Words Aplenty
I like to fancy myself something of a writer. And for some reason, people
tend to like to read what I've wrote. No, I don't get it, either.
Still, for posterity's sake and for the sake of the half-dozen or so people
out there who enjoy my work, here I present to you a collection of my writing
starting from late 1995 and continuing on to the present day.
- This section is organized into Jihad Stories, Quasi-Journalism, and
Other Odd Writings
Tales of the Jihad To Destroy Barney The Dinosaur
The following is the history of Malaclypse the Seeker, elder JIhaddi and
retired lead scientist of the Verthandic Rangers -- and my alter-ego. This
is the combined realization of ten (!!!) years of off-and-on writing on
my part.
So you know who the main character is, read
the RP profile on Malaclypse the Seeker (Mal-3)
Operation Phoenix
Op:Phoenix was a major turning point for
the Jihad back in 1995. For the first time, we got our butts kicked by our
hypothetical enemy. I wrote most of these stories on the spur of the moment,
and I think it really shows in the dialouge, the plotting, and the execution.
I'm not very proud of them. Still, for historic value, I offer these stories:
- Operation Phoenix: The Coming
of Demons
- This story is the first... no, second story I ever wrote for the Jihad
Universe. I was still a fairly naiive HS student at the time, and I think
it shows here. It's not too bad a read, but I can do much better.
- .
- Operation Phoenix: A Race
Through Dark Places part 1
- One of the many multipart stories I wrote for Phoenix. This one... enh,
kinda cartoony, but not too bad.
- .
- Operation Phoenix: A Race
Through Dark Places part 2
- The conclusion of Race For Dark Places. It wraps up the storyline nicely
enough, but it feels rushed. I probably was rushed when I wrote
it.
- .
- Operation Phoenix: Flight
of the Long Shot part 1
- During the Jihad Archives reconstruction, I actually managed to find
a copy of this story. It's my first atempt to give Mal-3 some of that
"strange and enigmatic" quality that shows up in the later stories.
Personally, I think I overdid it here. Ohwell.
- .
- Operation Phoenix: Flight
of the Long Shot part 2
- Hot space-combat action stolen from Star Wars, Star Trek,
and ID4! Not terribly bad space-opera action sequences, but like
most multipart segments, mostly just buildup.
- .
- Operation Phoenix: Flight
of the Long Shot part 3
- This concluded Mal's run in Operaton Phoenix. At the time, I was unsure
whether or not to just kill off the character or ressurect him, so I left
the end as ambigious as I possibly could.
- .
- Phoenix Fallout: "From
the Ashes, a Phoenix"
- This one ties up the loose ends left from the end of the Long Shot arc.
I think that out of my early Jihad writing, this was my favorite. It's
probably my best writing to that date, and it was at least three times
as long as the others.
Operation Pacifica
I'm much happier with my writing for Operation
Pacifica. Although meatspace priorities forced me to cut my role in the
story short, the three things here I think are some of my better Jihad writings.
- Operation Pacifica:
Getting There Is Half the Fun
- This one was mostly setup, like the title suggests. There were some
fun moments, like "Jihad Road Warrior." I have always wanted
to do that on an actual highway, but sadly I lack the necessary mayhem-capable
equipment. ;_;
- .
- Operation Pacifica:
Interlude in San Francisco
- This story was still more setup. The bit in the middle where Mal revisits
the scene of "From the Ashes" was supposed to be a setup for
a campaign scenario that never got off the ground. Ah, well. Can't win
'em all, I guess.
- .
- Operation Pacifica:
Magenta Tide
- I liked writing this story. Personally, I think that Magenta Tide eally
brings out Mal's ability to go bipolar in times of crisis, while remain
totally cool and stylish about it, in a Dr. Forrester-esque sense. Sadly,
this was my last Pacifica story, although I helped flesh out some of the
rest of the storyline.
The Marraketh Connection
The Marraketh Connection was a project that
ran from 1997 to late 1999, as the inaugural campaign for the VRDET team.
Ultimately, it turned out to be the only campaign for the VRDET
team, since the Jihad as a large group fell apart shortly after Marraketh
Connection was finished. The core group of Marraketh writers (yours truly,
Kat "Katze" Templeton and Aris Merquoni) ended up getting roped
into the Jihad Universe 3.0 campaign though, so it all turned out right
in the end.
- The Marraketh Connection:
Introit Praeceps Transito Spatum
- I'm kinda proud of this story, since this was the starting seg for most
of the others. To my count, about 80% of the other authors in this part
of TMC use the briefing in my story as a starting point for their stories.
It's good to be a trend-setter.
- .
- The Marraketh Connection:
General Protection Fault
- A sort-of interlude story, as Mal tries to get the Interdimensional
Gateway Generator going again. This one was just about as much fun to
write as "Magenta Tide," since they both have a pretty solid
sense of humor behind them.
- .
- The Marraketh Connection:
Fear and Loathing in Marraketh Act 1; "Lies, deceit and treachery,
but it's all in good fun!"
- The first of a four-act story that starts winding up the plot. A little
munchkinesque in the beginning (and a little in the middle), but it works
a a good setup story.
- .
- The Marraketh Connection:
Fear and Loathing in Marraketh Act 2; "A Lyran in King Harldcast's
Court"
- This one was pretty cool to write, since I got to write some good bad-ass
qualities into Mal's character.
