Adventure of Your Choice

One of my favorite series growing up was the Choose Your Own Adventure books.  Stories I could read over and over, taking different routes and reaching different endings each time.  I mentioned them before in relation to Wil Wheaton reading them live online.

For some reason, I recently got the idea to try and write a story in a similar style.  Obviously, some adaption had to be made for the digital method of choosing story options instead of simply turning pages.  I hope you enjoy it.

You are the First Officer of an exploratory space vessel. You stand and look over the bridge and see the other five officers working at their stations. The Captain sits in his raised chair next to your position. The bridge is relatively quiet as the large display screen shows a map of nearby solar systems and the status of various ship systems. All power levels, environmental systems, and faster-than-light engines are all showing green and functioning properly.

The peace is broken by the communications officer speaking up. “Sir, we have an incoming communication. It appears to be a distress signal from a colony ship en-route to Tau Ceti. A malfunction took out their FTL drive and some of their environmental systems.”

Captain Hogarth issues commands in a clipped tone. “Navigation, plot the colony ship's location and put it up on the main screen. Communications, reply that we are on our way and get their registry and the number of people aboard. Also, relay the signal to any other ships in the neighborhood. We don't enough space to transport an entire colony's population.”

You look down at the Captain as the two officers acknowledge and execute their orders. “Should I alert the Medical Bay that we will have injured incoming?”

“Let's wait and see how many people are hurt and whether their own medical facilities are functional first. No need to get the doctors and nurses all hot and bothered for nothing. We should notify the Marines that they will need to gear up to board in unknown conditions.”

You nod at him and glance at the navigational display as the colony ship appears on it. Even with the FTL drive at full power, it will take just over two hours to reach the same region as the stranded ship, then another hour running on the sublight engines to get close enough to dock.

If you use the ship's interior communications system to contact the Marine squad, click HERE.

If you take the lift down to the crew quarters and notify the Marine Lieutenant directly, click HERE.

This post was challenging on two fronts.  It was fun writing a story that takes many paths because I didn't need to decide which direction a story should take, I could let it take all the directions that came to mind.  The other challenge was creating the different pages for the different choices and linking them all properly.  In all honesty, I may do this again if people like the format.

Are there any other directions you would like to see the story go?  Comment below what you think.

Child's Gateway

I've done a blog post before based on an image.  Doing some browsing, I came across another image with a tale to be told.  Something about the look on the child's face tells me that he has no fear of what is before him because whatever is behind him is so much worse.

It was a typical day at school.  Pretty much the same as every other day I've had for years.  The same jerks calling me the same names.  The same giggles from the girls as they walked past me.  The only saving grace was the fact it was Friday.  I wouldn't have to tolerate any of this for the next two days.  There would only be may father to avoid.  Since this Friday was also his payday, he would be easy to avoid in his drunken stupor all weekend.

With my mind on caring for myself and other plans, I failed to notice anything different about the side alley I usually took on my walk home from school.  That is until I noticed a shuffling sound in front of me.  The sighing of cloth against cloth seemed to fill the alley.  Stone ground against stone under my feet.

A light popped on the ground.  It was like a campfire, but, instead of reds and oranges, it was pure white.  A large figure with horns, one broken, emerged from the darkness as the white flames grew in size and brightness.  Around the big, horny dude stood a growing number of what I could only think of as mummies.

I didn't move.  I stood completely still.  First due to fear, then from the shock of the unreality of what I was seeing.  Something in the back of my mind was telling me they couldn't see me if I stood completely still.  To this day, I don't know if this was true or not.

As I stood there, a voice spoke.  I didn't exactly hear it.  The words seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.  They entered my mind without bothering to go through my ears first.

"Welcome traveler.  Before you is a gateway.  A passage to other realms and realities."

As the voice spoke, the fire continued to grow.  However, the top of the flame never got any higher.  The ground below it began to sink lower and lower.

