Think High Fidelity meets Cloud Atlas.
Here’s a peek at the work in progress I’ve been workshopping and working on since September 2010. Here’s a thumbnail of the story, below is a longer treatment.
Illuminated Fools
Two young men a century apart are contacted by “The Adept,” a discarnate being who claims to have a message for humanity. Daniel Peachfoot, in present day Phoenix, doesn’t understand what is happening until he discovers a mysterious book from 1912 chronicling Josiah Salt’s experiences with an entity known as “Phylos Simeon,” and how Josiah was made the conduit for bringing Phylos’ esoteric teachings to light.
Josiah’s journey from farm boy to mystic and the contents of the book he scribes for Phylos helps Daniel reconcile his fears about being chosen for similar work. As the two men’s lives intertwine the question remains: who or what is Phylos and what are his intentions with Daniel?
It’s your world, with weird sprinkled on top.
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James Sallis and all the good people in his novel writing class have been very helpful in my transition from writing mostly short pieces – primarily poetry – to working on a novel. Nearly every page has been through his workshop and revised based on student feedback and Jim’s amazing critiques / edits.
Here’s a longer treatment of the two story lines.
Illuminated Fools has two main plot lines, both set in Arizona, one in modern day and a sub-plot in 1910. There is a third element to the book consisting of small islands of texts that seem to exist outside of the world of the novel.
The main narrative is the story of Daniel Peachfoot, a disaffected musician working in his family’s record store. He is burned out and stuck in a rut, flirting with a breakdown. He’s going through the motions of another shift when he blacks out and wakes up in the backroom of the store having penned a strange allegorical story he has no memory of composing, written in a hand other than his own.
There is no explanation and he experiences many unsettling sensory difficulties for the rest of the day, including being physically ill, passing out in the bathroom, loosing time and generally feeling like he is operating in a replica of his real world. He’s very distressed by the events and sensory weirdness, only wishes to get through the day and relax with whatever mood enhancers he can find.
In the course of the shift we meet The Boss, Bill Parks and Monday, a part time employee with a special body modification in his forehead. We also see a homeless man called the Toilet Priest who holds forth to empty space. Interspersed with the day-to-day reality of the store are fugue islands of narration that stand in contrast to the standard narration for their other-ness. There are several of these, starting with the story Daniel seems to have created while unconscious. Very different settings and points of view not yet explained.
Chapter six introduces the “Monument Valley” story-line. The chapters comprise the introduction to a book Daniel finds in the primary narrative. In this long introduction the book’s author Josiah Salt explains that he did not write the book in question, that it was dictated to him by an entity that spoke to him directly and delivered the content to him.
These chapters focus on the author Josiah’s experiences leading up to the composition of the book, before he accepts the “adept,”which Josiah claims is the actual author, before he accepts his role and functions as the adept’s vessel for writing the book. It also explains that once he accepts his role as the receiver he starts to experience extra-sensory abilities.
The “Monument Valley” chapters will alternate with chapters from the main narrative starting with chapter six, perhaps earlier. The Monument Valley plot is now five chapters long, there will likely be more, the two plot-lines may alternate chapters earlier. The two story lines may also synthesize into an entirely new narrative beast.
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Click below if interested in the nuts and bolts updates about when chapters were finished, and what I’m working on. Thanks for your interest and support for works in progress.
Cheers
jb
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Tags: Jonathan Bond, novel writing, work in progress
Illuminated Fools: a novel in progress
