Terrible Minds Flash Fiction Challenge: The Devil's Doorstep

This week's challenge is to create fiction in a -punk genre, preferably one that hasn't been done before.  I give you hellpunk, a world of stolen energy and malicious invaders.

Chuck's blog is here - http://www.terribleminds.com/ramble/blog

The Devil's Doorstep

"The most important thing to remember here is that lunch is from 12 to 12:45, no earlier and no later.  You follow, rook?"  Rory paused his brisk pace to glance back over his shoulder.  The new guy was right on his heels, nodding and tugging uneasily at his loaner uniform.

"12 to 12:45.  I got it," he replied as Rory started moving again.  "But my name is Greg."  Rory waved a meaty hand at that.

"You're rook until you get through the probationary period.  I've seen too many fresh-faced kids wash out to learn names any earlier than that." They stopped next to a facility map mounted above a water fountain.  Rory tapped the display and it zoomed in to follow his motions.  "Main entrance is here, where you came in.  We came this way through the locker room." Greg tapped a large room in the center of the image.

"Is that..." he began, only to have Rory cut him off.

"Central siphon and storage.  That's where it all happens, and where it sometimes goes wrong."  Rory took a moment to look the kid over.  No more than 23, probably fresh out of vo-tec.  "You understand your job?"

"Maintenance and containment.  Fix what's broken, trap what gets through." Greg said, his face lighting up and then falling in response to Rory's stone faced stare.  "Right?"

"That's a textbook answer, rook."  Rory said, stepping away from the map and moving down the corridor.  "We're dealing with dimensional exchange.  We're sucking power straight from the devil's own doorway.  So yeah, we fix what breaks and we trap what gets through but that doesn't cover it.  We deal with demons.  Not those branded reformed types they let roam the streets.  I'm talking genuine, hell-on-wheels, free-willed demons."

"Well..." Greg swallowed hard as he formed the words.  "I've seen orientation sims."  Rory grunted and ran a hand through salt and pepper hair.

"Sims don't bleed acid.  They don't belch fire and they sure as hell don't smother you with their skin.  You've seen movies, rook.  Things out here are real."  Greg straightened up, the oversized uniform falling limp around his shoulders.

"I've been fully trained.  I scored 273 on my licensure exam."  A chirp from Rory's radio ended the conversation.  He tapped the button and one of the surveillance tech's began to speak.

"Hey, we've got a rank one blip in the east siphon chamber.  Looks like an imp came through on the last pulse.  You free to check it out?"  Rory shot Greg a glance and shrugged.

"Looks like we'll see that training in action.  We're on it."  A second tap on the radio killed the connection and Rory began the trek towards the east wing.  He didn't pause, just jumped right into the next speech.  "Imps are cake.  Small, quick but pretty harmless.  Irritants more than anything.  Pulse spikes tend to frazzle the safeguards and imps are already weak enough to slip through on bad days."

"So is this a standard incap and deport?" Greg asked, trying to keep pace.

"As standard as it gets when you deal with other-dimensionals.  But yeah, we'll shriek it and toss it.  Your shrieker is your best friend here.  Harmless to humans, hellish to demons.  Even works on devils if they aren't leeched."  A flight of stairs and two left turns brought them to a pair of reinforced metal doors.  Two men in black and grey security uniforms stood at either side, rifles slung over their shoulders.  One nodded and worked the locks, pulling the door open.

"Don't let the guns fool you.  They're here to scare away angry protestors and terrorists.  A gun won't slow down a devil, andeven  demons can laugh them off for a few shots."  Tapping the radio, Rory cleared his throat.  "We are headed in to the east siphon now."

"Anything I should expect?"  Greg asked, his confidence clearly suffering now.

"The secondary siphon chambers aren't too bad but you can expect to feel some changes.  Pressure behind your eyes, a cold hollow in your chest, nosebleeds...all common.  If you start to feel numb head back to the hallway.  Don't wanna risk a seizure in there." Rory said as he pulled the shrieker from its holster.

"Got it."  Greg said, peering into the ochre glow.  A push from Rory got his feet moving and they both stepped through the door.  The door closed behind them with an echoing *thud*.  Rory tapped his finger against the shrieker in his hand.  It always reminded him of an electric razor, the kind they had before laser shavers became the rage.

"You go around the left side, I'll go right.  Keep your shrieker ready."  Rory said through gritted teeth.  They split, each going their own way around the large central collection tank.  Standard issue work boots came down loud on the metallic flooring.  Greg disappeared behind the collector and Rory turned his eyes up towards the vent pipes.  He spotted the torn grating easily, a perfect fit for an imp.  The collector shook as another pulse rippled through it and Rory strained to listen past it.  Was that a grunt?  A gasp?  He picked up speed, darting towards the other side of the tank.  A shriek cut through the air and he circled around in time to see Greg standing over the writhing form of an imp.

