Don't get too excited. Yet.
I told you I'd be releasing some of my older stuff first, so here we go with the old school massive; I just uploaded all three parts of Beneath the Veil to the Maskingwriter Yahoo! group.*
Beneath the Veil was the first piece of masking fiction that I released to the world (I think... someone can correct me if they like), and from the looks of the file attributes, it's probably a decade old now (!). I'd written stuff before BTV, but never had the guts to shove it out there. So it still has a special place in my heart. Even better, it's actually complete and self-contained.
I know a lot of you will have read it already, but if you haven't, here's your chance. Even if you have perhaps you'll re-read it and get a tingly glow of nostalgia, if you know what I mean...!
Anyway, whether you read it now for the first time or can remember downloading it over some sort of dial-up connection back before the Y2K bug was big news, I'd also appreciate you telling me when you first read Beneath the Veil in my new poll (over on the right on the main page).
I plan to use that spot for more interesting questions before too long, but for now it's helpful for me to get an idea whether my current potential audience is entirely made up of 'old school readers' or 'newbies'. As I know you won't come right out and tell me that (even though, you know, the comments thing is right under this post and it accepts anonymous folk...) instead, here's a totally anonymous polling mechanism that won't track an iota of info about you to use instead. You're very welcome.
Next up will probably be the re-release of the first two issues of Spider-Girl, to get you in the mood for the new stuff. I'd put them up now... but I want to edit them slightly, and who knows, maybe even add a few things. So they'll be reworked (a bit) not just re-released. When? Soon.
* In case you're wondering, I have no particular affinity for Yahoo - and I know that if you're not a member it can be a pain to get to things. Short of buying my own webspace though, it's the easiest thing for me to do now. Besides, if you join you get access to a bunch of other good fiction too.
Beneath the Veil was actually a fairly good and somewhat moving story. Although I did feel that the final gift that the protagonist recieves from his organization did feel a touch forced. Still it was a decent read thanks.
ReplyDeleteSomewhat moving? I wonder in what respect. ;)
ReplyDeleteI got the same feedback on the final chapter way back when it was first released (hey, maybe you gave it to me). At the time I thought I was giving myself an easy way to do outrageous mask-related stuff in future installments.
Looking back on it, I really don't know what I was thinking; in my mind's eye when I read those scenes I think "If this was a movie, it'd be done with a morph" and that really bums me out... because I hate to see that sort of thing.
Nevertheless I don't really want to go back and change it. Hence, it stands as a monument to one bad decision. Every writer has to have at least one piece of work they look back on and say "What the hell was I thinking??"
I can honestly say that this was one of the very first masking stories I've ever read, back in a day when I was just a pup, still in college, and browsing the computers in the lab for things I should not have been looking for. The first reaction was; Holly shit! This guy is a freak! Love it! Need it! Can't get enough of it!
ReplyDeleteOne quick, illegal, and very secretive print out from the college computer later, I was the happy chap heading home to read it all over again, only this time in the privacy of my room, with no fear of being busted in a public computer lab with an obviously present erectile function.
That was many moons ago. I still love the story, and still love the man's vivid imagination and his writing style.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Val
Awww, Val, thank you dude! My head is swelling.
ReplyDeleteYou know I respect you just as much as an author (except for the odd spelling mistake, but we all make those..!). And your ideas are still out of this world!
Here's to being a freak eh?
Now I just need someone to come along and tell me I suck to balance this out. ;)
Hey CM - welcome back from your hols, and yeah, I was wondering who'd pull that. Thanks for 'restoring the balance'. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to our planned comic collaboration, eh bro? Do you still have that script I sent you? Seems to have vanished into thin air for me.
You've got it? Then dammit man, send it on to me! I haven't, and I wrote the damn thing!! :)
ReplyDeleteI suspect I'll burn myself out on the spider-themed superheroine thing with Spider-Girl, so I doubt I'll ever go back to NightSpider... but I'd still like that script.
And for anyone else who's interested - complete masking comic script, right here!!