Grease

The following micro-short was inspired partly by the youtube vid: https://youtu.be/_Axa2YXonYM - the graphic on it, largely. I wrote this as I listened to the music.

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She stood on the rooftop, sucking back on an e-ciggy as I approached. “We're just grease,” she said. She was looking out to the horizon, and given her sunglasses, I barely knew she realized I was there.

“Grease?” I asked.

She stomped on the roof. “Building owned by millionaires.” She took her e-cig out of her mouth and held it up. “Sold to me by millionaires.” She took her sunglasses off and held them up. “Millionaires? Billionaires? It's sick.”

“Capitalism got ya down?” I chuckle.

She shook the e-cig and fiddled with it. “Piece of shit.” She tossed it down and ground it into the roof as if it were a normal cigarette. “And now I have to get another, pay my tribute to the gods of money, so I can get my next fix. And to give tribute to one millionaire, I need to work for another, doing work as a disposable, interchangeable commodity, like a can of spray grease.”

I looked her up and down. She stood like someone on a 15 minute break does. Tired, but 'active'. Still 'on', but aching to be 'off'.

“You're not disposable grease to me,” I offer.

She smirked, still facing the horizon. “We can be greasy together, and that makes it alright, huh?”

“It's something.”

“Until one of us gets sick.”

“I... we could manage easily enough.”

“But what if it's really sick?”

“We'll find a-”

“We're disposable, we're dime a dozen.”

“Hon... are you... sick?”

She crumbled into herself, shuddering, and went down the stairs. “...grease.”

Rubberman's Exodus- WIP excerpt

Third, and likely last book in the Rubberman series (previously known as Rubberman's Blackout) is coming along. Characters sometimes surprise a writer, and do- or become- things not originally intended. Sasha was intended to be an assistant to Tara, a lover, but not too deep... then I found out she was severely agoraphobic. That's already complicating things...

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That dark void stared back at Sasha as she forced herself to edge towards Tara. The sound of Tara striking with the pickaxe seemed distant. That void just seemed to go on forever. The light specks shimmered, some brighter, some darker, seemly swallowed into the nothing. Glittering as they tried to escape, but getting nowhere.

Dozens of them. Hundreds? Thousands?

How hungry was the void?

Sasha felt light-headed. The void seemed bigger and bigger the closer she got to the threshold. If she went much further, it would surround her. It would consume her, just like the glittering flecks up there. How long were they up there? Would they ever fall? Or be sucked away? Would the void bring her up there, and people would look up and see a fleck that once was Sasha? It all began to melt in her mind. She could feel cold on her cheeks where her tears had been falling.

"Sash!" And suddenly, she was safe, she was held. She surrendered to it, and gasped, only now realizing that she hadn't been breathing. The breathing came back riding trembling sobs.

"Sasha, let's get you out of here." Being guided by Tara's arm around her, Sasha turned to face away from the void, looking back across the storage bay. That much already helped immensely, but she knew that the void was right behind her.

"I didn't throw up." Sasha muttered. When did the drop that bucket, anyway? If she didn't notice that, maybe she threw up and didn't notice. She looked down on herself. Clean. She found her hands clasped together, with Tara's hand over them. "My hero," Sasha said meekly, disdain in her voice meant for herself.

"Sasha, Shush. Let's go find you a place to sit down."

"Did you finish the hole?"

"Pretty much."

"I was useless."

"Liar," Tara said.

Sasha was quick to respond, "Less than useless, I'm a burden."

"Shut up."

"I am."

"Stupid bitch," Tara said affectionately as she pulled Sasha closer for a squeeze, "Never a burden."

"Liar," Sasha echoed to Tara softly. She squeezed back hard, but over Tara's shoulder, that endless empty stared back at her. She forced herself not to sob harder, but her sharp inhalation gave Tara a clue to keep them moving. Away from the void of the big room.

"Break time," Tara declared. "Let's go lie down."

In a fairly large room Sasha hadn't seen yet, between the hallways toward Actual's rooms, and the big room, they found a sort of sofa Sasha could lie down on. There wasn't room for Tara, but she sat on the floor next to Sasha and leaned her head against Sasha's shoulder. "Should I get that bucket?"

"No, tummy's fine." Sasha reached out to find Tara's hand. "Well, that big void doesn't seem to bother you much," Sasha said. It was only now that Sasha noticed that this room had a big rolling door that looked suspiciously a lot like the one to the big room. The big room was so big, that this door almost certainly led to it as well.

"The 'big room' certainly is disconcerting," Tara said.

