Paving the highway to hell. Well, that didn't last! 1 short, 999 to go, and I won't even be able to get back to it anytime soon. The reason why? NaNoWriMo. I'm going to take 6DegreesofZ to 50,000 words. I. Am. Crazy. But, the other reason why I haven't posted 1000 shorts? I've been working on some epic Trek fanfiction. Well, maybe not epic as in GOOD, but it is starting to add up.
Mene Mene Tekel uPharsin: This is a nuTrek story set on Tarsus IV with some classic characters. Also, CumberKhan is not in this version, so perhaps it is now AU... Sorry, I just don't care for the character from ST:ID. Really, truly disappointed. Cumberbatch played a really good augment, but he was no Khan. (Sorry for the rant.) Anyway, this project is on hold as I need a beta reader who is familiar with The Eugenics Wars and Space Seed, to make sure I keep Khan true to form. This work is currently at 15,000 words.
Shadows of Time series (trilogy?)
Peace of Centaurus (40,000 words): Friendship/Romance. Boy gets divorce. Boy meets Girl. Bad timing, that. Boy's CO insists Boy AND Girl go to Centaurus. Hijinks ensue. Ups. Downs. Sacrifices. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll kiss your freetime goodbye.
No More Tomorrows (WIP, 9,000 words): Archer is Quantum Leaping thanks to Agent Daniels, in order to correct the future timeline. More hijinks. More Riley. Yay.
Future projects:
Extras: What the minor characters are doing during nuTrek movies. *SIGH* I don't see this coming along until the new year sometime.
Early Voyages, Issue #18 (No title, yet): I really want to tie up the cliffhanger we were left with from this series. It's also a chance to face my teenage dream from the early 90s of drawing a comicbook. I hope it will be enjoyable to read AND look at. Kind of scary! :D ...I'm looking at this being my next project after NaNoWriMo.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Six Degrees of Zombification: No Guarantees
by Red Stafford
"Close the door!" Rae grimaced and fought the eyeroll that came by instinct at the shout. Bracing herself against the frame, she ignored the graveled moans behind two inches of heavy steel.
"M'tryin!" she managed to spit out, finally heaving the barrier shut. "We gotta leave this place, Derek."
"Leave? This is the best defended building in five miles. Rae, we're good here. We have some ties with the freeters down the road. They know all sorts of things 'bout living scarce." Rae gave a sobered look to Derek. "What?"
Rae thumbed back behind her, "Who do you think is on the other side of this door?" Derek sighed. He went to look outside the peephole at Ellen and Dan. Rae checked herself and went to clean the blood off of her rasp. "We need to leave. Too many people we knew here..."
"You still don't think that has anything to do with--"
"It has everything to do with this... plague." Rae waved a hand in the air and began to pack. "Think about it. You, me. Ellen and Dan. We're not exactly social butterflies, so maybe that's why we were lucky in the beginning. ...But we were regulars at Bentley's and we always went to Kroger's for our shopping. ...Where did we have problems, after all hell broke loose?"
"Bentley's... Kroger's..." Derek went to help with packing. The sounds from outside were still unsettling. "They'll go away, right?" Rae stopped with a huff and stared at her boyfriend.
"That'd be a first." Part of the problem, aside from the rot, the infection, and the whole getting eaten aspect, came from the fact that the newly resurrected seemed absolutely intent to dine on those they'd known in life. Relentless, the undead would follow their intended until they'd gorged themselves on everything down to the marrow, or until their grey matter no longer did.
"Think you can handle Ellen?"
"It's not Ellen anymore. Dan neither. You get that through that thick skull of yours, Derek."
"Yes, ma'am." Derek smirked at Rae, then took out his bowie knife and tested its weight. He still wasn't used to killing. Weapons were something to collect from Renaissance Faires. The knife was the only one he'd had that was sharp... He'd left behind everything but it and some stars--and he'd lost all but one of those in the escape.
"Don't worry about me. Dan's bigger than you. Don't you hesitate, so help me." Rae's hard look softened when she saw Derek shrug and nod. She kissed him quickly, then stepped back. "Okay. Let's do this..."
The door swung open, letting in a putrid stench that made their stomachs clench. Rae gulped down acid that threatened more, as she thrust the sharp end of her rasp up through the chin that once belonged to Ellen. Its mulled eyes stilled from the sightless dream it had entered at resurrection.
