How do you juggle multiple projects? Here at the Calamity, I have about twelve attractions currently in development, with a host of ideas for others. However, being but one person, I cannot work on them all at once. My priority is, of course, the regular columns you find in each Volume II edition: the vampires, the dreamwalker, and the bus driver. These aside, I must balance my time between what attractions make sense to work on—there is much that goes into the calculus of determination on this rather fine point—and the other projects I have in development in support of my writing.
For example, Archivist is a command line tool I have been building to automate changelogs and backups of all my stories, notes, libraries, and whatnot. It’s live and it works wonderfully, but I am constantly fine-tuning it to ease the more tedious work involved with content management. Eventually, Archivist will be complete, but until then, its part of the balancing act.
And what about Groundskeeper, Rise of the Warlock Queen, or Unholy Requiem? More balancing act. I may not pick up Groundskeeper every week to work on, but it remains in progress. This is why you find the Under Construction column below, to announce what is in my immediate attention. As I must balance these numerous titles, you will find varying announcements in Under Construction.
Still, I am, if anything, consistent with the regular installments of my usual columns. Isabelle and Edgar are hunting Beings in this edition’s installment of A Vampire’s Vengeance; Solomon awakes to a different life in this edition’s installment of House; and the bus driver is fed more evidence to spike his fears in this edition’s installment of Bus Driver.
Let’s get into it →
This week saw a number of attractions get a lift.
Rise of the Warlock Queen has moved into a second review and round of edits. It is very plausible this story may be making its way to publishing soon!
There was some reorganization around The Conglomerate. More world building documents were added. A new library, Cosmic Horror, was created as a database of context for some of the references to appear in the attractions built in this universe. The first attraction, An’Ras, was migrated to the new editorial workflow. Website is coming soon.
Body Count is next on the list of migrations, particularly as research around the time frame becomes better fleshed out. This week, I finished reading People of the Abyss by Jack London, a harrowing description of the destitution of London’s East End in the late 1800s and early 1900s. As the attraction will take you through Victorian London during the time of Jack the Ripper, books of this sort will help shape a more accurate view of the times, even if the attraction is oriented to be more … magical.
Stay tuned for more updates! And do feel free to share what most excites you. What are you waiting to jump into?
Isabelle and Edgar have managed to elude the Beings, only to turn and hunt them down themselves. To what end? Is there more to Edgar’s plan than to find where they hole up at night? Read the latest installment of A Vampire’s Vengeance:
Solomon has survived his ordeal, but has ended up … where, exactly? Is the same Solomon we have been following, or a Solomon who dreamed the Solomon in which we were invested? Experience the next installment of House to discover … what, exactly?
Find out what happens when a person is marked for doom by a vampire-adjacent being. Disclaimer: no hellish amulets were harmed in the reprinting of this weird fiction.
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A patron falls prey to the whimsical magic of a touring artist. Currently available only on Apple Books.
Welcome to another installment of Bus Driver! When we last spent time with the bus driver, a damn brawl nearly broke out in the basement dining area, though that was settled with some relative ease. The bus driver doesn’t seem in to high of a spirit, however. You can catch up with Part XXXII here. What about the emergency happening overhead? What happens next? Let’s find out →
As the excitement in the dining basement died down, the cacophony from overhead became clearer. A sensation of urgency filled the room as the screams coursed through the hall and down the stairs, leaving many wondering if they should be up there anyway, despite their inebriated state. The sensation surged to anticipation when they realized the shouts were not of terror, but of joy. Those seated at the table closest to the stairs were in the process of getting up to investigate when Manuel dropped in, dressed in an incredible amount of blood and a massive grin.
"WE FUCKING GOT 'IM!"
Then he threw his head back with his hands raised to the ceiling and let go a maniacal laugh the likes of which the bus driver had never heard. The residents were up in a flash, charging around Manuel and up the stairs without a second thought. Manuel turned to race them to the top. The passengers were slower, unsure of what they would find but were carried away by the excitement and followed. The bus driver was the last to leave the dining area, hesitant, still processing the undeniable truth of the existence of monsters worse than the one chasing them through the Funnel.
He stepped outside to find a riot in the middle of the wide boulevard under the low light of the few lamps. Though the gathering was small, the level of enthusiasm exhibited by everyone made the celebration seem much larger. Some were laughing, some were crying, some were handing out high fives. Many were exchanging goods with one another at this late hour, which confused the bus driver until he learned they were settling bets.
Manuel jumped to the center and, whistling sharply, called everyone's attention. Silence fell as everyone look to him with great expectation. He looked around, still carrying the massive grin, then threw his arms out to turn everyone's gaze down the street. The bus driver watched as an old beat up pickup rolled into view with a long bed in tow. He gasped and staggered back into the wall behind him when he saw the thing loaded onto it.
A bulbous mass lay on the trailer, its flesh bulging between the thick canvas straps tying it down and pouring over the sides. It was hairless and its skin was covered in sores and boils. Its enormous wings were tied back to keep from dragging on the ground. If it had arms or legs, the bus driver could not see them. He had drank enough to be affected by the sight of this monstrosity. The smell, when it hit him, put him over the edge, and he ran to the side of the building to retch. He finished and looked up just in time to see a small group walking behind the trailer, carrying the head between two poles, as if the head was riding a palanquin.
The bus driver marveled at the sheer ugliness of the brute. The pink flesh drooped in folds over the countless eyes over the front of the head, and seemed to cascade down around the skull. The mouth was prominent, stretching from near the top of the head on one side of the eyes down to just above the chin and then up the other side; there were no lips, there were only the great jagged teeth. The eyes were rolling and rolling and rolling, and watching them in motion made the bus driver sick all over again. He turned to vomit once again, then stepped on the building's patio and sat on the floor with his back against the wall.
"Normally I can't stand blood either," said a resident standing close to the bus driver. "But this? I could watch this all day."
Though the color had drained from his face, the bus driver acknowledged he heard the resident. The resident, recognizing the bus driver's discomfort, put out a hand to help him up.
"Let's go back inside where we'll be free from the smell and I'll tell you all about it."
Well that must be one hell of a story! Maybe we don’t get to hear right away how the beast was taken down, but we’ll sure get to hear why it needed doing! Come back next week for the scoop!
Ah, yet another action-packed edition! Were you in wonder alongside Edgar as he considered the marvel of the city rising during his slumber? Were you as confused as Solomon, who seems to have no recollection of what’s happening around him and why he’s moving through it? Did you feel the nausea, empathizing with the bus driver as he watched the terror—dead though it was—pass him by? I would love love love to hear about it, if so. You can reply to this email, comment on this post, or use any of the survey buttons below.
I hope you enjoyed your visit and look forward to seeing you again next edition!
Cordially,
Mad Alex
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