So, I talked about the Monkey House, and said that that isn't it. The house itself is more the classic haunted house. Rundown falling apart old house, near the ocean, a place kids go on dares.
One of the other big influences was actual Stephen King's "Salem's Lot". The book was pretty good, for a vampire book. I enjoyed it a lot more before they really revealed the vampires, and the characters just knew there was something going on at a house much like this one, the Marston House.
An apology, about the song. It's happened before, where it only plays the thrity second clip, and you have to go to the sight to listen, and more likely than not, sign up. Not that I;m against signing up for Imeem, it's a pretty awesome site, and I'm not complaining about the service. But since Ben pointed out the first few times it has happened, I always check. So when I saw it yesterday, I tried to see if there was another version of the song, but of course, there wasn't. I briefly considered using a different song, but I wanted to use that one, not only because it was fitting, but because I was listening to a lot of Cake when I first discovered "The Monkey House". Not the actual house, but the story.
Music plays a big part in what I do, and most of my stories have a general theme, or even a soundtrack. Most songs actually have a specific seen. That song, "Palm of Your Hand", is huge, for both the story itself, and the protagonist. But I'm getting ahead of myself, I'll get back to him.
The story itself stems from mainly the feeling of that house, combined with my fixation with both water and other worlds and dimensions. The house is actually a portal of sorts, or really, it houses the door, a stained glass window that looks into the She'ar, a world between worlds, a wasteland that separates one dimension from every other.
The She'ar, and all other dimensions, and what can generally be termed as existence, and the Kaleidoscope, they aren't so important to this story. "The Monkey House" is basically an introduction to this concept, a stepping stone for more important stories.
Anyways, the basic premise is, as a boy visiting his cousins in South Carolina, on a dare, he goes into the house and upstairs, where he finds a stained glass window of a great red, four eyed snake wrapped around a sword. That part right there, I hadn't realized until now what the stained glass window was of, but of course, it makes sense now. I'm going to have to reign this post in soon, as I just got really excited. I have much work to do.
Anyways, I was talking about Cake, and mentioned the protagonist. Matthew Burke, who annoys me now because Matthew is the name of another character from another story. They might have at one point been the same character, though they're quote different now, but anyways, it's too late to change their names now. they are who they are, and so far as I know, they never meet.
That aside, Matthew is, well, I don't really like him. He is a good portion of the problem I had with my parents back in high school. Most if not all my characters suffer, and there is a part of me that idolizes that. What they gain from that experience, I want that, and for a time, I hated my life because it didn't suck. I dragged a lot of Matthews problems into my real life, and well, even now, having got past that, I can't help but say that it was wonderful. To hate that much, to be that bitter, I'm getting chills now.
I've managed to separate myself from Matthew a lot. As I said, I don't really like him all that much. Later, he redeems himself a little, but never one of my favorites, Mattie Burke.
Anyways, while in that house, he finds that window. The window is broken, and he can't help but to touch it, impaling his right hand on the broken shard. A small sliver is embedded in his hand.
The shard lays dormant in his hand for eleven years, while his life goes to hell in New Jersey. Finally, with nothing left, but only an instinctual impulse to go back to South Carolina, one of his last memories before his mother died. He hitchhikes down to that small town near the coast, full of southern hospitality, hicks, and of course, the Monkey House.
Close proximity to the rest of the window awakens the portal, allowing beings from the She'ar to come through the window, and also, giving Matthew strange powers through the shard embedded in his hand.
The portals power in Matthew's world is linked to air pressure, and as the air pressure drops as it does before a storm. beings for which I have no name for are able to pass through the window, but in this world, they need a form to inhabit. They generally possess animals living around the Monkey House, more powerful beings being able to dominate larger and larger animals. This possession also mutilates the host, it's body unable to contain the being possessing it. The first thing Matthew encounters as he's drawn to the Monkey House is a giant frog. Matthew of course kills it, and then, while trying to figure out what is going on and his place in all of it and the power flowing through the palm of his hand, he sets up guard around the house, stopping whatever comes out of the house. He eventually figures out the air pressure thing, and that adds the deadline of hurricane season.
As I said earlier, the music of Cake was a big inspiration. Of course, there is "Palm of Your Hand", having to do both with Matthew eventually having to destroy the house, as well as the shard stuck in the palm of his hand. Another one, the accompanying track for this blost, "Frank Sinatra" was big. Also, "Guitar Man" had a lot to do with a character introduced later, as well as a little with Matthew. "No Phone", as phone booths later have a lot to do with things.
I'll continue to blost about this. I haven't revisited this story and awhile, and it's doing me some good. I'll probably break it up a bit, hit you with some other going on first, not that I ever have any.
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