The Foundation of Fury

Fury 
(placeholder text)

“I would see the world purged of life if it meant my daughter’s safety.”
Do not bring pain to those whom a man holds closest to his heart; for you will know the wrath of a world in him if you do.

1)       The Pride and Joy
2)       The Broken Lock
3)       The Deathly Scream
4)       The Trail of Blood
5)       The War Cry
6)       The Embodiment**
7)       The Demon’s Card*
8)       The Pace of Vengeance
9)       The Snarling Wolf**
10)   The Wicked Roots Wither
11)   The Sorrow it Wrought***
12)   The Cry for Help
13)   The Sworn Oath
14)   The Act of Vengeance
15)   The Heel of a Titan
16)   The Fading Flame
17)   The Slowdown
18)   The Long Walk Home
19)   The Grateful
20)   The Would Be****

The protagonist is so far unnamed.
The antagonist, or antagonists rather, are named: Alistair, Hector, and Gillean. They are all blood-brothers. Alistair is the oldest, and is the schemer, the leader of the brothers. Hector is the middle-brother, he tends to get most of the action done, and fears little. Lastly, Gillean is the youngest and most mentally unhinged, easily manipulated into doing even the most heinous things by his elder brothers. They are all bloodthirsty, crafty, dangerous brothers. And yes, they are Scottish. Now you have another reason to want them all dead!

Kidding...of course.

But they will know pain, for they have crossed the protagonist in the worst way imaginable.

* Newly added. Desired chapter will involve a dog, bred to kill, being used to impede or even destroy the protagonist.
** Swapped with 'The Embodiment' because of pacing and story-placement issues.
*** Newly added. After a new development in his quest to rescue his daughter single-handedly, he begins to despair at his more extreme actions.
**** Newly added. This will be the true ending, an unconventional one at that.

Holiday or two, and long-needed progress on 'Fury'

Happy Holidays, readers (no matter the quantity).

2012 looms, and brings with it an unusually mild winter with surprisingly high temperatures. A turkey feast with a bi-annual meet & greet with some of my family members were par the course for Xmas. The new year is just a couple days away and new classes will become palpable on the ninth of the first month.

I've also made some necessary progress on my current project. It's not a whole lot, but it's a good way to get the ball rolling again. The progress I made includes editing a notably vague few sentences, adding of a chapter to the chapter list (since I felt it didn't describe a desired story element), and completing a subsequent chapter to what I left off.

So with that, I'm signing off. Just hope nobody, for their sake, gets hurt in the celebration of another year's passing.

FURY, a new story project WITH SNEAK PEEK

Here's what I've been able to produce tonight. It's coming along nicely so far, with no visible errors to be seen (big bonus!). It's a new project I just began. It's a revenge story, and you'll get an idea of what kind of vengeance the main character seeks in this sneak-peek.

 

The Pride and Joy

Vivien is nine years old, has been for three weeks. Every day is a new one, and I’m always happy that she is there each time. She’s my pride and joy, and I’ll take any bullet or fang that threatens her well-being without hesitation.

What I like to do each birthday is to excite her with something totally new. I still remember her third birthday, where I bit the dust, in terms of finances, and managed to get her four hours of time at a horse ranch outside of town. It was all the worthwhile and it’s been a tradition that I have stood by since then. She’s been called spoiled and I guess there’s some merit to that, but it’s just a token of my appreciation.

That was six years ago, and things have changed only a little. With that in mind, I realized that rather than having the total innocence of a toddler, Vivien has the rambunctiousness of an almost-adolescent, curious and sometimes reckless. But I think my smarts were passed onto her, because she’s proven to be resourceful and thoughtful. The worst she’s experienced in her life has been just a stray nail, which didn’t amount to anything. She knows no true pain, and while it would prepare her for the reality of life to experience such, I won’t force anything on my girl. It’s always better to let your child experience such shaping things on their own, after all.

I was in a fantastic mood yesterday after dinner, and I announced to Clarissa and Vivien, with Vivien bearing the smile I’ve come to know and love, that deserts were in order. We had decadent chocolate sundaes at the finest restaurant in town, each and every one of us. When I tucked her into bed last night, just a few hours later, I heard her call to me as I was just walking out her room, door barely closed.

She felt nervous about something, but she couldn’t describe the reason for it. But I didn’t have to hear her say anything to know why she was nervous; her body was shaking. I know the language of the body fairly well, and her shaking spelled to me that she was in fear. I do know that she’s not afraid of the dark; she’s been past that phase since she was almost eight. So in response to her inability to verify the source of her fears, I reassured her that she would be alright.