"Well, well.  Nice catch, rook," he said as he stepped up to them.  The imp was small, a runt even by their standards.  It clawed at the air as the shrieker assaulted it's heightened senses.  "Keep it centered for a few more seconds."  Moments later the imp gave up, collapsing into an unconscious heap.  Rory took the feet and they carried it over to the deportation port.  A swipe of his badge opened the eye, a shimmering oval of blue energy rippling behind it.

"One...two..."  The duo heaved the body into the pool, watching it vanish in a crackle of sparks and a puff of ozone.  Wiping his hands on his pants, Rory spared the new kid a smile.  "Not a bad first day."  Greg holstered his shrieker and started towards the door.

"It wasn't as bad as I expected." he replied.  As they moved toward the door something caught Rory's eye.  A breach in the separation tank, large enough to fit a human if they hadn't eaten in two weeks.  The possibilities flipped through his mind and his eyes narrowed.  Tapping the radio again, Rory let Greg gain some distance before whispering into the receiver.

"Central, do we have any rank 3 blips in the east siphon chamber?"  A moment passed before the tech came back with a negative response.  Stepping up to Greg, Rory put a hand on his shoulder.

"Looks like it's 11:20.  Lunch?" he asked.  Greg smiled, that same proud grin as before.

"Great.  I'm starved."  he replied.  Rory exhaled in a sigh before smacking the wrench at the base of Greg's spine.  The kid went down with a startled howl and Rory was on him in a flash, pinning both arms with his knees.

"I know you're in there kid, so hear what I'm saying.  When a devil gets through it's bad business.  Fortunately they can't really grasp sorting short term memory when they first leech."  A flicker of violet in Greg's eyes revealed the presence of a rider.  "Unfortunately, once they leech there's no getting them out."  The rookie's eyes alternated between violet rage and sky blue terror.

"No...stop...wait..." It was all Greg could manage in his struggle with the monster inside him.

"I'm sorry, rook," Rory said, his voice soft as he lifted the wrench above his head.  "Today just wasn't your best day."  The wrench came down with a wet crunch and the screams of a thousand damned souls.  Rory pushed himself to his feet, letting the wrench fall next to the twitching corpse.  He wiped the back of his hand across his forehead, smears of blood tracking his skin.

"Not my best day either."

Tuesday Reviewsday: World War Z (Film)

I admit to going into this film with a distinct bias.  I've read WWZ a few times, being that zombies have been something of a hobby of mine since I watched Night of the Living Dead when I was ten.  Those years were very formative for me and created some strong opinions that remain with me to this day.  In a similar vein to how my first games of D&D cemented first edition as tops among the available options, NotLD showed me how zombies were meant to be portrayed.  Plodding, mindless and dangerous in large numbers.  I've adapted a bit on this in the years since, as I've found plenty to enjoy in the variety of zombies presented to us in the modern era, but WWZ as presented in the trailer seemed like too much of a jump from the source material.  I imagined a series of smaller films detailing individual's experiences during the outbreak.  Something similar to the interviews that made up the chapters of the book.

I can honestly say that I walked out of the theater surprised at how my tune had changed.  Yes, it isn't exactly WWZ as Max Brooks presents it to us.  The film follows one man as he travels the globe in search of a way to combat the outbreak and return to his family.  The zombies aren't what the book gave us, and the film doesn't cover the entirety of the war, but that doesn't make it bad.  It does give us the fall of New York, the Israeli quarantine and the UN presence.  It isn't a perfect WWZ adaptation but it does do a number of things really well.

The film feels like one man's story, like it could fit in the novel as one of the interviews even though we see it unfold first hand.  It was able to maintain that personal feel by tying the main character to his goal of returning to his family even as he flies halfway across the world.  The opening scenes where he and his family try to flee the outbreak work well to cement that.  The fact that he does so much globe trotting helps to show us what I always felt was the most important part of the novel; the global pandemic.  We are shown how various areas of the world have fared against the onslaught and the often drastic steps they have taken to defend themselves.

Brad Pitt's performance is standard for him, so if you're a fan you're likely to enjoy it.  I found the side characters that accompany him during his trip to be more compelling.  A cocky virologist seeking clues, a hardened military commander who does his job, a tough but young Israeli soldier.  I was interested in the varied personalities as they entered and exited the story, keeping a fresh perspective available.  The movie keeps moving at a pretty decent clip, pausing only a couple of times to let the tension build again.  Pacing, acting and direction are all handled quite well here.

World War Z is not a great adaptation of the source material, but it's a solid example of how one man might have experienced an outbreak.  It takes liberties and I can imagine Max Brooks might have some legitimate reasons to dislike it, but it does manage to maintain that mix of personal and globe-spanning that I found compelling about his book.  As far as it being a zombie film, it's among the better ones we've been given in recent years.  It presents the intensity of an assault by endless waves of rabid undead more acutely than most and as a fan of the genre, I can safely recommend it.