"Beyond is more than you can imagine.  There will be women that will adore you.  Riches worth more than anyone could spend in a lifetime.  Your plate will overflow with enough food to feed entire countries.  All that you desire is yours to claim."

"Will there be pain?"

The large guy with the horns almost seemed startled.  "I'm sorry.  What?"

"Will there be pain?  Will there be challenges to overcome before I receive any of the rewards you mentioned?  Will there be a risk to my immortal soul?"

"That is a question your kind has never asked before.  I cannot say I know the answer.  It is something you will have to step into the purifying fire to discover."

"I don't believe I will get all the wonderful things you described without some kind of price.  Some kind of toll paid."

I looked over my shoulder at what was behind me physically and metaphorically.  To escape it all.  The teasing.  The giggles.  The eyes smiling, not at me but at my expense.  The silence from those that were supposed to protect me.  The drunken beatings I have witnessed and been given.

I knew any price to be paid to get away from it all would be worth it.  Even without the rewards the horned figure promised, getting away from this place would be worth any price.

I stepped in to the flames and the world vanished.

If you were to give a name to the creatures in the picture, what would you call them?

Musical Interlude

There are a number of writing challenges out there.  Some come as suggestions in an email.  Others can be found on websites offering authors the chance to post the results.  Occasionally they seem to come out of nowhere.  

I was having a conversation with my sons about boy bands.  A pun was made that included the names of a couple of popular bands.  This ignited a spark of inspiration.  It came to me that I should try to write a story that included the names of some bands hidden in the tale.  To fit the narrative, I did alter some band names to the way they are pronounced and not the "official" names.

It is a time of war.  The government was giving massive incentives to citizens in order to get them to join the military.  So much so, there was a big time rush to recruitment centers to sign up.  The media was proud to broadcast numerous stories of victories.  The exact nature of the enemy was never announced.  Nobody seemed to want to know who we were fighting as long as we were winning.

It seemed like everyone was willing to fight and risk dying to maintain the upper hand over an enemy they didn't know.  The people came from all walks of like.  Hard workers from the backstreet.  Boys from rich neighborhoods.  Girls who had only been competitive on the pageant runway.  All for one purpose, signing up and getting their incentive.  It seemed like you only had to point a finger.  Bang, you had a new recruit.

Regardless of their background, all of these raw recruits were sent to train at boot camp.  As soon as the fresh arrivals, the new kids on the block as it were, got a quick lesson in military discipline.  In order to field the best fighting force, they would all be equally transformed from boys to men.  After a few months of intense training and combat practice, everyone would be shipped out.  Once at the battlefield, they would be given only one direction.  Win at any cost.

It would be only after a day's hard combat and numerous losses that the true enemy would be revealed.  There was no real enemy.  The troops were being commanded to fight each other.  Survivors would be sent back to the battlefield again the next day.  Regardless of who won, victory could be claimed by the leaders that kept sending recruits in to fight themselves.

Did you see the names for all 7 bands?  Can you write a sentence or phrase with another musical group's name?  Let me know what you think in the comments.

Shameless Plug

Another page of the calendar has been turned.  It is now November.  Fall is in full swing.  The baseball season has ended and football is roaring forward.  Piles of empty Halloween candy wrappers are growing by the day.  Lawnmowers are mulching more leaves than trimming blades of grass.  All of this can mean only one thing.  NaNoWriMo is in full swing.  Thousands and thousands of writers are attempting to write 50,000 word novels in 30 days.

People all over the world are sitting down to notepads, typewriters, and laptops to express themselves through words.  They are receiving support from other writers through pep talks and write-ins.  Most importantly they are all creating in a way that they want to.

This is my fourth year attempting the NaNoWriMo challenge.  I have yet to reach the 50,000 mark in any one attempt, but my first two tries are now published novels.  My first book, Dangerous Stars, taught me much about how a book is written and made.  Post Exodus was picked up by an independent publisher, Amazing Things Press.

Now, I am a little behind in my word count and there are some characters waiting to see what will happen to them next.

