Other Writing Projects

Of which I have plenty these days.

I find it easiest to write when I'm procrastinating. But sometimes, I find myself procrastinating writing. So the obvious solution... is to write something else. Because of this habit, I have several major projects going at a given time. All of them are set in the same continuity, and most of them reach a climax in the eight days from the 31st of May to the 7th of June, 2002: the time period covered in Fear Sweeney. They also all take place in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. With few exceptions, the characters are not aware of each other and the plot of one story does not directly affect another. Each story can be seen as a different sort of break with reality; Fear Sweeney was a supernatural break, but the other stories are entirely different. Most contain no fantastic elements at all.

In alphabetical order (because I can't bring myself to play favorites), the stories I'm currently working on are:

And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth

A novel. Fiction. Introspective, partly narrated through dreams. Set in Baltimore.

At the beginning of the story, Nicola Tesla Buchenlieber's biggest concern is whether he actually proposed to his girlfriend Caitlin Bryce or not, and whether she accepted; he overdid it trying to shore up his courage with a bit of wine. But within a matter of days, their simple life is disrupted by an unexpected intrusion from their past, by Nic's realization that he knows virtually nothing about his (probable) fiancée's personal history, and by the sudden onset of a previously dormant tropical disease that destroys Nic's sleep patterns and renders him incapable of distinguishing reality from dreams. As the week progresses, he starts to prefer the dreams.

C.O.S.M.I.C.

A novel. Fantastic/psychological fiction. Set in D.C. and environs.

Aaron Verstand has just lost control and killed his girlfriend and infant son. As he stands on a bridge over Rock Creek, preparing to jump, Lietenant Colonel Catherine Ivory stops him. She tells him that he has been recruited for C.O.S.M.I.C., the US military's top-secret program for people with magical and occult powers, called Talents, whose skills range from Qabbalistic divination to the Goetic summoning and command of demons. Now, for the first time in his life, Verstand finds himself among people who understand and accept him, and comes to realize that the death of his girlfriend and son was in fact caused by his latent magical powers erupting. But C.O.S.M.I.C. isn't quite what it appears, and it becomes increasingly clear not everyone is on the same side.

Downworld

A graphic novel. Speculative fiction/alternate history. Set in D.C. and environs.

Sam Key is a physics undergrad, working on a research project on the nature of matter. When her girlfriend Randa and their friends Leo and Necco stop by the lab to wish her a happy birthday, something very, very strange happens. The four discover they have somehow gained the ability to move through solid matter, and that this even gives them the ability to enter a parallel world. In that Universe, which they come to call "The Downworld", the twentieth century turned out completely differently—and not for the better. They find themselves mixed up with a gang of freedom fighters—or terrorists—who need their remarkable abilities to restore the American nation.

Little Trouble Girl

A screenplay. Urban fiction. No fantastic elements. Set in East Baltimore.

It's Anna Hilary's twenty-fourth birthday, and she has chosen to celebrate in an unusual way. Her parents are the Baron and Lady Hilary of Sussex, who choose to live in a world divorced from reality, in which the British aristocracy are not of quite the same species as the rest of humanity. Disgusted by their incredibly outdated attitude, as well as by their profligate spending habits (and, indeed, her own), Anna takes inspiration from the classic Hollywood cliché of the wealthy disguising themselves and coming to live in the inner city and becoming better people for it. She chooses Baltimore as her destination and arrives full of big hopes, but soon finds that reality is not quite how Mel Brooks and Eddie Murphy made it look. She gets a job at a convenience store and, within three days of her arrival, is held up at gunpoint. She is saved, however, by Jermaine, the janitor, an ex-con stuck between the police and a local gang. Anna lets herself get involved, both with his problems and with him, and puts her own life at risk to do so.

A Quixotic Picaresque: The True Story of the Incredible Green Knight

A novel. Fiction. No fantastic elements. Set in Baltimore and environs.

