Thursday, June 17, 2010

When You Didn't Know You Could

I hear a lot of talk about how the publishing industry is cyclical. If something was popular once, nine times out of ten, it will be at some point later in time. Sometimes in the same form, sometimes altered just a bit in order to fit in with changing times. During a recent Publisher Showcase at another blog, a selection of ePubs were asked what they were looking for as far as submissions. The consensus from all of them seemed to be steampunk and post-apocalyptic. Try as I might, I can't get my head around steampunk enough to write it. I have read some however and love it. When I heard the second, post-apocalyptic, I had the same thought. I wasn't sure I could get my head around it. Then, in trolling my own hard drive as I was trying to decide what to work on next as I finished up my latest work in progress, I came across pages of notes and this:

~*~

Death.

It is an act of nature no human can escape. It is a final binding clause in humanity that is determined the moment birth occurs. From the moment you are born, you die a little each day and bring death that much closer.

It is inevitable – you will die.

Many will pass without notice. Dying silently as the muggy, hot air of summer hangs in the air. Or even as the crisp breeze of autumn blows through the trees.

Whenever – however – it happens, the fact remains that you will go. There is no escape from it though many people spend their entire lives trying to run away from that which chases them – death.

It cannot be outrun or beaten.

No matter how advanced technology is in this era, it is of no use when it comes to matters of death. Human bodies weren’t designed to live past their usefulness. The body serves its purpose and then ceases to exist.

Humans would not accept this fate and that is when the monsters came.

Humans began slicing genetic code in an effort to try to extend lifelines past the natural timeline. The attempts failed and the results were gruesome and horrific, unspeakable to even those involved in the work.

That was when the war began – a war that left the planet Earth ravaged and unfit to support human life on the surface. Thirty-four years have passed since the day six humans went underground. They are the sole survivors of the war. Four men and two women struggle daily to keep themselves alive with limited resources and dwindling food supplies.

The creatures who now walk the planet don’t know of their existence...until now.

~*~

I wrote that in 2004 and obviously forgotten it was there. Seems as if I can do post-apoc. LOL

So, now that you've seen into my absentminded brain, let's continue the celebration here at PR. Leave a comment between now and midnight EST and I'll pick one random commenter to receive a download copy of my newest release, Midnight's Ghost.

8 comments:

Scott Romanski said...

Sounds pretty Good. You gonna try to continue the story?

Anonymous said...

That was good, hope there will be more!!!

I really enjoy Steampunk and have been collecting books in this genre. I hope you do one too.

Valerie
in Germany
valb0302@yahoo.com

Lillie (AliseOnLife) said...

I like that as a writing prompt! I hope it develops further.

One of the best things for me is 'discovering' a new-to-me genre, and finding out that there is a good selection of books to read.

So, here's hoping that more steampunk is published in the near future!

J Hali Steele said...

Wow, I'd say you do post-apoc better than well!

Cathy M said...

That was really good, Sara, and the start of a great storyline. Keep going!!!



caity_mack at yahoo dot com

The Scarf Princess said...

Those are some great lines you wrote! I definitely hope you start writing more from that great start.

joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com

Sherry said...

Your post was very interesting and I would love to hear more.


sstrode@scrtc.com

Annie Nicholas said...

That gave me chills. Write it! Write it!