Journal Entry #43: Excerpts

Date: December 11, 2007
Time: 22:45

I'm taking a big risk here. I'm going to share a couple of excerpts from some of the stories I've written.

This is an excerpt from one of my detective stories:

Regina Caldwell is why men become poets. Her beauty is why sonnets are written and why birds find it necessary to sing. Her voice is why the sun rises and the moon sets. Her eyes could melt the heart of Ebenezer Scrooge before the ghosts show up. And if my wife ever knew that I thought things like that she’d kill me. Come to think of it, so would Regina.

This next bit is the opening paragraph from the first original story I wrote:

Childhood was dying. It lay in its bed, looking to all the world like a wizened old man. Those that were gathered at the bedside grew more frightened with each gasping breath. The de facto leader of the group removed Time from the room. Time was never any help in situations such as these. With her inherent arrogance, She would do naught but admonish they who lay dying. She would berate whoever they were for not making the most of the time they were given. Under most circumstances, She’d be allowed to rant and rave as much as She pleased. But this was different, this was Childhood.

This next one is the opening paragraph of what I refer to as my "Magnum Opus", the story it took me six months to write, the story that was inspired by a series of automobile commercials:

On a speck that the Universe would come to know as “Earth”, three beings that may be described as neither male nor female, stood atop a mountain, and in a language that is now long dead and forgotten, spoke amongst themselves. They stood facing each other. “Are they set?” asked the First. “Yes, they are set.” replied the Second. “Good, now we may leave.” said the Third. And with no further discussion, they left. What they left behind, however, they hoped no one would ever have to find.

And if I can ever get a literary agent and get that story published, you'll get to find out what that is, or was.

And now, these last two are from the Doctor Who/Quantum Leap crossover story that I've been working on, and someday, I'll find a way to put all of the sections I've written together in one big story.

Deep within the Milky Way, a mere thirty-thousand light years from the center, there sits an unassuming star system. It is called “The Constellation of Kasterborous”, although who or what Kasterborous is, or even was, has been lost to memory. But we are not concerned with the name of the star system. We are, however, concerned with the fourth planet. It is home to a most wondrous and unique race of people, a group of beings who claim mastery over time and space, “The Time Lords”. The planet, and the main city complex the Time Lords inhabit, are both called “Gallifrey”.

And this:

From the moment he stepped from the Imaging Chamber, Al sensed something was different. Not “wrong”, just, “different”. The thing that was wrong was that he’d just left his friend in an unusual situation, and he didn’t see anyway out of it. Sam’s body had disappeared from the Waiting Room, and it had taken Al and Gooshie several hours to find him. When he finally found him, he was sitting outside a bar, and babbling something about meeting Al’s Uncle Steve. And then, as if that weren’t enough, Sam began laughing for no apparent reason. With a look of confusion on his face, and a quick word of assurance that he’d be all right, Al stepped back through the door, and back into the control room. He’d taken a moment to collect his thoughts, and that’s when it hit him, the feeling that something was different. He checked everything in the control room. Nothing unusual there, except maybe Gooshie and Tina making goo-goo eyes at each other as they tried to keep track of Sam’s whereabouts. That was not only not unusual, it was downright disgusting. But he really shouldn’t complain. It wasn’t the first time he stepped out of the Imaging Chamber and found the two of them in a relationship. Once, they were even married! No, there was something else going on and he meant to find out what it was.