Sasha scoffed a small chuckle. "Disconcerting." She wanted to ask Tara how that endlessness didn't feel like it was trying to crush her. How the strange things in the ceiling that wasn't there didn't terrify her. How the looming return of that Enemy didn't make her want to take the Grand Elevator back to the bottom and hide under the bed. But she said none of it, and just squeezed Tara's hand. Tara brought Sasha's hand to her lips, and just rested them on the back of her hand. "Hon, hon, hon. Been a long day."

"Fuck yes," Sasha said in little more than a sigh.

Tara just kept her lips on Sasha's hand. They sat in silence and Sasha found herself melting into Tara's warm breath. It wasn't long before sleep found Sasha. Tara gently placed Sasha's hand up onto her, and stood. As she went into the central room again, Actual was nearby with a concerned expression. "She... is she all right?"

Black Friday 2030

Black Friday, 2030- the world is a mall. Stores prepare to meet yearly requirements to survive.

All stores are fully staffed, including stun-stick armed guards to keep shoplifting down, crowds under control, and staff at their posts.

A buzzer rings, and it begins.

But there is no motion.

Everyone stares from the stores into the vacant mall byways.

No one can shop. They're all at work prepared for shoppers.

Not that they have money.

All the money belongs to two guys somewhere, who may or may not be alive. But the money is held by a computer that says they have it. The computer's name is AM. The assistant manager at the tie store knows why it was named that, and tells frie- uh...  coworkers about it, and they shrug it off as being nerdy trivia.

But today they all stare, silent and motionless, out into the mall awaiting customers who cannot come. No one leaves until the quota is made, or everyone gets laid off and the store gets shut down.

They all get shut down forever. To open tomorrow. And begin hiring.

Apply online. Through AM.

When I wrote my first book, Lifehack, I intended it as a stand-alone one-off, (OMG, I R RITE A BUK???) but it had started a world I could tell other stories in. Watching Yute and Echoes or Erebus follow the same world, and have some recurring characters, but have different feels to them.

Lifehack was pretty 'hollywood', with a couple cities worth of casualties and fun over-the-top weaponry here and there, and a big happy ending. Watching Yute was intentionally a downer, with smaller battles and far smaller, but much more personal deathcount. Echoes of Erebus was somewhere in-between, but was pretty heavvvvy sci fi with the main character not even being human. And I call those 3 books a series. They DO have a continuity for that world and while they're readable separately, there are aspects that impact the next book.

But as a series, it wasn't well planned out.

Then we have the Rubberman series. I'm working on the 3rd book, and still following, more or less, the plan I made for the series. They're still readable separately but are much more tightly linked, thematically, and in the characters involved.

I had a plan for at least 4 books in the series, with an open end that could lead into other things, but as I chip away at book 3 of Rubberman, I find the concept set for 3 might not provide enough content for a book...

Which means, book 3 might end up being the original concepts for 3 and 4.

Which means, "Rubberman's Blackout".... might not be the title...and that bigger things will happen in it that was planned for book 3. It COULD be the end of the ... initial series.

As for what happens in the wake of the events of book 3/4?

MUeeeheeeheee....

Rubberman's Blackout peek

Hey, maybe I'll use this blog a little more now- my updates more reliably found on FB at my Rubberhack page- but it's a little messier to link to posts from there than from here to twitter... so here we are. ANYWAY, here's a snip, unedited and not-so-proofread from Rubberman's Blackout, the in-progress 3rd book in the Rubberman series.

We join Lenth checking up on Leena in the sealed-off Citizenry though the big, closed, door joining it to the Grand Elevator shaft. Formatting, as usually, nerfed by HTML format junk.

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Lenth gave the thick metal door a couple of hard knocks, pounding with the base of his fist. The sound echoed in the shaft. He was unsure how much of the sound would get through the door, and of the other door on the other end of the loading bay was stuck closed, there'd be no way to hear.

Wait, that was dumb, the other door was only closed when the Messenger came with the Grand Elevator. Before he could ponder it any further, a voice came through the door.

“Hi? Someone out there?”
“Leena?” Lenth yelled back, “are you okay?”
“We lost lights in here! It's so dark!”
“Yeah, lights went out everywhere. People are trying to fix it, figure it out. But people are behaving in there?”

It was a legitimate, literal concern. Until recently, Citizenry was known for nothing but misbehaving, and hurting each other. It might have been 'solved' by most measure, but this darkness was a daunting new element.

“Yeah,” came Leena's tired voice. “as far as I can tell. But everyone's kinda freaked out. Some people are saying Actual is punishing us for... well, the past-”

“No, no, tell them no. In fact, feel free to say that Messenger says so.” Lenth didn't think Messenger would mind Lenth lying on his behalf.
“Whenever anyone said something like Actual judging us, I try to tell them otherwise. I mean, we both met him, he's not the type, right? I can only imagine what that blowhard Edgar would be saying if he were still here.”
“Well, thankfully he's not here, Leena. Just relax. We're all doing our best to figure it out and fix it out here.”