Derek was having a harder time of things. He'd managed to get himself pinned to the wall. Luckily, he had his knee and an arm keeping the undead at bay. Still, he'd fumbled his bowie knife in the wrong direction for stabbing. A slash of steel met flesh and opened up a bouquet of smells that made Derek retch. In an act of desperation, he brought his knee up for leverage. Dan's teeth were centimetres away, snapping and gnashing, but in one smooth motion, Derek kicked the ex-freeter away, turned his knife around, and stabbed it through its nasal cavity.
Rae looked outside, then sighed. No one else around, it seemed. "You okay?" Her gaze turned inside the dimly-lit building and up at Derek. "...Said, you okay?"
Derek nodded, then frowned, holding up his arm, "Not sure... He may've scratched me." Rae stared at her lover and slammed the door shut. The smell from the bodies was terrific, but she didn't have time for it.
"Let me see it." Rae took a flashlight and cursed at the sight of it. "Definitely scratched..."
"We don't know if a scratch does the same as a bite, Rae..." She nodded, and fetched the first-aid kit.
"Well... We're gonna find out. ...You should at least get it treated. ...It's not too deep... That's good." Derek grunted an affirmative. Rae's eyes lit upon his face, "That needs to stop. I get enough moans and groans from their sort. You're not allowed to start."
Derek chuckled, "Yes, ma'am."
They left not ten minutes later. Derek handled the map as the couple kept on foot. Cars brought too much attention, and most were out of gas by now, anyway. The gas stations around town had blown sky-high in the chaos just after the plague overtook the town. "We should get a gun... Easier to take them out, that way."
"Well, lucky us, bein' in Texas. Just about everyone but us has one. We gotta be double careful. I don't trust people to keep their heads cool... And even if they do, they might be too cool for my tastes."
"Rae..." It'd been worrying at him ever since they took out the freeters. "What if I come back... You'll have to take me out."
She turned and gripped Derek's collar. "None of that. No 'What ifs.' We deal with things as they come. There ain't no guarantees, no more. None save for one." Rae let go of her boyfriend's collar and walked ahead.
"Which is..?" Derek smirked and caught up, "Save for what, Rae?"
"Proximity." Rae placed her hand over Derek's heart, "Gettin' close means takin' risks."
Derek frowned, "You're sayin' I should go."
"Look who's puttin' words in my mouth. Did I say such?" Rae poked Derek, "It means... takin' risks. You're worth the risk, hon. That's what I'm sayin'. An' that's all I will say about it. Get a move on; we don't have much time 'fore sundown."
"Close the door!" Rae grimaced and fought the eyeroll that came by instinct at the shout. Bracing herself against the frame, she ignored the graveled moans behind two inches of heavy steel.
"M'tryin!" she managed to spit out, finally heaving the barrier shut. "We gotta leave this place, Derek."
"Leave? This is the best defended building in five miles. Rae, we're good here. We have some ties with the freeters down the road. They know all sorts of things 'bout living scarce." Rae gave a sobered look to Derek. "What?"
Rae thumbed back behind her, "Who do you think is on the other side of this door?" Derek sighed. He went to look outside the peephole at Ellen and Dan. Rae checked herself and went to clean the blood off of her rasp. "We need to leave. Too many people we knew here..."
"You still don't think that has anything to do with--"
"It has everything to do with this... plague." Rae waved a hand in the air and began to pack. "Think about it. You, me. Ellen and Dan. We're not exactly social butterflies, so maybe that's why we were lucky in the beginning. ...But we were regulars at Bentley's and we always went to Kroger's for our shopping. ...Where did we have problems, after all hell broke loose?"
"Bentley's... Kroger's..." Derek went to help with packing. The sounds from outside were still unsettling. "They'll go away, right?" Rae stopped with a huff and stared at her boyfriend.
"That'd be a first." Part of the problem, aside from the rot, the infection, and the whole getting eaten aspect, came from the fact that the newly resurrected seemed absolutely intent to dine on those they'd known in life. Relentless, the undead would follow their intended until they'd gorged themselves on everything down to the marrow, or until their grey matter no longer did.
"Think you can handle Ellen?"
"It's not Ellen anymore. Dan neither. You get that through that thick skull of yours, Derek."
"Yes, ma'am." Derek smirked at Rae, then took out his bowie knife and tested its weight. He still wasn't used to killing. Weapons were something to collect from Renaissance Faires. The knife was the only one he'd had that was sharp... He'd left behind everything but it and some stars--and he'd lost all but one of those in the escape.
