Callico Star / CaptainD's Fiction

Start of a novel...

2010-06-22T04:05:00.000-07:00

.. okay, so it's a novel that I may never write. I actually wrote this months ago and never expanded on it, and while I do still want to write a fantasy novel at some stage, I have a completely different plot in mind - all the characters and most of the storyline has been taking shape in my head for the last few weeks, though I have yet to begin writing it. Since I haven't posted anything on this blog for absolutely ages, I thought I'd put this up and hopefully someone will read it (and maybe even enjoy it!). I don't have a title for this... really didn't get very far with it at all!

In the bowels of Mount Edna, amazing things were happening.

The inside of the mountain had been hollowed out over a course of many years, with immense concrete struts supporting the vast weight of the rocky surface. Mount Edna was one of a kind – an extinct volcano that was actually safe to be near, yet still supplied a ready flow of magma, strictly controlled. The enormous energy created by the intense heat of the magma was then used to drive gigantic machines.

The air in the mountain was fresh due to an ingenious method of continually flushing fresh air in and stale air out. The mountain hollow housed thousands of workers and hundreds of supervisors. These supervisors supervised, the workers worked, the machines machined. Out of the machines came a product so unbelievable that few even of those who saw it could believe it.

There was no magic in their world, but what the machines made was a kind of magic in itself. Unbeknownst to those who were making it, or even those who had ordered it to be made, it was going to change their world completely…

Urmilla looked around at the familiar sights of her village. Market stalls were everywhere to be seen, with the usual sights, sounds and smells of the markets reaching her eyes, ears, and (sometimes reluctantly) her nose. The town was bustling as it always was on market day, with livestock, deadstock, and other stock being sold to the highest bidder. A great commotion came from the main auction house, where another antique was being sold for a huge amount of Dakosh. Children scampered about, got in the way of everyone around them, and generally caused chaos wherever they went, just like children on every world in every era.

“Glnaj for them,” said a familiar voice.

Jolted out of her reverie, Urmilla jumped slightly. “I thought I’d told you to stop doing that!” she exclaimed crossly.

“Doing what? Speaking to you? Is that now a crime punishable by Throllick now?”

“Tsk. Always joking, always failing to get the point of what people say to you.”

“Never failing, actually. Just choosing to ignore. Still, I’m sorry I startled you.”

Urmilla shrugged. “Father always told me that I was too highly strung – I guess he was right. And my thoughts probably aren’t worth a whole Glnaj, anyway. Not right now.” Her beautiful face had briefly been lit by a smile but then relapsed to her former melancholy expression.

The young man looked at her, concerned though amused by her words. “You’ve been thinking about it again, haven’t you?”

“Yes…. I can’t really stop thinking about it… it was so long ago, yet it feels like it just happened.”

Trillogh put his muscular arms around her slim shoulders. “There was nothing you could have done – you know that. You were just a child.”

She fought back a tear. “I know, but somehow… I can’t help feeling responsible. If I hadn’t gone into the forest against my parents advice, my mother and father wouldn’t have…” Urmilla choked, unable to bring herself to complete that awful sentence.

Thinking of Self-Publishing?

2008-12-12T04:57:00.000-08:00

Everything you need to know about Lulu.com

My Books are now available from Amazon!

2008-11-11T11:31:00.000-08:00

Whey-hey ... recognition of sorts, Amazon now stock my books. Well... not stock exactly, but the books are available from Amazon. They show up as "out of stock" because the publishing house are a print-on-demand outfit, so Amazon probably won't keep any in their warehouses, but it won't take long for them to get the books anyway.

Buy Lord of the Things Book I: The Mellow Hip of the Thing on Amazon.com

Buy Lord of the Things Book I: The Mellow Hip of the Thing on Amazon.co.uk

Buy Warts & All Poetry Collection on Amazon.com

Buy Warts & All Poetry Collection on Amazon.co.uk

Buy Space Oddity on Amazon.com

Buy Space Oddity on Amazon.co.uk

This could be the star of something big... well in all likelihood it won't, but I can dream can't I?!?!

