IDEAS ON TUESDAYS 544

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 horror, I found this insight in line with WIRED FOR STORY: “ We seek out…stories which give us a place to put our fears…Stories that frighten us or unsettle us - not just horror stories, but ones that make us uncomfortable or that strike a chord somewhere deep inside - give us the means to explore the things that scare us…” – Lou Morgan (The Guardian)

F Trope: elves, gnomes and Halflings
Current Event: http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/07/02/icelandic-town-hopes-angry-elves-have-been-soothed-by-songs/

Geir Laxness glances at his cell. He’s got no mom and lives alone with dad, who is an anthropologist. The message says Mom on the address. He looks up and around himself. This is the third message he’s gotten from her and he is on his way to Marshall, Minnesota. Where she told him to go.

America is a strange place, but he doesn’t feel quite so strange in Minnesota. It feels…normal. Dad said he had worked with an Icelandic anthropolist out of the University of Minnesota in Marshall when he was young and before he got married.

Several people, three women and four men, have passed him by on the sidewalk, smiling and nodding to him. He’s certainly travelled a bit, so he’s seen a lot, but he’s always been shy. Like most people his age, he speaks fluent English and he’s reads lots of fantasy and likes LORD OF THE RINGS a lot. When he turned eighteen, he even read the Icelandic translation (which his few friends think is weird). One of his heroes is “Snorri Sturluson”, a descendant of Egil’s Saga’s hero, but he’s not even certain why, only to say that he feels a deep connection to the man. The standard modern edition of Icelandic sagas is known as Íslenzk Fornrit.” His online name is “Snorri”.

He skypes other friends all the time and has contacts all over the world. Dad is at a conference in Minneapolis, MN. He didn’t tell him about the texts from Mom. He probably wouldn’t understand. It’s his first time in the US interior and he manages to get away from Dad and go to a fantasy and science fiction bookstore called “Uncle Hugo’s”.

It’s not far from a REALLY intriguing International Marketplace. He’s wandered this far, though he’s not worried about getting back. His GPS is top notch. It’s needed to be as he’s been following texts from several people who say that they’re legendary Icelandic historical figures.

Geir’s hungry, but as he starts to cross the street a group of white kids, tattooed and heads shaved, on skateboards, cut across the street, throwing rocks and garbage at a black man and an Hispanic woman who are running from them.

They disappear back down a staircase to a bike trail below.

Geir looks , but doesn’t know to call 112 in the US. As he runs to the staircase, the Hispanic woman comes back up. She looks at him, then says in Icelandic, “Vinsamlegast aðeins þú getur hjálpað okkur."

“Please, only you can help us!”

She presses a folded sheet of paper into his hand. She gasps, and dies, falling backward and rolling down the stairs…

Names: ♀ Iceland
Resource: https://www.icelandicroots.com/minnesota

Image: https://cdn.britannica.com/40/11740-004-50816EB1/Boris-Karloff-Frankenstein-monster.jpg