Clarion Write-A-Thon Voting

Clarion is officially upon us, and that means I need to start putting in work.  This week will be largely devoted to putting the finishing touches on a few things and getting my blog posts up consistently, so that gives us all time to do the voting I previously mentioned.  To recap, here are three projects that I've done prep work on.

A sci fi/western/dystopia (think Alien meets Firefly meets Blade Runner...and they fight crime) tale about siblings who seek justice after they lose their father and their land to a corporate robber baron. This one has it all; cybernetics, alien technology, a giant pterodactyl.  I am clear on where I want this story to go, but I'm sure where I want it to sit in terms of readership yet.  I do feel like there is a lack of space-based Middle Grade and Young Adult fiction out there, so I might shoot for that demographic.

A crime thriller noir erotica (noirotica) about a crime family courier trying to clear her name after someone frames her for theft.  This one is more along the lines of Sin City meets Red Shoe Diaries.  It has everything you could want; dark streets, a cynical protagonist, steamy sex in the snow.

A southern gothic horror story about two generations of a tainted bloodline returning to their ancestral estate just in time for terrible things to occur (and some monsters, cause that's always cool).  I've wanted to delve into southern gothic for awhile but I didn't have an idea that seemed to fit.  You want it, you got it; ancient curses, deep south blood feuds, a drunk cousin with a gun.

So, anyone got an opinion?  Drop a note in the comments with your thoughts and I will get started on the most popular option.

The Grand Experiment

I have been wrestling with how seriously to take writing for awhile now.  I go through fits and starts, long stretches of creativity and equal gaps of suckage.  People write through mind numbing, sixty hour a week day jobs and my hat goes off to them but I've never been able to manage it.  I can't keep my brain rolling forward with ideas when I have a desk full of paperwork and half a dozen sites to visit.  The decision on whether or not to take more time away from a paying gig in hopes of turning writing into an equally paying gig is a difficult one.  I'm in a situation now where I would be able to reduce my hours and still cover my bills with my present job but I wouldn't have much else.

So, I will be using the Clarion Write-A-Thon this year as a measure of how viable it might be.  Not from a monetary perspective, but rather as a productivity factor.  If I can consistently produce creative work at the stated minimum of 1,000 words a day, five days a week while maintaining my current workload it stands to reason that I can put out twice as much with less work on my plate.  I would need to approach writing as a job, which would mean I couldn't work exclusively on creative stuff.  I'd need to supplement my finances with article writing via a work-for-hire system like TextBroker or Elance.  If I can get myself into a position where I write every day and make money consistently (no matter how little), I think I can put myself on a track to something better.  Something that I'd genuinely enjoy doing.

Feel free to stick around and follow my progress.

Clairon Write-A-Thon 2013

As you may remember, last year I participated in the Clarion Write-A-Thon to raise funds for the Clarion Writer's Workshop.  If you don't remember, I talked about it on my blog here.  I found the experience to be extremely successful at boosting my motivation and word count.  I was able to interact with a group of other writers in a team and share success stories, get helpful tips and just have it reinforced that other people struggle at this whole writing thing, too.  In the end I raised a nice chunk of money for a program that I'm very excited about and got many thousands of words done on some of my projects.

So I'm doing this thing again.  The same goal (30,000 words) as before, since it seemed to be a nice challenge without being overwhelming.  Things kick off on June 23rd this year and run for the usual six weeks.  I have a couple of possible works that I can focus my attentions on this time so I'm putting the option out there for anyone to weigh in.  The prep work has been done for a sci fi/western/dystopia (think Alien meets Firefly meets Blade Runner...and they fight crime) tale about siblings who seek justice after they lose their father and their land to a corporate robber baron, a crime thriller noir erotica (noirotica) about a crime family courier trying to clear her name after someone frames her for theft, and a southern gothic horror story about two generations of a tainted bloodline returning to their ancestral estate just in time for terrible things to occur (and some monsters, cause that's always cool).  You can drop comments on this blog or hit up my twitter here to cast your vote.  Don't forget to follow the excerpts I'll be posting to my profile page on the Clarion website.

So, if you have money to spare and would like to support the efforts of budding writers I would ask that you check out the link below and consider sponsoring me or one of the many writers on the list.  You can donate a set amount or sponsor for an amount per goal achieved.  Sponsoring can be done in increments as tiny as .0001 cent per word so don't let the high word count goals scare you.  They are always looking for writers to fill the roster, too.  If you have any interest in putting words on paper to tell a story this could be a good way to find the motivation.

