Sunday, September 21, 2014

The 7-7-7 Challenge: Or, I Just Have Seven Sentences...

For this latest outing I have to thank fellow scribe Paige Randall, who will slide a tumbler of bourbon across the bar to you, give you a friendly nudge, and in quick measure proceed to drink you right under the table.  Paige is an expert in the microdynamics of male-female interactions, from the heady onset of romance to the harsh reality of the breakup.  This makes her a great observer and chronicler of the most complicated facets of our human condition.  Who else can trace the emotional algorithms of pain and joy, friendship and betrayal, and reshape the psychic experiences into words that everyone can relate to, except the most gifted writers and poets?  Paige is one of those people.

One of the spots where Paige ruminates on the human condition and proceeds to shoot down thoughts of the day; it is her personal Dealey Plaza... (photo courtesy of Paige's website, because she is way cool like that)
Paige also has a great romance novel, Circling, which is winding its way to the reading public, and she is already working on its sequel.  She lives in DC and spotted Janet Napolitano once; if you're a fan of cutting wit, cuss words and no-holds-barred straight dope, go check out her blog right here.

Without further ado, then, below are my little creations:

Captain Anton Brubaker knew better. He had fought and bled and survived and managed to hold out this long, but a part of him was gone. It had been gone for a while, therefore what he had just done didn’t insinuate itself in his mind with any crippling sense of conscience. He sat in his chair and reflected on that. He was calm.

Blood seeped along his right sleeve from where one of his sergeants tried to stab him with a pair of scissors just over an hour ago. The cut along his bicep was deep and painful, but that sergeant was also dead in the secured server room.


And thus begins the second part of my short story Dead Air Dying Sky; this scene follows the first scene where a group of pilots begin reacting to something happening to them while in flight, and the skies are soon peppered with the flying dead.  It may help you to know that the original title of this story was Zombie Pilots Over Tulsa, but for purposes of avoiding the narrow straits of niche marketing, it was suggested that I veer away from that one.

The new title was actually suggested by the spouse of a friend.  That switch in the title will likely save the story, as poorly chosen titles can capsize even the sleekest of Ohio-class nuclear submarines.  I will forever be grateful to them for recommending this.

Why zombies?  Oh, I don't know.  Why does every truck driver in the world seem to be able to find the Walmart parking lots with disturbing divination?  Why do bluebonnets spring up in the most messed-up places along IH-35 in the springtime?  Why is Outlander so fucking boring?  (Sorry, Suzie K!)  We will never know, and we have to content ourselves with the not-knowing, with simply accepting what we can't ever understand and move on with the lesser mysteries of life.

Well just like Phil Hartman's Frozen Caveman Lawyer, I am frightened and confused by these blog-based challenges I find myself in, and I haven't tagged anyone for follow-up on this specific challenge, either (sorry Paige!).

Instead, I'm going to list a host of writers off the top of my head who I have met on Twitter and who are fellow rowers, those who together have shared the ravings of galley slaves, who suffer the lashes of the creative whip, and who pray for the break of dawn known as success, however we choose to dress up that little buttercup.

And here goes:

Paige motherfucking Randall at PaigeRandall.com: I don't know what her occupation is but I think she's either a lawyer at a PR firm, a lobbying firm, or some other kind of firm.  Too smart for the federal government, in my opinion.  Her blog has great insights on the creative process and the adventures of trying to find an agent in these complicated digital times (remember, the road to hell is paved with agents making you wait for weeks on a yes or no).  If you want to laugh out loud right now, read her blog post, "Ode to the Gym."  Yes, yes, I know I mentioned Paige already at the top of this post.  But she set me on this challenge; it's only fair that she get extra credit.