That did the trick. She started closing her eyes right away, and to keep assurance still, I walked out of the room at a calm pace. Just as the door was about to shut, I peeked in and noticed that she had fallen asleep. The jewel of my life had lain there, peaceful and motionless.

Today we are going to the meadows, located only a few minutes from the house. We go there most days of the week in the better part of summer, because the temperature is just right and the air is pure, untainted, and perfect for enjoyment. I’m sure she’ll enjoy herself out there today, as she always does.

It turns out that she did. We played a few rounds of ultimate, relaxed on the lush green grass, the soil soft as a bed, and because she brought along the balloons that she got on her birthday, we blew them up and let them fly with the calm winds. There must’ve been as many as thirty of them, all in the sky. I could imagine a fleet of heated balloons embarking on a worldly adventure at that very moment I saw all those balloons. The sun was setting at that time, and we were spent.

As she was eating, she asked me to read her one of the books she received as a gift from Clarissa, just before she would fall asleep. I promised her I would do so; what kind of parent would I be to deny her that?

After a few chapters, she eased into slumber. Today was a great day, looking back on it, and I too took off to sleep. Just as easily, I shut my eyes and, with a few inane thoughts racing through at the pace of a burst of light, began to doze off. This will be a long night.

The Broken Lock

A menacingly slow twist of a safety pin, inserted in the front door, roused only squeaks of steel and wood. At the same moment, the window to Vivien’s room was being hoist open at a rate only a stealthy individual would produce. A figure now stood, hunched, on her window sill. One would only see this person as a shadow in the darkness and the dim moonlight from the outside, but they would still distinguish this figure as being male. Not a particularly tall one, either.

The front door had finally been rested open, but only to remain slightly ajar; this was not the main focus of the two men responsible for these breaches, for the window made entry for both of them. It’s not known why, then, the front door would be unlocked with such effort and left alone.

Both men were, whispering to each other, would have appeared to be murmuring indistinctly from only a few feet away. They were quiet, and methodical. It was obvious that Vivien was in danger.

The man who unlocked the door remained inside the room, just at the foot of Vivien’s bed. The other climbed outside, landed on the lawn below with a quiet thud, and walked towards a car parked at the curb only a stone’s throw away. He produced a sack, leather in composition, of large size.

Meanwhile, as the man was walking back to the house below Vivien’s window, the man in her room began to sweat. But he wasn’t nervous. He was Hector Buchanan, the front-runner, who loved to cause fear and shake things up. The man outside the window was Gillean, the depraved runt, who loved to trap and to maim. He stood there in anticipation, sweating more profusely than Hector was. He was also grinning, eyes wide open. He was embellished with sadistic glee, and this wasn’t the first time he and Hector had done something like this.

Hector, in a rapid movement, turned Vivien onto her stomach; this awoke her, but at the same time, he prevented her from screaming by sealing her mouth with his right hand. With the other, he swept her up out of the safety of her bed, dashed toward the window, and tossed Vivien down to Gillean. The latter’s eyes almost seemed to glow at that very instant.

The Deathly Scream

Vivien screamed. I’ve never heard her utter one like that in my life and I am not going to stall any longer to find out what is happening to her. Children scream like that for a reason.

I broke out in sweat, and Clarissa was also awake at the moment. She immediately clung to my right arm with a vice grip, begging me to check on Vivien. I ran to the closet, put on my comfort clothing, and ran out into the hall.

First thing that caught my attention was that the front door had been opened. I was descending the stairs to investigate when I heard the loud creaking of wood from Vivien’s room. I had no time to waste here, so I went back up the short flight of stairs I travelled with the pace of a rabbit, and found myself trapped behind Vivien’s door, which was locked.

I turned the door knob furiously, begging for a purchase beneath my nerve-wracked breaths. I was finding no such thing, even pushing violently on her door. That was when I could hear Vivien shout to me, but there was something wrong: she was outside. She shouted again, but her voice drowned out mid-note. At that moment, I gave up on her bedroom door and almost leapt down the stairs to the front door. Clarissa was rushing behind me, sounding appropriately distressed.

Right after I threw the door open, I spotted two men fleeing from the house, one was leading the other carrying a sack of some kind. It was writhing around and that was when I deduced that they had placed her in it. They were kidnapping my life, with their path interspersed with an idle car. A shadowy figure was waiting at the driver’s seat.

I screamed her name in rage and pain, pain at the sight of these animals stealing my child away from me like this, while I ran at full speed. The one who wasn’t holding Vivien in the sack turned quickly after hearing me, and threw something at me. At first nothing happened, and while I was still running at full speed towards them, I then felt a jolt of piercing pain in my right calf. It was enough to make me fall to the grass, soaked with morning dew and causing Clarissa just behind me to fall as well.

