Right now I am still down.  I'm still not going to write about Caesar and what he meant to me, but that doesn't mean I won't be writing.  Writing has gotten me through some pretty dark times in the past, and I have the feeling it will answer the bell again.

The problem is, I don't want to work on Descent right now.  Descent is designed so that the line between the heels and the babyfaces is getting more blurred all the time, and I find that I don't want to be in that mindset at this time.  I want a clear divider between good and evil, and I am not going to get that out of this series.  Simply put, I want to line them up and knock them down.

Keeping this in mind, I have gone back to work on Living After Midnight.  I found when I checked over the notes and what had been done so far that I was only four chapters away from the end, so it makes sense at this time to heave a deep sigh, go back and finish it off.  If I'm still in this funk when that's all said and done, I will hit Black Sunshine and wallow in scream bloody gore until something changes.

I love you, Caesar.  I know I'll see you again some day.

Only three pieces of feedback?  C'mon, people... you're better than that.

Read and respond to the Black Sunshine prologue, because you care.

Onward.

All right.  Long-threatened, now delivered, this is the raw first draft of the intro for the horror novel Black Sunshine.

OBLIGATORY WARNING:  Material behind the cut is of an extremely graphic and explicit nature.  I didn't sit at the feet of Stephen King, Clive Barker and the great James Herbert for all that time in my mostly misspent youth without learning a few tricks about the blood trade.  If it was a movie, the prologue would be a strong R and possibly an NC-17 rating.  If you don't like horror and are possibly worried about unsavory images being placed in your head, I won't think any less of you.

For the hardier souls (ooops, sorry) among us, I say... on with the show.


Well.  Thoughts?

A poet who reads his verse in public may have other nasty habits.

- Robert Heinlein

Good words from one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time.  Now, having made my nod to hubris, allow me to climb my own soapbox and announce:

The prologue of Black Sunshine is finished.

I'm going to give it a once-over tonight and then post it either before bed or when I wake up tomorrow morning.  Feedback, criticism and what-not are going to be appreciated.  Be warned, it is extremely explicit in its depiction of violence, and the tone is... unflinching.  What else do you expect from somebody who idolizes James Herbert?  I take my horror seriously, people.  Wes Craven is an ass for what he did to the genre with Scream.  I'm not one of those jokers that try to play zombies for laugh or hide a joke inside a gross-out bit.  Black Sunshine is dark, it's bloody and hopefully it will leave an impact on you long after you finish reading.

So having announced that, I return to my bubble fortress before hitting the gym.  Good day to you all.

After I play with the Ibanez for a while tonight, I'm going to start something different.  I think it's time for Black Sunshine to make an appearance on my hard drive; if anybody is interested, I'll post the prologue when I've finished.  If you don't like ultra-gory horror with zombies, stay far away.

This decision feels good.  I'll have more post-type stuff tomorrow.  Until then, be well.

EDIT:  This has absolutely nothing to do with writing, but I had to throw this in.  I just saw a commercial for Guitar Hero: On Tour, which is an installment of that noxious franchise for the Nintendo DS.  It's notable for having the song "Breed" by Nirvana as the theme music, and for an animatronic "extreme squirrel" which delivered some shouted enthusiastic slogan that I couldn't hear over the sound of my jaw falling open.

It occurred to me at that moment that if you raised former Nirvana frontman and violently anti-establishment rocker Kurt Cobain from the dead and made him watch this commercial for a product aimed at fat suburban white kids meant to simulate the majesty of playing an actual instrument, featuring his own music, he would blow his brains out all over again.

Don't tell me I'm wrong; you know I'm not.  Off to cavort with the zombies.

Okay, so it wasn't a double feature of The Mist and I Am Legend; we got The Mist and American Gangster.  They very dopily paired I Am Legend with Fred Claus, a clear case of WTF movie feature billing.  Having said that, I now am going to make a proclamation:

If it is playing in your town, then run, and do not dare walk, down to the movie house and go see The Mist as soon as you possibly can because seriously, it's the best movie I've seen all year except maybe Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  I'm not kidding at all.  This movie is fucking awesome, and as such, it has inspired me to make another proclamation:

When I finish Underworld and get The Phoenix Initiative and The Final Nine edited, my next project is going to be Black Sunshine.  Yes, I was that inspired.

