On Being Creative and Writing

I've been asked, as have so many other creatives...

"How do you come up with your ideas for things you write?"

Well...I have a thought, I put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard and, produce. I heard an author once say that the difference between hobbyists or amateurs and professional writers is the latter writes down their good ideas for later and they throw away, nothing. Saving it for a future story. Not infrequently it happens at bedtime, so I keep a notepad by my bed. Or I may get up and go to my keyboard and writer it out, dumping it all into a file for later.

I have a file on my laptop and desktop for ideas and another for titles. I have an "ideas" folder in my short story, screenplay and my novel folders.

A spark happens, an idea hits me, the framework for that idea shoots through a tunnel into the future in my mind, in a multi dimensional pathway from concept to fruition. That journey into a new reality begins. As I write, the structure further reveals itself to me. Logic and satiation fill in the cracks and crevices as I experience the story unfolding within and before me.

At some point I hit a juxtaposition, or a void. At that point I have emptied my mental and creative buffers and need to come up with something new. And that I think, is what interests people.

Brian Eno, once of Roxy Music fame and then from his own, studied art for a short time. He and his cohorts were like many others at the time interested in John Cage's book Silence (1961). Music can be art and why cannot one listen to a waterfall or the wind and experience the same euphoria one could get from say, Beethoven? Eno getting involved with Robert Fripp and his with King Crimson were all expansions of previous leanings.

Six Melodies, by John Cage.

I was very into avant garde and experimental music since my childhood in the 1960s, as well as some classical, pop (as a kid) and much rock music. From as far back as I can remember I have been attracted to the unique and unusual and the beautiful. I didn't even hear of the aesthetic of the ugly until the late 1980s and it went against everything I had believed in to that point. Yet, I had loved horror films and books and I did get it on a visceral level.

I bring all this up because of the need and desire for creativity, for uniqueness and the unknown and for the fascinating. It is a quest always for more and beyond.

Concepts like the synthesis of systems and ideas, the dynamic rearrangement of information, the rearrangement of the echoes of one sense upon or in place of another or synesthesitic observations, all organized to be highly pleasurable and\or productive have always fascinated me. And yet again and again I find myself falling back into formal structures.

And so I continue to bide my time, to explore, and to strive for that uniqueness that I hope one day to uncover. And of course, to share.

A good example of this in my catalog of writings is in my latest novella, "The Unwritten" coming out in the sequel to my first book to be titled, Anthology of Evil II. In the novella, I decided initially to take three disparate universes and write about them, then at some point bring them all together in some way. That is all I had to start with.

It was a singular journey that took me two years to finalize. Once I returned to it, my mind having had worked on it in the dark recesses of thought over the period of my putting off writing the last half of the story, had worked much of it out, unbeknownst to me. It flowed out of me onto the page and it somehow all came together.

That is the way of it so very often.

I had studied what creativity is during my university years. I felt crippled, unable to be creative. Until I realized what it is. Creation. The more you have to bring to that creation, the more you learn in life, the more you practice things, the more interesting and useful will be your creations.

My point being, learn your craft. Learn all you can about everything. Try to experience and produce all types of, all forms of whatever your craft is. And then... the creative happens. It will happen.

Bring your creative voice, or vision to us. Because we want to see it.

Free ebooks, Death of Heaven, and The Rules of Writing

Free ebooks? Yes, there's a wealth of reading materiel coming to you here, today. First, though....

My birthday is Saturday, August 30th, but more about that later. Starting Friday, August 29th, 2014, I will be offering my catalog of ebooks for free for a few days in celebration of my birthday, which will be available thought Tuesday, 9/2/2014.

Right now however, you can get a free ebook copy of Death of Heaven right now (see below toward the end of this blog for details).

That all being said, now let's continue....

There are several rules of writing that you're not supposed to break. Rules that sometimes, I find irritating. Some are reasonable, some necessary, some are just marketing issues infecting the publishing industry and therefore, the writer's domain.

Some rules as I indicated, are just common sense and necessary, but some... some I feel just hamper the creative process and the artistic endeavor.

Again, take my book, Death of Heaven.

Over all, I've gotten pretty good comments on it. Like this one from Author and Reviewer, Michael Brookes:

"[Death of Heaven] ... has a Books of Blood vibe [referring to Clive Barker's seminal book series], which really works well. It's in these tales that the author's writing ability shines. He demonstrates a lovely turn of phrase and some of the writing is almost poetic in its beauty."

Original cover of Books of Blood Vol. 1

I kind of like that. 

There was one comment about the storyline that I was expecting and that finally happened. The comment was that the two main protagonists didn't really do, anything.

I beg to differ. SPOILERS here, but mild ones.

First of all, the protagonists referred to ARE doing something. They are documenting for all humankind, what is about to happen. Things that have forever been hidden and are completely missing from humankind's understanding of their entire existence, their world, and their universe.

These documentors are striving to stay alive. They have enough to deal with in simply staying alive and handling their task, to document, to pass it all on to others, should the earth survive. Then there is book two, yet to be written, where perhaps they do have a chance to "do", something. After an entire book of being trapped in their own existence, how could they not be wanting to do something, once and for all?

EarVu a short ebook sci fi horror story

The typical comment from editors and publishers on something like this (and in film, producers, studios, etc.), is to add in something for them to do besides what they are doing. Things like, make a conflict with local government or secret government agency, or a secret society. Hollywood and publishers always want more, bigger, betterer! But that is pure sensationalism and if you put too much into it, you get overload. Like sugar is good so diabetes is better?

And there you have it, this mode of entertainment building can and has led to "entertainment diabetes". Avoid it. It's fine to build on something to go bigger and better, but at some point, if you have a brain cell left, you'll recognize that you need to pull back, start over, reset, so that what had been immense turns into little, and if you revert to the beginning, you can again make the little immense; make a tiny bit simply seem like so much more.

Still, I can understand how one might feel a "hole" in the protagonists' situation.

That however, was my intent. For that feeling to exist. It exists, for a reason.

There are some things in life where you literally can do nothing, where there is no where to hide, nothing to do, but survive; where you should feel a "hole" in the story. That's not very interesting reading though, is it? I mean, that's the argument, right? But these protagonists serve their function, they move things along, they acquire and bring us along with them as they acquire, knowledge.

They had been friends since childhood. One who suffered serious damage through his espionage work (among other things); the other damaged with emotional issues from a childhood trauma that they both amazingly survived. Neither is finding getting through their daily life, easy; for both it is a challenge within itself. And actually, that's okay.

When I was in college in my first fiction writing class, one of the editors of our University magazine said that he didn't understand why he liked my writings, because I broke rules, but for some reason, no matter how hard he tried, he enjoyed my stories. Good stories are written by good authors who follow the rules; great stories are written by great authors who set out to break those rules. It's not for me to say what kind of an author I am, but I will guarantee you one thing, I do have an interesting and at times unique perspective in all of my writings.

As for others who wish to be writers, write. Write and learn rules, so that you can creatively break them, or try to do so, to make your own way, to set your own path so that possibly others, may follow you.

Audio book version of The Conqueror Worm, first full chapter of Death of Heaven

Still there is another issue, however.