Non-Sequitur

I regularly peruse the Sunday comics for quick laughs and a bit of nostalgia from my younger days of fighting family members to see who got to them first.  Just over a week ago Wiley Miller published an offer to his readers to write their own story.  The sheer variety of characters displayed and variety of terrains gave me the idea of a meeting of people that can travel between parallel universes in the multiverse.

The time for the meeting of the Multiverse Traveler's League had arrived at last. This is a chance for individuals, groups, and civilizations that have managed to acquire the ability to cross between parallel universes to gather together. Some travelers use technology, others take advantage of focused mental discipline and mental energies to break the barriers between worlds. A handful even managed to accidentally trip between worlds without any effort at all. Regardless of the method used for traveling between all the facets of the multiverse, everyone that can reach the meeting location is invited to attend.

The gathering took place every 25 years on a different planet in a different universe. This time around it was to be hosted on a terraformed moon of Saturn in a universe designated as 7775-349x10.012/Acorn. The gaseous planet with its rings and multiple moons rising over the horizon gave attendees of the meeting a spectacular view, regardless of the range of their visual spectrum.

Terraforming of the moon had been completed just for this trans-universal event. Environments had been developed for the comfort of attendees from multiple planets and evolutionary chains. Humid jungles rose up next to giant seas. Methane pools bubbled near barren deserts. The frozen peaks of giant mountains soared into the skies, piercing clouds of freezing nitrogen. Plains of ice and frozen grasses lay under a layer of crystalline snow. Everything that could make any kind of being comfortable was put in place.

Areas and routes had been laid out for a multitude of transportation methods and devices. Boats cut through the surf to reach platforms for their captains to disembark. Tracks had been laid for those wishing to arrive via train. No method of travel was too elaborate or too simple for those that crossed from one universe to another. The security forces even had their own custom floating blimps that moved easily in the medium gravity and minimal atmospheric winds.

While bipedal beings that walked upright were the most common members of the MTL, they were not the only evolved beings that had appeared by far. Long sea serpents swam through oceans that teemed with other life, then moved to worlds with seas covered in a planet-wide sheet of ice. Birds with wings as thin as tissue paper glided on breezes over planets as numerous as their feathers. Giant intelligent bears soaked up the sun that beat down on their fur from as many suns as they could find.

There was no lack of events and occurrences at the meeting. Explorers take advantage of audiences to expand on new discoveries made and unusual variations on recognized planets that were stumbled upon. Panels are formed for to aid new adventurers in increasing the efficiency of their method for getting from one universe to the next, whether it be via technological device or thought power. Representatives of different groups and organizations gathered together to discuss various rules and regulations and develop laws to govern the members of the MTL. This last group was generally the least productive and still most entertaining to watch.

All of these different beings from various worlds and universes arrived via numerous methods to this customized moon. Their ultimate goal being a golden pyramid transmitting a powerful light into the sky under and inside which they would all socialize and speak of their shared abilities to cross the unbreakable barriers that separate one universe from another.

If the link above didn't work, here is the comic itself to inspire a story of your own.  

"Screen Scream"

The idea for a story can come from anywhere.  An offhand comment in a chat during an artist's streaming video can lead to an idea for a narrative.  This story comes from reminiscing about working with older computers and hearing the signature whine of an older monitor that is on.  

While forming the story a challenging thought occurred to me.  Develop a story without revealing the gender of the main character.  The easiest way to do this would be to simply repeat the character's name and not use any pronouns.  To me, that would be a cheat.  It takes more skill and thought to craft a tale without any he/she or his/hers.

Julian was one of those employees that bosses loved. Quiet, efficient, first one in last one out, getting work done enough before a deadline to pick up the slack left by other workers. Julian's body sat so stiff and erect at the desk, the office motion detectors would shut the lights off under the assumption that everyone had left for the night. It was a common occurrence for the night cleaning staff to happen across Julian writing code in a dark office, the only light coming from the computer screen and reflecting off Julian's face. Tonight was exceptional only in that the cleaning crews had finished all the offices scheduled for that day gone home.

