RoyaleDuke
Banned
Project title: The Tartarus Syndrome( Evolution= Epimetheus Rising -> The Tartarus Syndrome)
Originally conceived: 2011
Actually written:The bulk of the writing and editing thus far between Late 2014-to now(2017) and continuing until finished.
Release Date: 5/25/17
Author: David Diciedue AKA Royale Hunter Duke
Genre: Science Fiction/Horror
Short Description: A Cyberpunk Lovecraftian existentialist dystopian Detective story think Bladerunner x The Thing x Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas x True Detectives x Alien
- CURRENT WORD COUNT(5/8/17): 90,000
Quotes from the writer:
"The other thing I decided NOT to do with the book was include music lyrics and fictional bands that would appear at logical points in the story. The general theme for the music was loud, angry, punk rock like Iggy Pop and the stooges or The Weirdos, high energy, anti-establishment just like the gangs that inhabited the world. It would lend mostly just flavor, it didn't add anything in my opinion and made the book longer in spots that it didn't need to be.
Honestly I'd like to revisit the concept of doing two stories at once, instead of a story from one perspective.
The worlds of traditional cyberpunk have this pulpy punk rock coked out 70s mixed with 80s atmosphere of neon lights, and odd pastel or brightly lit clothing(although I am a sucker for the clothing of the new Deus Ex games goddamn), but the corporations have this very businessman like attire in comparison to the people on the street. They are homogenized, sterile in a sense.
Anyway, I don't feel like I've neutered my book in any sense really, I've made very careful decisions about what I think would work, and what I feel doesn't work or feels too ambitious for a first novel or doesn't fit this story. I also felt my original concept was nowhere near as meaningful, the modern day story felt like fluff in concept, it felt like it was just lead in for the more interesting science fiction world. So I cut out the middleman so to speak."- Me in a private message to another GAFfer who is reading my novel, talking about iteration and the current incarnation of my novel, the power of pop culture influences
"This book is part of a trilogy of books with similar themes.
Existentialism, loss, trauma, mental illness, the concept of past sins and things catching up to you the proverbial "ghosts of your past" haunting you, and how unpredictable and sometimes predictably bad or good life can be, sometimes it can be neither.
And of course, each book is a tribute to different writers and ideas.
The initial concept for the three stories started out simple enough.
A noirish detective story(The Tartarus Syndrome)(Almost Finished, ETA: 2016 or early 2017. More likely 2017)
A classic Haunted House story(Picture Perfect)(Started)
A Lovecraft Story( TBA, either "The Haunter of The Dark" or "The Clockwork Horror")(Started)
The first story, is a tribute to cyberpunk, dystopian fiction, science fiction, pulpy and dramatic detective stories, and of course Lovecraft.
The second story is a tribute to Stephen King and Clive Barker.
The third story is me putting on my best Lovecraft hat and going to town.
Anyway, given my new diagnosis... I feel invigorated to try to see if I can finish all the books and maybe do a compilation of short stories and prototypes for free." Me, also prattering on about my novel to the same GAFffer.
- I. Introduction AKA a foreward from the unpublished author
Welcome, thank you for taking your time to come to this thread, read it and laugh at the terrible art created by me as the header.
I lack drawing skills. I'm a writer.
A bunch of people in This Thread, expressed interest in seeing me make a progress thread, I took awhile to think about it and asked the mods if it was okay.
It's fine apparently.
I've decided I want to go the full monty and get this done, for real, instead of just letting things get in the way. I guess I'm kinda emboldened by the fact I've had two cancer scares in the last two years, and the fact that at this specific point in time, the only way my life will get worse is if I lose my pc and become homeless. Which either of those things are perfectly possible.
Anyway this isn't a pity party, I want to give back to literature because when I had nothing I always had a book. As a kid When my parents didn't want to hear about how badly I'd been bullied every single day, at least I had a few Lovecraft books, an a complete collection of Edgar Allan Poe's work, and a library within walking distance.
My whole life people have told me to write books, that I'm a great writer, that I should put something out. Well, now is that time. I came up with this idea a few years ago, but I had been thinking about what I wanted to write for my first novel for years. I chose a simple enough idea at first, I wanted to do science fiction and horror as the genre, I wanted to do a detective story.
The initial concept was a sort of anthology type story(like True Detectives or other Anthology type books and series), a modern day story that set up another story that ran alongside it in the far distant dystopian future, two protagonists linked by fate and distant relations. In the end I settled just on one time period, the setting I felt was more interesting from the getgo which was the one we have for the book now. I also felt for a first novel it felt almost too ambitious, and I didn't want to make a novel with cool ideas and occasionally good execution, I wanted to make something that people would remember and that I could feel proud of. I wanted to give back what literature had given me, fond memories and the creative spark, the vast lands of imagination.
So, on a sunny sunday afternoon six years ago while watching a marathon of Alien, The Thing, and Bladerunner(Both Final Cut and Workprint), Watchmen DC, and having reread several science fiction books, short stories, and novellas prior to that(Fahrenheit 451, Neuromancer, 1984, Lovecrafts entire catalogue, Philip K, Dick, Jeff Somers, Altered Carbon, and Who Goes There? to name a few) I thought about a simple story.
This is the journey I want to share with this community as we ride that train into the station and off the rails into the stratosphere. This is a log of my hopes and dreams, my ideas and thoughts,
Maybe it might even inspire other writers to come out and do their own thing.
Maybe it will give me something to look forward to everyday.
At least I will get to say "I did that". For better or for worse.
The other thing was that some of my favorite science fiction stories also comment on humanity in one way or multiple ways. I think a human story that leads to a bigger picture, that is embroiled in the struggles of the character but as well as the world are tantamount things to consider when creating great science fiction.
Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 wouldn't be half as important if they weren't relevant commentary on their times and where the author felt things were heading. To this day both of those books have stuck with me as profound, scathing indictments of the future.
Synopsis
Bored yet? No?
Yes? Sorry.
RoyaleDuke said:
Well there you go. We're on the journey.
This is gonna be a a hell of a ride for all of us, and I hope you join me on it.