Are these two actually the main protagonists? And if not, who is? Because there are others who are doing something and who in the end, absolutely do something. But they too mostly sit and wait, acquiring information, growing in knowledge and strength, much like the other two mentioned above; but also, damaging bits and pieces of human history.

This is a book in some ways, of very little happening, actually.

There is a tension building right from the beginning of the book's story, even many years before the opening of the main story, where that builds and builds until finally it all comes to a head in the final battle for the life of all on earth, and others. There is a lot going on between the lines.

Quantum History short sci fi comedy ebook

If I were to use some of those rules to add in elements to the story, it would be due to marketing reasons, not reasons of story or necessity. Because what is necessity in writing? To tell the story, to keep the reader's attention, to entertain and enlighten, to leave the audience wanting more at the close and to leave them with a feeling of time well spent.

It is not all about the end however, but the journey. The journey in Death of Heaven is long and diverse. There are turns and massive jumps but it is all tied together by only a few elements, a few lives. You come to know those lives. You come to wonder about them, where did they come from? How did they come to be here, and now?

Some of those questions are answered in a novella that came out before Death of Heaven, titled, Andrew, which is also included at the end of another book of mine, Anthology of Evil. Questions like, where did these powerful beings come from in the first place?

I don't like stories with easy answers.

I don't like books I can read in thirty seconds. I like the kind of book you can take your time with, think about a little bit and where you really don't mind that it's taking longer than many books do. It's all about the journey. Who cares if you zip through to the end, just to get to a great ending?

If I really enjoy a book, I will savor it, draw it out. I don't WANT it to read easy and fast. I want it to read like it will tear my guts out, affect me, even change me possibly; make me remember it. When I first read Lord of the Rings in high school, I limited my reading per day. I wanted it to last as long as possible. I could have read it in a day or two, but I made it last a couple of weeks so I could ruminate about it, think of it as I was falling asleep and even when I woke up.

I'm kind of like that though. It's how I like my beer, when I bite into it, I like it to bite back a little. I want something with full body, full flavor, a full body experience; Thai food at five stars of heat, using Thai tea to cut the heat when I can't take it anymore.

And that's what I try to deliver. More than the usual, something different; a little unique, or a lot.

On August 30th, 2014 I am officially re-releasing my book published in 2012, Death of Heaven (2014 print and ebook versions).

I have always liked giving gifts to those closest to me on my birthday, so it seems an obvious day to celebrate this new release. It has several new sections, has been re-edited and I believe it is an even more powerful read than before.

Check out the reviews it was given before the re-edit on its web page at, DeathofHeaven.com.

You can get an ebook copy right now if you like from Smashwords, just use the coupon - WC22Z . The coupon expires on September 2nd, so get it now.

I will also offer my collection of short stories, Anthology of Evil on Smashwords, use the coupon, DV57H. Over this next few months into next year I will be working on a re-edit of this book as I have done with, Death of Heaven. Anthology of Evil has two important stories, In Memory, Yet Crystal Clear, my first published short story and, Andrew, the novella that Death of Heaven is based upon.

While you're at it, don't forget this free, little two page story of mine on Wattpad, To End All War.

If you want a quick and easy read there are plenty of authors out there for you. Some of them I highly respect and read myself. Others, not so much.

Mr. Pakoo's Spice a short zombie tale ebook

Rules are pretty much mandatory for new authors, they are okay if you want to simply sell a lot of books, that is, if your goal is only to make money. But if you want to write (or read) a good book that challenges you, ignores rules at times for the sake of entertainment, just understand... that is what I am always striving for.

To offer you the reader, something... different; something, provoking; something you won't soon forget.

For now, here's a few freebie short stories:

• Another experimental debacle, in a two page horror sci fi story titled, To End All War, on Wattpad. 
• My rather well liked sci fi romance tale, Simon's Beautiful Thought on Smashwords.
• Free this weekend - A return to my exploring scientific research as in my horror sci fi EarVu and,
• Free this weekend - A humorous experimental debacle Quantum History (see covers above). 
• Along with these all my other ebook short stories will also be free through the weekend.

Note: Due to an oversight the last two stories above were not marked free as planned, but will be this weekend.

Check them out and have fun. It's what this is all about.

Cheers!

Bigger isn't always better. Better, is better. Always.

And now, a short rant on the old (Hollywood version of the old) adage, and a question:

"Bigger is always better!"

Is it?

No, I don't think is is.

Do you think bigger is always better? Want more then? Okay but, be careful what you ask for.

As a writer, a viewer and, a reader, I am so sick of this "bigger is better" mentality that is so Hollywood and somewhat the book publishing industry. Though granted, Hollywood may very well be the worst proponent of that banal mentality.

Case in point, volcano movies. I've never ever seen a good volcano film. One of my first was one I was thinking about just the other day. It was at the premiere of a film at the Cinerama in Seattle in 1969. They had a special showing for regional theater managers and their families and my step father was an Assistant Manager at a local drive in theater, so we got to go. The theater was amazing! The film, not so much. Well, it was amazing, but not in the way the theater was.

They showed, "Krakatoa, East of Java" with one of my favorite actors, Maximilian Schell and, I hated it. The special effects did not play well in 70MM widescreen, to say the least.

Here's some advice for filmmakers, don't make films about volcanoes.

In writing screenplays, you get that mindset from people all the time.

"Can't we add in a connection between the protagonist any other thing that will make this bigger, increase scope, increase the effect, make it, "better"? Can't we add in an explosion or six? Guns? There's no guns, how about guns?"

And so it goes. More, bigger, Bettererness! Must have Betternesses!

I see it most especially on TV lately. Do we really always need an A and B line in the story? Okay, maybe so (thanks MTV?), but do they have to be so intimately tied together so that even a moron can see it? Even if you want them to be similar, parallel story lines, can't we make them (see I'm working with you here, I said, "more"), more similar and less exacting? I mean, when you have the A line story going on about divorce, do we really have to have the B line story be about the protagonist's child breaking up with his girlfriend (or boyfriend if he's gay)? It's BORING!

Can't instead, we have the B line be about loss in a clever way, or some other elements of divorce so that we're not merely rehashing the A line story in B? Maybe something new, some unusually ignored elements of divorce? I'm really sick to death of it. Because I know that once I see the A line in a show, I'll merely be watching the same damn thing in the B line, even if it's "different". Give me something more if you want, but come on, I can handle it; make it smarter not "bigger and better" in how you usually perceive it. I bet most of America can, in fact, get it.

Challenge me on the B line, don't bore me with it just wanting to get back to the A line. That's a pathetic technique. Don't make the B line mere filler. Make it exploratory, push the boundaries, make me think, at least, a little. Let me veg out on the more obtuse A line, but make the B line a bit more obscure so that just maybe AFTER the show, I'll reflect on it and go, "Oh, I get it now! Nice work!"

Bigger is not always better.

It's like with what happened to the James Bond franchise. It is perhaps the ultimate example of that. "There was an explosion in the last film. We have to do better. Put in two explosions in this next film." And there it began to the point of utter lunacy. When did Bond get better again? When they pulled back, added tension back in. Brought the human back to the story line which really was what the books were all about that made them popular in the first place.

