DAMN THAT BASTARD CAN WRITE

[Fathom Zero]

http://torrifica.blogspot.com/2009/0...s-of-tale.html
http://raggamofyn.deviantart.com/art...Tale-111700993

(For lack of a better title.)

His yellowed fingers take hold of the pen, shaking slightly. His hands hurt, but the task was non-negotiable. He had to tell his story. The other hand hit the "Record" button. Cassette wheels began spinning.

"Listen folks-" Cough. Hack.

He stopped it. Rewind.

"It is very late for me, folks. I'm very time and my days are numbered." Checking his watch.

"I'm afraid many aren't proud of me any more. I've lost my way, now. The one other man I do know who would care about who I am is MIA. I don't know where he is, only that he is not dead. Or maybe he is? If he can die, I didn't know it. Regardless, at no other time in my life did I feel so compelled to do something. I must do something. The time is now."

One can hear the pen bearing down on the pen, being manhandled by the nicotine-stained hand. Another violent cough. Blood. A droplet fell on the page and he contemplated throwing the thing away, but finally decided to keep it, the crimson stain serving as its own macabre punctuation mark.

His pen hand rubbed his face, thumb and index massaging the sinuses. Eventually, it ran up to his hair which is overgrown and wiry, Nick Nolte mugshot-like.

"Before I start, I'd like to say that I am not proud of what I have done, but I did it all according to what seemed like the best decisions at the time. I minimized loss. At least I hope I did. Or maybe I just didn't give a shit about other people. I regret nothing, except for the things I never had the guts to do. I've not done much good in my life, but maybe this story will prove a little of me is still human."

He stopped the tape and pulled a small sepia photograph from the right-hand drawer of the desk, the second one from the top. It showed a young man and woman locked arm-in-arm walking and a wild-looking man staring off into the void behind the camera. He looked at it a bit, sighing.

The button clicks once more.

"This is the mostly true story slash will & testament of Max Wainwright, aged 254."

This is something I've had rolling around in my head for a while, my stab at the science fiction/fantasy/young adult genre, which I enjoy to a certain extent. I got the idea after reading the Maximum Ride series and let it ferment a bit. I've got a lot of work to do.

[ZeldaQueen]

The Maximum Ride series started out great, but I got the distinct feeling that Mr. Patterson never really figured out how he wanted to end it (there are characters or strange events that just crop up once and never are addressed again ).

Anyway, that's really good. You wrote it? Nice! A blurb please? *puppy eyes*

[Fathom Zero]

That's how the Final Warning book was, but there's another coming, I believe.

I'm too lazy to change the typos I've got here. I need to reread things when I transcribe them from my notepads.

[ZeldaQueen]

Yes, there's a fifth. It's titled Waterwings. It's about fish mysteriously dying and a bad guy with a Chinese-sounding name.

I'm firmly under the belief that James Patterson had to quickly finish the series, wrapped things mostly up with the third, then let a ghostwriter continue on afterwards. I mean, they TOTALLY dropped the School, Itex, the whitecoats, everything! I know that Itex was exposed, but you'd still think there'd be more to it...

I've had an idea for a sci-fi type story myself. It's about six kids who are kidnapped and forcefully given an experimental drug that gives them weird powers. I haven't actually worked on it much though (right now, it'd be in the "internet fan story" category).