Tab
"Tab," Walter said, "put it on my tab."
"Can't do that," the bartender said, "you know that."
Walter reached in to his pocket and chucked some change, an empty packet of gum and a library card on to the bar. The bartender took the coins he wanted and placed them in the register. Walter scraped the remaining change, the gum packet and the library card back in to his palm and back into his pocket.
He took up the shot glass and ran his finger around the rim. He had the look of a starving man who had been given a fish instead of a net. He nursed the drink for a while before taking it down in one gulp.
"Two coffees," a tall man was suddenly standing next to him. He wore a long coat and handed over a ten pound note to pay for the drinks.
"What table are you at?" the bartender asked, "we'll bring it to you."
"I'll wait," the man said. He turned to Walter, "you are Walter Patterson."
"Who wants to know?"
"You are in some financial trouble. You were recommended by a friend of mine. This job stands to make you a very rich man. The other coffee is for you - we need you sober. Are you interested?"
Saturday, 24 July 2010
Sunday, 18 July 2010
Dictionary Stories 2010-07-21
Sabbath
It is strangle appropriate and in appropriate that this story is being written on Sunday. (That's assuming that I click the submit button today) Appropriate that today is the Sabbath for Christians. Of course technically this could count as work and so shouldn't be being done now.
I know that the title of this section is 'Dictionary Stories' but there are some words that simply do not call a story to my mind. So I will use this as a segue to talk about religion. I'm a Buddhist and recently have become a practicing Buddhist.
By this I mean that I say mantra every morning and try silent sitting. It is strange how difficult it can be to just sit in silence trying, though try might be a contradiction, to think of nothing. My mind is always a jumble of varies things - story ideas - what's for dinner and many other things. Plus the sound of the road outside my house can be quite distracting.
(Well what do you know? Its now Wednesday! Days go so fast!)
...but somewhere amongst all of that you somehow get to a moment of...I don't know what the word is. A moment of something and then suddenly the silent sitting seems to work.
I know that this post is long and rambling and has nothing to do with the title. I keep thinking of incorporating pictures into the blog but am not really ever sure of what - any ideas? Went to Ikea today and that doesn't seem a thing necessary to post.
It is strangle appropriate and in appropriate that this story is being written on Sunday. (That's assuming that I click the submit button today) Appropriate that today is the Sabbath for Christians. Of course technically this could count as work and so shouldn't be being done now.
I know that the title of this section is 'Dictionary Stories' but there are some words that simply do not call a story to my mind. So I will use this as a segue to talk about religion. I'm a Buddhist and recently have become a practicing Buddhist.
By this I mean that I say mantra every morning and try silent sitting. It is strange how difficult it can be to just sit in silence trying, though try might be a contradiction, to think of nothing. My mind is always a jumble of varies things - story ideas - what's for dinner and many other things. Plus the sound of the road outside my house can be quite distracting.
(Well what do you know? Its now Wednesday! Days go so fast!)
...but somewhere amongst all of that you somehow get to a moment of...I don't know what the word is. A moment of something and then suddenly the silent sitting seems to work.
I know that this post is long and rambling and has nothing to do with the title. I keep thinking of incorporating pictures into the blog but am not really ever sure of what - any ideas? Went to Ikea today and that doesn't seem a thing necessary to post.
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Writer's Blog 2010-07-11
Well its been another month since I've posted here. Never seem to get to it, as I've said before and probably will say again, but the question is: Is their anybody there? Anybody but my brother reading this. If you exist leave a message ideas for a story that you'd like to see.
Writing is a strange old thing and I have found an interesting phenomenon recently - it is easier to be creative, in science fiction, the further from today you are writing. Let me show you what I mean. It depends when the story is set.
2110: We probably won't have FLT - we might have met aliens. (OK those might me contradictory) - probably have landed, if not have some sort of colony on mars.
2210: The 2200s are where Babylon 5 is set (2258-2262) will we have that level of technology?
2310: The century of TNG and such. They have all sorts of wacky technologies we can conceive of today - How do the transporters work? Very well thank you.
Can't think of a sci-fi set in the twenty-fifth century. Just looked it up - Buck Rogers - but I know nothing about it.
2510: The approximate setting of Firefly. No aliens of FLT but they do have artificial gravity. But then Firefly, though a great series don't get me wrong, isn't about being in space as such.