Yes, films are different than books. But better is the same. Sure explosions work better in a visual than a conceptual format (film over books). But you have to use it sparingly or you become a parody of yourself. Which, eventually, Bond films achieved, self parody (Roger Moore became a prime example of in his later Bond films. He was incredible as The Saint on TV. Though Ian Fleming wanted him as Bond in the films and not "that brute", Sean Connery (who was awesome by the way and Ian did eventually come around on that one). But Moore was not Bond, he was, The Saint. That is what he excelled at, not Bond.

But that's beside the point. The point int he Moore Bond films was they took it to absurd levels (Jaws as a case in point), because they didn't know how to go bigger and better anymore. I will give Moore points for one thing. At a time post 60s when things like MI6 (Bond's agency in the UK) and the CIA in America and the military in general (and government) had falled into disfavor with the post 60s rebellious kids who had now grown up,

Moore allowed Bond to limp along into a new age, setting the stage for a new actor to take over and take it to more serious and at times, melodramatic levels. But then, it did get better. Timothy Dalton took over and I thought did a wonderful job. It wasn't his fault the screenplays weren't that good. But he got us back on the right track with the right idea acting wise, anyway.

Where this annoys me most (bigger is better) is in my own writing. That is, in how I'm "supposed" to write if I want to sell; or in how some respond to a story I might write, or want to write. You get replies like, "it needs to be more "Hollywood" (to paraphrase), or "A and B lines have to be more the same", or "Punch it some up more with more banal boringness." Yeah, I'm being ridiculous, for a reason.

What really is better, is not just what's bigger, what's more, tossing off more explosions, more connectedness. Sometimes more is in the disconnect, the disparity, the unexpected, where the awesomeness lay.

Yes, I agree, better is, well... better. But bigger isn't, not necessarily and I'd argue, not usually.

That's not to say a story I wrote is boring to begin with. Or that at times perhaps, I could conform a bit more to some standard protocols. But aren't we tired of remakes, sequels, formula? I am and I'm doing my best to avoid that, to break that plastic wrap ceiling and get something out there that is fresh, different, unique in some ways and not the same pablum we have had force fed to us again and again and again and again and... well, you get the idea. You do, right?

That is why I now say, seemingly more and more all too often:

Bigger isn't always better. Better, is better. Always.

Writing

Any writer who turns out an interesting story on a consistent basis has heard the question, "Where do you get your story ideas?" Frequently it is a question from a novice writer, but more frequently it is from a reader. Most Authors find it a silly question.

There is another side to this issue. The person who says, "Hey, I have a great idea for you." Some go further with, "I have a great idea, you're a writer. Why don't you write it, and we can split the profits."

Right. "Profits".

I've tried to explain all this repeatedly over the years to various types of people, some close to me, some basically unknown to me. Today I had a vision of how to answer this.

I was a technical writer. I wrote on demand, as journalists do, or many other types of writers. It was painful and frequently thankless. The thanks came in the decent pay. But you'd get managers giving you no thought to the effort or skill of your words. Same with programmers I suppose. You're just supposed to do it. THanks comes in your having the job, doing what you love, or the pay which is certainly better than digging a ditch and much less physically challenging by far.

But it is rote work. I had moments of brilliance as a tech writer but mostly I was competant. Tech writing has a goal, to share information for the purposes of a funtion, to make it understandable to a specific audience. You may have to know the topic to write it, research it, learn it, or have to interview people for the information.

But I'm referring here to fiction writing. Conveying feelings through made up stories, based or not upon reality. When I write, I have to "feel" it. I prefer to feel it. i don't have to, but it's more rewarding and I think I do a better job if I have a feeling for it. If I get a feeling for an idea, it starts as a kernal, an idea, a seed of thought, and it grows within me.

I guess I see three types of writing processes.

For the purporses of this blog, I'll call them: rote, seed and corridor.

Rote, is like tech writing. It's on demand, you do it for pay and you produce when needed. It's like journalism, or scientific writing. It's just, writing. Not to diminish it, but it is a technical skill. You start somewhere and build upon it. You may write in a discovery fashion, start from a point and see where it goes. You may or may not have an outline to follow. YOu may do all the work ahead of time. Or you might research and acquire information beforehand or as you go.

Seed, or kernal writing is starting with an idea and filling it in, fleshing it out. I find it to be a step above rote writing. It's like Rote writing, except that you have a feeling for it, there is something beyond just starting and going for it. There is, an emotional element to it. Certainly rote writing can have all these elements too, but the difference is, with rote writing, you right no matter what and on demand. YOu go to work do your eight plus hours of research and writing and go home. Seed writing requires a feeling for the idea first. There is an emotional element that carries you along. Certain rote can gain an emotional element through the process but wheteher you have an emotive element in it or not, you have to be able to write it. No matter how you are feeling. Like digging a ditch. Seed writing requires something more to start, and to carry on. You can flip flop from Rote to Seed as you Seed write, but in the end, you have to have a feeling for it.

For Corridor writing, you conjure up a feeling for an idea so it has elements of Rote and Seed in it, but then you have a flash of insight that goes far along down a corridor with doors everywhere, maybe even in the floor and ceiling, some may just be windows. But you can see the path down a long ways from where you are going to start.

All this being said, when someone offers you a "great" idea ("Let's share the profits after you do all the work."), you are in the Rote mode of writing. In some cases, if it truly is a great idea, if you like the person, if you have affection for them (Love or lust can work wonders here), then it may evolve into a Seed idea and who knows, a Corridor even.

But my experience has been that 99% of these "great ideas" end up in the Rote pile. I don't have any investment in them. I didn't come up with it. When I DO come up with it, that is MY mind, making all the instant connections and it has a lot to do with who I am, with my history and experiences and knowledge. I've come up with great ideas that went no where on anyone else, but then I would write a great story from it and people would be amazed by it. But they didn't see where I was going in the beginning. What if I had offered THEM my "Great Idea"?

When I see a corridor to write, it can go further down a corridor than I can see. I'll need to write to the
end of my "vision" before I can see the rest of the corridor. Somtimes I can see the end, but frequently not. Much of the time I just "know" that I know there is a complete end at the, well, end. These feelings have panned out over time to be quite accurate and sometimes I end up in a place I never expected, or had any inkling that it existed. That is the discovery kind of writing for the most part.

Sometimes it's just that I have a great idea and end, but at some point I discover a better one, or more appropriate one. I dont' see that as discovery writing, though in hindsight, it does turn into discovery writing. I just don't see that that was what i was doing. Because I wasn't. DIscovery writing is starting with a feeling and having no idea where you are going and just writing what is logical and fun to you and you can end up with a truly great story that way.

The trouble with discovery writing is it can quite easily become overly complicated and you can get lost, or lose threads, or they can work themselves into connundrums. It hasn't happened in years, but I've had a few stories die that way. By the time you got to the end, there was just simply no fixing it. I've had to rip it apart and make a different story leaving the other by the wayside. Sometimes I've gone back years later and cannabalized it and come up with something useful, so actually it wasn't all to waste.

Writing in whatever form for you, as long as you enjoy it and as long as it gives the readers something useful, really is what matters. Write for yourself, but don't lose track of what is important. Whatever that is to you, that is.

