Comment

Comment by pat donovan on December 24, 2008 at 4:51pm

Revenge of globalization: A sardonic Christmas story. (free mercenaries)
part 1

Know that a walk thru the sea of most souls will barely get your feet wet, Grasshopper; know also you'll come out covered in blackened gunk.

Soul food? Police know it's sex, revenge and money that move the people; writers think it's sex, violence, humor; priests think it's lust; greed, vanity and power.

It all sticks, however. Psycho needs, greeds, vanity, drives, securities, rationalism and spiritualism.

Wanna die instead? Move your aura to a higher frequency (Bereft? You missed the last plane, maybe?) That means going thru hell. You burn your way to the top, sorta. And maybe a higher existence. Better hope the dirt, blockages, sin, curses (whatever) isn't a permanent addition to your soul, too.

If you believe in a soul you get ghosts too, kid.

HA! Here's this year's lump of coal for ya. Enjoy.

It has fossils in it.

----------------

"So, Wadsworth, you made it to the executive suite..."

"I was lucky." I said modestly. The Baron glared and snarled silent agreement at me. "A few quick scores and here I am."

The Baron (CEO, president, PM) was being nasty this morning, but not any more than usual, A warning pained grimace from the receptionist had alerted me and I was prepared to grease the monkey already.

From the look on her face, she hadn't been. It was almost 9am and she was still sitting gingerly in her chair.

"Got lots of ideas to pass on, too, if you're up for 'em." I added with mock good cheer. "Good ones. Assignations, nasty gossip, leaks..."

"I have good people." I said modestly as a blood-thirsty glare increased. "Their idea of a good time is giving someone shingles... then dusting 'em with itching powder."

The exec eyes brightened, then dimmed a bit. The idea of a man-hunt appealed to him, I could tell. But only a little.

There is nothing like the smell of a lynching in morning to get you moving, is there? But then you're stuck with being heroic for the mob on a regular basis. The little people do get antsy once they get used to a blood diet.

"Hope you like hurting people, Wadsworth." The Baron poked idly at his computer. "A lot."

"Bah. This is more than the usual assignations, nasty gossip and dirty tricks. Get ready for something special. Besides, if I wanted someone in my organization found guilty of something, I'd plant the evidence myself." he grumbled . "No, this is a really good assignment."

He grumbled happily as I looked blankly at him. I hadn't heard of any major campaigns, or anything other than the usual corp espers going on. This was new. "You're fired. Merry Christmas." was finally spat out.

"OK. And what orphanage do I join and burn to the ground?" This was a nasty job and I was kind of disappointed. Being a lone-wolf was for rookies and I'd been roving thru these halls for a couple years now.

Modern justice meant hiring specialists... and I was a corporate specialist. A manager. I had a team behind me now.

Innovate, compete, sabotage. Dirty deeds done cheap. Lots of them.

There was LOTS of dirt to be done out there, too. Know yourself, the environment and your enemy.

I wasn't a headhunter anymore and hadn't been one for a while. Or at least not until recently.

"No one. You're fired." The baron went on happily. "The whole global story. Sales are down, we're cutting back. You're fat."

"Don't even think of trying the other outfits. I spread the word you're on special assignment. And gone. Blast, I usually do this by e-mail. " he grumbled on, scratching his chin unhappily. "But I want you on recall, so you're greased. Your whole division goes on the block today. Pick up a package at the front reception." He said carefully, buffing his fingernails on his jacket. "Any problems, tell personnel, not me."

"So long, hotshot." The Baron turned his back to me and started reading whatever was on his computer. "Go knock 'em dead."

Dead was the problem. There wasn't anything much going on out there these days.

"Gotcha." I got up and left without another word, practicing my flounce as I stormed out, already sorting thru my options.

Innovation was out. Inventions were too easy to steal. I knew, there were whole divisions whose only job it was was to stay one leap ahead.

By any means possible. Reverse engineering prototypes, starting submarine patent suits, buying info, or hacking girl-friends. Sometimes they even did a little research on their own.

Today, out-performing someone these days usually meant buying too many politicos. So it was back to hustling on the street-corner till my moves scored for me again.

That's life. Twit-er, facebook and borging.

Comment by Michael White on June 21, 2008 at 4:19pm

Yea thats kinda how i do it as well Joe. It also leads me to going off track and thinking up amazing bi plots

Comment by Joe on June 12, 2008 at 6:22am

I like that whole free write plan. For me though, I choose specific moments of the future/past and set up a yet elusive chronology of the story with these main events. Then I free write majority of the story to build up to that event.

Comment by Michael White on May 27, 2008 at 4:21pm

Hey Ben, i try to write thrillers or mystery based novels but i can never finish, I think its due to the fact i prefer to free write instead of planning the beginning middle end plot etc. Don't get me wrong i do plan but when writing fantasy you do get a freedom, certain things don't have to make sense as its a world of wonder. So what im wanting to no is how you write Ben do you do a lot of planning before starting a thriller or horror?