Kenneth Harmon at GhostUnderfoot.com:  Kenneth is a fine writer whose novel, The Amazing Mr. Howard, will be published by JournalStone in early 2015.  I told him once that his writing style reminded me of Robert Bloch, and I meant it.  He and I direct-message quite a bit, and in addition to being probably the number-one cheerleader I have on Twitter, we have shared a keen interest in wordsmithing, a general gripe about the pitfalls of traditional publishing, and a too-detailed discussion of enlarged prostates, an affliction whose burden, fortunately for him, is not his to bear.

Eric Keys at EricKeys.wordpress.com:  Eric is an aficionado of that special brand of fiction that blends horror and erotica.  Sometimes I call it "horrotica" and it reminds me that I'm no poet.  His novelette, Grace and Blood, is probably the best example of this structure, and it's available on Amazon.  But his most personal piece is probably "A Single Act of Prolonged Vengeance," which was anthologized in an inaugural volume under the title A Light in the Darkness as a collaborative effort for Writing Out Child Abuse, and is also available on Amazon.

A.U. Gonzales at scriptogr.am/infinityinthemiddle: A.U. was so drawn to the craft of writing that he resisted his family's urging to continue a trans-generational career in the medical field and become a doctor.  It's not every day you get to tell your folks you're following a far different path than what they expected, so he is to be commended for his bravery and his confidence.  And his skill: go check out And Then Acid Fell, an anthology of very well-written stories connected only by nature's soft wrath.  It's available on multiple platforms, including Amazon, Smashwords, Google Play, pretty much every damned digital platform A.U. could think of, and then some.

Kym Darkly at TheHorrorInMyHeart.com: Kym's narratives, which appear on her blog, are little gems of madness, a storyteller by the fireside entrancing her audience with her latest tales.  She has also recently posted a very interesting and insightful interview with a demonologist.  The best place to enjoy the horror in her heart is to go to her blog, also titled in like fashion.  My only complaint is that, although she has written many television and film scripts because her influences come from that medium, she hasn't yet published a longer piece, but I suppose I could characterize her as the female version of Thomas Ligotti.

Teresa Hawk at TeresaHawk.com:  Teresa is somewhere in a classified location in the Nevada desert (okay, okay, it could be Area 51) and she writes full-time while waiting for the zombie apocalypse that she is certain will be upon us soon.  Her story Meat had a very Southwestern Gothic vibe, if I do say so, and Death Ray Potato Bake was a total blast to read.  And speaking of blasts, she also shoots guns, many many guns.  Very precisely.  So for those who wish to tread on that classified location, remember that curiosity killed the wandering zombie.  Anyhow, her work is available on multiple platforms, including Amazon, as well as through her website in PDF direct-download.

Katerina Baker at KaterinaBaker.com:  Katerina is an accomplished traveler (I think she was in Budapest the last time we tweeted, and I encouraged her to run along the rooftops like Liam Neeson in Taken 2).  I can only assume she uses her acumen of observations from her bad-ass trips to weave the interesting settings for her stories.  She's a daytrader or stockbroker or something related to the financial industry by profession, and a self-described unrepentant romantic.  Check out her musings on her website's blog for inspiration and a sampling of her great storytelling.  Her books include All Roads Lead to Anatolia and The Day I Became a $py.

A.S. Washington at ASWashington.com: A.S. is both a writer and a poet; but his poetry is meditative and graceful, and his sword-and-sorcery fiction (check out An Insurrection, his latest short story) is violent and visceral.  A family man who practices martial arts, he has gone down from 300 lbs. to I think he said about 204 lbs. on his last post, which is an amazing example of perseverance.  His debut novel was The Virgin Surgeon and his first book in the Danger Kids Universe, The Twelve, with co-author DeQuan Foster, has one of the most compelling and vibrant cover designs I've seen in a while.  Go check them all out on Amazon.

There are many other authors, writers, poets, artists, and talented people I've met on Twitter that I can't list here today for reasons of space and the annoying ring of the dinner bell, but I'll feature them in subsequent posts, just because that's the sort of kind, compassionate asshole that I am.

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