Posted: April 25, 2009

Kimberly Gray-Davis
2985 Sweet Home Rd.
Amherst, NY 14228

Lakeisha Morris
3459 Otter Drive
Atlanta, GA 30130

Hey Keisha;

Just checkin in on you girl. I hate to keep bringing this up, but... That's a lie, no I don't. You need to get e-mail now! Drop whatever you doing, stop reading this, and go to Google or Yahoo or something, and get you an account. Just do it! The letters gonna be there when you get back.

But I know you won't. You are so stubborn, I swear! Listen, you don't even need a computer. You got that iPhone Darrell bought you in your purse, I know it. Just pull it out and use it.

No, it doesn't cost anything, and no, you WILL NOT stop getting mail from the post office!

Seriously... You need to do that because, if collections gets bad, and you need another job, they gonna expect that they can get back to you, on the email account you don't have. Okay? Just put that address you get in your next letter and I'll use that.

Anyways, like I said, checkin in.

It looks like me and Rob's gonna make it out here. He got his third property now, another duplex, and we got some college kids on one side, and this couple on the other. We do have to get on the boys sometimes, about the noise, but other than that? They pay they rent, they clean, and they ain't on that stuff, you know what I'm saying? They ain't on it.

Speakin a kids, Sammy's five. And I'll be forty-five before he turns six. Girl, I know Marquita was a pain, but you don't understand, okay? No way does your girl compare to this.

He's hyper all day, every day. He don't sit still not one moment, and if you let his hand go in the mall, you'll be yelling and screaming, and runnin the hundred yard dash tryin to get him. If there's any little bike anywhere, he's on it, even if it ain't paid for, and he go so doggone fast it gives me a heart attack. So I grab him offa this, and offa that, and then he's twirling around like a hoola hoop, and swinging his bear.

Once me and Rob took him to Target. We thought we was smart, by taking that bear away, but that wasn't enough. His dad let him loose in the toy aisle, and he got that light sword thing, from Star Trek or whatever. Now right away, I don't want him with that, but no, Rob likes it. He thinks that, cause it's styrofoam, the boy can't hurt anything.

Yeah right. I was looking at this one set for Christmas. It was like, little porcelain gingerbread houses and snowmen and things like that. Well, Sammy decided he was gonna twirl again, and before we could stop him, everything went flying off the shelf. So I got out the way, y'know?

You know how I do it. But Rob? You know how big my husband is, right? You know how I can't get him nothing, less it's from 'Big and Tall' right? Well, this negro is Neo in the Matrix! Girl... I'm tellin you. I never, never seen no one bend back like that.

But yeah.... Sam? Little Sammy is no joke, I'm telling you right now.

Another thing is, he wants to pitch a fit in the barber seat. Every time. It got so bad his grand dad won't cut him no more. I talked to Rob, and he's like, "Forget it, just let it grow".

I said, "What do you mean, forget it? We can't not cut his hair!"

But that was it. He was done, and I knew he was done. So here I am, on break after a half hour session of whining and crying, while I tried to twist up my son's huge afro. He doesn't like it, and it's not worth the effort, cause I don't want him to look like no girl. I don't know how dreads are supposed to grow, but we're gonna find out, 'cause I can't think of nothing else.

Alright, Daddy's home, so I'm sealing this up. Bye Keish. Get that email, Keish! If you.don't, I'm coming down to Georgia and tanning that behind. I'm serious.

Fwd: Deterra's "History of The Anomaly"

From; "Evelyn Summers", <eve.summers@aed.whitehouse.gov>                                                

To: "Bill Garrett, PhD", <gw.garrett@sos.research.com.>                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Mar16

        1:35 pm 

Hey, Bill;

The following transcript is from an attachment that was sent via email, to Laughton University Online. The piece was generously provided, by Professor Stanley Ulbricht, from their history department. Now, before you say anything, I know this isn't an example of Computer Science. I offer it only to illustrate, Ms. Lacroix-Deterra's maturity, and her mastery of the facts. I'll remind you again, that Digit (that's what they call her) is a fifteen year-old grad student, that completed her college curriculum a year ago. I see no reason, why someone of her talents, wouldn't be of at least some use, to you and your crew.

I'm not suggesting that you take her aboard. (I understand that two children may be one too many) I just think that, as a consultant, she could assist with S.O.S. security issues, and that her expertise may come in handy against hacks, or any web-based threats.

We will meet and discuss at the usual time. The 'Concerns and POI' document, will be passed on then as well.

-Eve.

Evelyn Summers
Managing Director
Anomaly and Extraterrestrial affairs Department Washington, DC

---------------------------------------------------Forwarded Message------------------------------------
From: <stan-ulbricht@laughtonU.net>
Date: Mar 5, 2014 12:03 pm
Subject: Deterra's "History of the Anomaly"
To: <eve.summers@aed.whitehouse.gov>

-Text copy of attachment (essay assignment) -Stan.

