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. ?
z Z
H Trope: “Alucard”
– Dracula Written Backward as a way of disguise…
“The word
‘monster’ comes from the Latin word monstrum
which is an aberrant occurrence, usually biological, that was taken as a sign
that something was wrong within the natural order,” read Wyndham D’Aquino.
“So, what are
you trying to say?” said Charlotte Mogwai.
“Nothing,” said
Wyndham, looking out the window at the house across the street. Small,
run-down, it was just like the rest of the neighborhood. Pathetic. It was
easier than looking at Charlotte. But he added, “You know, the fact is that
it’s an aberrant occurrence.”
“Are you saying
Dejario is a monster?” She snorted – a most unladylike sound, Wyndham thought –
and said, “You’re just jealous!”
He shrugged and
put down his tablet computer. “Yeah, but that doesn’t make Dejario any less a
monster.”
“There is nothing
wrong with the natural order! It’s just that...”
“It’s just that
he’s not natural?”
“It’s not like
he’s a vampire or a werewolf...”
“Those things
aren’t even ‘monsters’ according to this definition! They were just made up in
Hollywood to make money for the studios…” Wyndham said.
“So you’re
saying that Godzilla was part of nature?” asked Charlotte.
He opened his
mouth, paused to reconsider, then said, “Inasmuch as mutations are natural,
Godzilla was.”
“Dracula’s
natural?”
He shrugged,
“Based on a real villain with as taste for bloody impalement of his enemies,
then ‘yes’. Perverse but natural.”
Charlotte
scowled, whipped out her tablet computer and said, “Cyclops, Mr. Hyde, Dracula,
Frankenstein, Werewolf, Invisible Man, Mummy, Bigfoot, Dinosaurs, Zombies, King
Kong, the Blob, CHUD, Cthulu, Kraken, Medusa, Triffid, Trolls, Freddy Krueger,
Ghost, Hulk, Evil Clown, Leprechaun, Megalodon, Predator, Wolfman, Wyvern...”
“Stop! No,
they’re not all natural!”
“So, he’s not a
monster.”
“He is a
monster!” Wyndham said. “Besides, his name is Namel B. Isivnieht, from Russia.”
“So? Lots of
people have strange names! Especially when they come from Russia.”
“His name is The
Invisible Name, backwards – what? You failed spelling and grammar in school as
well as math?”
“I didn’t fail
math!”
“I was there –
you did! Big time!”
Charlotte was
ready to slap his silly face off his silly head and raised her arm to do it
when something gripped her wrist – and another part of her body – and said with
a Nigerian accent, “You don’t have to worry about him anymore, girl!”
As she struggled
against the unseen hands, Wyndham suddenly crumpled across the room, blood
spattering out from the back of his head as he pitched forward. A woman’s voice
said, “Get your hands off her, Name – or the next bullet will be for your
head!”
Image: http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5125/5323388637_bd70a9af8b_b.jpg
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