So across these centuries different authors have had different ideas of the future. Some are just telling a story. So science doesn't matter at all. JMS however has said that B5 is an achieved future - its part of the idea.
Roddenberry wasn't the best of writers, sorry, but conceived an excellent universe. Star Trek was always more about the people than the science. That to presents problems as a writer. Do you take the US, or Royal, Navy and put them in space, traditions, ranks and everything or do you not?
For some reason the year 2344 called to me as the setting for my science fiction. But we know a lot now - whats possible and what isn't possible. Some how the twenty-four century feels to me like a time where one has to consider the real world.
Somehow a story set in the year 3000 feels like you could have all the freedom you could want. Its far enough away that modern ideas have transformed. Military ranks for one thing. I've been devising a list of ranks for my stories military trying to make it smiler to today. But all the nations I've researched have their own ideas and most seem to make sense on some level.
There are no answers to how to write science fiction. Setting a story in 3000 has its own problems. Will the shopping mall in our town still exist for instance or will it just all be ordered online.
Of course none of us will know but one thing all science fictions seem to have in common is that for some things they are way off, i.e there is no hint of us developing warp drive by the end of the century - but they can also be off in the other direction. We have better data storage devices that the...
"Enterprise...1 7 0 1, no bloody A,B,C or D," Montgomery Scott - Relics
Writing is a strange old thing and I have found an interesting phenomenon recently - it is easier to be creative, in science fiction, the further from today you are writing. Let me show you what I mean. It depends when the story is set.
2110: We probably won't have FLT - we might have met aliens. (OK those might me contradictory) - probably have landed, if not have some sort of colony on mars.
2210: The 2200s are where Babylon 5 is set (2258-2262) will we have that level of technology?
2310: The century of TNG and such. They have all sorts of wacky technologies we can conceive of today - How do the transporters work? Very well thank you.
Can't think of a sci-fi set in the twenty-fifth century. Just looked it up - Buck Rogers - but I know nothing about it.
2510: The approximate setting of Firefly. No aliens of FLT but they do have artificial gravity. But then Firefly, though a great series don't get me wrong, isn't about being in space as such.
So across these centuries different authors have had different ideas of the future. Some are just telling a story. So science doesn't matter at all. JMS however has said that B5 is an achieved future - its part of the idea.
Roddenberry wasn't the best of writers, sorry, but conceived an excellent universe. Star Trek was always more about the people than the science. That to presents problems as a writer. Do you take the US, or Royal, Navy and put them in space, traditions, ranks and everything or do you not?
For some reason the year 2344 called to me as the setting for my science fiction. But we know a lot now - whats possible and what isn't possible. Some how the twenty-four century feels to me like a time where one has to consider the real world.
Somehow a story set in the year 3000 feels like you could have all the freedom you could want. Its far enough away that modern ideas have transformed. Military ranks for one thing. I've been devising a list of ranks for my stories military trying to make it smiler to today. But all the nations I've researched have their own ideas and most seem to make sense on some level.
There are no answers to how to write science fiction. Setting a story in 3000 has its own problems. Will the shopping mall in our town still exist for instance or will it just all be ordered online.
Of course none of us will know but one thing all science fictions seem to have in common is that for some things they are way off, i.e there is no hint of us developing warp drive by the end of the century - but they can also be off in the other direction. We have better data storage devices that the...
"Enterprise...1 7 0 1, no bloody A,B,C or D," Montgomery Scott - Relics
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Dictionary Stories 2010-06-10
Rabbat
Rabbet is a word in the English language. It is a world that I had not encountered before embarking on this insane endeavour! It is also a word that the blogspot dictionary is unaware of - though blogspot is coming up as a misspelling as well - so I guess that that isn't saying much.
Rabbet, according to faithful wikipiedia is:
A rabbet (also known as rebate) is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a piece of machineable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface into which it is cut. - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbet)
There you are. You lean something new every day - too bad its of no use whatsoever - unless you happen to be a carpenter. By the way a carpenter is someone who works with wood. It is not someone who paints cars.
Rabbet is a word in the English language. It is a world that I had not encountered before embarking on this insane endeavour! It is also a word that the blogspot dictionary is unaware of - though blogspot is coming up as a misspelling as well - so I guess that that isn't saying much.