Just writing for oneself is masturbation. So I find it annoying to hear "I don't write for the money, I write for myself." Say that to your lover when you are having sex sometime, see how much respect that gets you. Sure, write for your pleasure, but keep in mind the other things. A good writer does that. A better writer can write for others too. A great writer can pull it all together.

The January 2013 KDP Newsletter has a piece by Guy Kawasaki, Author of APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur - How to Publish a Book. He says: Write for the right reasons. Writing is an art form, and a book is an end in itself—don’t write a book solely because it is a means to an end. The good reasons to write a book are the desire to enrich people’s lives, to further a cause, to achieve an intellectual milestone, and to get something off your chest. The bad reasons are to make a lot of money or to increase your consulting or speaking business.

Some day I hope to be a great writer.

But who knows....

Free Zombie short story - Japheth, Ishvi and The Light

Today only I'm offering my short story Japheth, Ishvi and The Light, from my Anthology of Evil, for download for the Halloween holiday (sorry, it's a day late but I thought you might need a post event, event).

Japheth, Ishvi and The Light - One of my two zombie stories, putting a religious commune, a squad of decon soldiers, a migraine and God, all together to see what happens; available for free download today only.

The other zombie story I've written is coming out soon in a British anthology associated with zombiefiend.com (Mr. Pakool's Spice) about a father trying to get his two children through the zombified winter backwoods of Oregon, while being chased by, someone, not a zombie.

Hope you had a Happy Halloween!
Cheers!

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 10 - The End

Continuing with the final Part 10 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Slowly the beings looked at one another, a shudder seeming to pass over them. Then they froze, as if in realization of something. One of the beings lifted his hand and motioned in an odd sort of way. Both then began to shift into a fractal kind of amorphous mass. “Unnerving”, wasn't quite the right word for it. Disturbing? Terrifying? Then, the scene began again, everything having backed up and replaying… except for the shadow beings who remained in “normal” real time, resolidifying as things returned to “normal”. What? I looked at the remote. It wasn't me.

As if they were trying to rectify a wrong, they had backed up time as easily as Garrison or I had backed up a tape. But it worked about as well for them as it had for us. Each replay only served to replay a scene that was already set. Were they looking for something? Or hoping to change the outcome? But that would be, ridiculous.

Again, Garrison in the hologram was watching the beings in the hologram.

 Then as one they turned their heads to look back at Garrison as if some decision had been made. I knew what was coming next and couldn't take seeing it again. But instead the other being duplicated what the first had done and time again slipped backward and restarted. But that was impossible!

The scene replayed, but nothing changed. It was then that I realized what was happening. These were very powerful beings, but obviously not very bright. They seemed agitated, perhaps in their realization that nothing had changed? Then they seemed to commune together again. And now I knew what was coming next.

As Garrison’s hand went up to his head, his face grimacing in pain, I took it as a queue and hit the “Skip” button and suddenly I was at a point on the tape just after Garrison had been killed. I watched as the beings reconstituted and stood there, facing one another. I watched as they stood there for what seemed a very long time. Then it dawned on me. Something after all, had changed; but what? Leaning in, I continued watching, trying to see what was going to happen next.

The scene was silent. It was then that I remembered that I had the mute on, so I disengaged it; but the scene remained silent. The beings looked down at the floor. Then they continued on around until they were staring right at, me!

A cold shock blasted through my body. But I relaxed when I realized that it was just a coincidence and that they must have heard something coming from the position I was now standing in. So they can hear? Or, feel energy vibrations? Well, same thing, I suppose. I looked behind me, searching for any evidence that may have been left from the other night. Except that there was nothing. So I looked back to see what they did next. And that was when the beings began moving toward me, and growing in size. Spooky.

It was then that I noticed that there was an area near the hologram table that was darkening, for no apparent reason. As if something were moving toward the table here in the lab. As I watched, the dark area turned into a pair of low shadows that vertically grew in size there in the room with me. They seemed to be drawn to the hologram, growing in size until they were equal in width to their counterparts within the hologram which could no longer contain those shadow beings; as if the beings within the hologram and within my room were being drawn together like slow magnets.

The two sets of entities drew together and joined. Blending together they became one and with that motion they stepped suddenly out of the hologram and into the room. My room! It was so smooth and sudden that it took me a few seconds before I realized that we were all now standing there in the same room, together!

So they can make themselves known without our technology!

In the silence of the room I heard the LASER reach the End of Tape sensor and it clicked to a stop. It then automatically started to wind back to its earliest most time as the shadow beings stepped toward me. It seemed obvious to me that they were about to tamper with time as they had before. Perhaps trying once again, but this time pushing far harder than before? Evoking change, but how? And, how could I know all this?

I looked back and they were now only inches away from me. Before I could react, they reached out toward me. I put my hand to my head; pain was growing there, intense pain. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead as one of the beings put his “hand” upon my face and then the room turned dark; dark with energy. I could feel immense power pouring into and around me and then, there was nothing--

#

Ear Vu Research Journal of Dr. Verne Garrison

Day 1

Today begins our studies of visually viewing from audio mag tapes.

----

I hope you enjoyed, Ear Vu.

I have just published it on Amazon.com. I just published it, so if you do not see it yet, it should be available within 24 hours. And if that's the case (or not), come on back on Monday, when I will be publishing the original story which is just a bit different. The published version will also contain the original. As I said on Monday, Death of Heaven will be today free today in celebration of the release of this latest of my macabre tales, and Halloween. You can also see my other works there on Smashwords.

I also said my novella, Andrew  would be free on Amazon for today and Saturday. Andrew is a kind of prequel to Death of Heaven, but they are two very different kinds of stories.

More of my writings are available on Amazon.com.

Apparently there is now an iPod cover available for Ear Vu too!

For a listing of all of my Fiction, nonFiction, Screenplays and Social Media links see my web page at JZMurdock.com.

I hope you enjoyed this week long story as much as I enjoyed sharing it.
Have a fun, safe and creepy Halloween!
Thanks and come again....anytime.
Cheers!

By the way, that last line in the story? It's key.

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 9

Continuing with Part 9 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

I began to realize that those shadows we've been seeing were no longer just shadows. What we had thought were glitches, or “aural smudges”, I now came to realize were some kind of solid beings, possessing real form and substance. I paused the tape. I sat there, staring at the frozen hologram. Cold sweat trickled down my spine under my shirt.

My God! What was I seeing?

Regaining my composure, with not a little effort I hit the Play button. As the holo came alive again I watched as one of the beings put out what would be its “hand” toward Garrison’s face, obviously causing him pain. Garrison put his hand to his head. I zoomed out to better see the scene.

I became stunned and sickened as I watched Garrison suddenly lifted off the ground and literally torn in two between two rapidly moving, “fractalating” shadows, as parts of them alternately and repeatedly solidified, pixelated and vaporized. The intensity of the moment hit me like an explosion. I jumped back hitting another table, accidentally triggering slow motion while dropping the remote, losing the ability to freeze the scene, or stop it. Blood was dropping to the floor as it was nearly instantly sucked up into nothingness; as if by an invisible mouth, leaving no puddles, no splatter, no evidence.