"Don't worry about me. Dan's bigger than you. Don't you hesitate, so help me." Rae's hard look softened when she saw Derek shrug and nod. She kissed him quickly, then stepped back. "Okay. Let's do this..."
The door swung open, letting in a putrid stench that made their stomachs clench. Rae gulped down acid that threatened more, as she thrust the sharp end of her rasp up through the chin that once belonged to Ellen. Its mulled eyes stilled from the sightless dream it had entered at resurrection.
Derek was having a harder time of things. He'd managed to get himself pinned to the wall. Luckily, he had his knee and an arm keeping the undead at bay. Still, he'd fumbled his bowie knife in the wrong direction for stabbing. A slash of steel met flesh and opened up a bouquet of smells that made Derek retch. In an act of desperation, he brought his knee up for leverage. Dan's teeth were centimetres away, snapping and gnashing, but in one smooth motion, Derek kicked the ex-freeter away, turned his knife around, and stabbed it through its nasal cavity.
Rae looked outside, then sighed. No one else around, it seemed. "You okay?" Her gaze turned inside the dimly-lit building and up at Derek. "...Said, you okay?"
Derek nodded, then frowned, holding up his arm, "Not sure... He may've scratched me." Rae stared at her lover and slammed the door shut. The smell from the bodies was terrific, but she didn't have time for it.
"Let me see it." Rae took a flashlight and cursed at the sight of it. "Definitely scratched..."
"We don't know if a scratch does the same as a bite, Rae..." She nodded, and fetched the first-aid kit.
"Well... We're gonna find out. ...You should at least get it treated. ...It's not too deep... That's good." Derek grunted an affirmative. Rae's eyes lit upon his face, "That needs to stop. I get enough moans and groans from their sort. You're not allowed to start."
Derek chuckled, "Yes, ma'am."
They left not ten minutes later. Derek handled the map as the couple kept on foot. Cars brought too much attention, and most were out of gas by now, anyway. The gas stations around town had blown sky-high in the chaos just after the plague overtook the town. "We should get a gun... Easier to take them out, that way."
"Well, lucky us, bein' in Texas. Just about everyone but us has one. We gotta be double careful. I don't trust people to keep their heads cool... And even if they do, they might be too cool for my tastes."
"Rae..." It'd been worrying at him ever since they took out the freeters. "What if I come back... You'll have to take me out."
She turned and gripped Derek's collar. "None of that. No 'What ifs.' We deal with things as they come. There ain't no guarantees, no more. None save for one." Rae let go of her boyfriend's collar and walked ahead.
"Which is..?" Derek smirked and caught up, "Save for what, Rae?"
"Proximity." Rae placed her hand over Derek's heart, "Gettin' close means takin' risks."
Derek frowned, "You're sayin' I should go."
"Look who's puttin' words in my mouth. Did I say such?" Rae poked Derek, "It means... takin' risks. You're worth the risk, hon. That's what I'm sayin'. An' that's all I will say about it. Get a move on; we don't have much time 'fore sundown."
My Intentions
So, a little over a week ago, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, "The Talking Dead Podcast." The guys announced a writing contest for during the hiatus of the Walking Dead show on AMC. Some people get writer's block. I seem to get writer's iron curtain. Well, here's the deal. I got an idea... I'm going to write a 1000 word (or so) story every week of this contest. I'll check to make sure, but I may be limited as to how many times I can enter.
Here's where you come in, dear readers. (Or reader. c.c) As I write my short stories, I want your feedback.... What needs polishing, hacking, redressing, or the boot! Also, depending on how the contest works (as far as number of entries), I may request your voice on which stories I should submit to the contest.
Well, there you are, and here we are, and we are all together. Goo goo gachoo.
Now to upload the first in a series I'll call "Six Degrees of Zombification." ...I really hope that title isn't taken already, cause it rocks. :D
Here's where you come in, dear readers. (Or reader. c.c) As I write my short stories, I want your feedback.... What needs polishing, hacking, redressing, or the boot! Also, depending on how the contest works (as far as number of entries), I may request your voice on which stories I should submit to the contest.
Well, there you are, and here we are, and we are all together. Goo goo gachoo.
Now to upload the first in a series I'll call "Six Degrees of Zombification." ...I really hope that title isn't taken already, cause it rocks. :D
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