The Emphasis of Inkling

The Emphasis of Inkling is a collaborative story that traces its origins to a series of amusing emails sent back and forth among the authors some time back in 1999 or so. Well the authors found it amusing anyway.

I’m using this blog to organize the story - in it you will first find a few samples of pure correspondence, gathered under the heading of Preamble. These tend more to the humorous, in a Groucho Marx meets Monty Python vein. However, one can trace subtle roots of the story in these early missives. As we move forward in time the next heading is Preparation: At this point in time we knew we were sharing a storyline. And by sharing I mean generally disregarding each other’s plot points and deliberately trying to kill off each other’s principle characters. The most Phoenix-like character of them all being one Anders Inkling who indeed traces his origins to an even murkier past in the days when Pine and Elm were considered really cool email readers. Unfortunately most of those early tales were lost to wayward disk drives and incorruptible registrars who have so often conspired to thwart the creative process. The last heading is Emphasis, and it begins with a fragment from the past. From that point forward the idea is to reinvigorate the old storyline with fresh material and to reassemble the cohort of authors responsible for the initial mess in the hopes that they will make amends for past sins by lobbing in exciting plot points, spellbinding cliffhangers, and perhaps one day even succeeding in finishing off the elusive (and evasive) Mr. Inkling once and for all.

Please note that while the early correspondence is somewhat comic, the tone changes often throughout the storyline; sometimes it is pulpy, dark, action-oriented, noiresque, operatic, basically whatever felt right at the time. This is a trend that certainly will continue and is part of the fun so don’t get all stuck-up about it. Also please note that the story is mapped onto this blog in chronological order. When you come to the front page you will see the most recent entry at the top. At some point I will set up a page that makes it easier to read the whole thing from the beginning, but for now this works better for readers who are up-to-date and for future editing.

And now a word about the authors: They are anonymous at the moment. That may change at their discretion, but all this work is in their collective copyright so no tom-foolery. Amonsgst the players are the Smartest Guy I Know, a.k.a. Boddhisatva, the Dutchess, a.k.a. the Dutchess, and yours truly your humble host and editor, the Bookwoorm, a.k.a. aw give it a rest already!