agent needed
Posted in flea market of vanity on January 30th, 2008Dear Agent X,
I am Rafael Pyton and you are a darling to be pleased to meet me – despite my lack of previous publication history.
Briefly, autobiographically; the good ol’ MA in International Relations in 2001 from a rather decent university in London, after which I proceeded with did the white collar thing in various countries for some years that seemed long. A horrific motorcycle accident of near-fictional proportions gave me the chance to return to my first and best lust – embracing the word. Ten surgeries later, I proved the docs wrong by learning to walk again – more than that, writing, writing like the water falls.
But you want to hear about The Interzone, three sample chapters of which you will find enclosed. Commercial fiction above all, The Interzone is the FIRST part of an epic adventure TRILOGY.
One might also describe it as a study of anthropology with an element of fantasy. Personally, I’d call it pop art, should the term not make me blush so badly.
Written for the young-at-heart, The Interzone is fresh, outrageously quirky, certainly not without considerable sales potential – read re-ve-nue, for me and you. Such a stout assumption is based on the jolly-warm glory of the story, the über-exuberant language, and the three unique main characters who travel the wondrous/dangerous land in desperate search of, well, one William S. Burroughs.
Amply unorthodox to capture the public’s imagination, addictively curious to keep them reading – and waiting for the next part – The Interzone is a different kind of yarn, yet loaded with the classical ingredients of nail-biting drama, the echo of laughter, and the salt of tear.
It has soul.
*Illumination / SYNOPSIS*:
The Interzone is a place whose existence no one can confirm – nor refute – but also a miniature model of the contemporary society and psyche of random people reborn. In other words, when we die, a tiny and indiscriminate fraction of us are ‘derailed’, ending up in the Interzone – the land in the shade – due to an impossible irregularity in the system.
This is where we find the first-person narrator, young delusional writer Andy Rafalski – sarcastic shit, friendly wit – without a clue to as why the funk he turns up where he least expects it. It soon transpires that he has arrived in the Interzone for a reason – one he most definitely can not fathom himself.
He has been selected to find William S. Burroughs, who holds information vital to the very existence of the land in the shade. Or so Virgil says…
Virgil, First Guide of Interzone, welcomes Andy to the Interzone. Virgil, whose ancestor may or may not have guided Dante around, is a giant of a middle-aged man with a healthy appetite for everything edible, never afraid to throw a fist or sing a loud song. The First Guide seems a simple man with simple pleasures, but carries secrets and packs a complex intellect, not to mention a large machete in one of his foul-smelling boots.
Their first journey together – to find shelter for the night – is a premonition of things to come. They barely escape a vicious flying squirrel…
Later that night, Virgil spills many of his beans, and a fully flabbergasted Andy learns more about the mission at hand. To add to mystery, there is the perpetual spectre of The Judge – a someone in charge of the Interzone, a someone at the end of the red thread.
[*OBS: The Judge is the twisting key to the plot – but the purpose-built trickle of info tidbit will and could ever only unravel in Interzone III.*]
Finally, the poor and confused Andy accepts his part – after all, finding beatnik Burroughs is his only way to return to original life. Thus, the epic journey beckons.
Clueless as to where to start, they head to Poet Village – a semi-closed society where speaking in verse is the only accepted norm of communication. Against all odds, in peculiar circumstance, they find a lead on Old Bull Burroughs. More than that, two becomes three, when young poet Ondine joins the team.
Ondine, youngest and fairest of the three, longs for a life more extraordinary, and in possession of important facts due to a brief encounter with Burroughs, begs and blackmails Andy & Virgil to bring him along. Reluctantly, they do so – in truth, he does seem like a lucky chap.
The shortest route to Burroughs’ alleged whereabouts goes through the insanely inhospitable Desert Without Name – and so does the trio. It turns out to be a bad choice; death comes calling not once nor twice but thrice. By the skin of teeth and a very special recipe, they manage to claw their way out of the desert. And over a tall mountain. And across a deep mine. Inhabited by uncanny mining people.
Before finally reaching Queens, where they believe they will find the beatnik. Queens is another community with a kick – a purely homosexual town. Despite Virgil’s rampant homophobia, they enter and mingle, quickly gaining entrance to the shallow high society of Queens. Sadly, no one seems to know anything about Old Bull, until, on the verge of desperation, new leads see the light of day – in a beauty spa, of all places.
Invigorated, the three heroes set their sights on Karis, the capitol of the Interzone. On the way, Virgil lets know that their course steers close to outlaw territory controlled by feminists. Keeping in mind that something of a revolution might be in making, they try to sneak past. No! A trap springs, and they fall in the clutches of militant feminists. To their horror, they note that the rumored feminist manifesto has seized to be – the angry women facing them want little of so-called separated existence. They just want to see them die.
From the bottom of a deep hole, amidst terrible anxiety, they perform a daring escape, and run, run, run for the sake of life until no one gives chase any longer.
By accident, Andy gains personal knowledge to one of Virgil’s darker secrets. Apparently, the infuriating mystery called the Judge has ordered the First Guide to kill the beatnik. Virgil has a heart the size of his belly, and Andy, understanding his torment, wows to himself to stand by his big friend – but to stop him from killing Burroughs.
Karis, Virgil’s hometown, is the only ‘real city’ in Interzone; skyscrapers and poverty abound. They seek the help of one of the First Guide’s personal friends – King Yassassin, the fake king – to be able to locate Old Bull. Unfortunately, Andy happens to look too closely at the wicked Queen Roquefort, and is promptly thrown into the dungeons. Luckily, scenes are not as they first seem.
They find out that William S. Burroughs now resides at Utopsy, an island in The Silent Sea. The very next day they acquire an old fishing boat and set sail from the Karis marina under the command of Virgil, an experienced sea-farer. The wind is not on their side, as thirteen days pass by out at sea without a whiff of breeze. Friendship is put to the test.
Later, Interzone evolution rears its ugly head again, this time in form of fish; when Andy drags bait after the boat, a huge red marlin bites. In the ensuing battle, young poet Ondine comes to the rescue, saving everyone.
In night-sight of the island Utopsy, tragedy strikes; dancing and singing, the hero-trio celebrates their passage, when a rather overgrown humpback anglerfish rises from the depths to attack the boat. Andy & Virgil manage to harpoon it, but the dying sea-devil’s filament wraps around Ondine’s leg, dragging him into dark waters, disappearing.
It is a bitter blow to Andy & Virgil, who have both come to regard Ondine as their little brother. Drifting onto a sandbank, they mourn for days.
The trail is picked up in Utopsy, a sleepy hippie institution. Eventually, the back of the man believed to be Burroughs is in front of them. Virgil raises his machete to kill the beatnik. Overcome with big thought, Andy does not notice, moves to announce presence.
The story continues in Interzone II.