Rabbet, according to faithful wikipiedia is:
A rabbet (also known as rebate) is a recess or groove cut into the edge of a piece of machineable material, usually wood. When viewed in cross-section, a rabbet is two-sided and open to the edge or end of the surface into which it is cut. - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbet)
There you are. You lean something new every day - too bad its of no use whatsoever - unless you happen to be a carpenter. By the way a carpenter is someone who works with wood. It is not someone who paints cars.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Writer's blog 2010-06-08
Sometimes when the inspiration to write is absent I search for writing advice on the Internet. This is doomed to fail. The reason being that one website's must do is another's absolutely must not do but I found something that was actually useful a few weeks back.
"If outlines don't work for you, don't do them. Don't worry about finding the mountain. Just put one foot in front of the other and start climbing." JMS - http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22356.
This is what I have found I've tried the planning thing and it doesn't work - for me. To paraphrase Douglas Adams you don't need to know the history of the East India company to make a cup of tea. I think that some background for characters is necessary but you don't have to know every single thing - nor should you know nothing.
Oddly different things I've written seem to work in different ways. So my fantasy novel is one long flowing document - my sci-fi novel is split in chapter sections. So whatever works.
And now for do as I say not as I do - carry a notebook wherever you go. If you want to be a writer inspiration can come from anything and everything.
"Never surrender dream," JMS - http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.1662.never_surrender_dreams
"If outlines don't work for you, don't do them. Don't worry about finding the mountain. Just put one foot in front of the other and start climbing." JMS - http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22356.
This is what I have found I've tried the planning thing and it doesn't work - for me. To paraphrase Douglas Adams you don't need to know the history of the East India company to make a cup of tea. I think that some background for characters is necessary but you don't have to know every single thing - nor should you know nothing.
Oddly different things I've written seem to work in different ways. So my fantasy novel is one long flowing document - my sci-fi novel is split in chapter sections. So whatever works.
And now for do as I say not as I do - carry a notebook wherever you go. If you want to be a writer inspiration can come from anything and everything.
"Never surrender dream," JMS - http://marvel.com/news/comicstories.1662.never_surrender_dreams
Sunday, 6 June 2010
Writer's Blog 2010-06-06
If you've read the latest Dictionary Story I know what your thinking - 'He's gone mad' well you're wrong I was always mad. That was sort of the point of doing these stories just to see what came to mind. So I have proven that my mind is insane.
Taking of insanity I was in town yesterday (Cardiff) no not for the match. In fact I didn't actually know there was a match on so the craziness was a bit of a surprise. Nevertheless despite the noise and the drunk people it was a fun night out.
If anyone is reading this feel free to leave comments. Thinks you'd like to see - things you wouldn't like to see. I am still writing every day but have taken a step back a bit in one of my novels - my bad. The other one however is going well.
'I got nothing...yet' Samantha Carter - Stargate SG-1
Taking of insanity I was in town yesterday (Cardiff) no not for the match. In fact I didn't actually know there was a match on so the craziness was a bit of a surprise. Nevertheless despite the noise and the drunk people it was a fun night out.
If anyone is reading this feel free to leave comments. Thinks you'd like to see - things you wouldn't like to see. I am still writing every day but have taken a step back a bit in one of my novels - my bad. The other one however is going well.
'I got nothing...yet' Samantha Carter - Stargate SG-1
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Dictionary Stories 2010-06-05
Quack
"Quack, quack quack," the teacher said.
"Quack, quack quack," the class repeated.
"Almost," she said, "its a very subtle language. Let's break it down in to the three words. Quack - quack - quack."
The class repeated.
"Excellent," the teacher said, "now I believe our guest speaker is here. Alice would you open the window?"
Alice pushed away her table and crossed to the window and opened it. As soon as the gap was large enough a white duck flew in and landed on the teacher's desk.
"Hello," the duck said, "I understand you've been learning our language. It is most subtle and one of the hardest languages to learn. Just be glad your not learning chicken!"
"Quack, quack quack," the teacher said.
"Quack, quack quack," the class repeated.
"Almost," she said, "its a very subtle language. Let's break it down in to the three words. Quack - quack - quack."
The class repeated.
"Excellent," the teacher said, "now I believe our guest speaker is here. Alice would you open the window?"
Alice pushed away her table and crossed to the window and opened it. As soon as the gap was large enough a white duck flew in and landed on the teacher's desk.
"Hello," the duck said, "I understand you've been learning our language. It is most subtle and one of the hardest languages to learn. Just be glad your not learning chicken!"
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