CaptainD - Fiction Blog

"Alone" - science fiction short story

2008-09-08T04:39:00.000-07:00

"Alone" was previously published in a UK Independent Press Sci-fi magazine called "Zest" and on the popular skiffy website "Steel Caves". I don't think I've reached this level of writing on many occasions. I'm extremely proud of this one.

Alone

If I were to describe myself to you, you would think I was some kind of alien. If I showed you a picture of myself, you would think me an inhuman freak. If you were to see me in the flesh, you'd get the shock of your life. If you knew of my plight, my destiny, chosen by those who care not for me, you would pity me.

Am I bitter? I would have to answer yes.

And yet, how could I not be?

Few know of my existence. Or maybe none. I was supposed to be one of many, but there were only two of us before the fire came. Now there is only one. I have no companion, no soul mate. I am alone. I suppose that's why I have become so self-centred. There is simply no one else to care about.

Why am I alive? The answer is simple. Because I cannot die. Oh yes, and I am supposed to fight, to protect, should the need arise. Since the war, humans have given up the whole technology thing. You could say they've "plugged and played", and now it's game over. Not so much given up, I should say, rather none of it survived except that which is controlled by the scientists here. The countries least developed were the only ones to survive, the ones not considered important military targets. Now the West, as it was called, is gone. The radiation is spreading, has killed off the remaining countries, all except these last ones here in Africa. The disease will soon spread here, I know. So do the scientists who created me. But the ordinary people do not. They still lead the same lives, worship the same gods, and have the same struggle to survive... The Western ones called them primitive, but look what their "advancement" did for them in the end.

And now they've ruined the earth for all these children of the earth, too.

I'm talking to myself as if relating everything to another. Well, I've got nothing else to do. I know these walls are unbreakable. These scientists aren't stupid. Cruel, evil, arrogant; but not stupid.

I was about ten years old when I found out how it had begun. Genetically modified food. Huh! What a background to come from! I, perhaps the most astonishing, perhaps the last achievement of human science, have as a hereditary line a cabbage! Well, I suppose that's taking things to an extreme. That was just when they realised what they could accomplish. Funny that it happened almost simultaneously with the first human clone.

Still, I digress. As if it matters, when I'm talking to myself. But still. Genetic engineering. I wonder if anyone else knew that someone had the bright idea of introducing the concept to that tribe in the Pacific who still adhered to cannibalism? Also, it's strange to think that even after being educated in Cambridge, those students should want to go back there. I suppose the idea of working with Professor Sutton and his team, for the greater good of their homeland, as they saw it, was a great attraction. Sutton. How I hate that name. I don't see it as coincidental that it's so similar to Satan. In fact, if it came down to a straight choice, I think I'd rather take my chances with the Devil.

It's easy to guess what happened, isn't it? The term "who's for supper" took on a whole new perspective. Even in cannibalistic societies, it was rather disconcerting to think that you might end up eating your own friend, or possibly even family member. Thanks to Sutton the Devil, no-one had to take that chance. What he did, and this was the really clever part, was secretly take a few million ova from a recently deceased woman, when nobody was watching of course, and less than a year later he was able to produce humans out of thin air! His team set up a huge dynamo, for of course there was no electricity on the island, and somehow managed to claim enough land to set up a laboratory large enough for his purposes. I suppose it was quite easy for him. He could show the chieftain any number of "miracles", couldn't he? Light up the whole sky at midnight, blind someone with a finger-laser, kill someone without a sound at fifty paces... I wouldn't put anything past him.

Not only could he provide human sacrifices at will, but he could produce them bigger, with extra limbs... The possibilities were endless. Of course, it was all kept completely under wraps. No-one in the so-called "civilised" world ever heard of it.

But why go to so much trouble when there was obviously no financial profit in it? My guess is that he foresaw the third world war and took precautions. It wasn't more than three years before he came to what is now my home, in Central Africa. This was the only place far enough away from obvious military targets to stay unaffected for a while should nuclear war break out. His idea was partly to work on a way of reversing the effects of nuclear radiation, and partly to gain world domination along the way. Needless to say, in the little community of which I the centre (and yet no part of), he is King. His word is law, total and absolute. No-one can question him or deny him.

