“We’re three hours ahead of time. Not bad fly boy.”
“Good Postal efficiency, that’s all, and good maintenance. The fleet had a refit last month, didn’t you know? Standard tuning, engine retrofit. Was in the shop for a month”
“Huh yeah that would explain it. Been out of the loop for a while, I guess I didn't check too when I got back.”
“Got back?” Davis asked.
“Yeah. Took a couple months leave.” Nathan finished with his logs and cleared the screens. “Wife had another kid so we spent some time together. Went out to her parents cabin on Lake Shimwa, family time.”
“Well how about that! No fooling? You're a father again?”
“I never kid about family. Here, take a look.” Nathan took a wallet from from the overhead and sent a picture flying through the zero gravity his pilot. “That’s Murphy Gadd.”
“Murphy huh?” Davis caught the picture, holding it up.
“Yup, seven pounds and a couple of ounces. Healthy as an oak.” He grinned proudly, “I’d give you a cigar if we weren’t in this tin can, got a few in my bag.”
“Yeah, yeah I’d smoke to his health.” Davis nodded, tossing the picture back to his copilot. “Congratulations, he’s a real nice looking kid. Fine looking kid, must take after his mother, looks better than you, eh?”
“Hey, hey now easy. I figure he’s got my nose.” Gadd returned the picture.
“Yeah maybe, how many is that now? Got to be up around three?”
“Hah just three. And this is the end, threes enough, let me tell you.”
Davis chuckled, “She decide that or you?”
“She did, mostly.” Gadd said, “you ever have a family, you'll know when its time to pull the plug.”
“If I ever settle down, I'll remember that.”
“Family life's a good life.” Gadd nodded outside, “its tough being away from them for so long though.”
“Yeah.” Davis looked up from controls, “hey buck up man. We'll get you back safe and sound with a big fat paycheck to feed your new kid. A pilot can retire on a couple of these runs.”
“Yeah you're not kidding.” Gadd cracked a smile, “this ones for Murpheys college fund. The next ones a house on the lake.”
“Thats how you gotta think on these long cold runs.” Davis rubbed at his nose, “it keeps a man sane.”
“Yeah. Still though.”
“Yeah, still...”
“Hey, you’ll have the remind me about that cigar when we get in station.”
“Already looking forward to it. How many days we have left?”
“Three, another one in high orbit if the papers don’t go through right away.”
“They never do.” Davis shook his head, “Not while I’ve flown anyway.”
“Might this time, we’re carrying Cantrop cargo this run.” Gadd hooked a thumb out at the six big haulers outside the canopy. “I saw the stamps, high priority stuff.”
Davis let out a low whistle. “Now there’s a high rolling customer. Why’d they pick us to courier? I thought they handled their transport internally?”
Gadd shrugged, “No idea. Must have been a rush order, something that came up unexpected. Some shipping error or something.”
“Yeah probably… haha, life happens even to those big money guys huh?” Davis smiled, “even when you’re sleeping on a bed of gold and green, things screw up. That’s nice to know.”
“Hah, yeah.” Gadd chuckled, “Still, I’d like to have the kind of problems those guys have.”
“Yeah, like where to put all the extra loot they’ve picked up from stocks and all that.” Davis shook his head, “Everything those guys have touched lately has turned to gold.”
The two were interrupted by a crackle over the general speaker.
“Point this is guard leader, check your sweep, I'm picking up one unknown on approach. Its not flashing any codes, please confirm.”
Davis grabbed up his helmet and pulled it down on his head, Gadd doing the same. The plugs slipped in automatically, giving the normal dizziness while the systems booted into Davis's brain. Gadd was powering on defense systems inside of 30 seconds; the Postal service hadn’t gotten where it was without being paranoid. One big echo was closing fast on a hard burn. To Davis that shot up red flags.
“Roger guard leader, I confirm your count. That is one ship on hard approach. Not reading a broadcast signature, am now attempting hail.”
Gadd flipped through the general frequencies, repeating “Unknown, this is Interstar Postal Service fleet number 47 based in Iliad, please respond.”
After minutes and more attempts Gadd flipped up his mike, “They’re not responding Davis. Could be privateers. Or pirates.”
Davis nodded, and flipped back to guard leader, “Guard leader this is point ship. Cannot reach unknown on hail. It has…” He paused and double-checked the computers estimate, “3 minutes until weapons range. Possible threat, I repeat, the unknown poses a possible threat. Suggest fleet goes to weapons standby until unknowns intentions are made clear.”
“Roger point. Confirm, weapons on standby?”
“That is confirmed guard leader, we are weapons ready. If the unknowns make a hostile move you are weapons free.”
“Roger and out.”
“You think its anything?” Gadd asked.
“Nothing we can’t handle. Its only one ship, what could they do?” Davis patted his copilot’s shoulder reassuringly, “don’t worry, you’ve got a baby to get home to. We’ll make sure you do. It’s probably nothing.”
“Yeah.” Gadd pulled the release on the firing controls, swinging a complex headrest over his shoulders and jacking the cables into his head plugs. The lights in the ship cockpit turned to dim red as Davis did the same. “Just in case though.”
“Yeah.”
The two men sat in silence as the ISP fleet moved closer to the unknown.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Middle of the Month and the end of summer looms!