I was crying at that moment, terrified at what was happening. Both men had been in the car for a second now, and the car began to accelerate. The driver window had been rolled down, and the driver was pointing a gun at me, which I was able to discern because it reflected the moon light. I was getting up, just barely past the knees, when he fired three rounds in quick succession. Neither of them hit, but it was jarring nonetheless.

They were in full speed by then, and there I stood, paralyzed with fear. Some of the houses began to light up, but I was absolutely writhing with something I have never felt before. I fell to my knees, and cried out loud into the night.

I felt the fury of a thousand worlds.

The Thing Review (2011)(SPOILERS)

There's little imagination to be found here. While it didn't have the huge shoes to fill that a sequel would, it didn't serve much justice as a prequel, either. The audience of the Carpenter original didn't need to be brought up to speed as to the creature's origins; it was established right at the beginning sequence. This review is only intended for others who have watched the film, because it has spoilers.

I had a problem with the in-your-face nature of how the Thing went about its practices. Most daunting was how it was so illogical; it attacked people often when they were surrounded by others, even when armed with weapons it must have realized at a point could kill it in a painful, hot way. It wasn't subtle, it didn't 'scan' the area for vantage points or hiding spots in case it screws up its assimilation attempts (in Carpenter's film, the dog thing goes about the camp, finding out the layout of the place, and listens in on the crew members and finds out how it can go about its activities).

The beginning of the film was better than the ending, even though the ending is
spot-on, faithful to how the canonical sequel began (the man with the slit throat, the split-face corpse, the bloodied axe embedded into the wall, and the block of ice with a large opening are all present). Indeed, the beginning of the film, all 20 or so minutes of it, gives a feeling of some mystery, like, "what is this thing? Where is it from?" However, that is thrown out the window the moment it literally leaps into action and begins its assault on the crew members without a care in the world what happens. Surely the creature would be as weary of foreign lifeforms as the humans are (except for the Sanders character, who was unbelievably naive and should I say, stupid); why would it choose to throw itself into possible danger like that? Oh, that's right, the writers of the film wouldn't have a movie if they gave it more of a dimension than what it ended up having, because they had little imagination.

The characters were virtually card-board cutouts, most of them soulless or lacking of any depth to make them interesting. There was some paranoia development between the characters, I'll give the film this merit, but it didn't have the same feel as the sequel. Plus, why bother being paranoid about people when for little reason, the Thing assimilates someone completely random with no indication as to why, where, or how the person became a victim. I did like this film's own take on the identity test, which relied on, get this, tooth fillings. There actually was some logic to be found in this little plot device, as when it tried to assimilate a person (unsuccessfully I might add), it rejected a metal leg plate during the process because it was inorganic. That's a simple AND clever plot device and it is a plus for the film. However, this is one of the elements of the film that gives it the classification of "remake", seeing as it borrowed many elements from Carpenter's film, as if the design team of the film had nothing else to go on.

Atmosphere is a helpful way to give a film identity, and this film doesn't disappoint, for the most part. It doesn't help that the creature takes no liberties, doesn't seem to hatch any effective plan to take people over, and that even when it goes about its business, there's always people right there to burn it to death. There is a lot of tension during these moments, but the film is chock full of them that it doesn't allow for much ambiance, any breaks from action, which in Carpenter's film were used to great effect thanks to Morricone's stunning soundtrack. While I forgot the name of the person responsible for this film's soundtrack, it was rather forgettable other than the remix of "Humanity" heard at the end sequence, which sounded too much like the original anyway.

CGI was heavily used in this film. It didn't bother me, though, because I've come to accept this method of film effects (except for some cases. 'Deep Blue Sea', I'm looking at you!). Frankly, they were well done, but they didn't have the visceral feel that Rob Bottin's creations from the Carpenter film had. Indeed, many of the mutations were unoriginal or uninspired; Bottin had things like flesh flowers, a huge set of dinosaur-like teeth inside of one's chest, massive deformed-looking claws, a huge skull of what looked like a huge and mean looking dog, and many other things. This Thing almost always had a set of octopus jaws in the chest of the host, and crab-like claws. That's about all that I could say of it because the creature design was decent at best.

In closing, this is a decent film, but it doesn't add anything new to The Thing canon. There was little imagination, it made way too many nods to the Carpenter original, and character development and interaction was, in most cases, nonexistent. And the creature, while still as scary as ever because of its shape-shifting abilities and the way it mutates, is made one-dimensional and somewhat boring. Paranoia is still there, but there's nothing else to speak of. I guess the only real upside to this film is that it'll expose this canon to more people, and might invigorate some interest in it to generate a possible sequel. However, because of the ambiguous nature of the ending of Carpenter's film, it'll be hard to fill such shoes.