I hit a nearby keyboard with my fist and the tape paused, frozen there with Garrison, what was left of the two halves of him anyway, floating there, suspended in mid-air; his left side separated from his right; some blood still suspended in the air below his soon to be corpse. I took a couple of breaths in frozen time. I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. When I again opened them, I ticked Play forward a “frame at a time. My hands trembled.

The “beings” were melded together by a thin line. They continued their undulations, absorbing a melting Garrison out of the air till there was nothing left of him. Strangely, the effort seemed to drain, not energize them as they faded into nothing, until finally there was nothing left in the lab but, the lab. Nothing looked out of place.

“Shadows that melt the flesh,” came to my mind for some reason. I hit Stop.

I turned around fighting not to heave my guts out. I knelt down on the floor and began to shudder, the shock overcoming me. After the trembles began to ease off, I forced myself to my feet and staggered into Garrison's office. I sat at the desk and put my head in my hands, rubbing my eyes deeply. Slowly, I began to feel in control once again. My eyes were weeping but I wasn't feeling any emotion and realized I must be in shock. Hesitantly, I looked around the room.

Pictures of Verne Garrison were everywhere. His fishing trip to Bermuda, the symposium in Geneva, his receiving various awards, some Doctorates, endowments, etc. He’d had quite a career. We knew we were lucky to be working with him.

I picked up the phone and dialed the Director. The phone toned at the other end but I quickly hung up. I picked up the journal and turned the page back to one of its last entries; one I had missed.

 “I awoke with a hangover today. What should I do? Of course, we should share our findings, and perhaps even with security, but what then? Little work got done yesterday because of it. Panic will ensue if the general public ever discovers these beings exist. I will try a test tonight. Then break the news tomorrow if it works.”

Fascinated, I turned the page back once again. How had I missed this? It read:

 “I have done the same thing as before. Next time I will playback the recording in real time; immediately and with no delays. But I know now what to expect. You can see the creatures, standing there, just watching; being "in the moment" with you, yet not existing for us. Will we be able to interact with them? Can they interact with us? Have they before? It would explain so much.

“They appear curious, benign, but what do we do now? Especially, when the creatures realize that for the first time ever, someone is watching them? It would appear that they are quite used to watching us and knowing quite well that we are ignorant of them. What will they do if that changes? If results are positive, maybe then we should tell Michaelson. Where is Johnson?”

"What the hell!" I stood in anger. "They should have told me!" I thought about that for a moment.

Without thinking or looking, I rifled through the journal. Something I had noticed before but had paid no attention to, was a part harder than the rest. Finally curious, I opened to that far back page and a card fell out. I picked it up. There was a name on it with an FBI shield. I turned the FBI Agent’s card over. On the back someone, most likely the Agent, had written my name and beneath it was the offending acronym, "NSA". So that was it. I wonder how long they have known who I really worked for? Great. Just, great.

The adrenalin in my body was running out. I sat down, my knees trembling.

"What the Hell, now?"

I stood and headed back out into the lab to the wall. I rewound the tape and prepared to play it from beginning to end for the first time. I grimaced and then hit Play, waiting for the beings to reappear in the hologram. After a while they were once again watching Garrison, just as they were the first time.

I picked up the remote and walked closer to the hologram table. I stood there watching, and then dialed in the zoom. The imagery within the hologram grew in size as I zoomed into the scene, centering on the beings. It almost looked as if those dark forms were conversing as they watched Garrison.

I stared. With the mute on, except for the hum of the LASER player, it was completely silent in both the real and the hologram labs. I zoomed in more on the shadow beings. They were facing Garrison from behind as he stared quite oblivious, watching the shadow beings within his hologram as the beings watched him and I, watched them all. Garrison was obviously fascinated, finally seeing what he had so long been searching for. He stopped, backed up and replayed the hologram as the beings continued to observe him. It was unnerving to watch him, knowing he was ignorant of his being spied upon and, what was to come. 

Later today, the conclusion in Part 10 of Ear Vu.

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 8

Continuing with Part 8 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

*

The next day came too early. After a grueling four hours of questions the night before, I figured I had already lost enough time on the project as it was. And coworkers. And it would seem that for now I would be working alone as my fellow scientists had all--disappeared. Or, died? Nothing seemed to be missing from the lab, though. There appeared to be no other evidence of a kidnapping, or a robbery; well, maybe. And considering there was no indication that Garrison had ever left the building, or Johnson--

I was just finishing my coffee when the phone rang.

“Yes. Dr. Michaelson," I said.

"Dr. Michaelson? This is Thomas, head of security? We spoke yesterday? The Director wanted me to tell you that we have found nothing else. He wanted to know if you knew of any important papers or equipment at Dr. Johnson's house that should be brought back to the lab--before we do anything else.

Also, you will be given armed protection to your home and back and more, if you so desire."

"Thank you, and no,” I thought about it, “we didn’t usually take things home, not that I know of. I assume the police will give us what is ours if there is anything lying about? Is there anything else, Mr. Thomas?" Due to various proprietary applications being worked on elsewhere in the facility, security was always tight around here. None of us would have taken secret anything home.

"No, Sir. Thank you. I truly am sorry Dr. Michaelson, about the, situation. Sir?"

"Thanks? Oh, yes?"

"Sir, do you have any idea what--"

"No, sorry. But I am sure you will be talking with me again soon, correct?"

"No, Sir. `SMIC’, Sonni Military Intelligence Contracting, will take over. I have to go now, sir. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions or think of anything you believe that we should know. Thank you very much, sir. Have a good night."

I hung up the phone. Military Intelligence. I had to laugh at that well-worn, clichéd contradiction in terms. When will they learn? I turned my attention back to the problem at hand. Today I was scheduled to check resonant duplication from the sine wave functions generated by using multiple microphones as it related to EarVu.

I grabbed a random tape almost angrily from the tape storage shelf and went to the “wall”. Popping out the cassette in the deck I inserted a new one. I logged onto the network, called up EarVu and watched as the tape fed it’s audio to be translated into the hologram which displayed an entire colony of black army ants in and around an ant hill. I adjusted to “pan” down through semi-solid matter deep into the nest. Needing both hands for adjustments, I put the tape I had in my hand into my pocket and lifted out the other tape, suddenly realizing what it was!

"Oh, Hell. Test 2 tape?" My hands began to tremble with the realization of what the tape could be. I calmed down as I realized that chances were that it was really nothing. I tapped it on my cheek, considering what happened to Garrison and Johnson, and whether it might yet happen to me. That thought struck home for the first time. I was sure that the security people had thought of it long ago; still—I swapped the tapes out, threw the ant tape on the counter and went to the front door of the lab. I opened the door and, good--no one was there.

I had thought that there might be a Guard nearby for my protection, but apparently not. But as I closed the door I noticed the camera in the hall turn to look toward me. I watched as it zoomed in. Slowly, nonchalantly, I closed the door and hesitantly considered the possibilities. Was there some kind of military project related to what we had been working on? Easily, I supposed. I ignored the implications--for the time being and headed back to the wall. There were cameras in the lab, but not connected externally for purposes of security containment. No camera moved. Good.