I must be frank. Since I finished the final script of Thistles, I have written very little. Well, very little that I can post here. I doubt very much that anyone would wish to look upon my private journal, as my life is hardly as interesting as the people of my mind. I made goals before summer, and they were good goals. Goals worthy of effort and time. 1001, Balck nines and ( possibly) Condition Genesis. All of these stories are great, all of them will be worth reading when I'm finished with them. Right now... the problem seems to be time.

So now I'm making a new goal, hopefully one more realistic considering my current summer schedule. The first episode of Black Nines will be completed by the end of August. Thats it. Of course once Black Nines is finished, I'll move onto the next project ( possibly another Black Nines episode, possibly 1001) BUT no new projects until at least a few of these have been worked on and are in a place of satisfaction with me.

I'll probably post something a bit more enjoyable to read soon ( like tonight if I think of it ) so until then, adios!

John.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Better late than.... well ok, thats an old one. Not excuses. I'm late. Still, character bios :) Next update will contain either the first bit of Black Nines or the Prologue of 1001, depending on which gets worked on first :)


Nina Harper. Her father was a snowman and her mother an ice queen. Those that survive this woman's cold shoulder should consider themselves lucky. Cold and collected, nothing can faze this agent or her skills as an infiltration and retrieval expert. She is not a leader, rather preferring to follow the orders of strategic minds and work as a lone wolf unit. One of her only flaws might be an inability to creatively think of solutions for problems. Even so, she is a valued asset as a Black Ops agent.

Kurtis Strange. He’s a grinning fool with a lightening draw. Kurtis is an expert in the ‘mix it up’ style of agent work. As a leader he is a brilliantly creative man who lives outside the box of normal thought. Expert in close combat and small firearms his assault strategies usually follow a style that incorporates explosions and stylistic firefights. The fact that he still remains alive after over 100 missions of fire, bullets and gin attests to his capable abilities.

Mary Stello. An army of one. Well, the commander of an army of one. Mary pilots an intercept carrier, her mind controlling a fleet of sixty-three intercept attack units. Mary’s brain is augmented by a complex A.I. network that allows her to manifest a virtual copy of herself dozens of times in different interceptors in her ships network, allowing her to control different units at the same time. When fleet support is required, she is the agent to call.

Chris ‘8ball’ Conrad. A smooth operator with a passion for pool, Chris prefers guile to direct confrontation. His body has been infused with a dragonfly defense unit, allowing him to control five orbs on specific magnetic fields around himself. Though not technically a cyborg, the hardware is very apparent on his body, even with the main unit uncoupled. His nerve and hard to mess with cool makes him a good choice for deep cover and missions in need of a soft touch.

Ajax and Cujo. Cyborg brothers in a big way. The two brothers served together as marines and later as Black Op’s agents. Forsaking flesh for mechanical ability, the two hardcore marines adopted Hx-toughcop urban warfare hardware upgrades. Both now stand 12 feet tall and nearly completely mechanized, the only things they kept from their human existence is flesh brains and a passion for heavy guns. When things need to be leveled indiscriminately, the brothers are called in to fill the heavy support role.

Jason Keith. Programming and network specialist. Before coming into employment with the Black Nines he worked as a freelance hacker for corporations, trafficking sensitive information. He was considered one of the best among the megacorp pirates. Now he employs his hacker and security skills for a slightly more legal organization. There is talk that Jason joined Black Nines under threat of his life, and that he is not allowed to leave the compound except under mission circumstances, but these rumors have never been founded. Jason doesn't talk much.

Sandra White. Pilot. Sandra can fly anything. One of only a handful of pilots who can run a craft without jacking in, Sandra is a versatile agent who also fills surveillance and support roles when the occasion arises. Known as the agent with jack-of-all-trades skill set she is versatile and valuable to Black Ops. Qualifications range from small to mid sized atmospheric and space craft.

Marko Slate. A mutant from Egypt labs who found a place first in the Forsant Security Task forces and then in the Black Nines themselves. He is an incredibly tough, strong and agile mutant created for construction work. Not initially created to be creative Marko still exhibits many free ideas not part of his original creation programming. On the outside he's a bluish tinge skin of organic armor, squat and powerful.

Casper and Sage. A sweeper team, bald and pale, cold and calculating. As much as the Accord agencies try to keep things above the board, sometimes in the world of intrigue and terrorism, it helps to be closer to the terrorist's level. Casper and Sage will follow every order, relentlessly and faithfully. Having undergone intense conditioning their faithfulness to the Accord is unquestionable and rivaled only by their skills as killers. When someone needs to disappear discreetly, Casper and Sage are called in from the shadows.

Joshua 'Stony' Acres. Intelligence Director at the Black nines. He has been in out of the security world for the past fifty years of his life, originally as a field agent and then moving into positions as a handler and further up into roles of upper house management. His somewhat easy going demeanor hides a calculating mind and a razor sharp memory. Through all the things hes seen and done, Stony has still retained his humor and compassion for the people, not allowing himself to become a cold man. Well connected, well informed and able to think in the many layers of Accord and Universe politics, Stony should never be underestimated.

