13th Doctor

In 2006, I was young, scared, and feeling alone. I had just come out to my closest friends, something I had sworn I would never do (I planned to take that secret to my grave). At the time, being gay meant I was going to be a disappointment. I’d accepted the idea that I would never be married or have kids. I felt more than just different. I felt “wrong”.

Then, I watched Captain Jack Harkness flirt with a man on TV. He did that… then he fought evil, saved lives, and traveled through time and space. His sexuality was inconsequential to his being a hero. When he was introduced, the Doctor told Rose “He’s a 51st Century man.”, implying that the future didn’t care about Jack’s sexuality.

Before marriage equality, before the “It Gets Better” campaigns, before Glee, before Lady Gaga…

Doctor Who told me that there was a future coming that I could be a part of.

Captain Jack Harkness was there for me right when I needed him most.

The 13th Doctor will be there for someone who needs her. That’s more important than your vague and ill-informed notions of “tradition”.

NaNoWriMo and Book Covers

We're now a couple days into National Novel Writing Month, an annual challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I've completed the challenge for the last four years and have served as my region's municipal liaison for the last three. We are told that participants who complete their novel profile on the challenge website are more likely to win and to finish their novels. So as part of my pre-writing (a.k.a. procrastination) I created covers for the novel I planned to write.

The story revolves around a gay dating app that becomes the platform for a resistance movement in a future where support for the LGBT community disappears. I imagined the cover would feature a smartphone displaying the app's icon.

The first version was completed on Microsoft Paint with clip-art and the paint feature. I was pretty happy with it, but Paint has a tendency to reduce the quality of images if you look at it wrong. Beck Muth, a writer in my NaNoWriMo region, suggested using Canva, a website for editing images. It had templates for crating book covers and in very little time I created the second version of my cover. I wondered how it would look if I added pictures in a grid, like a dating app might display, so I took some free images from Pixabay.com and pieced together the third version.

So, what do you think? Do any of them peak your curiosity enough that you'd flip it over and read the blurb or maybe download a sample onto your e-reader? I appreciate an feedback.

Flash! Friday Entry for 3/27/2016: Blazing a Trail

On March 27th, 2015 this picture was the Flash!Friday prompt:

We were given 200 works within a ten-word leeway. The story I wrote is very relevant to current events.

Blazing a Trail

At first, the grayscale image was just a blur. Pictures took a surprisingly long time to load in her new office, probably, because of the gauntlet of firewalls they had to pass through. After a moment, the image resolved.

Rachel stifled a laugh. Then, remembering that she was alone in her office, she laughed openly. The clothing was so antiquated, especially in contrast to the black suit and pencil skirt she was wearing.

She looked over the women’s faces. Only half of them even noticed the camera, before the photo had been captured. 1911, she thought, long before digital photography and selfies. Looking at the camera, or not, all the women were focused and resolute. They were prepared for the task that was about to be set before them.

If these women could blaze a trail, so could she. The knot in her stomach began to ease for the first time since the official tally had been announced.

Rachel took a breath and pushed back her desk chair. She chose to follow along the curved office wall, rather than step across the presidential seal on the floor. She took one last moment to gather her courage, then left the safety of the closed room. The torrent of press awaited.

31 Horror Films 31 Days, Part 2

Here's the next set of movies I watched this October...

#6 The Ring

This is probably the horror movie I’ve heard the most about before seeing it. I remember seeing the trailers when it came out. I also remember kids in my CCD class discussing, and spoiling, the ending. I did like the moral dilemma proposed at the end. Usually, you learn the rules early or about halfway through a story. In The Ring, they are not explained until the end. I plan to watch the sequels, despite mixed reviews, because i want to explore the consequences of these rules further.

#7 The Haunting in Connecticut

This looked terrible, but I watched it because the events that inspired the movie were discussed on the Monster Talk podcast. Oddly enough, the movie strays far from the paranormal events described by the original family. I guess Hollywood decided corpses in the walls and possessed children would make for a better movie than ghost sodomy.

#8 Nightbreed

This movie is basically the Morlocks from the X-Men. Apparently, the version I saw and Netflix has the alternate ending. If you’ve seen Hellraiser, you’ll pick up on similarities in tone and the style of the effects.

#9 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

My brain was not designed to watch a silent film. That is no reflection on the movie, just on my attention span. I did find the movie interesting as a glimpse into the psychology of pre-WWII Germany.

#10 The Purge

Like any Millennial, I love a dystopian story. The set up poses and interesting “What if?”. Then follows it up by forcing us to ask ourselves “What would we do?”.

#11 The Blob (1988)

When I think of The Blob, I think of cheesy 50s horror. I think of the movie playing in the background while Danny laments losing Sandy at the drive-in. This, however, is the late-80s remake. Its surprisingly gory and not afraid to kill off characters that I thought would be safe. They even throw in a Cold War-era moral to boot.

