It has been a while since I’ve posted an entry from Resplendence, but I’m wrapping it up, bringing it to its conclusion. It’s a finished work and I’d like to get this out in book format. You saw it here first. Not really, as my fellow MFA’ers and professors from the program were the first to see it. And it’s bound in a book, but only 5 copies exist and one of them is in my alma mater’s library. I’m skipping a few leaves, but you’ve seen enough here and I’ve got to keep something extra for a book edition. Can’t give it all away.
creative writing
23
Feb 10
Resplendence: The Finale
23
Feb 10
Fiction: Visualizing the Server
This is the hack as it occurs in Kumo’s mind. She is, after all, a telepathic hacker and she draws her inspiration from the Temple of the Muse. Also, remember, she’s on Hlau’s list and she is one of the Seven.
Kumo often focused on something related to the network. Sometimes she would use a wireless signal in a library or café, other times she would touch a computer or hold a network cable. The physical object itself was not enough for her mind to log onto the network and acess information from a computer. She visualized the connection, the safe with the combination, and the listening tools she would use to ascertain the password. Sometimes the password prompt would appear as a sentry and she would somehow read the person’s expression and figure out the password. Othertimes, she would see a lock and create a key from thin air to fit the keyhole. Kumo was very good at mentally matching lock with key.
20
Feb 10
Fiction: Sa Na
After seeing sa na on the list, Hlau is no closer to finding out what these two syllables mean.
Hlau parked his car close to Toshan Circle and headed to the Sanaya Café to meet Midori, the agent assigned to the case. After seeing sa na on the list, the syllables jumped out at him, especially with the furigana, or the small Phonic syllables above the Universal characters on the sign. However, sa na was also present on several other signs within sight – Hisanaya Bank, Losana Books, Bosanada restaurant. Something told him that sa na had to be something else other than a business, but he could not know for sure. Living in Shusa, he never really paid much attention to the signs attached to buildings, like most people, he only saw them on a cursory level and read the signs he needed to get to. Now he couldn’t help notice the neon tubes bent into complex characters, which was popular a season ago with newer ones made for nostalgic purposes, letters attached to building facades, illuminated at night, banners, old hanging signs with archaic typefaces, and fluorescent light backed hard plastic signs in all colors and fonts. Two commonly used syllables now jumped out at him from everywhere.
18
Feb 10
Fiction: In the Temple of the Muse
Here is someone on Hlau’s list. Kumo is a villainess of this story, and she sees her crimes as a creative act.
In the Temple of the Muse, which was at the west end of the Mall and faced it in an eastward direction, Kumo had come early in the morning to get inspiration from the Nine-Personed Goddess. It was still dark, a few hours before the tourists, eager with their cameras, would come and crowd the large statue, hoping to get inspiration and a picture with her at the same time. The sun would rise soon and those few hardy souls, when the Temple was at its most beautiful, would be soon come to the Temple when it was bathed in the golden sunlight and reflected the pinkness of the morning sky. Kumo preferred to see the Muse at daybreak, but this was the time when she would have the Goddess to herself, before the devotees and then the tourists would take up her time.
16
Feb 10
Fiction: The Decryption
This scene takes place in the story’s present, several years (or decades, or cycles of 10 months, in the Mintakan calendar) after Hlau’s initial trip to the House of Wisdom.
Hlau was in the Evek’s office when they were going over the intelligence they got from the Agency of Investigation. The Agency had called them because they needed consultants on a string of computer hacks, all of which were virtually untraceable to any device. The Agency’s computer experts had gone over the evidence they had available and they could not find anything that would identify a computer or a particular user. Without any real evidence, the Agency had come to the conclusion that this series of events was of a psychic nature, which is where priests from the School of Wisdom could help.
The Evek got up from his desk and walked up to a red-stained teak filing cabinet, and placed his hand at the handle of the top drawer for a few seconds and then opened it. He took out a book-sized box and brought it to the desk and sat down. He drew his finger along the line created by the lid and the lower part of the box and opened it. Hlau knew that the Evek had just unlocked a psychic lock on both the cabinet and the box. The Evek then took a folded piece of paper from the box, unfolded it, and said, “I think you’re ready to see this.”