Richard Aries. Another Directors in the Black Nines management team. A young prodigy of Accord conditioning, Aries has a mind that works like an organic computer; able to compute probabilities and scenario outcomes on the fly with only the assistance of minor brain mods. His only fault might be the value he places on human life and his willingness to sacrifice others for the greater good of the Accord. Still, his ability as a mission planner is unparalleled, making him one of the most dangerous men in the Accord.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

An opinion... thats worth about as much as a grain of salt.

For those that know me, or even casual people who see me on occasion and on said occaisons we exchange words and chit chat, it is obvious that I like comics. I have tried to steer away from super hero comics, they just have never appealed to me. I even use the term "Goofs in tights" Still, I'm starting to see the error of my ways. This is largely because of the onslaught of super movies ( previously super comics ) that are appearing in the "Coming soon!" and "Now Playing!" Sections of our theaters and movie stores. Most of these comic movies ( with exceptions being "A History of Violence" and "V for Vendetta" ) are superhero movies. Now I'd like to point out that many of these movies are not like the comics. That is, they're not good. Marvel has been... ok, batting about 50%. And really, thats fairly respectable. With Spiderman 1 & 2 being massive successes and titles like Electra and Daredevil meating passable praise ( though there were a few scenes worth watching )

Now onward and upword! There are three upcoming ( and arived ) movies I'd like to mention. Superman Returns is the obvious one, as its now showing and Spiderman 3 (the trailer was released yesterday) and Ghost Rider. Watch the Spiderman 3 trailer.... several times. Then meditate on it. It is possible they took the best parts of the source content and condensed it down into a film ( an extremely hard thing to do I might add ) Thats what it looks like. I can't ruin anything so I'll just say it: The suit + Sandman + Harry Osborn as the Green Goblin. Looks like they put the suit in this one WITHOUT Venom (which I think is good cause then they'd try to pack tooo much stuff into it [ahem xmen 3?]) If they keep the same love story / revenge bit / human interest plus spider powers recipe they've been keeping to thus far, I think it'll be great.

Superman I have little to comment on. I've heard rave reviews from skeptical sources though, so thats something in its favor, boosting it to "I'll probably see before it hits DVD" status. Ghost Rider looks like a bomb. A big, messy korian built bomb designed to cause as much everlasting damage as possible. Watch the trailer once... you'll see what I mean. Its too bad since Ghost Rider is a pretty cool character. I mean, hes got a flaming head for crying out loud. The one line "Human by day.. something else by night" was just too typical. Its too bad, that one had potential.

oh! in terms of my writing I'm gonna try and post Black Nine character bios tonight. For those of you who have been following this story you may be pleased to find I've added a few characters and edited a few of the existing ones in accordance with a few newer storylines that came to me. One Thousand One might be a next week update as I have plans for the remainder of this weeks nights and this long weekend will probably be spent moving people from one location to the next. Still... stranger things have happened and in the end, I shall persevere.

Until next time,

John, The Writer.

Friday, June 23, 2006

You could call me a Stranger... and you'd be right.

I really need to get this update thing down. Like... make it a habit or something. Haha it'd probably help if I was writing more and actually HAD something to post here. But I don't. At least not anything that isn't 4th Watch material.

Finished the final version (rough draft) of our Parables submission script the other day and I have to say, I'm very happy with it. More importantly most of the people who have read it are happy with it. They might be less critical than myself ( I mean in the sense that he who writes is his hardest critic ) but, in the end, its these guys that we need to give smiles and prompt tears. They are the audience; our consumer. So it fills my little heart up with measures of happiness and relief to know the script passes their scrutiny. Now I give this skeletal thing over to Josh and trust that he will clothe it in apparal so wonderous and fantastic that all who gaze upon it will be held inthrall. He'll do it too. Haha I can't wait.

In my other projects I have made little to no progess. Black Nines stares at me forelorn, still mostly untouched after the most recent corrupt file incident, the ideas lingering. I may post the character profiles later this weekend, I've been told they are the best part.

One Thousand and One is calling also. I reread the prolouge I had written originally for it, the one I was determined to rewrite into a different setting, and found I liked it better than I remembered. I think I'll keep it with minor changes. Keep the mood and setting at least, details always switch themselves a round for the betterment of all readers. Anyway, One Thousand One is one of those stories I love, for setting and Characters and a plot idea that has enough juice to spill over into an epic adventure. Its also Bekah's favorite and alot of our talks turned into parts of that story while I was writing it for Nano. So I think I'm going to promise two updates in the next week. Black Nines Profiles and a One Thousand One prologue. Because you, the reader, deserve it.

For now and for always John.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Updates from the unknown!!!!