I grabbed the remote control. My finger went for the button to initiate the tape but, I found I couldn't press it. I tried again. It was as if something were keeping me from activating the system. But what? Fear?

‘Come on,’ I screamed at myself deep within my mind. And that seemed to break the spell. Both of my colleagues may have been killed and I needed to know. I needed to know for my own safety, what the hell had happened. Finally, I hit the button and the tape initiated.

A few moments later the hologram lit up and I found I was looking at a mini version of the lab reproduced there on the low hologram table. The LASER idea had worked well. Images came out crisp and clear. A phrase Garrison had used to describe the playback popped into my mind.

"A visual so sharp it will make your eyes bleed." And Garrison had been right. The images were hard to look at, they were so sharp. After all, LASER light can be dangerous if you’re not careful. Some glasses hung on a hook by the tape deck, so I put them on. The side of them said they were from the same manufacturer as the LASER deck and tapes: Sonni. With the glasses, the image became even more defined and not so affecting; or dangerous.

Multiple microphones had been set up in the lab so I could clearly see Garrison's face in the recording made in this lab, night before last. He was drawn and pale as he watched himself in "real time" within the hologram from a tape he’d made of himself in the lab. It was a surreal illusion. I thought of the artist, Escher. I realized that just watching Garrison would get me nowhere, so I adjusted the controls to show only what the hologram within the hologram showed.

That was when things changed, rapidly.

Tomorrow, Part 9

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 7

Continuing with Part 7 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Day 100

Michaelson must have installed the latest version of the Nano Transduction Module. Playback of the visuals using the NTM show, seemingly with purpose, shadow forms moving around. But perhaps it’s a situation like the studio technicians behind sound proofed glass who are just standing around watching and manipulating the recording process taking place?

Or perhaps we are seeing through multiple walls?

Day 101

On the shadow paradox: I have now proved that they are not the technicians at the recording site but in another room. What I am seeing is in the same room with the recording mics. I have viewed many tapes now and nearly all show these shadows when I use the NTM.

I have sharpened the images. A test tape is now ready to record.

#

I flipped through the diary but that was all it said about the test tape; in fact, that was all there was. I closed the book, got up and exited the office. I walked over to what we called, “the Wall”, a heavy assemblage of stereo and processor equipment covering an entire wall of the lab. Near the center of the room there was a low table where the hologram would be projected.

Built into this great wall of electronics were also several monitors where we could more closely scan various elements of the process while viewing the hologram. We used them a lot for commercially produced audio tapes so that we could separate out the various spliced sections and tracks.

Johnson had actually been able to find that a man had heart problems by playing a tape and focusing into the man’s chest, then focusing deep into his heart. Every day we were falling ever deeper into amazing things that we could do with this EarVu technology. There is no doubt about it, Garrison is a genius. The CIA had tried to do this for years and always failed to do what we have done in less than a year.

I examined the test tape more closely. It was one of the cassette-sized LASER tapes. These tapes were made of a similar substance as the tapes used in the old 80s film, "Brainstorm". Using a multi-colored LASER rather than magnetic realignment, they were fast, very dense, could store immense amounts of data and were well acclimated to this type of research. The theory went, since light could carry far more information, using this type of storage would yield much more complicated (and bizarre?) reproductions.

The amazing thing about these tapes was that they were relatively inexpensive to produce. It simply called upon technology which had been around for many years. It was how it was all put together that counted.

On the flip side of the tape was a date indicating that it had been made last week. I tapped the cassette on the back of my left hand, thinking. Opening the deck, another tape was in the LASER deck. It had “test 2” written on it. I swapped them, dropped the other into my pocket, then closed the deck and hit rewind. I walked around the hologram table checking data panels as things warmed up. Then something caught my eye. Down near the cables on the ground, there was a dark brown spot. It almost looked like--

I bent down to touch it. It was tacky and rough to the touch. I scraped a few flakes off with my fingernail. I spit into my palm and rubbed my finger in it, suddenly realizing that I was reconstituting a small sample of-- blood.

For a moment, I just stared at it. I looked around the lab again. I searched the floor for more--evidence. But evidence of, what? The maintenance people came through once every few days and were monitored whenever they were allowed in the lab. Tonight I knew they would be here. But that means they hadn't been in since—

I looked at the calendar, realizing that I was probably the first to have seen this.

I pushed the heavy hologram table slightly to the side, exposing more dried blood until, to my dismay, I saw wet, bloody smears. A great deal of blood had been lost here. Someone it seemed, had tried to clean it up, but they had missed some under the table. I stood back up and away, a bit stunned, wiping the blood stain in my palm on my blue shirt, leaving a purplish stain. I touched my forehead only to realize I was sweating.

I picked up the phone and called for security.

Later today, Part 8

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 6

Continuing with Part 6 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Day 81

81
A rather large collection of audio tapes has grown around the lab. Each researcher has their own preference for the type of music or subject they use as research media. The most popular tape has actually been one of bird calls recorded out in the wild. We have worked out a LASER hologram record/projection unit and the scene it produced is tranquil and extremely beautiful. One could almost smell the scents of the fall season in the mountain meadow. We have discovered some tapes of a less “pristine” nature that are also popular and probably wouldn't get so much attention if we had a more mixed gender type of team.

Today we discovered that one has to remember not to, let’s say, have sex, when recording a tape; else others at a later playback will have the ability to run it through the Ear Vu processors and see everything that happened while the audio was recording. How many tapes of this type are out there in the world? What will this do to considerations of privacy?

The thought of the things we will see in reviewing old audio tapes is both disquieting and a little mind boggling. I’ve begun auditing my own personal audio recordings at home and have put several into my personal safe. There are two that I’m considering destroying.

Anyone having any thoughts that the desire of privacy will lead to actual privacy, already rapidly becoming a thing of the past, with Ear Vu technology there will now no longer be any grounds of expecting it whatsoever. Our research shows that sometime in the future it may be possible to view everything within a wide range of the recording device, whether or not the microphones were even accessible.

So far this technology does not work very well with old vinyl recordings. So for now, it is in magnetic media where the wealth of data is being collected and analyzed. We received the enhancement chip prototype today around noon and will have to install it when we have time.

EarVu technology will throw intelligence agencies the world over into chaos. Certain aspects of this frankly, terrify me.

#

I smiled. I remember that day. Not thinking, Johnson had scanned us a tape he’d made at home years ago. Suddenly, he and his wife were naked and having sex in a hologram in the lab. I chuckled and continued on to--

Day 98

I had some tapes sent over from the University Medical Center of a man having a heart attack, dying patients, and so forth. When I played it back I discovered there are shadows nearby that always seem to fade as a person gets closer to death. That is the opposite of the behavior I might expect to see by de-energizing? Are we seeing the sprit or soul dissipating? I must study this further.

#

That stopped me dead in my tracks. What the hell was going on? Why was Garrison holding back so much from us? What if intelligence agencies hear of this? What if they have? 

Tomorrow, Part 7

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 5

Continuing with Part 5 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Day 66

Digital compression codecs such as those used on CDs and DVDs haven’t worked too well due to the digitalization which “clips” ranges; even “lossless” formats aren’t working well and when they do, they’re slow and their storage requirements are massive. But these efforts do have that possibility just around the corner; perhaps as the next medium of choice; though there is some concern about losing data. Multi-chromatic DVDs do show some promising behaviors but still, continuous analog medium is the easiest to manipulate at this time.