Julian was nearing the end of this particular subroutine at an hour closer to dawn than dusk. A few more keystrokes, a couple clicks of a mouse, and a press of the ENTER key made with a sense of completion signaled the last of the necessary code being completed. Julian sat back and stretched, the lights blinking on as there was finally enough movement to trigger the sensors.

Julian initialized the compiler and set it on the new code to check for errors. Julian knew there wouldn't be any, but the executives upstairs insisted a compiler report accompany every piece of programming. It was a necessary task with some of the programmers that worked for this company, but Julian had yet to make a single error. Too much time and attention to detail was spent for that to happen.

Julian gave the room a look around as the code was crunched and checked. Every piece of equipment was the latest technology on the market. Top of the line monitors connected to network terminals accessing enough processing power to make the guys at NASA drool. The only exception was a single piece of equipment that sat on a pedestal in the middle of the office. It was a throwback computer that belonged in a museum, not the main work floor of a modern technology company. Its presence was a reminder of where the company had started. Julian found it a lot less creepy than some oil painting on the wall of some creepy dude leering at everyone while they worked.

Julian stood as the computer beeped that the compiler was finished. As expected, there were no errors with the entered code. A few clicks of the mouse emailed the necessary files to the executives upstairs. Then it was a simple matter of powering down the terminal and heading home for a long weekend of rest.

Turning towards the door to leave, Julian heard an odd yet familiar sound. It was a high-pitched electronic whine. The last time Julian heard that particular tone was during early computer courses. It was the sound of an old monitor that remained on after the attached computer was shut off. Julian had always thought of that sound as “screen scream.”

Julian looked around the room once again, searching for the source of the sound. All of the modern monitors automatically went to sleep when the terminal was shut down. That only left the classic computer that was on display in the middle of the room. However, Julian could clearly see the back of the display, and there was no power cord to the computer or monitor. Still, the screaming sound continued.

Julian walked around the old system without losing eye contact with the plastic case. Coming around to the front, Julian saw the monitor giving off the green glow that matched the sound of the screaming whine. The sight of a monitor glowing with no source of power made Julian begin to seriously consider taking an overdue vacation.

Julian noticed that the glowing screen wasn't blank. Blocks of shifting and changing pixels dominated the majority of the display. Underneath that three lines of programming code flashed by so fast Julian couldn't see enough to make any sense of it. After a minute Julian's eyes wandered up to the shifting picture above the lines of code. The random shifting pixels seemed to periodically form pictures for a second or two. Faces seemed to resolve in the green glow of the monitor before changing into random images again. The low resolution of the screen didn't allow Julian to recognize too many of the details of each face, but none of them looked particularly happy.

After a minute of hypnotic staring at the monitor and its strange projections, Julian slowly reached out to press the power button. A strange feeling came over Julian before any pressure could be applied to the switch to stop the display being shown. It was a feeling as though every hair on Julian's body was being lifted. They weren't standing up like on a chilly evening or during an emotional song. It was more a sensation like every hair was being pulled up by some external force.

Julian could no longer look away from the faces coming and going on the screen. As a matter of fact, the faces seemed to be getting larger and closer. All sensation seemed to be leaving Julian's body. Just an odd sense of floating remained as the faces that flashed on the screen became clearer and the high pitched scream from the monitor got louder.

Julian started to scream, the tone and pitch starting to blend and match with the scream of the screen. In a bright flash of green, both screams suddenly went silent. The office lights automatically shut off fifteen minutes later since the motion detectors hadn't sensed any movement during that time.

Julian couldn't see or feel anyone around. There was only a sense of many people crowded into a small space. There was an overwhelming darkness. All that was visible was random pieces of code that flittered around the air. Julian felt the desire to get someone's attention, to get some help leaving this other place. Maybe a loud enough scream would work..

Leave a comment below letting me know what you think of my first attempt at a suspenseful/horror story.