Flash! Friday for 9/4/15: The Tired Omen

For the week of September 4th, our hosts took inspiration from The Iliad .  The given conflict was man vs man.  We had a list of optional characters.  I chose to write about a soothsayer.  We were then given a few options for a theme.  I selected "fate vs. free will".  The designated setting was "a besieged city".

Then, we were provided this image as optional inspiration:

I wanted to use the image, but wasn't sure how to place it in an "Iliad"-like setting.  It occurred to me, that if a soothsayer can read the future is animal entrails, then maybe she could also read it in male anatomy.  The following story was the result of this line of thinking.

The Tired Omen

“The Omen says, the day will be bloody, but when the dust has settles, our city’s flag will fly.” The old woman said hoarsely.

“You’re certain?” The General asked.

She glared. “Quite. I prepared the potion with your hair and fed it to the Omen before inducing a trance state. This always produces readable futures in men of his line.”

They looked to the naked man on the pedestal. Every muscle was engaged, straining, holding a statuesque pose. Still, his face betrayed no discomfort.

“The most prominent vein, tendons that twitch, flow of perspiration- all quite revealing. Well, that’s my reading. Off with you. Defend our city.”

Once he left the tent the woman clapped her hands. Trance broken, the man’s body loosened and collapsed.

“Sometimes I think army service would be better than this.” He said, gasping

“I know dear, but remember your reading. It’s Omen or cannon fodder.”

Flash! Friday for 3/8/15: Taking the Fall

For 3/8/15 we were given this photo as our inspiration:

Our Dragony Host also decreed that we must incorporate a lawyer as a character in our story.  The thought of a lawyer and a historical photograph immediately made me think of a modern lawyer looking at the photo thinking how they could cash out on a historic crash. This led to me imagining a lawyer in the far future with access to time travel wanting to turn this event into a case. So I landed on a future attorney taking a client on who is being charged with a historic crime.  This is the story I wrote:

Taking the Fall

“Sorry, what?” The Lieutenant asked the stranger.

“You have been charged with Historic Genocidal Negligence.” The man in the silver suit repeated. “I was sent to inform you and to offer my services as a defense attorney.”

“Sent from…”

“The future.” The Suited-Man answered. “Very far in the future.”

The Lieutenant was tempted to pinch himself. He had just returned to his quarters following a double shift. There was still plenty of cleanup to do following the crash landing. It was very possible he was overworked and seeing things. That was the logical explanation for the Suited-Man’s sudden appearance.

“Okay,” He indulged the hallucination, “and I’m being charged… in the future… with Historic…”

“…Genocidal Negligence. Yes.” The Man finished. “You were the officer on duty when the crash occurred. The event has been found to be a focal point of causality leading to the creation and implementation of the atom bomb.”

“The what?” He started, but dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “Why am I being charged for historical crimes? Shouldn't you charge Hitler or Churchill or FDR?”

The Man laughed. “Oh they’re far too high-profile. We couldn't pluck them out of history and try them. We need someone that history won’t miss.”

“Lucky me.”

Flash! Friday for 2/27/15: Escape

On February 27, I was visiting a friend in New York City.  For this trip, I had attempted to pack light and did not have my computer with me for the duration of the Flash! Friday Competition.  I was hell-bent on earning a Hall of Flame Badge, however, so I used my phone and my Google Doc app to write my flash for that week.  I fear that the frustration of trying to type and edit this way and my lack of time during the trip led to a number of grammatical errors in my original post to the contest blog.  My Flash still managed to garner some praise.

stephellis2013: "Nice twist to the escape theory."
Aria Glazki: "I like how you made everyone else’s nightmare landscape into your character’s dreamy escape :)"

Thank you for the comments!  The original contest post can be found here:2/27/15 Flash! Friday

We were provided these images as our prompt:

This was the result:

Escape

Michael shifted his toes sifting hot sand between them.  The sand retained the heat, even though the ship's shadow had been over this spot for some time. Whether that was a glitch or accurate physics, Michael could not say. He ran his hand along the red and grey of the structure's aging hull. Flecks of rust broke away and trickled down the vertical surface until they joined with the sand. 

This was, by far, Michael's favorite environment. It made the most satisfying contrast to the world he was here to escape. Even after he'd explored every dark corner of the ship... Even though updates had ceased coming months ago. He could still lay in the heat of the sun for hours. 

It was time for Michael to return. He had to go through his daily routine. He had to keep his body fit and his home in order. The sandy environment dissolved as he removed the sensory immersion band from his head. He stood up and began his exercise routine. All the while, he took great care not to focus on the window and it's unwelcome vision of gathering ice.