So... here we are. We're working on issue 2 and plus we may have a cover artist in the bag and ready to go. Excited? I am ready to cream my pants sirs and sirsettes. Lately, I've been writing some dark sci-fi stuff. I particularly am prone to writing prolonged gunfights and kitana duels... if only for my hatred of what has become Star Wars. Even for those who love the clone wars cgi cartoon... you gotta admit, it's a step down. Are we settling for less just to hear that classic score and a lightsaber? Come on. I miss Han. I miss Darth before they pussified him.
Anyways... I'm posting the first four pages of my new script for "Reckoner" which is part of an ongoing trilogy of books I lovingly call "The Eternal". So if you've decided to read the blog, I hope you enjoy the intro to this series in its unfinished form. I write in crappy movie form so excuse the format.
Reckoner
Episode 1: You can't take it with you
Fade in.
EXT – ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />New York City, a few years in the future – Afternoon
We get a shot of Times Square as people who hold up protest banners reading "Equal Rights for all", "No more Big Brother" and "No more chem-trails"
As we watch this scene, we get the narration of BIXLY MARQUEZ, the main character of this particular book. Although we haven't seen him yet, Bixly looks as if he is in his mid-thirties. He has dark brown hair and sharp features. He wears a business suit under a long black coat that reaches down to his knees.
Bixly: (narrating)
Thinking a ways back, at least being one of the more striking memories of mine and of the time… and there are too many of those kinds really, I saw a woman… she must've been about 60 or so, maybe more.
We cut to a shot of a woman coming out of a teargas cloud.
Bixly: (narrating)
Her hands were bleeding as she was coming out of a cloud of gas the police had been lobbing since the protests started. I remember her eyes looking out to me as the police line broke through. I remember her saying something under her breath to me.
Cut to the woman, with blood all over her coat and looking straight at us as she leans against a wall. A haunting expression on her face.
Bixly: (narrating)
She said, "Don't let them take away my… right to die." And I said nothing. Just looked at her like she was crazy. Like nothing she said made sense, just a pile of words.
Cut to a shot of the police wrestling her to the ground.
Bixly: (narrating)
Later that day I came home and found my mom hanging in the dining room where me and my brothers used to play hide-and-seek. That's when I knew… from Ouroboros down to EC-5 and the lot… that I had made a bad call.
Cut to:
EXT – Prague, many years in the future – Day
We open up with shots of Prague in ruins, seen in drained colors. The cathedrals have been torn apart; the streets have been shot up, and the houses been bombed out. Everything looks as if it has seen more than its fair share of war.
The strange, eerie silence of the city is broken with the slight whisper of a motorcycle hum. It inches closer and closer until it is all around us.
Out of one of the alleyways darts out a sleek-looking motorcycle. On it is Bixly Marquez, gunning it to 105 as we dolly beside him.
Behind him a jeep appears with a gun cannon on it's back. The gunner begins to open fire on Bixly as he dips and dodges the incoming blasts.
Bixly makes a sharp turn and takes off, faster this time. The Jeep makes the turn too, nearly rolling over and throwing off its gunner.
Bixly turns into another alleyway as the jeep continues to give chase. He makes a sharp turn at the end of the alley, but the jeep can't keep up… plummeting over a large stone staircase and into a large stone wall. It collides with a spectacular explosion as Bixly continues his get-away.
Bixly:
Woo-hoo!
Suddenly, Bixly's mirror gets shot off by distant gunfire.
Bixly:
S***!
A souped-up café racer bike appears behind him. It's rider, NOAH, is a soldier working for O.W.L. (One World Leadership). He wears dark goggles that make him look like a bug. He wields a large handgun as he pops off rounds at Bixly.
Bixly slides his bike sideways, hoping that his assailant will turn away. Noah doesn't, instead he lets his bike leap over Bixly's and slides sideways down the same road. Bixly lets a gun fall out of his sleeve and begins to open fire on Noah. Noah, in turn, returns fire as they both slide sideways down the road.
Bixly is hit in the leg and neck by Noah's rounds. Bixly tumbles off his bike in a nasty spill. The bike comes to a stop by the side of the road before it crashes with a beat up lamppost and explodes. Noah darts in between the wrecked columns of some ruined building. He puts pressure on his neck with his right hand while he pops in a fresh clip with his left.
Bixly: (thought caption)
Even though I know I will heal soon enough, the loss of blood still makes it hard to keep conscious.
Bixly's eyes begin to roll back in his head.
Bixly: (thought caption)
Come on keep awake, dammit. It'll only be a few more seconds.
Bixly peers from behind the broken wall he hides behind with his gun up and ready.
We cut to a shot of him removing his hand from his neck and we see his wound is gone and the blood has turned to black ash.
Bullets suddenly cut holes in the granite next to Bixly as he runs behind another slab.
Bixly:
Oh F***! F***!
Bixly comes out from behind the concrete and returns fire. Noah however appears beside him and kicks the gun out of his hand and tries to land a punch but Bixly blocks it. Noah spins into the block elbowing Bixly in the temple and punching him in the face as he stumbles back. Bixly collapses against a small hill of debris.
Noah:
Nowhere left to run, Bix.
Bixly looks up at Noah, his face bloodied.
Bixly:
I knew they'd send you. Somehow I knew that you'd catch up to me.
Noah:
Then I guess you'd better dust yourself off and come quietly.
Bixly gets up and wipes his face and, in the same move, grabs a gun from inside his jacket. Noah begins to raise his gun as Bixly runs up to him at a super-human speed and clocks him on the side of the head with his gun.
Bixly:
You've got the wrong idea about this.
Noah's chest erupts in bloody holes as Bixly pumps an entire clip in him.
Noah falls with his back doubled over a thin slab of stone, apparently dead.
Bixly: (thought balloon)
I don't think I've ever felt guiltier in my life. Shooting him like that… not something I'd want to repeat, but if I don't leave in a second he'll be on his feet again and this time he won't go so easy on me.
Bixly runs off. We get a shot of his shoes hitting the pavement as he bolts. We cut to a similar shot and his shoes have become sneakers and his pants have become shorts.
We pan up and see that it is not Bixly at all it is ANTONIO JESSERMAN.
Exciting stuff huh?
Buy Endless Sky issue 1!!!