Post by Cali on Mar 9, 2013 22:59:56 GMT 1
So my writer's fingers are starting to get a little itchy yet again. Here are a myriad of story ideas I have floating around in my cerebrum (some of them happen to be in my hard drive. Duh uh-huh-huh)
Here are some rough, brief synopsis of the stories. Keep in mind that all the non-fanfic ones are set in an urban fantasy universe me and a few buddies of mine created on our own. Urban fantasy meaning it takes place in contemporary or historical times, but is still quite retaining of fantasy elements.
Remember: Pick two.
106 Miles to Odessa
In 1986, Scott Beaton, a happy go-lucky new wave music loving British operative, gifted with magical and thaumaturge powers, is doing an extended info gathering operation in cold-war era Ukraine. Once the infamous Chernobyl nuclear accident occurs, and the near-entirety of Eastern Europe is sent into a state of panic, Scott is told via MI6 transmission the black-op is packing up and he has to get out of there. When he finds out his main ride in the town he's staying in has been cancelled, he has to hop on his trusty mountain bike and pedal 106 miles south to a final point; the city of Odessa. Initially disconcerted, he finds that his love for nature and enthusiasm for the countryside has allowed him to adore his surroundings as he bikes to Odessa with the guidance of his radio mission operator. It's a life changing and eye opening experience nearly all the way, though the various unexpected encounters and issues surrounding the populace of Ukraine, the weather, the wildlife, the Soviet forces, and even his fellow operatives and agents, all at some point come at odds with him.
Influences: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Hot Fuzz, British Comedy, Drive, 80's movies, James Bond series, Day Z.
The Salted Coast
An adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. Set in 1368 Denmark during the Hanseatic War, a nameless swordsman, on his way to Sweden, finds Beatriz, a half-dead and feverish Hungarian noblewoman and poet in the middle of a field, naked, and all her limbs severed and sewn up, save for her right arm. Caring for her and nurturing her back to health, he befriends her along the way, and takes her to a coastal town, where the Hanseatic League and Denmark's Norwegian vassals, formerly quarreling over control of the town are now locked in a ceasefire, each controlling separate halves of the city. After checking the girl into a local inn, he combs the city, eventually locked in various brushes with both the Norweigan knights and Hanseatic mercenaries. Seeing no iota of good in either faction, he decides to manipulate and pit each one against one another, in hopes it will lead to an untimely demise. In a cast of several characters, including Beatriz, mutilated and jaded, but still unwilling to waver or give up hope, and always trying to find a subject for her new poem. Also added are a mumbling Castillan coffinmaker, a shy but astute innkeeper, a utilitarian Moorish merchant, an utterly defensive and bipolar regent, as well as the chilling and riddlespeaking knight-champion of the invading Hanseatic forces.
Influences: Yojimbo, Medieval Literature, The Seventh Seal, The Glass Key, Miller's Crossing, Mount and Blade series, Unforgiven.
Bronze Flower Rising
Set in 16th century Japan, the half-historical and half-mythological story focuses on Takuma, a spiritual mage, and doubly a politically disillusioned Japanese secret policeman for the Tokugawa clan. In their rivalry with the ever growing Mori clan and their allies, Takuma is ordered to search for several missing Chinese coins minted with the Tokugawa seal, believed to have been stolen by the Western Alliance. In his journey, he hops onto a ship helmed by his friend Dimos, a Portuguese smuggler, and eventually running into and questioning several others along the way, including Mitsuko, a geisha entertainer who moonlights as a coin counterfitter, and Jinji, the "Silk-Mouthed" monk, and supposed antagonist of the story.
In a trance-like journey that takes them through forests of blossom trees, lush valleys, seedy villages, beaches and coasts, hills full of savage mythological Oni beasts, as well as battlefields full of quarreling and slain Samurai, his questioning and resentment of his masters and the Japanese fuedal system begins to quickly wane, and it is here, he learns to live again.
Influences: Akira Kurosawa's Entire Filmography, Terrance Malik films, Japanese Folklore, Shogun: Total War, The Oddessy, Ghost Dog, Apocolypse Now.