So where do I fit in? A couple of years after getting here, he started on a hugely ambitious project. He planned to create an army of "Super-warriors", so that should any neighbouring tribes attempt to attack, he could send them packing. The effect would also be that his legend would spread. A man-god who controls a legion of multi-limbed giants. If he solved the global pollution problem, his takeover of the whole world would be a simple proposition. Folklore would precede him, and no-one would be left alive who might question the validity of the myths that had grown up around him and his new world order.

Much as I hate him, though, I hate his assistant more. No- one will ever understand the hate I feel, or how it saddens me that I have no room left for any other emotion, or any reason to feel otherwise. I often imagine crushing her to death slowly, letting her gasp her penultimate breath and letting her breathe again, just to make her suffering remain a little longer. How I would love to cause her the pain she has caused me! I hate myself for feeling like this. I may be a freak physically, but I still have the same emotional make-up as any human. Only there's no room left for anything but hate, and the hatred of my malice. I hate what I've become. I hate what they've made me, turned me into.

But most of all I hate her.

Melissa Spence is her name. Somehow it even sounds like a spiteful, hurtful name. It conjures up images of a little girl who pulls the wings off flies. She's the one who killed the only friend I've ever had, or ever will have.

His name was Goliath. I, Gargantua, am his younger brother. As if I need any reminding of my own name. But the reason, at least, proves that Daniel Sutton had a human side. His only son was to be called Gavin. But he was born dead. His mother died during childbirth. The simultaneous losses pushed Daniel right over the edge. In some warped way, we were his sons, Goliath and me. I think I can even forgive him for what he became, to some extent. Maybe I have got some room left for an emotion other than hate. At least that proves I'm still human. But I can't feel anything else for Spence.

There is no way can she be human.

We two, Goliath and myself, were the first ones made. As it turned out, we were the only ones. Goliath was thirty-two feet high; I myself only twenty-eight. We both had the same number of eyes, ears, arms and legs, of course; ten, fourteen, sixteen and twenty. The one time we actually went to war, the mere sight of us reduced our opponents to gibbering wrecks; between us we could wield as many spears as sixteen of them, and we wouldn't have even needed to dodge theirs, for our skin was so tough they would have simply bounced off. As to why we were supposed to use spears instead of lasers I can only speculate; I guess it was a sense of tradition. Although, really, we didn't need any weapons. But who can know how Sutton's mind worked?

I have to admit though, and I feel ashamed to say this, even to myself, but seeing the reaction of our "enemies" gave me a buzz, despite the fact that I bitterly resented fighting for Sutton and Spence. Why did I do it? The death-gland, of course. Refusal to obey meant instant death. I didn't realise at that time what a good option death would have been.

Although, saying that, we were treated quite well at first. But then the fire came. No-one ever found out what caused it, but the effects were devestating and far-reaching. The fire destroyed all of the records about our genetic make-up, and much of the equipment in the lab. The equipment could be replaced, but not the information. Somehow Sutton and his entire team had faked their own deaths, even remote-crashing a 7C7 a few hundred miles away from their Pacific hideout to make it look good. I'm not sure how they did it, but they managed to get more equipment shipped in after the fire, long after they were supposedly dead. I suppose that's just the power of money... Sutton was incredibly rich, having inherited the fortune left by his grandfather, who owned the patent on the gene used in most genetically modified foods.

But with the records about how to nurture more giants gone, the equipment would be all but useless. That was when Spence showed her true colours. She started experimenting on my friend, trying to work out how we worked. The amount of muscle-relaxant they must have pumped into him to stop him from fighting back must have been enormous. Poor Goliath. He was so naive. He just let them inject him, trusting them. To his cost.

I can still hear him screaming, even though it must be years since his poor body could finally take no more.

I can still hear him screaming.

They couldn't try it with me, of course. I was wise to them by this time, and they wouldn't have got near me with that hypodermic needle. I can't get out of this place, I know, but they can't stop my from moving around in it. After what they did to my friend I would kill all of them on sight.

They know this.

And after all, I was all they'd got left. Maybe the other tribes started getting a bit bolder. Maybe they didn't believe in the legends. But then again, maybe Sutton found a way to reverse the affects of the radiation. The did it at Chernobyl, using nothing more complicated than sunflowers. So why not on a global scale? I know it was one of his ideas.