Frank Darabont and Stephen King rule.  Out.

As of last night, I have made decision regarding National Novel Writing Month.  Originally, my plan was to do Black Sunshine, a horror novel involving a zombie horde and more blood and guts than you could shake a stick at.  Instead, I'm going to do that baseball novel I've been talking about, so I think I just officially forfeited about half my cool kid points with this choice.

Well, I sort of have to.  Right now, that baseball story is a much hotter topic in my mind, and I've pretty much got the whole thing already sketched out in my head.  All I need are a few dozen details and I'll be ready to rock and roll.  As I stated previously, I like to buck the NaNo trend of writing 50,000 words of pure, drizzling pig shit and swim upstream by writing something that is actually decent.  Right now, my best chance of finishing the contest and having it be good is that baseball novel.

Now I have to think up a title, and I'll pretty much just be counting down until November 1st.  So, yay for me, and sorry if anybody out there was looking forward to splatterpunk fun.  I reserve the right to go back on this decision and do Black Sunshine after all... but to be honest, I probably won't.

Oh, and one more thing: HAVE FUN GETTING POUNDED IN THE KEISTER IN PRISON, DOG KILLER  FORMERLY KNOWN AS MIKE VICK.  Except if they're smart they won't get anywhere near the trap door, because he has herpes as we know from that whole "Ron Mexico" incident.  It's nice to be able to sit here smugly and say, "I knew he was a sack of shit the whole time."  Really, it is.

As you were.

Yesterday's total word count done on Underworld:  1,012.

I was pretty happy with it, too.  The mainlining of James Herbert novels I have been ramming home lately must have come through because there was a couple places that were noticeably more darker and gruesome than I usually do.  It's a good little tune-up for Black Sunshine.  All hail the Godfather Of Splatterpunk!

Theoretically, this means I can sluff off a bit tonight but I'm not going to.  Too much to do.  In the meantime, however, I'm going to go do something I have not had the ability to do for two weeks:

I'm going to take a bubble bath.

Yes, I am at the healing point from my encounter with Lil' Bush that I can now swim in my pool again and take baths once more.  As my back is snarling like a starving she-wolf, I'm going to go indulge that right now.  My writing (and non-writing inclined) peeps, peace be with you.

Okay, all my author-type friends have been making "to-do" lists here on LJ, so I better get with it as well.

While having lunch with Lady Jade today, I ran down my list of writing-related things to do and the time frames I have to do them in.  They are, in chronological order:

1)  Try to get Underworld finished.  Truth be told, this isn't nearly the priority that one would think that it is.  Most deals signed by first-time authors are anywhere from one to three books, and the first three Ring Of Fire books are all done, edited and ready to be unleashed on the world at a moment's notice.  In fact, if I were offered a contract tomorrow, I could sign it, fax it back and say "Now don't talk to me for two years and keep those checks flowing" and theoretically, it could be done as easily as that.  of course, that's a horrible way to go about one's chosen career, but it could be done.  Theoretically.

2)  Ramp up for National Novel Writing Month by getting the outline and such of Black Sunshine done and then hit the ground running on November 1st.  This is such a no-brainer that I don't even really consider this an addition to the list, but since I was making one, it had to go on.  There's only one slight problem to this item; it looks as though Black Sunshine might end up being a bit longer than I thought it was.  Instead of a 50,000 word bite-sized novella, this may end up being a 110,00 word gore-fest for the ages.  However, only the first 50K must be worried about in that 30 days, and I'll pull it off.

3)  Editing on The Phoenix Initiative.  I read back over it the other month or so ago and it's a damn good story that needs some polishing... which I have avoided like I dodge making calls to my mother.  I know, I know, it has to be done.  And I will.  In fact, I'll probably do it sooner than I thought.

After I ran down this list, Lady Jade said that I sure had my work cut out for me.

Boy, is she telling the truth.

(groan)