As a writer of dark fiction my thoughts tend to stray into some pretty strange territory from time to time. My wife is always complaining that sometimes I’m not really there, as my mind has wandered off following an errant thread in search of an answer, or the germ of a story idea. Most of these thoughts take on the form of a what if question. Of the notions I’ve followed with that question the most intriguing one to me is: What if the universe we live in is contained within one molecule in a drop of water. Surrounded by 1.5 sextillion molecules, each containing its own universe. A vast multiverse within a single drop of water.
There have been multiple books written about the multiverse, of those I’ve read the best one in my opinion was Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.
Naturally we have to take this thought one step further. Where is this drop of water? In my mind it resides in a cosmic garden, a drop of dew clinging to a blade of grass, surrounded by hundreds of billions of other drops of water, each filled with multiple universes. This patch of grass lies at the base of a tree whose shadow protects the droplets of water from the sun. But the sun is moving, following its course. In a short period of cosmic time, for us that would be hundreds of trillions of years, that light will fall upon our little drop, and we will evaporate. Pretty gloomy end huh?
Writers typically begin their careers as readers. I’m no exception, and the musing above can find its genesis in Stephen King’s The Gunslinger, book one of his Dark Tower series. Instead of a dew drop on a blade of grass, the multi-verse is contained within the molecules of the grass itself lending it a more substantive future, that is until a cosmic gardener comes along to cut the grass.
Everyone who writes knows there is really nothing new under the sun. It’s all been done before it’s been said. The only unique thing we bring is our own view of the world and our own voice.
Work continues on This Way to Heaven.
Word count update.
Beginning total : 64,575
Written this week: 4,668 It was actually more but I tend to edit while I write.
New total: 69,243
Work continues on this as well as the two shorts I’ve been focusing on.
Here’s a little taste of Nobody’s
Excerpt
Another dark alley opened before me, and I hurried through the gloom, ignoring the things in my peripheral vision. I believe they were human, as least I hoped they were. At the far end of the alley a car pulled up and Velma slipped into the passenger’s seat. She looked back at me, her mouth forming an oh of surprise, then she was gone as the car sped away.
The alley spilled out onto forty second street where life continued at its hectic pace. I was trapped between my desire to learn what happened to Velma, and a moment of time that was slowly drifting from the consciousness of those all around me.
Sure, they remembered where they were the moment it happened, but that moment had taken a back seat to life’s nature to move on, a feat I seemed unable to perform. When I returned home that day I realized the events I’d witnessed had changed me. I no longer felt the same desires as before. In their place a hollowness had opened. It was like I was no longer a part of the living organism that was society as a whole. I was an outsider, destined to spend my life looking in at what would have been my life if I could only bring myself to accept what happened and move on.
How many others were out there like me? Survivors for whom a simple stroke of fate saved their lives when everyone else they knew perished. Office workers who woke up with a head cold, a hangover, or simply a desire to play hooky that day. A janitor who missed his mid-town connection only to arrive as the cries of a city under attack overwhelmed the usual bustle of everyday life. We were survivors in a sense. If I had not been dwelling on the events of the day before I might have gotten a good night’s sleep and arrived in time to take my place on the stage in destiny’s ongoing play. If the janitor left a couple of minute earlier instead of grabbing that extra slice to toast, or a last kiss from his wife, they might have shown up when they were supposed to and died as destiny demanded.
End Excerpt
That’s all I have for this week. If you like what you’ve read and want updates when I post I’d appreciate it if you hit the like and follow button for this post and my blog. I’ll soon be giving a free short story away every month for everyone who signs up for my newsletter. I’ll share more details when they’re available.
What book or short story have you recently read that really stuck with you? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for stopping by.
Have you read All Roads Lead to Terror?
Click on the cover image to order.
In a chaotic, post-apocalyptic world, an endless night is closing in, and only the strong will survive. In the midst of the turmoil, fourteen-year-old Meat, and his three closest friends, embark on a mission to rescue kidnapped children from the compound enslaving them.
Battling their way through treacherous terrain and immeasurable odds, the boys must learn to lean on each other if they hope to survive. Little do they know fate has far greater plans for them. For they represent the trinity, a symbol older than time itself, that keeps the darkness at bay.
They are three, bound by a fourth, destined to save mankind.
With time running out, and the cloak of eternal night descending, can the boys find a way to turn the tables on evil?
Or will they be the next to join the growing legion of the dead?
Grab your copy of All Roads Led to Terror today!
Richard Schiver 