Watch here next Monday for my newest H/SF story: EarVu

Many years ago, many, many years ago, I came up with an idea for a short story. I wrote down only some journal entries by a scientist. The story was about a guy who came up with a new, revolutionary technology that was so astounding, mind-boglingly disturbing that once word slipped out that it even existed, his life was pretty much forfeit. And he knew it.

Once word of it got out, industries, scientists, governments the world over wanted it. And at any expense. Not many heard of it, but enough, and of those were the powerful and dangerous so that he immediately realized he really had only one choice: sell it, and to sell it quick.

Originally the story was basically just about industrial espionage where he tries to sell it and doesn't get to finalize a meet he sets up where he would exchange the technology for money and be done with it. And he's right because there are already several other groups after him on his way to the meeting.

Anyway, jump to 2012. There used to be a Sci Fi magazine called Perihelion that had ceased publication back in the 80s. It has now been revamped and it relaunched this past weekend. The editor 

Sam Bellotto Jr. had put out a call for short stories under 7,000 words. So I looked through all my saved and unpublished writings and ideas and finally decided that this story that I've indicated, would be a good choice. Perhaps its time had finally come to make use of it. There were other idea and stories I could have used but I'd always wanted to make use this idea. So I opened the file and took a look.

What I found surprised me. I remember having written more about it than what I found in the file on my hard drive. I'm sure there is a file around somewhere detailing the scientist's concern and his trip to the meet to sell his technology and how it all went so very wrong. But I couldn't find that file. I had started to put it into a novel format, so it may be laying around somewhere in that pile. All I could find was the file with the journal articles in it.

Which was strange because I didn't remember writing it that way. But that is part of the fun of dredging up these old ideas and story pieces. I actually have several folders labeled "Ideas" under my short story, novel and screenplay folders and it's always entertaining going back over them when I'm looking for a new idea (or, an old idea no one else has thought of).

So decided, I got the story out and read it. Then I started rewriting it and in no time I was pushing the two pages of under 1,000 words up to 7,000 words. And so it evolved into something new. It went from it being one scientist to being several. It went from an inventor working in his garage to several scientists working in a state of the art corporate facility with a slightly different orientation on who the bad guys were and what the bad elements would be. It quickly fleshed out and became no longer a Sci Fi/industrial or government espionage story, and morphed into a Horror Sci Fi story (you see, I've been writing so much Horror lately that those elements just crept in).

So I finished it, had it read, made some updates and finally sent it off to the Sam at Perihelion. But, regretfully Sam turned it down because he thought it was too heavy on the Horror for what he wanted to be a "Hard Science Fiction" publication. Which was a judgement call on his side that I respect and after all, I knew that might happen. I had been hoping that having leaned so heavily on the technical, scientific side of things that it would balance out the Horror elements. But as I got turned down, obviously it hadn't. He did comment that he liked it a lot and offered for me to try again (and even offered me to write a Sci Fi movie review (I almost got to review, "Looper" but it fell through) and maybe I will get something in the second issue as he already had the first issue wrapped up by that time. And maybe I will write another Sci Fi story. After all, I started in Science Fiction way back in my youth.

I grew up on Horror and Science Fiction in films and on TV and later reading those genres. My first novels were of Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and other venerable first generation Science Fiction writers. Anyway, the story isn't getting published in Perihelionsf.com. I do recommend visiting the site, if you like Science Fiction. Give them a look. I'm all for supporting ANY Science Fiction anywhere in any format, as long as it is good. I really believe that we need Science Fiction. Human kind needs it.

The number of modern astronauts and scientists who were affected by shows and films like Star Trek and Star Wars years ago in their youth, is amazing. Science and Speculative Fiction give us respite from our lives and allows us to project possibilities into the future, offering a path, change, evolution, ways to better the lives of all people everywhere.

Okay, getting back to my story. I had put work into finishing it so then I thought, "Well, I have this nice little story and the few who have read it really liked it, including the editor of the Sci Fi magazine (and how many can say that?). So I might as well send it off elsewhere. I had already put it into my Anthology of Evil II that I am putting together as a follow up to my previously published, "Anthology of Evil" (I).

And then I had an idea. I'd heard other writers do this and the journal article aspect of the story could lend itself nicely to this idea; why don't I just release it here, on my blog, in piecemeal fashion over a period of a few days or a week?

And so, that is what I have decided to do. Starting next Monday, I'm going to publish my story, "EarVu" here on my Blog. Just be patient, the title will make sense. I will publish the first part next Monday at 4:20AM at my normal Blog publish time. Then I will published sections at Noon, each day next week until it is fully published.

I hope you enjoy it.