If I could pu that in little wiggly text font, maybe dripping green ooze, I would. Seriously It feels like its been about two months since I updated this thing so either that displays my laziness or my buziness (intentional mis-spelling). Honestly though there is little to report on the writing front except that my saved copy of Black Nines corrupted twice. Twice. Thus leaving me to start again from a recovered gmail attachement. Heart attacks DO come to the young, but that knight in glimmering armor (gamil!) hath come to the rescue. Awww the things of fairytales. Needless to say Black Nines has been set back... alot, but the ideas are still in my skull... somewhere. Updates on that a biiit later.

Parables direction has been moved or, should I say, redirected? In a week of emails and heated discussion Josh and I both agreed that 'Shut-In' is a fantastic comic, just not suitable for Parables. We will be finishing it, full length and INCLUDING Kenny the Thumb, everyones soon-to-be favorite twitchy squirrel. I'll post more about our next great comic idea in the 4th watch blog.

So for the remainder of this blog, I'm doing what bloggers everywhere do, but I'm going to attempt some poise. I will rant, its true, and about a geeky pop culture movie. Though bound in my fevered opinions I hope there might just be a spark of truth, a bit of light to bring to this dismal darkness that has been dubbed "X-men 3"

I'm not a massive fan to begin with, but when you start seeing trailers with Juggernaut in them, flashing images of Beast ravanging through armies of lesser mutants and murmurs of 'the pheonix' that geek heart inside beats a little faster. With material like that, they can't screw up! It's impossible! Right? Oh please...right? Yeah... right...

Its shallow, cyclops (again) is a minor and near useless character. Actually, correction, in this movie he IS useless. Main characters die, and I'm talking about the charatcers that survived in the same situations in comic land. I won't spoil what little shock value there is to be had by naming who, but lets just say, their deaths do little to add to the plot of the movie for the most part.

So heres the end, what bugs me the most is that this had potential to be a great show. Instead, for some bizzare reason, writers caved to fan pleads and tried to include everything they wanted. Succeeding in fitting in everything, they ultimately gave us very little. Two good, solid ideas would have gone a long, long way instead of trying to incorperate a half dozen minor plot lines that never developed to anything. *sigh* such good source material, so much waste.

the movie does have its moments, and those moments are good, but I can't help be feeling those moments have little flow to them, and are separated by expanses of stand alone scenes of fighting and mayhem. If only they'd had more flow... if only we cared a bit more about these characters... if.. but.. *sigh* And I'm finished.

See the movie, the animation is amazing. Take your kids, a five year old can figure out whats going on with ease. Form you opinions. For an action flick its not bad, but fans wanted a bit more. I think fans deserved a bit more. Thats my opinion and I think a few hundred thousand others might just share it.

Gone for now,
John The Writer.

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Well hey everyone!

I've been back at work for about a week nw and am finally getting used to the idea of wearing a tie... Haha the new shirts I bought are good, apparently they're the right size. The old shirts I had in the back of my closet are a tad bit tight around the neck. Hehe I always uesd to wear them collar open so it didn't matter. Dress codes pfft...

Anyway, with my life once again hitting that get up-go to work-come home-....chill.... I'm find more time to spend on serious writing. The project that I've been most busy with lately is overhauling 'Black Nines'. It will be one of my shorter pieces (Compared to say... One thousand One which will probably turn into one fo those three volume epics....) so I thought it would be a good one to start with on my summer revisions. So far so good (minus a back-up error and a corrupt file... thank goodness for Gmail and its wonderful massive storage for backups :)) I guess long story short, expect a post of Black Nines as soon as later today.

My other off again on again summer project "Creatures" has been worked on a bit. Haha that project is more of a loose idea project. If theres a loose idea in my head that needs to go somewhere, I create a short about it with some Creatures characters. Well I will be. Right now theres a pile of partial ideas on paper... I'll finish one soon and post it soon too. This week might be a really good one for postings actually... well I never promise things anymore, but the POTENTIAL is there.

Until then, John.
The Writer.

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Sunday!

Well heres a good day, the last one before I start my new job. I must say, I'm kinda looking forward to being employed again. It might have something to do with suddenly finding about three runs of Trade paperbacks I want to buy (haha anyone want to loan me 180$ for Bone? Anyone?) Anyway, I'll be able to routine my day once again with a job and that should, theoretically equal more time for writing. it may not, but hopefully it will. I still have a wicked EVE addiction too, so that will demand time. Oh! Just in case I haven't plugged EVE yet, probably the best online game you'll ever play. www.eve-online.com . Check it out, do the 2 week demo and then sign away your life. Haha I kid, its not that bad, no need for an intervention... Yet.

Alright enough of that stuff, time for what you all really want to hear! This past weekend I did the 24 hour playwright contest and I gotta say it was a humbling expierence. The awards ceremony was this morning and while I knew I was probably sub par, I still held out that small amount of hope that I might place a third. Yeeaaahhh right. Hearing the excerps from the winning plays in both the student and open categories I was absolutely stunned at the wit and pure skill of not only the expierenced playwrites but the student ones, two of which I'm sure were younger than I am. Haha I console my wounded pride int he knowledge that they were all drama students of some kind or another and I'm just a lowly novel writer. Met some good people though, and learned quite a bit about the playwriting community in Saskatoon, theres this underground society it seems, very dedicated to their work. Like vampires maybe, only less bloodthirsty.

