The first project is my 3rd book which began life as a book for children but has morphed into something more sinister and is now a prequel/sequel to my two self-published books. It has poetry, stories within stories and drawings (done by an actual child - my neighbours daughter) within and is currently pretty much a mess but I am getting there with it.
The second project will become my 4th book and is a novel (finally) which asks the question, what would happen if aliens came to our planet and decided to treat humanity the way humanity treats its animals and pets? This is a subject I feel strongly about (especially being a vegetarian) and the idea has been floating round my head for some time.
I do have another two side projects on the go: I have managed to compile and link all my erotic pieces into one long story and I am looking at doing the same with my words project; a project which looks at the idea and art of words through poetry and short stories.
Besides that, I have also finally joined a Writers Circle; the Southport one. I have been to three meetings and read out some of my poetry twice. The first poem was from my 1st self published book and is one of the most visceral, dark and disturbing poems I have written. The second poem was a bit throw away (from my 2nd self published book) and was just...nice. I do like the mix of different people there though and think I will stick to going...for now anyway.
Since my last blog piece, I have managed to read through three very different books...if you want to be a writer, you have to read! The Single Feather by Ruth Hunt (a lady I met at the Southport Writers Advice Panel) about a disabled person who joins an art club in the hope of improving and getting her life back on track. Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway...a book a neighbour borrowed me. Self help which does what all self help books do...generalise. Some good points in it though! And finally, the graphic novel Infinity Volume 1 which pits superheroes from all over against Thanos. A lot to take in but the artwork and story are both excellent!
So, onwards and upwards...below is the beginning from my 4th book...enjoy:
Home at last…
It wasn’t a gracious return
and it wasn’t quiet. The landing gear digs into the ground and causes The Inferno
to skid bringing it to a sudden and jolting stop.
‘Where is the landing strip?’
I mutter.
Using the ships computer, I
scan the surrounding area and find nothing. I scan again and get the same
result.
‘That can’t be right!’ I say
to my ship and scan again…nothing.
I unbuckle myself and peer out
of the cockpit window, my eyes darting from side to side squinting against the
shimmering light. I should be on a concrete landing strip. There should be a
tower to my left and a terminal to my right…but there isn’t anything. I power most
of The Inferno down (except for the cameras recording all around the ship),
suit up and lower the exit ramp. It kicks up a cloud of dust and awakens a
putrid smell; a mix of excrement, must and decay. I cover my nose and slowly
walk down the ramp testing the ground before committing to stepping on it and
begin walking across a landscape I no longer recognise.
With each step, there is a
crunch underfoot. The smell continues to flood my senses and make me balk on
more than one occasion as I breathe in the stale air and begin to sweat in the
torturous heat. I lean down and scoop up a handful of earth. Sifting through
it, I notice shards of white that crumble away in-between my fingertips.
Standing back up, I check the display on my wrist indicating the signal is only
five miles north of this position, the signal which awoke me from hyper sleep
after 10 years hiding on the dark side of the moon.
With
not a single landmark in sight, I have to trust in the wrist computer and start
to walk in that direction, the smell becoming more bearable with every step and
my lungs adjusting to the stale air.
‘Hello!’
I shout, ‘is there anybody out there?!’ my throat raw, ‘can anybody hear me!’ I
squeal. I wait for a reply but get none. What had happened to my beautiful blue
planet? Where was everyone? What is this land I walk upon?
My legs feel heavy, a result
of spending so long in hyper sleep. All my limbs had seized up during those 10
years and I had lost even the most basic functions like sight and speech…I
actually thought I was dead for the first few hours after waking! Eventually,
my strength returned as the pod vibrated, massaged and warmed up my arms and
legs and I finally managed to climb out of the pod and listen to the message
properly. It seemed to be on a loop and was very short, a few beeps and pauses,
but it seemed directly aimed at me; it read ‘come home’.
