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. Regarding
Fantasy, this insight was startling: “I see the fantasy genre as an
ever-shifting metaphor for life in this world, an innocuous medium that allows
the author to examine difficult, even controversial, subjects with impunity.
Honor, religion, politics, nobility, integrity, greed—we’ve an endless list of
ideals to be dissected and explored. And maybe learned from.” – Melissa
McPhail.
F Trope: curses, curses, curses
Current Event: http://www.cracked.com/article_18809_the-6-most-strangely-convincing-real-life-curses.html
(Scroll down to Curse #5)
Apparently Soviets
removing the skull of the Great Khan, Timur caused the Germans to invade Russia
in World War II. When the Soviets returned the skull to the Tomb, it caused the
Germans to be crushed in their attempt to flee Stalingrad and lost the rest of
the war.
There are people
who think that that is a curse.
Some people think
it was a hoax.
It is now 2038. Hans
Diefenbaker and his father are in Samarkand, Uzbekistan to look at both the
Tomb and the history of the supposed curse.
Leonid Omelchenko
and his parents are also in Samarkand, Uzbekistan doing the same thing –
studying the Tomb and its Curse.
Both them are
there with the 3D cameras and production money from DreamWorks and Lucas Films
that are being poured into the investigation – because in three years it will
be the 100th Anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion
of Russia in 1941. The largest, deadliest and most horrific battle ever fought
in human history, the coming anniversary has sparked wild claims and commentary
in the blogosphere – and taking the blame off of Adolph Hitler is one direction
that has become increasingly popular. The death of the last surviving WWII
soldier had happened in 2037 in Maine. He was 97 and had joined the Army in May
of 1945 at 17, so there is, in fact no one left who personally witnessed the
fighting. The film makers want to change that.
They also want to
see if the Timur Curse is real. Leo and Hans are standing in the Tomb with
their parents when the skull is lifted from its base. They are all standing
there when, what they think is an earthquake shakes the ground. It wasn’t a big
one. Nothing was knocked over except for one of the cameras. No one was hurt.
At least not in Uzbekistan.
No one they could
see, anyway.
No one Human, for
sure…
In far off
Stalingrad, another ancient tomb is stirring and a guard at Lenin’s Tomb is
knocked off his chair by an earthquake. Another earthquake causes the Biederitz
River east of Magdeburg, Germany to slosh between its banks and a heavy fog to
raise from the water in the middle of the night.
In Uzbekistan,
Hans and Leo end up together outside in the darkness as the power in the city
fluctuates. As they talk in English – both young men have been to the US for
their first year of college – they are suddenly struck dumb, frozen in the
darkness then abruptly fall to the ground as if they are having seizures.
But they aren’t
important. No one notices them. Not yet, anyway…
Names: ♀ Germany; ♂ Russia
No comments:
Post a Comment