September 9, 2014

IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 173


Each Tuesday, rather than a POSSIBLY IRRITATING ESSAY, I'd like to both challenge you and lend a helping hand. I generate more speculative and teen story ideas than I can ever use. My family rolls its collective eyes when I say, "Hang on a second! I just have to write down this idea..." Here, I'll include the initial inspiration (quote, website, podcast, etc) and then a thought or two that came to mind. These will simply be seeds -- plant, nurture, fertilize, chemically treat, irradiate, test or stress them as you see fit. I only ask if you let me know if anything comes of them.

H Trope: Lost Vessel\Ghosts
Current Event: http://abcnews.g


“Sounds like a made-for-podcast movie: ‘Erebus & Terror In The Northwest Passage’,” said Yousouf Ngo, sliding her iOS smartphone back at her across the table. “Not for me.”

“You can laugh, but there’s lots of creepy stuff surrounding those two ships. Just because the Canadians found them doesn’t mean it’s gonna be a good thing,” said Andrina Živković. She picked up her phone and continued to scroll. After a moment, she tapped it four times and a projected image sprang up between them.

“Can I still laugh even though your ideas about what happened are a proven pile of waa-waa? Only instead of laughing at the story and the ‘explorers’, I’m going to be laughing at you.”

Andrina shook her head, shooting a grin back at him. He may not have noticed the malicious glint in her eye. She said, “Ever hear of the Tuunbaq?”
“Boogeyman?”

She snorted, “No, demon monster.” She shot him a sideways look. “Didn’t your grandparents settle in northern Canada?”

He frowned. “Yeah, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

She shrugged, and even though she knew it would drain her battery faster, she upped the drain and pushed it into iLogram mode. The image of a creature – the demon formed between them.

“It’s a polar bear!” Yousouf exclaimed.

“Hardly. It’s a demon, and the legend says that it hunted each one of the crew down and slaughtered them.”

“They found three of the crew…”

“Sure – out of how many?”

He paused a long time before he said, “A hundred and thirty men. But others had been found! Is this demon monster Tuunuq thing gonna eat all of Canada?”

She lifted up a hand and turned on the sound of her smartphone as an announcer said, “Prime Minister Stephen Harper, long an advocate for discovering the remains of the British ships Erebus and Terror, and infamous for goading the unlikely alliance of Russia and United States into a trade war with Canada, has been assassinated.”

They looked at each other in shock then hunched over the phone as the reporter continued, “Preliminary reports posit a bomb being placed in the Prime Minister’s residence at 24 Sussex Drive, but security and military intelligence reports nothing like a bomb exploded on the grounds at any time. Surf back to us for continuing updates or follow us and link to our live data stream…”

Names: Arabia, Serbia ; Switzerland, Vietnam

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