This is essentially a retelling of Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quijote. The narrator, Donald Hoady, is a high school student from a less than wealthy family, who has pinned his future hopes on his "friend" Peter Caro, an orphan and the only heir to the massive Caro family fortune. Don's plan to keep Peter from getting married before his trust fund matures has gone well so far, thanks to Peter's obsession with comic books rather than females, but when Peter announces he has decided to ask a girl out, Don decides drastic measures are needed. With the help of his friend Pansy Sanchez, he convinces Peter to become a superhero himself. When Pansy, in the skintight PVC outfit of the Black Lily, threatens to destroy Baltimore's City Hall with her "DestructoBeam", Peter puts on the mask of the Green Knight and sallies forth to stop her, with Don (as "The Mirror") serving as his "loyal" sidekick.

Shúyu ke Fássesyu: Water to the Wasteland

A semi-epistolary novel wrapped around an ancient legend. Fiction, with fantastic elements in the inner story.

In June, 1982, a young archeologist from Maryland State University named Joan Henry inadvertently made the biggest discovery of her career—and, probably, of the entire history of archeology. The Mathurian Scrolls, as they are known, are the oldest known written materials ever, predating the earliest cuneiform inscriptions by some three thousand years. A coalition soon formed between Joan, Eva Moon Herron (a historical linguist), and Anu Jehuti (a professor of Near Eastern literature), and the three of them spent the next twenty years trying to decipher the scrolls. Finally, they are ready to publish the first translation intended for the public: a retelling of the Mathurian legend "Shúyu ke Fássesyu". The legend tells of a young girl named Chiyo and her true love Retchar, of Chiyo's friend Kishfar, a witch, putting Retchar under a love spell for herself, and of Chiyo's pursuit of Kishfar and Retchar across the barren desert, with the help of Ang-ogh, a giant made of living rock. However, as they assemble the first draft, the story of Joan, Eva, and Anu begins to parallel the story they are translating. We watch both stories unfold simultaneously, through snippets of translation interspersed with emails, phone call transcripts, journal entries, interviews, and narrative.

Tempus Fugitive

A novel. Science fiction, more or less. Set in Northern Virginia.

In 2002, a teenager is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to death for a series of brutal murders. Ten years later, he is executed, still professing his innocence. Suddenly, it is 2002 again, and Hank comes to realize that he has somehow been given a chance to find the real murderer. Every time the police catch him, he is executed all over again, but returns to 2002 with fresh memories of where the police will be waiting for him. After a while, all he wants is to finally die, but to do that, he'll need to find whoever's done this to him.

Terminorum, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Apocalyse

A novel. Contemporary fantasy. Playfully metafictional. Set in Baltimore.

The sequel to Fear Sweeney, in which Jal Trellis discovers that the book he was writing has become true, just like the book Orlick Trellis wrote to punish his father. Unfortunately, Jal accidentally made one of the characters, Nigel Miller, into the most powerful evil being ever known in the Universe, and gave him the goal of bringing the end of all Creation. Still more unfortunately, Jal never got around to finishing the book. Now, to save the Universe, he must give Nigel's story a happy ending. Fortunately, he has some help, including the lager-chugging reincarnation of King Arthur, a zero-dimensional racist sprite named the Good Fairy, and even Death.

Toliman

A screenplay. Science fiction.

After astronomers begin detecting artificial radio transmissions from an Earthlike planet orbiting the nearby star Alpha Centauri, the United Nations dispatches an international mission to make contact with the aliens and establish a human colony on the planet. A thousand years and 4.37 light years later, the crew of the colony ship Apella awake from suspended animation to find themselves approaching the planet Toliman I. But what awaited them on the planet was the last thing they could possibly have expected to find.

Robot Pirates of the Milky Way: Invasion of the Undead Space Nazis!

A screenplay (at the moment). An attempt at humorous science fiction. Set in, uh, space. Not really for public consumption.

Oh, yes, and there's also Robot Pirates of the Milky Way: Invasion of the Undead Space Nazis!, which is the unbelievably silly screenplay I fall back on when bored with everything else. The title sort of says it all as far as the plot's concerned. There are some robotic pirates, and some ninja monkeys, who've just signed a peace treaty after centuries of warfare, and then the Space Nazis show up, and gosh, it's just a mess.