Just last night, I watched Coraline, which is a full-feature, stop animation movie based on a book written by Neil Gaiman.  Sadly, I have never read the book–though I have read some of his other amazing works of art–but I can honestly say that it was quite the ride.  It follows the adventure of a little girl who is unhappy with her parents and finds a secret door to a parallel life with the perfect parents.  It is a very colorful trip with eccentric characters and a very interesting twist.

As I said, I enjoy the classic secret-locked-door-with-hidden-worlds-behind-it story.  A while back, I heard a great story on Podcastle (a fantasy podcast) along those same lines, and I want to share it with you today.  It is called The Small Door.   Here’s an excerpt:

Neither knew what the Weirdo did with his captives, but it was hard to think of a possibility that wasn’t horrible. Not when you saw that figure, with its thatched gray hair, lumpy shoulders and white hands as big as baseball gloves, carry some hapless creature into the house with the broken drainpipes and curtained windows. Even cooking and eating seemed too simple, too close to human.

“Sal,” Macey said, “we’ve got to find out.”

“You keep saying that.” Sal picked fuzzies off the bedspread, her mind drifting to the fair’s candy-bright commotion.

“But now I have a plan.”

-Holly Phillips, The Small Door

You can read the full story at Fantasy Magazine, and you can check out the author at her website, HollyPhillips.com.  You can also have it read to you by the wonderful voice of Tina Conolly at Podcastle Podcast by going here.  As always, I hope you enjoy these great works of fiction.

Today, I was checking my twitter feed as always and I came across a tweet by wreckless girl.

i am, apparenly, dependent on change. if suddenly, my life wasn’t chaotically changing constantly, i would cease to exist.

At first, I thought it was a funny wording.  I came back at her with a sore attempt at wit, but then I really started to think about it.  Her life might change more drastically than mine (read vagabond bond and you’ll see what I mean), but I still have a deep seeded desire for change that stems from more than an adventurous heart.

For example, my last big obsession was NaNoWriMo.  If you don’t remember, look back two posts and see what that was all about.  I remember spending the three months leading up to November consumed with what I was going to write, how I was going to write it, and even what computer program I was going to use to write it.  I read forums, blogs, and listened to podcasts just to hear about experiences from other novelists.  It consumed my mind when I wasn’t at school.  However, when I finished the marathon, I was left wanting more.  Not more writing, but more of something else.  Since December 1st, I haven’t done more than glance at my unfinished novel.

Where does this desire come from?  It comes from wanting to fill our lives with a purpose.  We want to feel like we are doing something productive with our limited time on earth.  I want to believe that I am meant to do something more than work, eat, and sleep.

Only Jesus Christ can fill that void.  I have to remind myself every day that seeking knowledge about my God is much more important than trying to find out the latest movie news or trying to reach the next level in my video game.  That is a struggle that I still haven’t overcome, even though I have a clear path set before me.  This may not be the case for you, but it certainly is for me and I hope that each day I can grow closer to my God so that I fill my life with His love.

Since I have never written anything beyond technical papers and short stories, I am going to play it safe and aim for a Young Adult novel. My wife always tells me that I’m such a kid. We will be walking through the local bookstore and the first thing that will catch my eye is a colorful book cover with dragons and kings and queens on it. Maybe this year’s NaNoWriMo will capture some of that sparkle and ignite my imagination.

I do have a small idea for the plot, but it’s small enough that I don’t want to write it down. I might scare it, or squish it. I’ll just let it fester a little bit until I can put it into a framework that makes sense. Here is a small teaser though:

VHS Rental

Okay, that’s enough! I’ve given away too much already! Now mind your own business!

Refer to chapter 1 for an explanation on why this story is silly and juvenile.  For the previous installments of this saga:

• Classified: Chapter 1
• Classified: Chapter 2
• Classified: Chapter 3

Chapter 5 – Government Conspiracies

We stepped inside to the rather tropical atmosphere within The Dock.  “Hey, how about some drinks before you head to the basement,” the bartender said.  We were still piling into the restaurant as he spoke.