C+

+ Does have some faith to the Carpenter film

+ Retains some of the paranoia you'd think people would feel in such a situation

+ CGI is not bad, but it isn't spectacular, either

+ The beginning gives some sense of wonderment 

- Doesn't try anything really new, but does have some twists

- Too many nods to the original

- Monster behavior, and the situations where it attacks, are illogical

- Forgettable soundtrack and the atmosphere is almost nullified by the constant action

- Not as scary as it is gory and intense. In that case, it is more of a sci-fi thriller than a sci-fi horror film.

Additional note: Congrats on the clever identity test method, guys. 

Complimentary Photo Art - Acquiring the Means

I don't think I've mentioned it before in this blog, but I've perused the art of photography, albeit in a non-contemporary fashion, so as to compliment my writing. And the one thing I cannot do without in this endeavor would be a camera. Not just any camera you get for fifty to one hundred dollars and that you can fit in your pocket; a Digital SLR camera with the capacity for crisp picture clarity.

It's hard enough to find something of at least decent quality in this niche market. Most of the professional level cameras are jaw-droppingly expensive and at that point, you don't know whether you're overpaying or not for the various models competing for the annihilation of your wallet. Then again, if you go to the bottom of the barrel in terms of price (for which I will have to settle, and it's pragmatic to consider why), you need to keep on the lookout for the features and the undeniable picture quality you look for.

I'm no professional, and I don't romance the idea of taking on a career or anything as a photographer for hire or anything. But, I would like to share my art in some fashion or another. They won't be portraits of people, nor landscape shots. What I will snap will be hard to describe (let's just say it involves theatrical blood, lots of after-shot editing, and even some props), since there are few photographers I've heard of who do what I want to do. What I do know is that I want the camera to take notice of fine details, such as shadows and reflective lighting. Ordinary cameras that saturate the majority of the camera market don't do it the same way an SLR camera does.

There's one camera, within my limited budget (and because I'm patient enough to go with a rather "entry-level" purchase), that I've been looking at with ambition: Fujifilm Finepix S2950

As you can see, it has a decent optical zoom range, which helps because digital zoom isn't nearly as effective; has a good ISO range, which will allow for the camera shot to compensate for any otherwise diminutive effects it would have on the quality of the photograph; a fairly modest 14 megapixels; is capable of 720P HD video capture at 30 FPS, with sound; and a wide angle lens of 28MM.

The possibilities are so real it's almost palpable. Here's to keeping in mind that the camera is one part of the process, as props and even models will be required to make my imagination a reality.

(Overdue) Purge Completed

Finally, I was beginning to think it would be drawn out forever.

I am late with this post, however, because it's been finished since last Tuesday (August 14th). I submitted it to Clarke's World Magazine and as far as I am aware, it is still pending approval as a submission. In fact, the status of the submission reads as "Under Review." This can take a while, given that the length of the story is at 7,140 words.

I'm hoping that works out, if only to get my name out there and give me an audience.

As for a second story, it will not be a sequel, but a follow-up of sorts. Plus, as soon as I have a half-decent camera at the very least, I will make the photo art. Then, the novella version can really begin. As for the next story, I think I'll begin when I have more free time, perhaps this weekend. Also, it'll be a modification of a prototypical story I wrote last year, but never completed.

Griz out.

Purge - Final Edit Stage Update III

This post should be the last that is relevant to this stage of the edit - the stage between getting the work started and getting it published and sent out to the world.

Yesterday, I went through it all the way to the end. I even added another chapter, because I felt that there was a slight lack of continuity. There are over 5,000 words contained in the version of the story that exists at this moment, and depending on the circumstances between now and it's actual finish, it might have approximately 5,500 words.

I am considering the home of some of H.P Lovecraft's short stories to publish; Weird Tales. Failing that, there are some others I can consider. I will not publish to anyone who will try and take ownership of the original story. Besides, publishers like that should be ashamed of themselves for trying to one-over the artists that have made their ascents possible in the first place.

Anyway, in a short-lived bout of distraction, I posted a comment on the latest blog posting which belongs to Shiloh, the girlfriend or whatever of the Youtube user Onision. She's also known as Draculoh. She's a fellow Canadian and is a recording artist. It was on a specific debacle going on between them but that's for neither here or there. This story is 95% done I think, and I am guessing that I'll have it done by the end of next week.

As some British jackass on the aforementioned website likes to close his videos with, Ta-ta.