Well here it is, in case anyone wants to read this thing I conceived. 27 pages, just over 10,000 words and written in a little over 10 hours (haha I copped out pretty early, it wasn't going to get any better without major overhauling to plot structure.) Haha due to length I decided to post it on a different webspace instead of torturing Blogger with it.

http://www.thecomicmachine.zy.ca/nano/play.html

I really have to Thank a one Julian Kelly for how this turned out. Originally this was going to be a 'Creatures' story, and it still kinda is. Debating ideas for about 2 hours with Julian we turned it less into a 'Creatures' story and more into its own little stand alone project with no real ties to anything. So thanks dude! You're awesome!

Until Next time, God Bless,
John,
The Writer.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

School is over. Over AND Done!

I wrote my last final exam yesterday morning annnnd have had a great day of turning my brain into mush today. Haha iced tea and Kung Fu movies will do that to a guy ;) Still and all, I thought it high time to at least attempt to accomplish something today between bouts of napping, movie marathons and general slothing. Thus, I started to plan out some of my summer writing goals.

First and foremost is 'Creatures', as this is the story line that I plan on adapting to the 24-hour Play write. Let me shine some light on my particular brand of erratic writing style. I'll get an idea, or a picture in my head, of a scene that should happen, or a setting that would nbe neat. Thats how it starts. Whether inspired by something I've seen / heard or just a wandering thought captured out of the clear blue sky, its just that, an idea. This is the part I love. As the idea is this fresh and bright thing I'll write about all in a rush. Then comes the hard part. I come back in a day, find most of the grammar is gibberish and meanings incoherent, so its edit edit edit. Then, to add any more to the story, there needs to be a feasible plot, interesting characters etc and those generally don't appear in the first idea "rush".

Creatures is at the idea stage. Why are those two little fellows wandering through the jungle? Where is the jungle? What is a bolter? what.. when... how... why... haha these are very good questions for which I have less than interesting answers to. I have a few ideas for characters and minor plot points, but less than few for the main drive of the story. I am leaning towards doing something with a fable tinge to it, a short complete hero - villian story thats fairly simple wth all the traditional elements. I really want to give the stage the look of a three ring circus too and think I can pull off that effect.

Other than Creatures, I was looking back through a few things and anticipate spending time finishing the first installment of 'Black Nines', a story that leads agents Chris Conrad and Sandra White to an industrial station deep in an asteriod belt to find a missing InterStar Postal fleet. The Heavily armed courrier fleet was hyjacked mid flight in an elaberate heist. Fearing an outbreak of similar thefts, the Black Nines are put on the case along side a shifty crew of ISP security agents a long way from civilized space to clear the problem up as quick as possible. All they're up against is an extremely gifted hacker, an AI with revenge on the mind and the whispering beginnings of an unknown group that seems to be pulling the strings from behind a wall of mystery. Stay tuned for the full posting of "Mail Run".

I'd really, REALLY like to get either Condition Genesis or else One Thousand One edited and brought up to spec (the former has less that needs to be done on it) so in the coming months those will be posted for sure. Now for a treat, looking back in the old archives I've dug up this little gem for your reading pleasure. Remember what I said about the idea? This is all this is and has very little hope of growing any larger than that. Still and all, I hope you Enjoy the kidnapping of a princess.