- .
- The Marraketh Connection: Fear and Loathing in Marraketh Act 3;
"Don't look at me, you're the hero!"
- One of about a thousand POV segements detailing the end of TMC. Never
actually completed due to time constraints, and in the final analysis,
I think it's for the best -- with a dozen retellings of the same thing,
I really didn't feel the need to reinvent the wheel. Maybe one of these
days I'll finish this story. Maybe.
- .
- The Marraketh Connection:
Fear and Loathing in Marraketh Epilouge; "Home Again Home Again"
- The Epilouge for the entire storyline, really. Of all the Marraketh
stories, I think I'm the most proud of this one. IMNSHO, this was my best
Jihad writing up to that point in my career.
Jihad Universe 3.0
The latest part of the great Jihad saga opens
with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of the Jihad to Destroy Barney's
greatest enemies. Left adrift without a foe to fight, the Jihaddi close
up shop and scatter to the four corners of the earth. Meanwhile, their enemy
hasn't forgotten them, and plans on making a terrible return from the abyss...
This is the first campaign that I've run as
an editor/GM from start to finish, and while we're not quite 2/3rds through
the storyline (and probably around halfway through in terms of sheer story!)
I am honestly convinced that this is my best fiction writing, period. Everything
I'd been screwing around with between 1995 and 2004 was just practice for
this.
Prologue:
On An Uneventful Morn
Arc 1
Part 1: Calm Before
Arc 1
Part 2: The Return
Arc
1 Part 3: Investigations
Arc 1 Part
4: Line In The Sand
Arc
2 Part 1: The Day It Fell Apart
Journalism! (Sort Of)
Fear and Loathing in Alamosa, a multi-part story that ran in the
South Coloradan Online in the fall of 1999. The closest thing the Author
has had to a magnum opus in his Journalism career, and probably the last
such thing.
(Note: As of 01/2006, it can be said without a doubt that it was indeed
the last such thing ever produced by the author. The author burnt out on
journalism many years ago. --The Mgt.)
- Part Zero: On the nature of
"gonzo journalism"
- Wherein Our Hero explains that what you are about to read isn't quite
your regular South Coloradan story.
Part One: I went looking for stoners
and all I got was this lousy cough.- Wherein Our Hero goes in search of the Adams State College drug culture,
and doesn't quite find what he's looking for.
- Part Two: Strange madness in
the scrub pine
- Wherein Our Hero continues his search and continues to get screwed over.
- .
- Part Three: despair and failure
- Wherein Our Hero realizes that this quest is a fool's game, and decides
to get drunk and forget about it all.
Odds and Ends
- The Imperial American Space
Program: A Modest Proposal
- I wrote this bit of rhetoric as a response to the half-assed "space
initiative" proposed by George W. Bush in January, 2004. Personally
I think it's a nice and ambitious plan with plenty of side benefits. Originally
posted to the Democratic
Underground Forums.
-
- A Dissection of Williams/Dorsheimier,
Inc.
- A post I made to the Worldmaking
Livejournal community some months back. This.. well, I'll let it speak
for itself.
-
- The Trekkist-Jedi
Cladewar
- A little something I put together for the Orion's
Arm shared-world setting, then promptly forgot about. I'm actually
rather fond of the silly little thing, and so I present it to you.
-
- A Short History Of The Banzai
Institute
- This I developed for the Shining
Spiral shared-world setting, as something to add to the rich vein
of backstory it's developing (without developing a mainstory, oddly enough.
Oh well)
-
- Transhuman Denver
(partial)
- The beginnings of a setting for the Transhuman Space RPG, depicting
my hometown of Denver, CO as I think it might appear at the beginning
of the 22nd Century. I abandoned this for a number of reasons, most notably
that the inspiration well had run dry, but I may pick the sucker back
up again should the muse return. Watch this space for details!
-
- I Hate Everything You Stand
For
- I found this sitting in an unused corner of my hard drive - it's an
editorial from my days at the South Coloradan where I take to task the
#1 self-professed victims in the United States; Christians. As I recall,
this did not do much to increase my standing with my fellow students.
Not that I cared, really. This one might be better suited for the Rant
page, but it's my site and I say it goes here.
-
- The Drug Problem: An Innovative
Solution
- Another of my student editorials, presented to you because I have no
shame. This one made my reputation as a person who probably should never
be let near a newsroom ever again. I'm quite proud of that.
-
- Returning to the Drug Problem
- A followup to the Innovative Solution column. This time around I let
my growing contempt for all around me get in the way of my persuasive
skills.
-
- Excerpts from "Cognitive
Dissonance and Trans-Reality Manipulation" monograph submitted to
Jihad Praxeum Veneficus and V.R.D.E.T. Research & Development by Professor
Malaclypse Morning Star (V.R.D.E.T., ret.)
- Kind of an odd duck, this isn't really a story in the traditional sense.
It's a bit of fiction dealing with the Jihad Universe shared-world that
I was planning on releasing but never got round to doing it properly.
So instead, I give it to you here. Personally, I think it's nifty. But
then, I wrote it. In theory there are a series of companion stories to
this piece written by my colleague Patrick,
but he's probably forgotten just like I have. Sic transit gloria.
- #spork: The Movie!
- A cheesy action/adventure movie, starring the denizens of my longtime
IRC hangout. Pure nonsense, but incredibly fun nonsense. I am content.