Two things! Firstly, I have been making progress on TLOC, and expect to make a lot of progress over the past two weeks (if all goes according to plan) – currently on page 116. The second thing is that I finally finished Lovecraft’s “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath,” and while it truly was epic, I was… underwhelmed. The writing at times seemed repetitive, and it seemed like anti-horror to me – too much was explained, not enough left mysterious. That and the ghouls were protagonists – that required some getting used to. Hopefully I’ll have good news on my progress next time I update!
Monthly Archives: June 2010
The Story of the Third Dark Carnival of Toys
As promised, I am here to update you on the fate of the Call of Cthulhu scenario I ran on Saturday! It went well – I ran two missions with two groups, the first of three and the second of four – and while it was the same scenario (disappearances near a carnival, caused by the work of an evil society consisting of the employees of the carnival involved with summoning chthonians and Shudde M’ell), the endings were completely different. The first group snuck into the caverns below the park in the dead of night after visiting it extensively during the day, and one of them bought an occult book. The investigator with the occult book summoned a horde of ghouls to him, and they took on all of the “carnies” underground. However, three sacrifices were cast into a pool (including the manager of the carnival), resulting in the summoning of Shudde Me’ll – for a second before the ritual failed. Shudde M’ell then took out most of the remaining carnies, and the rest were rounded up by the police.
The second group (of four), took a different approach, looking for information in different places and then sneaking under the carnival grounds in the middle of the day, through a hidden door on a carnival ride. They then fought the manager, Wilberforce Wyatt, singlehandedly underground, before one of them escaped and brought the might of the Providence police force in on it, and having a massive shootout on carnival grounds. They also ended up summoning Shudde M’ell – except this time, he stayed and destroyed the carnival and much of the surrounding area before vanishing again. They shouldn’t return to Providence anytime soon.
Everyone had fun, though, and I’m looking forward to the next scenario we’ll be running – “The Curse of Chaugnar Faugn” (both of these scenarios are from the Curse of the Chthonians book – my own scenarios will come later).
The day before that scenario, I had the pleasure of seeing Toy Story 3 – and it was fantastic (though Wall-E and Up are still my favorites), and almost had me in tears. It was that good. Go see it if you haven’t already.
TLOS Editing, TLOC Progress, and Dark Carnival Preparations!
Though pressed for time, I have made some progress! My brother, the esteemed Tristan, has finally finished reading The Loneliness of Stars, and at my request (our transaction smoothed over with a few dollars), has marked down all of the grammatical, spelling, and consistency mistakes he could find. I am currently going through his copy, fixing the marked mistakes and any others I notice on the way. I have currently gone through chapters one through four, and will try to edit a chapter a day until I am done – so expect a re-release in slightly more than a month!
In addition to editing my first novel, I had some more time to work on The Light of Civilization – I have now reached page 111. Following is an excerpt from my most recent writing session, in Chapter 13 – the alien fast-food scene:
***
It reminded me a lot of the nicer fast-food chains on earth that I had seen, and rarely eaten at, like McBurger’s and Wanda’s. Threkky’s, however, was much larger, containing what looked to be at least a hundred tables of varying sizes scattered around. The floor was a pleasing tan color, and the walls were a dull orange. As far as I could see, there was no counter or kitchen.
Thyrak quickly located a three-person table for us and we sat down. The chairs were amazingly comfortable, with armrests and lots of cushions. The tables looked to be finely finished marble. In the center of it was a bright silver cylinder. A few moments after we settled down, it spoke, prompting me to jump.
“And what will you have today?” A holographic image popped up above it, displaying a very sophisticated menu. I watched Thyrak and Jarken look at theirs (we all had separate images in front of us), and by touching various menu items you could get details.
I couldn’t recognize any of the items on the list. I clicked on some of them and got images, as well as the price, ingredients, nutrition information, and how exactly it was made.
After two or three minutes I decided to get the thing that looked the most like chicken – although it had what appeared to be five wings. It also was one of the cheaper items there, which made me feel better about having Thyrak pay for me.