Fallout: Pandemonium City
Set in the ruins of Jacksonville, Florida, Pandemonium City is an unusual, far darker, more macabre tale set in Black Isle/Bethesda's Fallout universe. Inspired by a myriad of horror stories as well as a few nightmares the author had, the story centers on a myriad of characters, particularly Sergeant Traxler, an Enclave commando who awakes handcuffed to the roof of a train car, surrounded by legions of frightening ghouls with patterns of wire and needles sewn into their flesh. Managing to barely escape with his life, he enters a dirty flat and holes up with a rugged drifter, eventually learning of the terrible cult factions that vie for control of Pandemonium City, such as the near mythical Madam Lute, believed to be a Voodoo goddess and an anti-Christ by much of the population. Other contenders are the Cthulu inspired Rooks of the Reef, a cult of water-breathing mutants who worship a sea leviathan, and the Coffinshakers, a gang of frightening ghouls and bloodsuckers, former vault dwellers who prey on the human populace, and decorated their Vault to resemble a massive crypt.
Influences: Fallout, Clive Barker's Undying, The Stand, The Shining, Stake Land, The Road, Dark City, Cloud Atlas, Voodoo Lore.
StarCraft: Trajectory
As the coming release of Heart of the Swarm has renewed my interest in my beloved StarCraft universe, I thought I might give this one I had for a while a whirl. The crew of a Kel-Morian combine Terran freighter investigates a debris field, finding what is believed to be a portable gene bank case of some sort. A few days afterward when returning home, their ship is accosted by Protoss fighters, who threaten to board. The ship's captain, McColmes persuades and talks the protoss into making a deal and meeting on a neutral planet to hand over the artifact. The protoss praetor Ganelaes, a near legend in protoss warfare, interferes when many of his kin refuse. Once they touch down, they had no idea they had been followed by an infested battlecruiser full of the Swarm's privateers, and the meeting goes quite sour, and many are killed.
Escaping with the artifact, and noting that the protoss no longer trust them, and are now hunted by them, the swarm, and even many Terran militias and factions, they are a skeleton crew on the run, desperately trying to find an iota of protection, in a space opera that spans many familiar places in StarCraft lore, such as Tarsonis, Umoja, Shakuras, Braxis, and Korhal.
Influences: StarCraft, Dune, Alien, Aliens, Firefly, Pitch Black, Star Wars, Wing Commander (not the shitty movie), Hidden Fortress, Cowboy Beepop.
Here are some rough, brief synopsis of the stories. Keep in mind that all the non-fanfic ones are set in an urban fantasy universe me and a few buddies of mine created on our own. Urban fantasy meaning it takes place in contemporary or historical times, but is still quite retaining of fantasy elements.
Remember: Pick two.
106 Miles to Odessa
In 1986, Scott Beaton, a happy go-lucky new wave music loving British operative, gifted with magical and thaumaturge powers, is doing an extended info gathering operation in cold-war era Ukraine. Once the infamous Chernobyl nuclear accident occurs, and the near-entirety of Eastern Europe is sent into a state of panic, Scott is told via MI6 transmission the black-op is packing up and he has to get out of there. When he finds out his main ride in the town he's staying in has been cancelled, he has to hop on his trusty mountain bike and pedal 106 miles south to a final point; the city of Odessa. Initially disconcerted, he finds that his love for nature and enthusiasm for the countryside has allowed him to adore his surroundings as he bikes to Odessa with the guidance of his radio mission operator. It's a life changing and eye opening experience nearly all the way, though the various unexpected encounters and issues surrounding the populace of Ukraine, the weather, the wildlife, the Soviet forces, and even his fellow operatives and agents, all at some point come at odds with him.
Influences: STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, Hot Fuzz, British Comedy, Drive, 80's movies, James Bond series, Day Z.
The Salted Coast
An adaptation of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. Set in 1368 Denmark during the Hanseatic War, a nameless swordsman, on his way to Sweden, finds Beatriz, a half-dead and feverish Hungarian noblewoman and poet in the middle of a field, naked, and all her limbs severed and sewn up, save for her right arm. Caring for her and nurturing her back to health, he befriends her along the way, and takes her to a coastal town, where the Hanseatic League and Denmark's Norwegian vassals, formerly quarreling over control of the town are now locked in a ceasefire, each controlling separate halves of the city. After checking the girl into a local inn, he combs the city, eventually locked in various brushes with both the Norweigan knights and Hanseatic mercenaries. Seeing no iota of good in either faction, he decides to manipulate and pit each one against one another, in hopes it will lead to an untimely demise. In a cast of several characters, including Beatriz, mutilated and jaded, but still unwilling to waver or give up hope, and always trying to find a subject for her new poem. Also added are a mumbling Castillan coffinmaker, a shy but astute innkeeper, a utilitarian Moorish merchant, an utterly defensive and bipolar regent, as well as the chilling and riddlespeaking knight-champion of the invading Hanseatic forces.