14
Feb 10
“Project Mintaka,” etc
On Friday, I quietly posted the beginning of a work in progress. It’s been a while since I’ve posted creative writing on ShindoTV, much more longer than some other things. I started again mainly to get myself writing again. The intro and the list in question are parts of what I’ve dubbed for the time being “Project Mintaka,” but I’ll come up with a better title later. Also, these pieces of the story in progress are subject to revision later and I’ll definitely work them into a more coherent form when there’s enough to get a book going. That’s the intent anyway.
13
Feb 10
Fiction: Hlau’s List
In “The Paper,” we meet Hlau and the piece of paper. While his memory is rapidly deteriorating, he writes down this list on a piece of paper. However, with his memory gone and very little context afterwards, Hlau is faced with the mystery of the list.
I HAVE BEEN VIRUSED. I MUST REMEMBER.
12
Feb 10
Fiction: The Paper
This is part of a longer work I’m working on. It takes place on a world that orbits Mintaka, a world 1000 light years from Earth. The people are human, or very near-human, with Itán being one of the dominant nations. Much of their cultures are similar to ours, but it’s also been shaped by the existence of human telepathy and the supernatural. Mintaka here is in their equivalent of the 21st century.
That piece of paper that Hlau held in his hand…
He wrote things down so he could remember, a rough analog backup for the things that were being wiped from his memory. Hlau tried to remember names, places, people he knew at the Agency of Investigation, cases, but more information vanished quickly than he could conjure it and scribble the characters. At the moment, he wasn’t even sure if he knew how to write in Universal.
He looked at the paper and hardly recognized what he scrawled. He was sure there was more he needed to put down, but he also knew he had to get out. He folded the paper, put it inside the inner breast pocket of his jacket, and ran out to the Agency’s lobby. Someone would be after him soon. That was not memory, but instinct cultivated by decades of practice as an agent. He wasn’t even sure someone would come after him, but he had to get to somewhere safe. He stopped, quickly wrote down SEEK SANCTUARY, SCHOOL OF WISDOM, and ran out to downtown street to catch a taxi. If he had arrived at the Agency’s parking structure in a car, he now couldn’t remember what color, shape, and manufacturer. A taxi moved past the Tchon embassy across the street. Hlau frantically waved it down, ran across the street, and was nearly ran over before he crossed the street. He opened the back door on the driver’s side, got in, and pulled the paper from his pocket. “The National House of Wisdom,” he shouted at the driver before he would forget.
5
Sep 09
Privilege for $200
It’s been a while since I’ve reflected on my experiences in my MFA program. One very significant figure, whom I’ve discussed in previous posts, was Professor Joseph K, who served as my early mentor, friend, boss, and later silent tormentor. This post is Part 21 of If You Want To Go To Grad School.
We’re at a party early on for the University’s MFA program and I mention working with Professor Joseph K. You ask me what he’s like and I’ll try to give you a sound byte answer. After all, this is a party, and the conversation’s not supposed to be too deep. So, here’s what I say: Joe’s a good guy and I work very well with him. I also enjoy his workshops a lot.
My answer would change much later, as I was only one year into my academic and professional relationship with Professor K. Being his secretary didn’t pay much, but I liked it better than working in the supermarket. There, I was paid better and I had benefits, but with Joe, I had keys to the mail room and his office, and I had a code for the English Department copier. I had a place to hang my coat, to read, to study, and even to write. I even had my own desk so I wouldn’t use his. What I had lost in practical terms, I gained in privilege. Which is essentially the case with anyone who goes into something arts or humanities related. I also harbored great hopes that my association with Joe would benefit me in the future. Perhaps I would become an editor or a professor, or even an editor-professor like Joe.
12
Jul 09
Books: The Writing Class
What happens when a misanthropic has-been creative writing teacher is put together with students of varying levels of talent? Murder and mayhem. Well, murder occurs in small doses, but a much-aggrieved, much-rejected, aspiring literary hack does a lot to cause the mayhem, which terrorizes Amy Gallop, the instructor, and her class of mostly novice writers. The mystery of the perpertrator, however, fascinates the group and is a much stronger draw than getting one’s stories torn apart. Jincy Willett‘s The Writing Class is one of those books I came across purely by accident while shopping for steampunk novels at Mysterious Galaxy in Kearny Mesa.