“No thanks, we’re in a hurry.” Eddie said.  Dimwit came up beside me, popped a piece of gum in his mouth and put his arm around my shoulder.  We stepped into a larg room that had nothing in it.  Dimwit looked at me and smiled.

“Woah!  We’re takin’ the service elevator!”  He ran up to Eddie and asked if he could push the buttons.  I looked around and realized that the Spiffies were all lining up along the walls as if they were in the marines or something, except that they all had their arms crossed.  It was also perfectly quiet except for the clicking and tapping of their shoes as they filed into place.  Dimwit stood up perfectly straight with his hand on the switch.  “You are about to embark on a mission into the depths of the earth.  Your assignment… please stand as you are and don’t flinch no matter what happens.  If you choose to, you may look into our viewing window which lies beneath your feet.”  I looked down and almost jumped onto the ceiling.  I was standing on a thick glass window and there was nothing but a shaft that went straight down.  “What lies beneath you is nothing, and so you shall boldly travel to there.”  He pointed down to the nothingness that sort of captured all of his attention.

“Woah! This is the part that Dimwit thinks is DA BOMB!”

He flipped the switch and dove face down for the center of the room.  Before he could hit the floor, we became weightless.  His dog tags floated up, and as his sunglasses floated away from his face, he quickly pushed them back on.  Suddenly he twisted upwards and hit a button on the ceiling.  Some rock music came on at full blast.  Dimwit hit the ceiling with his feet and started break dancing in mid air.  All of the Spiffies came out of their ghostly postures and started to hoot and holler.  I figured, what the heck and pushed off to the center of the room and started to do the same thing Dimwit was doing.  Before I knew it, it was the end of the ride and we slowed to a stop.  We stepped off into a huge cave.  I mean, this place was huge!

Eddie came up beside me with Dimwit.  “How did you like my service elevator?” he said as we stepped towards one of the many tables filled with laboratory equipment.

“I loved it” I said smiling at Eddie and then Dimwit who had a huge grin on his face.  I decided that I should finally start asking questions.  “What is the case?”  I said to Eddie.  “Why are we down in the depths of the earth with a bunch of spiffy guys?”  He smiled and sat in a chair next to a table.

“We are a part of this world’s government which is fighting against your exiled government.”  I opened my mouth to speak but he held up a finger to silence me.  “We are the good, they are the bad.  They are a group of Clinton wannabes from your city who followed Clinton here.  They are a group that will stop at nothing to destroy your world and dominate mine out of greed and anger.”  I wrinkled my forehead and thought for a minute.

“So why is there a Clinton back on my planet?”  I asked intrigued at this bit of information.

“Why else do you think they perfected the cloning process?”  he said and started typing on a laptop on the table in front of him.  “Okay how about that monster that tried to attack you the first night we met?”

“That was Imsotite, he’s Dimwit’s arch enemy.”  We both looked at Dimwit who was on another computer with headphones on.  I could almost hear the blaring lead guitar from where I was.

“What about the compound we found in the car?”  I asked looking at the lab equipment.

“I’ve got it here and it consists of all substances found in golf balls.”

They put their writing hats on, sit down at their writing tool of choice and just go to town.  This wonderful event is called National Novel Writing Month.  Even now, writers are thinking about it and cringing at sore fingers and shameless word padding.  I have never been a part of it, but I have heard that it is one of the craziest deadlines you will ever have to meet.  I know it will be for me, since I doubt I’ll ever have a publisher, but one can dream.

I’m telling you about this annual pandemonium so that I can have accountability.  I have signed up on the official NaNoWriMo site, and will be participating this year if it kills me.  I have honestly never written a novel, let alone a 10,000 word project, so I’m a little scared.

Okay, I’m a lot scared.

Overall, I think it will be a fun experience.  My work will not be published if I win, nor will I get any money.  There will be no prize other than the privilege of knowing that I made it.  However, people keep coming back to this bloody match between their flowing thought and their pounding fingers.  This should be interesting.  I’ll keep you updated when the month draws closer, and hopefully I can bang out a few posts during the month of November to keep you informed.