Fiction By Marcus Carab & Friends
My name is Tyler Brown and I am looking forward to adding my own brand of science fiction to Stranger Than Truth. I have a couple stories I am currently editing with Marcus Carab to put up on the site shortly.
I will also be joining the NaNoWriMo writing spree this month with a story about a time traveler and the amazing business wear he possesses in The Man In the Ten Billion Dollar Suit.
I hope you enjoy it.
Editor’s Note: Ian calls me ‘benevolent’ a total of three times in this article. I have no idea why.
As promised, I’m going to talk a bit about one of the apps I’ve been using for my iPhone Challenge. In order to make posts on the blog during NaNoWriMo, I have to use the WordPress iOS app. Before I get into it though I’ll say this….I’m at Disgraceland DJing right now. Elizabeth Kurz is beside me writing her NaNo in her notebook, and will probably be typing it up and blogging about it later when she’s at her computer… and I’m blogging about mine right now FROM MY FUCKING PHONE. My point is, I love this app. It is amazing. The iPhone Challenge would be impossible without it.
Having said that, there are a few flaws with it that I should point out, not to be critical of the good volunteers who made the app, but to be helpful to others who may be using it. Continue reading “iPhone Challenge: Review of the WordPress App”
Editor’s Note: Recently we featured some engrossing poetry from Ekstasis Amor while we waited for his novel to take shape. Now the shape-taking has begun, and the lyricist seeks feedback!
Tentative first chapter of ‘The Kleptocracy’. Comments regarding the intelligibility of this selection would be greatly appreciated! Continue reading “‘He was pale even to the lips,’”
This week we’ve seen the NaNoWriMo beginnings of Elizabeth Kurz, Geoff Micks, Halton Stoves and Tasty Yumyum, and we’ve had teasers from Ian Worte, Ekstasis Amor, Drew Beaudoin and Tim Dallimore. Meanwhile, I’ve been falling further and further behind on my NaNoWriMo word count. I don’t even want to type out the number—suffice to say it’s around a quarter of what it should be.
That being said, I’ve finally hit a reasonable groove, and I’m ready to present the first few pages of my presently untitled work, to be temporarily referred to as A Sticky City Story. I realized that whatever I wrote for NaNo had to be something I could have some psychotic fun with, so I send you into this fictional world with a warning: it will be surreal; it will be whimsical; it will contain elements of science fiction and mystic realism; it will be filled with unreliable characters and related to you by unreliable narrators; and it will very likely be full of plot holes until I edit it in December.
For the tone and style I took a little inspiration from Kurt Vonnegut and Samuel Beckett, with a splash of Cory Doctorow (though I’ve only read one of his novels). The structure (a series of short chapters from various points of view, which by the time I am done will number in the dozens) is inspired by one of my favourite novels, a WW2 epic by Louis de Bernières.
Read on and enjoy—and may I be the first to say: Welcome to Sticky City.
Continue reading “Guns, Magic & Parrots: Welcome to Sticky City”
Editor’s Note: Last week Tim Dallimore told us a little bit about his NaNoWriMo 2010 project, which I believe is untitled for the time being, and now he has checked in from Dawson City with the first draft of the first chapter. Anyone who knows Tim will not be surprised to learn that it opens on a flirtatious moment with a pretty girl and ends with an over-the-top occurrence. Read on and enjoy! Continue reading “NaNoWriMo from the North”
Editor’s Note: Yesterday we presented Part One of Chapter Two from Life Loves Death, the NaNoWriMo project of Geoff Micks. If you missed that, check it out first (or if you missed the first chapter, start there instead) then dive into this glorious second half, which finds our timeless hero in a Stone Age winter. Continue reading “Live Loves Death, Chapter Two (Unedited First Draft, Part Two)”
Editor’s Note: You may have noticed I recently added a Verse section to Stranger Than Truth. One of the main reasons for this was to highlight awesome pieces of rhythmic fiction by Tasty Yumyum like this one about a great musical triumph.
I wrote this for a children’s book that my friends and I put together as a present for a newborn. Continue reading “Spadonkadonk”
Hello again, fellow Stranger Than Truthers. I have an update for you on this glorious first Saturday of National Novel Writing Month. I’m now up to 16,033 words, and not all of them are terrible. I confess I’ve had some trouble getting a good flow going during the work week, but weekends seem to agree with me. It helps that I’m putting off chores by writing.
Anyway, I didn’t think I’d have Chapter Two ready to share any time soon, but I stitched together several faltering attempts I’ve made over the last week, and I’m not totally unhappy with how it hangs together, considering it’s an unedited first draft. I even remembered to insert in a little foreshadowing and reoccuring tropes and themes I want to pick up and use later. Unfortunately, the entry of my backpacker has now been pushed to Chapter Three, but we’ve got some great establishing plot for the narrator in place. If anyone wants to take a look, you’re welcome to it. If you’d prefer to wait, I plan to pubish the full edited manuscript on my own blog sometime in December. Cheers!
Editor’s Note: This is an extremely awesome and quite long chapter, so I’ve split it into two parts. Get ready for part two, coming tomorrow. Also, if you haven’t read Chapter One, make sure you do that first!
Continue reading “Life Loves Death, Chapter Two (Unedited First Draft)”
Awaiting the first pages of my novel The Kleptocracy to present themselves, I have faith in these two poems:
Her!
She is as a scroll of fervent Thuluth.
Not adorned but is ornamentation
Of Life; flitting through perilous existence.
A Minaret scene through and above the spandrels,
Gilt and wondrous!
—Marilyn.
Things have taken a strange turn for me here in Dawson City. I had to move outta my trailer and into the BO GO MO (Bonanza Gold Motel). It’s been a good first night. The temperature was consistent, the bed was soft, and there was room for my clothes to not be on me while I slept. I spent last night writing, and then went to breakfast at 7 am. Our days are getting shorter and shorter, which means I have more time to write. However, the internet connection here is phenomenally crappy. My original story idea was completely tossed aside and I began a new story loosely based on my life when I was in Toronto. You might notice yourself appearing in my story. I do not apologize. Anyway, I plan for my character to take a dramatic turn into crime or at least arson. I’ll be holed up in my room for the next 15 days with nothing but pizza, beer, granola bars and my new mac book pro running text edit and dictionary. I’m behind on my words per day at the moment, but I have ideas coming. Hopefully this story isn’t the worst ever, but I won’t be heart broken if it is. More later from our main character: Sean Steven. And maybe even a chapter for the leading lady: Sophie Smith. Or maybe even a chapter from our buddy across the bridge: Dillinger. Hope to read some more of everyone else’s endeavors as well.