New Stories of 2006
WELL, I HAVEN'T been keeping in touch with much newly original work of mine for the past year, which I think is a shame. I suppose I didn't write about then because there was no newly original work to write about, but that's changed in the past few months. Call it a temporary relievement of writer's block, but after spending hour after hour standing alone at the front desk of a dead restaurant just waiting for someone to say, "Hello, how many will there be?" to, the stories just started to come to me. Some of them I've already started work on. Others -- most of them, in fact -- are just sitting around in my head waiting to be forgotten in a month or so. As you know, I don't want that to happen, so here they are...in for a little taste of immortality.
"Frequency"
This is the working title for a story about a man named Michael Bennett, who begins hearing loud radio ads for volunteers at a psychological study on those experiencing video or audio hallucinations. Wondering if he falls into this category as well, he discovers that there are only three other people who can hear the ad at all.
"The Savant"
Donnie is the latest candidate for a new drug exposure that scientists believe may cure his severe case of autism. However, the drug has an unexpected side effect: it turns Donnie into a musical genius and master pianist. Using his new-found abilities he woos Lucy, one of his personal nurses, but begins to wonder if she is in love with him...or the genius drug.
"The Interesting Narrative of Oliver Stone"
Young Oliver Stone is just the host at a local restaurant, but when his co-workers discover his journal -- in which he describes himself gaining superpowers -- they jab at him for his over-active imagination. The question is, are the stories in the journal fact or fiction?
"The Dream of the Rude"
Terrance Rude has a case of writer's block. This is a problem because Terrance is, by profession, a famous novelist who hasn't written a book in ten years. However, when he awakes one morning he discovers a strange new suprise: while he slept all of his dreams that night were written into a story, nicely printed in a stack next to his bed. Now, Terrance Rude has all the material he'll ever need. The problem is, can he ever stop it?
"Trinity III: Black Zero"
The Clone Wars have decimated Earth. The Cleric has been sent away into space and his followers killed. Physical relationships and reproduction have been outlawed and left solely in the hands of computer programs. However, the terrorist organization Black Zero, now run by a man many believed to have commited suicide years ago, organizes a plan to bomb the government and possibly destroy the world.
Some of these, particularly the last, are missing key plot points. But they are, in their very essence, good stories with somewhat original ideas. I was afraid The Savant, inspired by an episode of Futurama, would mirror Flowers for Algernon, but I'm confident that the differences will be pertinent to the story itself. Frequency is written almost solely to entertain a friend of mine named James Bassett, who I was speaking to when the idea struck me. The Interesting Narrative of Oliver Stone is based on my afternoons and nights daydreaming at the host stand of Ruby Tuesday, where I have been working for the past year now. And The Dream of the Rude, well Hell, I just like the title.
All of them have at least some potential, and others may even become the next stageplay after Killing Samuel Queen airs this summer. Look out "short story novelists," here I come!
"Frequency"
This is the working title for a story about a man named Michael Bennett, who begins hearing loud radio ads for volunteers at a psychological study on those experiencing video or audio hallucinations. Wondering if he falls into this category as well, he discovers that there are only three other people who can hear the ad at all.
"The Savant"
Donnie is the latest candidate for a new drug exposure that scientists believe may cure his severe case of autism. However, the drug has an unexpected side effect: it turns Donnie into a musical genius and master pianist. Using his new-found abilities he woos Lucy, one of his personal nurses, but begins to wonder if she is in love with him...or the genius drug.
"The Interesting Narrative of Oliver Stone"
Young Oliver Stone is just the host at a local restaurant, but when his co-workers discover his journal -- in which he describes himself gaining superpowers -- they jab at him for his over-active imagination. The question is, are the stories in the journal fact or fiction?
"The Dream of the Rude"
Terrance Rude has a case of writer's block. This is a problem because Terrance is, by profession, a famous novelist who hasn't written a book in ten years. However, when he awakes one morning he discovers a strange new suprise: while he slept all of his dreams that night were written into a story, nicely printed in a stack next to his bed. Now, Terrance Rude has all the material he'll ever need. The problem is, can he ever stop it?
"Trinity III: Black Zero"
The Clone Wars have decimated Earth. The Cleric has been sent away into space and his followers killed. Physical relationships and reproduction have been outlawed and left solely in the hands of computer programs. However, the terrorist organization Black Zero, now run by a man many believed to have commited suicide years ago, organizes a plan to bomb the government and possibly destroy the world.
Some of these, particularly the last, are missing key plot points. But they are, in their very essence, good stories with somewhat original ideas. I was afraid The Savant, inspired by an episode of Futurama, would mirror Flowers for Algernon, but I'm confident that the differences will be pertinent to the story itself. Frequency is written almost solely to entertain a friend of mine named James Bassett, who I was speaking to when the idea struck me. The Interesting Narrative of Oliver Stone is based on my afternoons and nights daydreaming at the host stand of Ruby Tuesday, where I have been working for the past year now. And The Dream of the Rude, well Hell, I just like the title.
All of them have at least some potential, and others may even become the next stageplay after Killing Samuel Queen airs this summer. Look out "short story novelists," here I come!
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