Link here: http://clarionwriteathon.org/

Tuesday Reviews-day: Gods and Monsters Unclean Spirits (Chuck Wendig)

I recently finished Chuck Wendig's addition to the Gods and Monsters line, Unclean Spirits.  Wanna hear me  talk about it?  I knew that you would.

First I will approach the setting, as this is a shared universe in which stories by many authors will likely be told.  The gods have come to Earth and strapped on human flesh.  The representatives of the world's myriad pantheons are having to deal with the ultimate in 'forced relocation'.  There was a good spread of deities in this book that incorporates Greek, Native American, African and even ancient Sumarian mythos.  I like how this is handled, with each god retaining elements of their original sphere of influence while still having to play at being human.  There is a lot of potential here and I'm excited to see what will be done with it.

The main character in this tale is Cason Cole in the role of 'man struggling to reclaim his past'.  He was well developed and I found that I was given just enough information about his past to keep me interested without getting bogged down in the details.  The sections where dialogue fills in the exposition or backstory feel pretty organic and Cason's own thoughts are quite revealing in the more action-focused moments.  That balance can be difficult to strike and I give Chuck kudos for it.  Cason's family remain on the periphery of the story but they introduce us to two of my favorite characters so I can forgive their initial inaction.  The primary villain's mannerisms were chilling and I think they'd be that way even without cosmic power at their fingertips.  Well crafted characters all around, even in the smaller parts.

Anyone who has read a Chuck Wendig novel before will find a familiar voice waiting for them here.  The story jumps from a brisk run to a breakneck sprint several times, sometimes giving you warning and sometimes jumping on your back and hammering you in the head without notice.  The violence is well balanced, revealing a clear tableau of pain without dwelling unnecessarily on gore (though I am a fan of splatter horror films so YMMV on this).  As I write this I am still able to bring up the images my mind created when I read about dying gods and creepy just doesn't cut it.

So, complaints?  Well, I do have a couple.  Cason's wife, while a significant part of the development of the story, just doesn't seem to do a whole lot.  After an early moment of badassery I had high hopes anytime a chapter about her appeared.  I admit, we do get to meet some awesome deities through her sections but she really feels like a passenger through most of the book.  That is actually quite appropriate given her circumstances but it made it difficult to invest myself in her character.  Kind of like Barbara from the original Night of the Living Dead, she just seems to sit on the couch and cry through most of the story.

Then there is the ending.  No, this is not a "the ending was crap" situation.  I actually really liked the ending and how things came together.  I just felt like there was a little more story to tell before THE END popped up on the screen.  Another chapter of follow up would have done wonders for my sense of completion, though as far as hooking us for another installment I suppose the route Chuck went is the better option.  Any good book will leave you wanting more but in this case things just felt a bit incomplete.  This could relate back to my desire to see more from the family but for some reason I just wanted a bit more.

So what am I saying?  Gods and Monsters Unclean Spirits is a solid introduction into what I hope will be an extensive line of books.  Well paced with good characterization and a healthy dose of the old ultraviolence, exactly what I expect when I pick up a Wendig novel.  It doesn't exactly touch the bar he's set for me with his Miriam Black series but it was a damn fine read that kept me turning pages until there were none left to turn.  If you like power mad gods, explosions, betrayal and internal strife I think you'll dig what this book has to offer.

Format Plans for WritInWord

In an attempt to devote more time and attention to this blog I am working on some possible format options to give myself some structure.  Let me know what you think.

Monday: Funday - Monday's posts can be about pretty much anything recreational.  I could post updates about the games I am running, fun experiences with video games I've recently had or even (dare I say it?) accountings of some of the 'out of the house' recreation I'm going to try to pursue like kayaking and dance lessons.

Tuesday: Reviewsday/Interviewsday - I'd like to try and use Tuesday to review books, film or games.  This will give me more of a push to read some of the books I have on my Kindle.  Movies and games can fill in between novels, and should I find someone both interesting and willing, I could also do some interviews with people to put in here.

Wednesday: Winsday - This would be something I could do as an occasional features once I gain more of a readership and get some material published.  A chance for some lucky saps to win a copy of something I've created.  Mensday - I could also use this time to talk about issues that directly relate to men (though not exclusively relate to men, as I honestly don't know that there are enough of those to carry the day) and discuss things specifically with my male readers.  Being that I do work in a healthcare related field, I might also use this time to discuss male focused health concerns.  What I'd like to do often is put in guest posts from other male bloggers.

Thursday: Hersday - The other side of mensday, I could use this day to discuss issues that specifically relate to women (with the same caveat as above).  Guest posts from female bloggers would be a welcome addition here, too.

Free-ky Friday:  I'd like to put up fiction on Friday.  A response to Chuck Wendig's Friday Flashfiction, a chapter of my current project or even just some snippet of work that came to mind that week.

Thoughts?