Or perhaps the radiation spread uncontrollably and killed them all. Maybe I'm the only living thing left inside this planet. Why am I alive? Because I cannot die. I'm safe, undying, here in this prison cell. I'm immune to all diseases, impervious to radiation, and my body takes in all its nutrients from the air around it, so I can't starve. That's the cruelest thing. The only way I can die is if someone presses the button and my death-gland activates. If no one's left to press the button, I'll be here forever, unless that asteroid does finally arrive and destroy the earth, even more completely than the Third World War did.

So here I am talking to myself again. Stuck inside these four walls, it's all I can do.

I miss my friend.

My brother.

I can still hear him screaming.

Lord of the Things Book I: The Mellow Hip of the Thing - RELEASED!!

2008-08-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

Exciting news, Elf-fans! I’ve completed book one of Lord of the Things - "The Mellow Hip of the Thing".

Click here for more details or... do I dare hope - buy it!

CaptainD - Fiction Blog

Book Release Imminent!

2008-08-20T04:38:00.000-07:00

Can't say when I'll get the whole Lord of the Things book finished, but I've decided to release the first book ("Mellow Hip of the Thing") separately for now. "The Glue Flowers" and "Return of the Bling" will follow at some stage, and after that the whole trilogy as a complete volume.

When the book is released, I will of course be posting about it!

CaptainD - Fiction Blog

Cover Design

2008-08-20T04:37:00.000-07:00

I've done a cover design for Lord of the Things - Click Here to view it on my Graphics Blog.

CaptainD - Fiction Blog

Lord of the Things - progress so far

2008-07-11T05:05:00.000-07:00

About half-way through now, I think!

CaptainD - Fiction Blog

Another extract from the upcoming "Lord of the Things"

2008-06-20T04:15:00.000-07:00

“Why don’t you like us?” asked Merry.

“Because you’re incompetent fools that do stupid things and basically do everything wrong, but will end up being counted as heroes anyway. And you smell almost as much as Sam.”

“Fair enough” conceded Pippin.

Gandalf glared at everyone, just for something to do. “Now we have three choices – to destroy The Thing in the fires of Mount Doom, or two other things that we’re obviously not going to do so don’t bear mentioning. Whoever goes will almost certainly be rewarded with instant death. The only real question now is, who will take it?”

They all looked at each other. Gimli hit Legless over the head with his axe, causing much mirth and merriment. Merry passed round the Shire Brandy, causing much leglessness. Then a small voice was heard.

“I will take it, though I do not like the pay.”

Gandalf looked at Frodo fondly, absentmindedly turning Elrond into a newt with his mighty staff. “Now there is a noble Hobbit to be sure!”

“Much better than Elf-boy here. I bet he’s only blooming here to give the movie appeal to young and not-so-young women.” Gimli glumly gesticulated at Legolamb.

“Shut up you ugly Dwarf. Who asked you anyway? Who said it would be made into a movie, anyway?”

“Er… we’re straying from the subject at hand here. The Hobbit has amazed us all with his courage,,,”

“He has?”

“I suppose so.”

“You could be right.”

“Who’s speaking now?”

“Don’t ask me. It wasn’t my idea to do this section entirely in dialogue.”

“Oh wait!” exclaimed Gandalf, “don’t you want to hear about how Saruman is a traitor, how I’ve been battling him, how the tide is turning in Middle Earth and stuff?”

Frodo considered this. “Nah, not really. I think I’ll wait for the serialisation in Hobbit Daily.”

“I’ll wait for the comic book version!” said Merry. Pippin slapped him with a handy nearby mackerel. “You fool! We shall wait for the graphic novel! We are not children!”

“Fish sticks!” cried Gimli, and threw his axe at the feuding pair. Gandalf wondered off, disconsolate, wishing someone cared about his adventures. Bilbo, Frodo and Sam ventured forth to the kitchen to see if there was any more free food on offer.

900th Review on Epinions!

2008-06-19T13:08:00.001-07:00

I know, it's a little off-topic, but I consider reaching 900 reviews quite an achievement (it's taken me over five and a half years after all!)