Sornthii stood at a window, staring out at the moon. Full and shining over the city, sparkling in little ways over fountains and fresh snow. It was the only time that the snow shone white, in the morning it would be churned to brown mud by the feet of many. For now, for the moment, the whole of the city from window to Travelers gate in the far west sparkled from torches and snowflake. She shivered from the frost in the air.
"Love, come away from the window." Celius whispered. "I shall never hear the end of it if my bride dies of cold on her wedding night."
She smiled over her shoulder.
"I do not think that I shall freeze in your arms, my Only. The moon is so full tonight, over the city it looks unlike anything else I've seen."
"It looks like the crying moon, the forest shade." Celius came behind her and wrapped a heavy cover over her bare shoulders. "The beast men will look to that sky tonight."
"Beast men?" She laughed, "what stories are you telling now? I am no longer a little girl who believes such tales!"
"And what do you know of the wide world outside the travelers gate?"
Her eyes sparkled, "only what you whisper into my ear." She turned and wrapped the cover around Celius also, drawing him close. "Whisper the beastmen tale to my ear tonight." She kissed his cheek.
"There is a valley and a hidden place inside a mountain where wolves walk like men, tigers speak with an intelligent tongue and bears smith and hunt with metal."
"But the valley is not real."
"It is, and the beastmen sometimes come from it in force to steal away unbelievers in the night." Celius smiled. Sornthii punched his shoulder.
"Your tales are getting more and more ridicules every time father takes you away on his trade routes!"
"Are you sorry that you married a dreamer?"
"It is because you were a dreamer that I married you..."
The room fell into something of silence, and among the snowy roof tiles, silence moved.
Shadows within shadows, night deeper than night something stirred and jumped from roof to roof. Daring leaps ended in padded crouches, and the sleeping forms behind windows and under snowy ceilings knew nothing but the wind and dreams that come with slumber. Black shadows in the night were not of a sleeping man's concern.
From the huts to houses the shadows came, and over walls into the palace itself. In the blackness between torches they crept and came, unknown to the eyes of broad shouldered men. It was the dogs that first felt something amiss, crying foul into the night and straining against their tethers. The guards ran to the gates and flung shutters off lanterns, sending beams of light to pierce the shadows. Crouching in the dark, shining eyes glared out. Without warning, shadow became solid and steel was unsheathed.
"Demons from Nor'hanath!" A guard yelled, "warning, warning!"
The words died in this throat, an arrow's fletching suddenly showing where his heart dwelt. More light came and the hounds howled, but the shadows were gone, leaping up to the high roofs of the modest palace.
Captain of the guard rushed into Zelin's bedchamber with a lantern, closing the windows and disturbing the girl's sleep. She fearfully clutched the sheets to herself and blinked against the sudden light.
"Captain, explain yourself!" She cried. "I am a guest here!"
"No time Princess, the palace is under attack!"
"Attack?"
"They come for you!" The captain drew his sword and stood gazing out the window.
"What is the meaning of this? Who comes for me, tell me!"
"Demons, beast men! They come to take you away!"
"Beast men?" Zelin frantically took up several robes and tried to put them on all at once. "Fairy tales! There is nothing of the sort!"
"The minds of men are shallow, the things the Far Patrol sees are strange." The Captains eyes darted here and there. Fires were being lit to try and scare the beasts off and the dogs were loosed, but it would not stop them. The archers had taken three, and pike men surprised four more in the halls, but more remained silently. He had already lost a dozen men to the shadows. Who knew how many more there were? Then a sound came from the roof and in a moment lines were thrown past the window and dark forms crashed through the shutters in a fury of wintry air. The Captain stepped back from the glass shards and held his sword overhead.
The forms crouched, then stood, their heads nearly skimming the roof. Green eyes glinted behind metal grates.
"Demons, you shall not harm her!" The Captain stood his ground. Zelin cowered in her bed.
"Captain of Dunese, soldier of the North and monk. We salute you who are about to die, for your courage and your honor in combat."
"She is my charge and can not be harmed while protected by this house."
"We wish her no harm, but you will not stop us." The form drew a long blade from his back and a metal fan from his belt.
"Do you know the girl's father?" captain asked
"Yes."
"He will hunt you to the ends of the earth, to the edge of the world where the sea spills into the void, he will find you even there."
"It is not us that your master should hunt. We are but hands bound by oath to another."
"What other?"
"I am bound by oath not to say." A padded foot stepped forward. "Die well Captain of men."
"Mine shall not be the only death!"
Zelin huddled in her blankets and pile of robes, not daring to move lest the balance of the fight be swayed in the demon’s favor. The Captain locked blades and spun, cutting the air in parts around the black swaths of cloth. For the size of the other, his quickness and grace was beyond what the eye could follow. The fight was a blur of movement, a perfect balance until the captain stopped. Out of his back the tip of a saber protruded. In a quick movement the black figure unfurled the fan and took the captains head, granting a quick death. Zelin screamed at the show of violence and barely realized that she was being wrapped in a rug and tied across a pair of shoulders. By the time her eyes dried, the tears were frozen on her face and she was far, far from what she knew.

I hope you enjoyed this little tale of men and monsters. Like all good stories it contains ninjas. ;)

Until next time, God Bless
John, The Writer.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Happy Easter to one and all, whether you celebrate this day or not, its still a day to get up and enjoy a day unlike any other!

Sincerely,
John
The Writer.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Thursdays are for the birds...

Well at least this Thursday was. The birds have it good and so do we ;) Enough of birds though, and heres a long and winding story of coinsidence and (perhaps?) of luck and a bit of grace once again falling on my head.

It starts with me looking at my final schedual. The university does all the schedualling so that, theoretically, no student should have exams conflicts (ei five exams on the same day etc etc). I mean we're talented, but not THAT talented. So I check and low and behold I have three exams on the same day, exact same time. Needless to say, I was a little concerned. Talking with profs and the schedualling people we got things all sorted out two of the three exams are moved to different days. Stick with me on this now, heres where it gets interesting.

Wensday rolls around and I show up at my English Prof's office to write my drama english test. Waiting in the hall, I see an add for a 24 hour playwright contest. Intrigued I said to myself, "What the hey, I should maybe try it out!" And so I am! See? its weird... I never would have seen that add if not for the messed up exam schedual. Call it what you will bt I'm going with grace and angels.

So the past few days I've been thinking, and all I can think of is "How cool would it be if Creatures was a play?" And thats where it sits, this idea in my brain that a Creatures story should be a play. I'll keep adding bits of Creatures to the blog but the play story idea I have to keep to myself until the contest (haha all has to be written in 24 hours of course). Heres the link to the contest details, if anyone else is in the Saskatoon area and interested, go for it, should be a good time for all. 24 Hour PlayWright

Until next time,
John
The Writer.