There is a certain, “choppiness” to the digital mediums at higher speeds, even with massive built in buffers. A simpler format, using a more complicated method of assembly, seems to be the answer and could be available by the coming spring.

We should receive a completed model of the new enhancement chips any day now. We are now connected to the University’s super computer. We can use it now in the non-peak hours for our more simple processing tasks.

Day 72

Quantum Pixel theory gives the best realizations and eventually will also supply us with the ability to see through things; able to view heartbeats of people in an audience near the recorder; and so much more. Ear Vu related M2-brane theory projections will disorientate the scientific community as it did us, at first.

Application of these theories have now allowed us to use any analog recording to study in detail  exactly what was going on in the audio range of the mics that were recording. For instance, the technicians in a sound studio cannot be seen as they are in a sound proofed room; but a recent breakthrough by Michaelson has shown us shadows of images believed to be those very same technicians! We are still unsure how we are seeing what could not have been recorded.

Perhaps something to do with heat, sound and light waves all being so similar but of varying degrees of the same scale. Although these are rather intense variations in scope, computers can fairly easily bring these numbers down into manageable form through a type of dimensional fractal replacement theory that we are currently working on. The significance of this is Nobel Prize level. There is simply no telling how much these discoveries will advance technology in general.

#

“Awesome,” I said aloud. He’s certainly not much of one for letting us in on these things. But a Nobel would be nice. I thought about that for a moment, then realized that it was actually all pretty obvious. I just hadn’t considered it. I scanned the lab through the glass wall, almost hoping no one would show up yet. This was getting interesting. I flipped forward much more earnestly. I had to smile when I read the opening of the next section, as I remembered well, that day.

Later today, Part 6

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 4

Continuing with part 4 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Day 41

The reproduced scenes, our “Ear Vu scenes”, are still vague at distances but are now beginning to look much more like a filmed dream sequence. New compression algorithms of my formulas by Johnson are beginning to refine that. So, it’s only a matter of time.

Breakthroughs are happening faster than we have the time and manpower to run down those many possible directions in which we can go. Of the two scientists here working with me, we are also searching our own personal directions beyond the scope of our daily, scheduled research. In this way we will be able to more quickly map the many implications of practical applications that our discoveries are pointing out. Obvious alternate areas of research initially include: medical, nanotechnology, criminal sciences, and then so many others.

Really, the possible applications are limitless.

Day 57

The metal particles on magnetic tape have more recording capabilities than was ever before conceived. Just as it was recently found that pixels on photographic paper in an exposed photograph can be used to “look around corners” within the frame of any photographed scene, “moving pictures”-- no, that is not quite correct; “continuous motion pictures”, can now be made from analog audio recordings on mag tape.

This brings up some exciting possibilities for movies and such that are shot using continuous filmic devices (i.e., analog magnetic video cameras). From audio tape, we have now successfully reproduced a scene that was actually taking place in the room, next to the room, that the recording was made in.

Fascinating!

It is possible that any recording medium will suffice, not just magnetic tape, which is merely the medium of the moment. I have successfully used Ear Vu technology on an antique wire recorder with great success and viewed a scene from 1898 of its Danish inventor Valdemar Poulsen using his "Telegraphone wire recorder device”.

The implications of this seem hard to comprehend. We will actually be able to watch holographic video of scenes from the turn of the last century! Adding to that, we can excise more audio than was previously believed to be stored in this or any other medium.

Today there was a strange amorphous mass that floated through the scene. I fear it’s a glitch or media damage, and will have to examine it more closely.

#

I sat there annoyed, wondering. Why didn’t he tell us about that? I paged forward.

Tomorrow, Part 5

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 3

Continuing with Part 3 of Ear Vu....

Image by Marvin Hayes

Day 23

Our new CPUs have now incorporated my EarVu formulas on an integrated farm of Centip3De chips, a near-threshold 7-layer 3D system that contains 128 ARM Cortex-M3 cores and 256MB of stacked DRAM. Most of this building outside our main lab is used up with this farm of CPUs and servers. These can visually (and of course, aurally) reproduce nearly an entire music hall; or most definitely, an entire (and discretely smaller) recording studio where the music would originally have been played at the time of recording.

Due to the piecemeal method of producing commercially recorded music by splicing together snippets of different tracks and “voices”, the most cohesive format for playback of Ear Vu technology is a single track, continuously recorded session.

Ear Vu visual imagery at this time appears more like what a partially blind person would see on LSD. Consider elements of a drum beat as the number one, as it enters the microphone then its echo as number “-1”; then those numbers keep trailing off in a diminishing form. The processors eliminate reverberations and shadow sounds and add contrast and brightness, etc. This will become more “fleshed out” as the coding becomes more refined. Between incorporating Mandelbrot set / fractal theory with translation software and the new super-cooled, next generation processors, we are seeing the quality getting rapidly better, almost by the hour.

#

“Blah, blah, blah,” I said and flipped forward--

Day 36

We have found that any analog recording machine can make good enough audio tape recordings to reproduce the visuals at the time of recording. However, the better the equipment, the better the quality of the visuals reproduced, and the deeper that one can travel into that moment. It quickly became obvious that the "mysterious duality" proposed by Cumrun Vafa, Amer Iqbal, and Andrew Neitzke in 2001, with its set of mathematical similarities between objects and laws describing M-theory on k-dimensional tori, play a big role in this technology and explains how the data can encompass magnetic particles on mag tape. The process is similar for old LASER tape technology from 1967, substituting photonic elements for magnetic.

#

“No, kidding,” I said aloud. Bored I tapped on the desk and looked around. Where the Hell did they go? I thought about getting something to eat, but I really wasn't that hungry, so I flipped forward some more.

Later today, Part 4

EarVu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 2

Part 2 of Ear Vu

Image by Marvin Hayes

Ear Vu Research Journal of Dr. Verne Garrison

Day 1

Today begins our “Ear Vu” technology studies of visually viewing from magnetic audio tape recordings. After having worked on this myself for several years, I successfully presented a proposal to the Sonni Corporation and have been given a private lab and a handpicked staff to pursue this new technology. They're an odd company, but they have deep pockets. Everyone knows their logo of the rogue elephant; they go their own way.

They've already drawn up a logo for Ear Vu, their famous rogue elephant looking out an ear with the words: "Remember like an elephant. Ear Vu recalls everything!"

Certainly, no one can say they don't get right on top of things. They are one of those conglomerates that seem to be everywhere and yet no one notices. A powerful organization. Maybe, too powerful.

Now, what exactly is Ear Vu?

The easiest way to understand this is to think of bats, whales or dolphins. Bats have the ability for echolocation using their biosonar, so that they can easily fly while avoiding things in their way. They draw within their minds a kind of sonarscape. One could imagine (incorrectly) that they "see" through sound. Ear Vu technology draws upon that theory and process, enhancing it to quite unbelievable degrees.