Once we had all spoken our orders aloud, the menu image changed into an image of what appeared to a kitchen. I stared at it in amazement. Jarken caught my look and grinned.
“Live feed from the kitchens – you can watch your food being made. You don’t have this?”
I shook my head slowly.
“Neither do we, mostly – it’s a Threkky’s innovation.” Jarken leaned back and watched his meal being made in silence.
I did the same – I winced slightly as I saw the animal I had ordered slaughtered before my eyes. It did not look at all like a chicken – rather more like some kind of weird fish.
Once its blood was drained out, it was skinned – which revealed what looked to be a second layer of skin – and then thrown into an oven of some kind. The cook, a plump Shortel male – threw a bunch of powders and liquids down a tube in the top of it. Five or so minutes later, the cook took it out and placed it on a tray in what looked to be a dumbwaiter.
I jumped again as the center of the table detached from the rest of it and floated in the air. My meal shot up out of the opening in the tables and floated over to land in front of me. Jarken’s and Thyrak’s meals followed shortly thereafter.
On my tray was a drink of water and what looked to be a long, dull needle and a knife. I watched Thyrak and Jarken use theirs – the needle seemed to be some kind of fork-like thing – before I picked up my own utensils and dug in.
It was delicious. It tasted like a very fishy chicken – sort of like what I would imagine a chicken would taste like if it lived in salt water. It was about a third the size of a chicken, and I finished it quickly, then downed my drink. I was immensely satisfied.
***
And on an unrelated note, preparations for the Call of Cthulhu scenario I am running, “Dark Carnival,” is going well. I shall post regarding the results on Sunday. And speaking of Lovecraft, if you haven’t seen the trailer for the upcoming HPLHS movie “The Whisperer in Darkness,” check it out here. Also look at the “Whisperer” blog here.
One Hundred Pages!
The Light of Civilization has finally reached 100 pages (106, actually)! Writing is still going very slowly, but my brain is slowly coming back together, and I expect to be writing a lot more next week, after a certain Call of Cthulhu scenario is run this week.
Blocked Again!
I am doing terribly. I’m currently on page 95, and while I’m not suffering from total writer’s block, my mind has been scattered all over the place, and I can’t concentrate enough to get more than a few paragraphs down at a time. It’s becoming a problem.
Progress Sort Of!
I’m still behind… I’ve only managed, over the last two days, to write three pages. Not even half of what I’m trying to do per day, but busy schedules and constant exhaustion make writing hard. I’ll try harder next week, I promise!
Progress! Mwahahaha!
I know I promised not daily updates, but I have made progress! Yes, I should have completed two chapters by today, and I haven’t done that, but I have finished the next one, and seem to have broken out of the writer’s block I had worked myself into! Currently working on Chapter 9, page 76. I’m not going to get a chapter done tomorrow, as I’ll be busy, but on Friday I’m going to really try kick this into gear!
I would also like to say that my schedule has been cleared up, so hopefully I will have time.
The Sinkholes are Coming!
My paranoid fear of being swallowed into the earth is justified!
Also, a spatula has been thrown into the works of my plans to finish a chapter a day… I am still going to try, but I no longer think that I can come close to doing it, due to 40 hours of my week being filled up from a few days from now until August.
Yay!
A New Goal!
Can I do this? I really hope so! Starting… well, today, on June 1st, 2010, I am going to do my very best to write one chapter a day of The Light of Civilization, hopefully finishing the rough draft within the month. I will only make new posts every week on my progress, but check the Works in Progress page for a more constant update.
The Loneliness of Stars to be Re-released!
By the end of this summer, The Loneliness of Stars will be re-released, with all of the typos fixed (it is currently being edited by my dear brother), and the single inconsistency in it edited out (did you find it?) – also possibly will be adding in a chapter or two. Hopefully this will teach me to read the entire proof through next time.
Z. M. Wilmot 