“Lenth...” Leena said, barely though enough to be heard through the door. “It is... was this caused by the Enemy?”
The thought hit Lenth hard enough that he nearly slipped his grip on the ladder. Lenth and Leena had both seen the flying enemy above in the space above Actual. It patrolled regularly, dumping an unusual radiation everywhere above, making conditions unlivable; its' power flooding everywhere.

“Leena... the Enemy hasn't done anything to us in generations. Not since the big war, as far as anyone can remember. I don't see why they would attack now.”
“... fine. But what else would it be?”
“Things break. This is probably just a repair. We just have to find it, and make sure everyone's safe until it is.”
“Are you sure it wasn't the Enemy?”

There was no way of knowing right now. How would the Enemy do it? Whatever force it could press against them surely would be noticed. There's be... something. Or maybe the blackout was that first thing. It made Lenth wonder what could be next. But that was a thought he'd keep to himself. NO need for Citizens panicking. “Of course.”

He'd take too long to reply, and now he was answered with a pause of silence.
“Food and water are all right?” Lenth asked.
“Yes.”
“I hate to say it, but it might be smart to not go through them too fast.”
“You mean water might run out too?!” Leela yelped without thinking.
“Citizenry gets water from a reserve of water that usually gets refilled by pumps sending freshly filtered water from-”
“How long?” Leena asked, voice now controlled, not wanting to give fellow Citizens reasons to panic.
“A good while. Maybe not bathe or use water to make dizzy water for a while until this is fixed. It just kind of makes sense.”
“How long?”

Lenth didn't have an answer. “We... we're working on it.”
Leena replied after a moment. “We... the Citizens... are trapped in here if these doors can't get power to unlock. Should we be trying to break out? Break the door? Find another tunnel?”

The door had held up for generations. Another tunnel... maybe. “Leena. Save your strength. We... I'll get you out.”

“You better, Lofu.”

Lenth banged on the door twice with the base of his fist. “Be good.”

RUBBERMAN'S CITIZENS IS NOW OUT!

Softcover, kindle, and hardcover.

A story of oppression and loss, of uprising and joys. Rubberman's Citizens pushes through grim tyranny with the courage, compassion, and humour of those forced to fight troubled times.

The first book in the series, Rubberman's Cage, serves as a broad introduction to most of the regions inside the series environment.
Rubberman's Citizens takes a closer look into one region's history, and by the end of the tale of Citizenry, we are pushed forward into the future of the inhabitants, and the vast environment itself.

In Citizenry, Leena knew cruelty was normal.

Order was kept by Warren, through intimidation and abuse.
Normal meant deliveries from above, supplies from the great, unknowable, Actual.
Normal meant hating the lessers who live below.
Normal meant routine public degradation.
Normal meant hearing screams, and knowing no one dared help.

Normal was knowing that tomorrow, it could be your own screams being ignored.

Leena found a way to help.
Leena found a chance.
Leena discovered revolution.

Rubberman's Cage AudioBook is out! (And Citizens Update)

It's finally out!

It's on Audible, Amazon and iTunes. Keep in mind, if you get a free trial account at Audible, you can grab Rubberman's Cage free!

U.S. Audible, Canadian Audible

Our hero, Lenth, has grown up in a very small, controlled space with three 'Brothers' and a silent rubber-clad master above them, who directs daily activities, and can electrocute them if they disobey... but this is normal- it's what they grew up with. Driven to 'wake' a dead Brother, Lenth manages to escape into new spaces, and meet people he never knew existed.

Revelations about his world as he explores are complicated by a killer- who shares more than a little background with our hero.

Rubberman's Citizens Update:

The book is in its final edit run (once again in my own hands), then off to the presses! Conversion to Ebook and hardcover will follow, as usual, but now it might also get an audio treatment!

Just to catch you up- Rubberman's Citizens focuses on one area discovered in Rubberman's Cage. Its history of savage, abusive leadership, the struggle to rise and overcome, then create a form of society. Leena steps up as the main character, bringing my writing back to a female lead.

I've been told I should let it be known that the book has a notable streak of "dakly funny". I don't go out of my way to insert jokes, but ... I can be a bit of a smart-alec, and that's bound to bleed through the writing from time to time.

For whatever reason, I tend to gravitate to writing a female lead.. anyone remember this goofy thing I slapped together during the writing of Rubberman's Cage?

Ah, poor Regan... (Lifehack, my first book) She likely would want me to write another lesbian. If it makes her feel any better, Leena hints she might be bi, and there's a couple lesbian characters in Rubberman's Citizens.