RP
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Chapter 5 added 13 December 2010.
In chapter 5, a discovery is made thanks to Jeremiah Nule and it leads Harold and Bernard to a bit of a work out.
I’m always worried when I visit Museums! I’m conscious of the fact that just a little inattention could lead to the catastrophic destruction of a priceless artifact. I still visit, I’m just a nervous wreck when I’m there.
Did you know that the plural of octopus is octopodes? Octopuses is the commonly accepted but octopi is distinctly frowned upon. It’s all to do with the origin of the root of the word [ Wikipedia entry ]. I prefer Octopussy myself. I shied away from the argument in thus chapter and went for a singular octopus.
Have a Merry Christmas and see you in the New Year on 13th January 2011 for Chapter 5. Meanwhile, look out for a short Christmas story to be published soon…
RP
Chapter 4 added 13 November 2010.
In chapter 4, Harold and his new companion, Bernard visit Jeremiah Nule, the author of Mingsport – Ritual and Custom. This is a short and playful chapter with a couple of bits I really like
I love the boxes – 1 Upper Cut – get it?
I love the way Jeremiah gets angry at the ‘door knock’ scene. It seems to me that an academic, so wrapped up in his own world wouldn’t have time for interruptions and would have little patience
Jeremiah’s name was invented to obtain the Leftcroft, Nule & Voyd name for the law firm. I use them all the time!
See you on the 13th December for Chapter 5.
RP
Chapter 3 added 13 October 2010.
Chapter 3 takes Harold to The Mingsport Museum of Antiquity to meet with Bernard. The town of Mingsport is fictitious but there is an obvious nod to the fictitious town of Kingsport used by Lovecraft but in name only.
The museum is based upon a museum in Watchet I visited a long time ago but again more recently. It is however, more than this because I also had a building in mind in Lyme Regis. It ends up being a mixture of the two.
Ah, the Alignment of Mordent Nascence. Mordent is a musical term to do with alternating tones. Nascence is birth. I needed something grand-sounding and the marrying of the two words gave me what I needed.
Some of Bernard’s character comes out in this chapter and I hope people come to like him like I have.
More about Jeremiah next chapter…
See you on the 13th November for Chapter 4.
RP
Read MoreChapter 2 added 13 September 2010.
Chapter 2 sees Harold take a trip to the University library. I needed a name that sounded similar to a well known fictitious university and struck upon ‘Muscovado’. This took me down the road of sugar. It also introduces a second character, Bernard. I also introduce what I’ll call a preamble. That’s the itallicised bit at the beginning of the chapter, I will be adding one to each chapter. Chapter 1 didn’t warrant one as it had the Introduction. My aim is to make them standalone introductions to each chapter but for them to also work as a story when read together.
Through Learning To The Bra’s is a corruption of Per Ardua ad Astra and I imagined Harold converting Latin ‘on the fly’ and with an imperfect command of the language, getting some of it wrong. Per Ardua ad Astra is the motto of the Royal Air Force and means Through Adversity To The Stars. An alternative corruption which I quite like and could have used would have been Through Adversity To The Stairs. Totally frivolous, no other meaning intended.
The idea of using similarly named supporting characters is borrowed from Manga (where hundreds of characters are called the same name, well two) and other sources like opera.
The embarrasment in the library is something I can relate to. I hate loud people (I love loud music though).
There are other side references to unimportant things and I may expand upon them some time in the future. For now, enjoy Chapter 2 and come back on 13 October 2010 for Chapter 3.
RP
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