The review is of the new The Incredible Hulk movie starring Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, William Hurt and Tim Roth.

Back to on-topic soon, I promise!

CaptainD

Extract from my current project...

2008-06-17T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is a short extract from the novel I'm currently working on, "Lord of the Thing". This is a parady of... well, I don't really need to tell you!

Act I Scene II

“Oh look Sam! Nazgul!”

“Here, nice Nazgul! Would you like a biscuit? I bet you would like a biscuit! Yes you would! Oozy-woozzy-woo!”

As mentioned before, Hobbits were not very bright, and Samwise doubly so.

“No Sam, that’s not wise! These are the Wraiths!”

“Look Mr Frodo Sir, I understand that you have inherent prejudices against creatures from the land of the shadow, but just give them a chance! They probably grew up in a slum, or didn’t get a proper education, or something. Look, one of them is holding out an olive branch to you! Isn’t that nice?”

“Sam you fool, that’s no olive branch! That’s an Entling! And it’s ready to bite!” cried Pippin.

Frodo whacked Pippin fondly round the head with a brick. “Oh Pippin, what am I going to do with you? Entlings don’t have teeth, they have Hourns! Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuurrrrgghhh!!!!”

“Mr Frodo Sir! They’ve got things! And there are 9 of them!”

“Gnnnnnarrrk… what things?”

“You know, Things, like The Thing!”

“In a rare display of intellect, I, Pippin, shall utter the Dark Words of the Dark Lord from the Dark Land. Or perhaps I just like saying ‘Dark’. There’s an ancient rhyme that applies to this Thing, which you can see it if you hold a halogen lamp against it – ordinary bulbs don’t work on it, even if they’re Energy Savers.“

He pulled himself up to his full height of three and a half feet, and said in a dark voice:

“Ash mash splish splash clish clash
Flip flop blip blop hip hop
Ooobi dooobi scoobi do yabadabadoo
Flibbertigibbet supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Brontosaurus Tyrannosaurus Stegosaurus Diplodocus
And other incomprehensible gibberish.”

“Er, what? Gak! Someone torch this Entling for me, will they?!?” Frodo was getting desperate – if the entling reached his heart, he would become a tree. Which would, admittedly, result in a dramatic increase in IQ, charm and charisma, but he still saw it as a bad career move.

“One Thing to sue them all
One Thing to bind them
One Thing to litigate them all
And in the darkness bind them”.

“Oh, very suave I’m sure, but it’s still not detaching this damn ferocious bonsai from my arm.”

Fortunately the Nazgul had somehow managed not to notice this commotion and moved away – just as well really since it would have been a really short book otherwise – and the hobbits were, after setting some fearsome woodlice on the entling, able to make their getaway. However, there was still a festering wound were the entling had attacked, and Frodo was secretly worried.

“Uh-oh” said Frodo, the only one of the hobbits who had ventured this far outside Hobbiton before. “I forgot… we must go via Farmer Giles’ House!”

“Nooooooo…” he said.

“Noooooooooooooo…” said Merry.

“Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…” said Pippin.

“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo…” said Samwise.

“You win!” said Merry. Samwise beamed. “You win today’s star prize!” said Pippin. Samwise beamed even more.

“You get to check whether it’s safe to go into Farmer Giles’ house!” said Frodo.

Samwise groaned. Why did these things always happen to him?

When I've finished it, I'll be putting the paperback up for sale at my Lulu store. Currently I have one fiction anthology and one poetry collection on sale in paperback format, both free as ebooks, and a free ebook preview of another novella I was working on, which has kind of taken a backseat at the moment.

Introduction

2008-06-16T04:20:00.000-07:00

This blog is for two writers to discuss and advertise their works of fiction. On day this may be unneccessary as they oculd both be famous, internationally-reknowned, multi-award-winning authors... but as that's not very likely, this blog will have to do for now.

To start off, I wrote a short spoof fantasy story recently that I was quite pleased with - Prophecies are such fiddly things... - it's published over at Epinions. If you liked it either leave me a message there (you have to be a member to comment though) or here.

That's all for now... more coming soon!

CaptainD