Friday, April 07, 2006

Creatures Mini Series.

I was thinking in English class today about something that I would be able to post on this thing. And I got a tickle in the back of my mind. See, I was reading this amazing sequence project by Outcast Studios yeaterday (www.outcaststudios.com) called IMPH (http://imph.outcaststudios.com/) And it got me thinking. First the format, these sequences are high detailed snapshop bits of a wildly interesting and strange world that are usually 4 pages. The artwork inspired me and the the format intrigued me. Why couldn't a witer do something similar? Little snapshop bits of a world, small scenes that didn't necessarily have anything to do with anything else on a larger scale? Loving the world that Berghout and Laurent created I decided to do soemthing similar. (I'm a sucker for robots on most days anyway) Hopefully its far enough away that I'm not copying anything but I really hope I capture the same feel they were going for. To this end I'll be posting this mini-series I've dubbed "Creatures" in the blog from time to time along with updates and content from my other projects. I am both pleased and proud to present the first 'Creatures'. Please enjoy.

John Gunningham.
The Writer.

Creatures ~ Part one ~

“You sure you saw what you said you seen?”
“Course I’m sure!”
“Well you said you seen stuff before, and it’s really been nothing. That’s why I ask.”
“That’s not why you ask is it?”
“Well…”
“It’s my patch isn’t it? That’s why you asked isn’t it?”
“Well…”
“Look here, I just got one patch, just one! Its cause the light hurts this one eye, not the other one! This eyes fine! I see better with this eye than you with your two!”
“Is that so?”
“It is. See, it’s your nose. Nothing could see properly with a nose that big in the way!”
“Is that so?”
“I just said it’s so!”
“I have to admit, I see better if I turn my head from side to side, look on side of my nose then the other. I do see better if I look that way.”
“Hah!”
“But you do have that patch over the one eye, and you said before you seen things that ain’t been there.”
“Like when?”
“Like just yesterday! I remember you saying ‘look! There’s a good bit of food for us!’ And what did it turn out to be? A lump of sod is what! How is that a good bit of food I ask?!”
“It was a trick of the light…”
“Hah! Then this another ‘trick of the light’? Tramping trough the jungle in this heat when we could be in a nice cool hole. Looking for things that were falling outta the sky. Madness and light tricks!”
“I said I seen something fall out of the sky and that’s what I saw!”
“But you don’t know what it looked like?”
“The light was funny.”
“I bet it was. How are we to know we’ve found what we’re looking for if we don’t know what we’re looking for looks like?”
“I’ve got a feeling we’ll know.”
“Feelings and tricks in light. Why do I follow you anyways?”
“Cause I got the cooking pack is why.”
“Oh right…”
“And that makes me the boss right?”
“Its cause Hib said you were boss is why you’re the boss.”
“Right, that’s why. Under Hib I’m number one. And its cause Hib said so and cause I got the cooking pack.”
“That’s right.”
“So follow up and help me find what I’m looking for. Hib’ll want to know about bits of things falling from the sky.”
“If bits of things are really falling from the sky…”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing, following, I’m following.”
“Look here… hurry up! Look over here! See? See?! I told you I saw it!”
“What’s… what’s that?”
“Looks like… well its up in that tree pretty high, caught up in the vines. Is it moving? I thought I saw it moving!”
“Just a trick of the light. What is it?”
“I can’t see from here.”
“Hah! You admitting you can’t see?”
“From here! Anyway, I saw it fall didn’t I? I told you I saw something fall and I was right. You’re a good throw, throw your swish at it and cut it down.”
“My swish? What if I lose it?”
“You’re a good throw with a swish, you won’t lose it.”
“But what if I do?”
“I’ll give you mine if you lose it, you’ve always liked my swish right? I’ll give you mine and get a different one myself if you lose yours.”
“Look I think its moving!”
“I thought you said it was a trick of the light?”
“No it’s moving a little! It’s breaking free! Watch out, watch out! It’s falling!”

Pause

“Well that was close. I was sweating.”
“I think I did more than sweat…”
“What is it?”
“It was moving, I won’t get close.”
“Why not?”
“What if it’s dangerous? All I have is my swish and its not good at hitting close things.”
“Here then, take a pan.”
“The heavy pan?
“If it’s dangerous, you can clobber it. It’s a good heavy pan.”
“Never clobbered something before…”
“There’s nothing to it, just bonk and slam and the thing you need clobbered is clobbered but good.”
“Alright. If I yell like I’m getting clobbered, you run to help?”
“I’ve got the other pan, I’ll help if you yell.”
“Alright, here I go…”

Pause

“Well?”
“Come look, its not moving anymore! I think it’s broken!
“Broken, what is it?”
“It looks like a bolter, or bits of a bolter. She’s broken!”
“A bolter!”
“What should we do? She’s not dead, bolters are hard to make dead, but she isn’t moving. I think she’s broken.”
“A bolter!”
“That’s what I said!”
“How’s a bolter fall from the sky?”
“Can you fix a bolter? I can’t.”
“Hib can fix her. Hib can fix her. We’ll take her to Hib, he’ll know what to do.”