As magnetic audio tapes work through the recording of sound waves, forces of pressure rebound against the internals of a microphone, typically of either dynamic, condenser, ribbon or crystal types. Vibrations are transduced into electrical signals which are then stored on an analog medium such as magnetic tape; or digitally, but for this technology, only if there are enough discrete breakdowns and available storage. Typically, digital doesn't work for this in real time as nothing is yet fast enough to convert and record. It is best if done in bulk , using analog formats.

Thus, in turning physical movements into electrical impulses, playback can reproduce audio tones, and with a sophisticated enough system, recreate the dimensions of the original sound quality, depth of field, etc. That is, you can hear each instrument recorded in an orchestra, played back so that you can spatially “see” in your mind where each instrument would have been located, within that setting via the reproduced sound spectrum. It’s more amazing than it sounds.

What I only recently realized was that the recordings on magnetic analog tape, produced by magnetizing particles of either Iron or Chromium oxides, can record astonishing amounts of information. If then linked together with a good processor, it can reproduce far more than sound waves of limited range. We can enhance this in a variety of ways for example, by using analog video; or with LASER tapes, but not in the standard, digital way.

As noted, this is not yet workable using digital formats of storage as the speed of transfer and the amount of bytes required for storage are still quite limited. Whereas on analog recordings, magnetic storage medium is nearly unlimited in the amount of data it can store, “dimensionally”. This is something that was to a degree previously known, though access to retrieving the data was simply unavailable.

Ear Vu technology has drastically changed this retrieval limitation.

#

I lowered the journal and thought about that. Interesting to hear it put that way, but nothing I didn't really already know. I flipped forward a bit.

Tomorrow, Part 3

Ear Vu, a Sci Fi Horror story - Part 1 - Beginning

Last week I posted that today I would start a ten part series through this week of my latest short Horror/Science Fiction story, "Ear Vu" (7,185 words).

So, with this being an election year and more importantly, the Halloween season, I thought we could use some entertainment and a brief aside stretched over a week's time. Also, I'm planning on opening up my book, Death of Heaven, on Friday for free for one day in celebration of the release of this latest tale of my macabre tales. What the heck, I"ll also set up my novella, Andrew on Amazon for free on Friday and Saturday.

So, let's get going....

"Ear Vu"

Image by Marvin Hayes

I woke up late. But then I hadn't slept very well. So when I got to work I wasn't exactly on time. As it turned out, no one really noticed. The building was empty when I got there; except of course, for the Guards. Several hours later, still no one had shown up for work and I had to wonder. What happened to Garrison and Johnson? Johnson hadn't come in yesterday, either. No one seemed to be at home when I called later. No one called and no one answered their cell.

If there is no word by tomorrow, I’ll have to assume something significant is at play here. Could it be some kind of industrial espionage, kidnapping? If so, then why was I still here? Or, was I next? Certainly, this research is important enough. But for people to-- disappear?

If that’s the case then why one at a time?

About midday I spoke in the hallway with one of the Guards making security rounds. He told me that Johnson hadn’t signed out the night before last and it was the same for Garrison last night. So, where were they? I had left a little early yesterday for a dental appointment so I didn't know when Garrison might have left. Then the Guard said that still there were no signs of my coworkers today. I thanked him and he continued on with his rounds throughout the rest of the facility; our lab being only one of eight buildings in the complex that they canvassed on a semi-hourly basis.

Back in the lab, through the windows I could see the facility’s octagonal shaped center court with its eight encompassing buildings. Others were visible working in those buildings across from ours, quite oblivious to my concerns. There was nothing else to do but return to the day’s research. Actually, it was mostly paperwork today and most of that was number crunching.

Hours later, dusk began its quick decline. Those across the courtyard had mostly left for their homes and families. Though I was alone, I kept feeling a presence and I began to look over my shoulder from time to time. Tired, I had tried to take a nap at lunchtime, I just couldn't relax long enough to sleep. I stopped my review of the data on my monitor and looked around at the empty lab with its five walls and various offices and supply rooms.

`Where the hell are they?' The thought kept nagging at me. Who should I call?

I picked up a pack of Garrison's cigarettes that were sitting on one of the lab tables and absent mindedly removed one. I scouted around for a lighter. Finding none, I suddenly realized I had quit smoking years ago. My temper flared momentarily, inexplicably, until I remembered that it had after all, been my decision to quit. My nerves were on edge. I picked up my pen and tried once more to write the thoughts which these past few hours had continually eluded me; but I only found myself doodling, again. So I dropped the pen once more.

The lab seemed to grow quieter, emptier.

My thoughts drifted as I wondered what this new technology would bring. I found myself staring at the front lab door. Looking around I saw scattered bits of hardware, wires, fiber optics, microfluidics, and all the other junk we found easy to play inventor with. We had found a way to redirect residual heat into power which was redirected into cooling. The more it heated, the more it cooled and the faster the CPU cycles ran in an ever growing loop that increased in power until finally, it hit a plateau. But at that level of processing, the speeds were incredibly fast.

Applications of this technology alone would revolutionize computing power. But that wasn't what we had been working on. I looked around suddenly feeling very alone; yet, not feeling alone. Like someone was there in the room with me. It was eerie, bordering on fearful.

"Hello?" I said, feeling tired, finally giving in to the feeling. No one answered.

I went to the main door. Grabbing the knob, I turned it. Then I turned, looking back around the lab. Of the eight doors in our rather large lab, three of them went to offices for the bachelor scientists, us. This door led to the main hallway, several others to storerooms and one to a vault. There were “ALON” windows looking out on the center court of the complex. Each building was sealed off from the rest for security and safety.

‘Security, as well as beauty,’ I thought. It was a dramatic effect.

“Rats in a beautiful cage,” we called it among ourselves.

“Dynamic design,” the architects had called it.

I opened the door to the hall. Nothing, no one in the hallway. I closed the door, hesitated, then went to Johnson’s office. All the offices faced the main lab and had glass walls with curtains bordering them in the event there was any need for privacy, or darkness; but there seldom was. I tried the doorknob. It was unlocked as it naturally would be. After all the lab was well secured so we had no need to lock our offices within the secured room. There was nothing interesting inside.

So, I went to Garrison’s door and entered the plush office with its electronic debris scattered everywhere, pretty typical of all our offices. I walked over to the desk and plopped down in the chair. Garrison’s diary was in the middle of all the confusion there on the desk. He loved writing with pens and used a digital pen so that whatever he wrote into his journal was automatically transcribed into his laptop and then onto the lab’s NAS drive.

He had gotten us all into using those pens. They were pretty cool, actually. I kept mine in my jacket pocket. They would store a certain amount of data buffered that would transfer wirelessly as needed and as it could be configured for. There were many of these types of devices around the lab: digital whiteboards, iPads, etc. We were fully stocked with the latest and greatest.

I looked Garrison’s journal over more closely. The last entry was for last night.

"Will make a mag tape of the things for all to see. Interaction is affirmative. Johnson had said he would try. So, where is he?"

There had been a tape beneath the top of the journal. I picked it up, but it was unremarkable. It just said, “test” on it in Garrison’s handwriting. Looking around the lab through the glass wall of his office, I decided I might as well read the journal. After all, no one was around to interrupt me and besides, maybe there is a clue as to where everyone went.

Later today, Part 2