Influences: Yojimbo, Medieval Literature, The Seventh Seal, The Glass Key, Miller's Crossing, Mount and Blade series, Unforgiven.
Bronze Flower Rising
Set in 16th century Japan, the half-historical and half-mythological story focuses on Takuma, a spiritual mage, and doubly a politically disillusioned Japanese secret policeman for the Tokugawa clan. In their rivalry with the ever growing Mori clan and their allies, Takuma is ordered to search for several missing Chinese coins minted with the Tokugawa seal, believed to have been stolen by the Western Alliance. In his journey, he hops onto a ship helmed by his friend Dimos, a Portuguese smuggler, and eventually running into and questioning several others along the way, including Mitsuko, a geisha entertainer who moonlights as a coin counterfitter, and Jinji, the "Silk-Mouthed" monk, and supposed antagonist of the story.
In a trance-like journey that takes them through forests of blossom trees, lush valleys, seedy villages, beaches and coasts, hills full of savage mythological Oni beasts, as well as battlefields full of quarreling and slain Samurai, his questioning and resentment of his masters and the Japanese fuedal system begins to quickly wane, and it is here, he learns to live again.
Influences: Akira Kurosawa's Entire Filmography, Terrance Malik films, Japanese Folklore, Shogun: Total War, The Oddessy, Ghost Dog, Apocolypse Now.
Fallout: Pandemonium City
Set in the ruins of Jacksonville, Florida, Pandemonium City is an unusual, far darker, more macabre tale set in Black Isle/Bethesda's Fallout universe. Inspired by a myriad of horror stories as well as a few nightmares the author had, the story centers on a myriad of characters, particularly Sergeant Traxler, an Enclave commando who awakes handcuffed to the roof of a train car, surrounded by legions of frightening ghouls with patterns of wire and needles sewn into their flesh. Managing to barely escape with his life, he enters a dirty flat and holes up with a rugged drifter, eventually learning of the terrible cult factions that vie for control of Pandemonium City, such as the near mythical Madam Lute, believed to be a Voodoo goddess and an anti-Christ by much of the population. Other contenders are the Cthulu inspired Rooks of the Reef, a cult of water-breathing mutants who worship a sea leviathan, and the Coffinshakers, a gang of frightening ghouls and bloodsuckers, former vault dwellers who prey on the human populace, and decorated their Vault to resemble a massive crypt.
Influences: Fallout, Clive Barker's Undying, The Stand, The Shining, Stake Land, The Road, Dark City, Cloud Atlas, Voodoo Lore.
StarCraft: Trajectory
As the coming release of Heart of the Swarm has renewed my interest in my beloved StarCraft universe, I thought I might give this one I had for a while a whirl. The crew of a Kel-Morian combine Terran freighter investigates a debris field, finding what is believed to be a portable gene bank case of some sort. A few days afterward when returning home, their ship is accosted by Protoss fighters, who threaten to board. The ship's captain, McColmes persuades and talks the protoss into making a deal and meeting on a neutral planet to hand over the artifact. The protoss praetor Ganelaes, a near legend in protoss warfare, interferes when many of his kin refuse. Once they touch down, they had no idea they had been followed by an infested battlecruiser full of the Swarm's privateers, and the meeting goes quite sour, and many are killed.
Escaping with the artifact, and noting that the protoss no longer trust them, and are now hunted by them, the swarm, and even many Terran militias and factions, they are a skeleton crew on the run, desperately trying to find an iota of protection, in a space opera that spans many familiar places in StarCraft lore, such as Tarsonis, Umoja, Shakuras, Braxis, and Korhal.
Influences: StarCraft, Dune, Alien, Aliens, Firefly, Pitch Black, Star Wars, Wing Commander (not the shitty movie), Hidden Fortress, Cowboy Beepop.