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Alright alright and hello,

Consider this the first official post. Though I'm sure it will change in the near future as i think of more interesting things to post about. My life isn't very interesting most days so I think I'll usually post storys and fun news that I find on the net. So without further adu (Thats french for something I think...)

Writing:
Current Projects that are recieving attention are the follows.

Shut-Up
This is a comic project that is being written with Josh Alves on pencils and Chad LaForce with his excellent inks. The story revolves around a Beaver and an Armadillo and the zoo in which they live. I'd classify it under the cute, funny and hopefully message filled category of story. This is probably the story the will recieve the most active work in the near Future.

Pariah Dispersia
This is my long and ongoing comic project with Josh Alves. I've already gone into the story a little on our 4th Watch Blog space (the links riiight over there to your right if you're interested) and has a special place in my heart. Not only is it some of my best work to date, I'm extremely pleased with the complexity of the time frames that we're writing the storys. Multiple views of the same events all tied together. Going to be epic!

Black Nines
This ones a personal project in one of my favorite genres: Science Fiction. I originally had this idea after watching Mission Impossible II. The whole idea of an agency with multiple agents all with different skill sets for different missions sounded ideal for a series of connected novellas and thus I dreamed up the Black Nines, a covert agency funded by governing bodies to combat terrorism and piracy in a distant future world. Characterization is heavily influenced by 'Ghost in the Shell' using alot of cyborg type characters. The world is populated by multiple planets, system governements, a spanning 'treaty governement' called the Forsant Accord and multiple industrial giants. Space ships, laser guns and mutants all make their appearances. Most likely to be the most updated piece of my private projects as they are shorter works that hopefully will all tie together in the end.

Condition Genesis & 1001
Well.. although these two pieces are not related in the slightest, they were both entries for the Nano writing contest of 2005 and 2004 respectively. They both have alot of content and raw ideas but completely unedited (for those of you not familuar with Nano, its basically a persoanl challenge to see if you can write 50,000 words in a month. 1001 made it! Condition Genesis didn't). Condition Genesis deals with a planet that draws interstellar junk to itself and the survivors of multiple ship crashes that have set up civilization there. Its science fiction with a gritty steampunk feel. 1001 is pure fantasy based on the idea of 'instead of starting with a curse just placed... why not start with a curse just ended?' The people of the broken isles have lived for a thousand years under a curse but have completely forgotten about it. Now things are about to get much better as the curse is lifting, but also much, much stranger as the world reverts to its precurse condition. I like both of these stories... but they are on teh sidelines at the moment as each would be a massive undertaking to bring up to publishable quality.

Culture
Perhaps my greatest story. Culture attempts to deal with culture, race, religion, sub-culture and pop culture all in a very fictional world built to exagerate these differences. Its not fantasy, its something... different. Populated by traditional fantasy races (elf, human, dwarf, goblin, dragons etc.) the world itself is made up of continents that float in orbit around a central dense mass. The people of the world are just now beginning to discover flight and venture beyond their continents and meeting up with other races they didn't beleive existed. Religious faith and racial alliances are called into question as different cultures clash and attempt to co-exist. The story follows Raven, the daughter of an elfin Ambassador in a human city-state, as she and her friends are challenged with everything from war to heartbreak. Hopefully not typical, hopfully fairly shocking and heart warming and hopefully touching on a huge number of social issues, Culture has been a work in progress for years and more than likely will continue to be a work in progress for many more years. Updates when possible.

Water
Next to Culutre sits Water. Far older (I recently found the original script I wrote for Water back in grade 10... thats seven years ago for you guys keeping score at home) I started actively working on this about a week ago again and am very pleased with how its turning out. The story centers on Anne Tourcoat who believes her father was lost at sea when he was being arrested for treason many years ago. Now she recieves evidence that her father is alive, and that her father's old men are looking for her. As it turns out, Anne's father shut a portal of power from the other side and Anne (being of the same blood as her father) is the only thing that can both open the portal and save her father. Theres a bit more to it than that, of course, but thats all I'll telling right now.

Various others...
All the TICM comic projects I've worked on, Renaissance: Immortal Dance is a gothic vampire story set in town rife with immortals living along side ignorant mortals. Dusk Till Dawn is a pure fantasy I wrote about a single night in the life of two university students in a small town. Other here again gone again stories like Robots and Jungles, an excuse to make hill-billy military Robot pilots; Under the Green Roof a realistic story about an odd ball family; Underhouse, one of those ideas in my head that has alot of notes but absolutely no start to it... Thats all there is at the moment, looking back it sure looks like enough.

Well alright thats enough for one post. I'll be posting updates and content as time allows. Thank you everyone for visiting and take care out there!

John.
The Writer.
Alright, so in accordance with 4th Watch Studios projects, Josh and I have decided to maintain separate blogs running along side the Studio blog. Haha Sooo this is all me. I'll be posting links to my projects, progress reports on side projects and a little bit of this and that too. Pretty much I'm just posting this post to see how the blog looks. Will do a better post later.

John
The Writer.