And here I was, home at last,
lost in this landscape of ash and sand. I stop walking and strain my ears. I
can’t hear any birds. There isn’t that recognisable hum of buzzing insects or
pitter patter of tiny animal feet. Pulling out my binoculars, I slowly scan the
sky, then do a complete 360 on the horizon and finally spot something. It’s
very small, a building maybe…I don’t know. It takes me off course and away from
the signal but a spark of light coming from it could mean life. I take a sip of
nutrient water from my suit and push on, new strength and purpose in my legs
propelling me forward. Every 500 yards or so, I stop and look through my
binoculars the closer I get…it is a structure of some sort, small but
definitely man made.
Eventually, my enthusiasm gets
the better of me and I run the last half mile completely out of breath and
hurting when I come upon the structure. It’s a building, no more than 10 square
feet in size built from brick, at speed by the looks of it, and missing its
roof. The door has rotten away and inside is two glass cases, child size in
length and width and shining in the suns light.
‘Shit!’ I curse realising that
these were the things I saw sparkling away.
I catch my breath and step
inside the building, the smell and heat overpowering me and forcing my eyes
shut. Slowly I force them open and focus on the glass cases. One is completely
smashed with larger bits of the white shards spilling out and mixed in with the
glass. The other is intact and inside is a skeleton…a child’s skeleton. I bend
down and the first thing I notice is that the feet are facing completely the
wrong way, backwards in fact! Looking upwards, the fingers are all missing but
the thumbs are present, several ribs have been snapped off and there is an
overly large ring through the nose cavity. I cringe at the look of twisted
horror on the face and a sudden rush of realisation spreads through my body as
I switch my attention between both cases and then on the ground itself. I scoop
up a handful of the larger white shards and step outside the building scooping
up a handful of earth in my other hand and bag them up. Pulling out my
binoculars, I find my ship on the horizon and begin the trek back to it; I need
to run these samples through The Inferno.
With my thoughts racing, I now
begin to notice debris mixed in and sticking out of the sand. Broken concrete
and glass are everywhere. Sharp pieces of twisted metal protrude upwards and
black slats of charred wood lay dormant and dead. But the biggest components
are the white pieces. I now see the variation in size and in colour.
‘How did I miss this?’ I ask
myself as the closer I get to The Inferno, the more debris I come across, ‘What
the hell happened here?’
My heart sinks even more when
I reach my ship and notice the front wheels are completely buried in the sand
and the nose of the ship is resting on the ground. I walk up the ramp and reach
the cockpit switching the power back on before slumping into my Captains chair.
Lights flicker on and the surge of life floods through the ship. I tip out the
contents of the bag onto a flat screen which immediately lights up and a
display above me shows the scan has begun. I lean forward and rest my hands on
the top of my head.
‘Where is everyone?’ I whisper
to myself, ‘computer, play me the last message from NASA, loud speaker please.’
‘Yes Captain’ there is a
pause.
‘This is NASA control, Captain
Michael Jones, do you copy?’
‘NASA control, this is Captain
Michael Jones, I copy loud and clear.’
‘Captain, we have a situation
here, a grave one, you will be given priority one delta six orders, copy?’
‘NASA control, please repeat,
confirm priority one delta six.’
‘Captain, we repeat and
confirm, priority one delta six.’ there is another pause.
‘NASA, awaiting priority one
delta six orders.’
‘Captain, you are to pilot The
Inferno to the dark side of the moon, copy?’
‘Copy, pilot to dark side of
the moon.’
‘Captain, upon arrival at dark
side of the moon, put The Inferno in an orbit which keeps you there, copy?’
‘Copy…request you tell me what
the hell is going on?’
‘Captain, there is no time to
explain, you are to put yourself into hyper sleep and await our next
communication, copy?’
‘NASA, I copy but why hyper
sleep?’
‘Michael, listen to us, they
won’t be able to detect your life signs in hyper sleep and you are our…’
static.
