Lost Rambler

Arc II, Chapter 48: The Murder House

Excerpt from a Carousel Atlas

The Soundstage

It seems strange that there is no entry on this despite the term being so widely used in the Atlas.

Mos...

2024-03-12 06:36:58 +0000 UTC View Post

Arc II, Chapter 47: Reply the Departed, Classic

Antoine laid back on the overstuffed chair I had grown fond of in our time at the hilltop suite that had once been Jedediah Geist’s home. Every few moments, it looked like Antoine was about to get up and go somewhere else, but he didn’t.

We sat and had the same conversation we had been ...

Arc II, Chapter 46: Heart's Desire

The previous chapter is being edited. I will update you with the changes when they are finished. Thank you for your patience.

~~~

“One at a time,” Madam Celia said firmly from the doorway of her shop. She had been waiting for us. The elegant dress she had been wearing in the t...

Arc II, Chapter 45: The Graveside Chat

“Come here, boy,” Bobby said. “You can do it!”

The tall wolfhound from the Permanent Vacancy B&B stepped over the boundary they were previously unable to cross. It joyously hurled itself into Bobby’s arms. Bobby looked happy. That’s all that mattered.

We had trekked ac...

Arc II, Chapter 44: Time to Wait

Days passed while we waited at the hotel suite that had once been Jed Geist’s home.

Kurt Willis, the GI Paragon, had told my friends to wait a couple of weeks or so before pursuing the next storyline.

Weeks.

That didn’t match up with what I knew about the Tutorial at all—n...

What would you like to see next?

The Tutorial will soon be done, and the world will start opening back up. I know two of the stories that will be featured in the next book after the Tutorial, but I was wondering what kind of stuff you might want to see. It can be anything from a genre to a trope type. Just leave it in the commen...

Arc II, Chapter 43: The Prescription

The needle on the Plot Cycle was nearly to The End. I thought about crawling toward Isaac, but then I thought better of it. His Dead indicator was blinking longer and longer. He was unconscious. The only thing that approaching him might do was wake him up. That would only cause him to suffer.

Arc II, Chapter 42: Medical History

“You asked about Simon Halle,” he said. “How do you know that name?”

I had asked. He had not answered me at the time. I suspected that the script had been the reason. Now, both of us Written Off in a dark tunnel, the script didn’t appear to be stopping him.

“I met him a fe...

Arc II, Chapter 41: Stairway Death Scene (unedited)

Lillian Geist closed the distance across the office toward Halle in a matter of seconds. They had the same Plot Armor, but I had to imagine that hers was more geared toward melee than Halle’s.

“You did this to me!” she screamed. “Tell me why!”

She grabbed him and quickly thr...

Arc II, Chapter 40: The Beauty Queen

Here it was, the villain monologue. I had seen them before but never like this.

But this time, something was different. We were not consistently On-Screen as she spoke, and more than that, it felt like her speech was not happening in the moment despite the words coming from Lillian’s mout...

Arc II, Chapter 39: The Unveiling

We moved as quickly toward the hospital as we possibly could. Isaac was slowing us down. He was bleeding out. Unfortunately because of his sedation and the tropes that he had equipped it was nearly impossible to tell exactly how close he was to death.

A few times I actually thought he had d...

Checking in.

The book's launch has fried my brain a bit so I haven't gotten the chapters out in a timely manner. I apologize.

The current storyline will be finished by the end of the weekend and then you'll finally get to see what's in store for Riley and the gang. Now that I have some runway in front o...

Book One is Live!

The Game at Carousel Book One: The Bystander is live on Amazon. If you want the print version or audiobook, those are both available too. If you do get the book...

Arc II, Chapter 38: The Frog Trap (unedited)

“What are our characters’ motivations?” Kimberly asked.

“Good question,” I said.

I thought for a moment. There were countless movies where things like motivations were dropped leading to the conclusion of the story. By that point, the audience is usually invested enough to n...

Arc II, Chapter 37: Escape the Fray

“Everyone grab a scalpel,” Antoine suggested. He dumped the contents of a drawer that had been filled with the little metal surgical implements wrapped in protective wax paper onto a cold metal table.  “I have a feeling we’re going to need something sharp soon.”

A cackle came...

Arc II, Chapter 36: Cecilia

For a while, it was just me and Cecilia On-Screen. She talked in circles. At first, I thought she was just redoing lines to get a better take for Carousel, but then I started to suspect that she was lacking some of her higher faculties.

“When Howard fixes me, I think I will run for Miss C...

Arc II, Chapter 35: Out of Hand

“You may need that gadget after all because there is no way in hell I’m swallowing that thing,” I said, I said, staring at the wiggling tadpole.

Dr. Halle was none too pleased. He didn’t grab for the bolus gun. Instead, he grabbed a tool from the table that a demented dentist might ...

Arc II, Chapter 34: The Doctor's Visit

I carefully scanned the area ahead, making sure to keep the mental image of Isaac in my mind so that I could see which way he was being taken.

A flood of self-doubt and shame moved over me as I began contemplating how my plan had failed that badly. Was it Cassie’s Foreboding Signs...