            

            History of The Anomaly 

                 

            by Gina Lacroix-Deterra

           12/28/13

In order to get Anomalies, and to see that whole picture clearly, you have to get their connections to the alien races. So basically, the start of the Anomaly dates back to prehistory, and the Egyptians. Extraterrestrials ran that civilization for years, and after their deaths, pharoahs that claimed to be connected to them, ruled uncontested. It's pretty well now known, that their subjects had mistaken the aliens, for gods.

Thousands of years later, the Norse made the same mistake. But by that time, the race we call 'The Lenix' had command; and their shapeshifting gifts, made their deification by the people, more understandable. After the deaths of Freyr and Baldr, and finally Odin, alien rule of human life ended, and we started to think after a while, that we were the only intelligent life forms around. Then, in 1857, we got corrected again.

Twenty-four shots, from Mars hit the Earth, that year. What landed, turned out to be canisters full of 'Chennki', another race of aliens. The Martians were advanced enough, at that time that, they could've easily become our conquerors for good. Luckily though, a few of us had come down with the flu, and that virus destroyed the invaders, before we even had a chance to rebel.

We wound up dodging slavery again, near the end of World War II. When the Axis powers were losing fast, Hitler and Co. got some major help from the 'Emorlon', a race of energy beings. These Emorlon like to walk around, in hollow bodies, pretending to be us, but the vast majority of them hate our guts. Historians think that their plans, even today, are to use racial and religious differences, to divide and conquer humanity.

Back then, two things got in the way. One was the result of 'The Chennki Strike', or the Martian invasion. The 'red weed' they left, most of it died like they did, but some of that plant was saved, and looked at, and studied. Geneticists found, that they could use the plant properties to tinker with DNA, and come up with all sorts of stuff. While messing with plant, and animal and human genes, scientists created, what would be called, the first Anomalies.

According to the Stern-Workman dictionary, an anomaly (definition 4a) is, "a physical being, often humanoid, whose abilities and/or existence, defies evolution by natural selection". The group that defied the Axis, the 'Super-Americans', had two such people: Venture, and Liberty Jane. Despite this, the Super-Americans would not have been able to defeat the Emorlons, if it wasn't for the help of yet another alien, a Lenix called 'The Matriarch'. With her help, the Allied forces were able to defeat the Axis, and banish the hordes of Emorlons, from the globe.

Today, we are no longer under the threat, of alien imperialism. But constant contact with other life forms, has changed the course of humanity. Approximately 0.00001% of the earth's population, are registered Anomalies, and some of their powers not only defy evolution, but science itself.

Some Anomalies are "test tube babies". These are descendants of the "Red Weed Project", of the 1930s. Some people come into contact with alien artifacts, in Egypt or Norway or Sweden, and they become Anomalies, as a result. Others are a mix of races, when alien/human offspring beat the odds, and become viable.

Whatever the case, there are two basic types of Anomalies. Type 1 is the "Hero class", a generally benevolent group of vigilantes. Type 2 are "Rogues", that want to serve their gangs, or just themselves. Whether Type 1 or 2, Anomalies are both loved, and hated by the general public. They are also responsible for 65%, of the major property damage cases, in the United States.

Author's Notes #1

Road 2 "Smash n' Crash": Author's Notes #1

I have two young nephews, named Miles and Mason. Years ago, while talking to my brother-in-law, over the phone, he called them "Smash and Crash", in a moment of comedic genius... As you can imagine, hyperactive kids at play can be an insurance claim, waiting to happen. Anyway, I got a real kick out of that, and those words stayed with me.

One of my greatest strengths as an author, is my overactive imagination. What my brain does most often, is process names, facts, personalities and other info, to create character concepts. Over the years, I've thought up dozens of these concepts, what I call 'character skeletons', and "Smash n' Crash" is one of them. I have general ideas, regarding how the characters look and behave, but I haven't, up to this point, ironed out any fine details.

Briefly, I want to go over what I initially came up with. I decided that the names referred to two boys, that were best friends. One of them,  named Christopher "Crash" Riley, was going to be Caucasian. The other, Samuel "Smash" Davis, was the black kid. One of the many things they have in common, is that both of them hate barbers; so that means, that Sam's clean-and-cut dreadlocks are matched somewhat, by Chris's long, light brown hair.

Originally, "Smash & Crash" was going to be a cartoon strip. Along with the expected humor, was the idea that the boys were daredevils. So, not only were they likely to break things, they were also wanna-be stuntmen, and that made the nicknames perfect. I ran into one problem, however; I didn't have much interest in writing that type of comedy.

As it stood, it was just too thin. A concept like that'd be amusing for a few strips, or maybe even half of a book, but it's a one-trick pony, that'd get stale quickly. For a while, I couldn't think of a way to make it more interesting. Then I remembered, that I was also working on concepts, for a superhero universe. So, I briefly considered, joining the two ideas together.

And that was it. I found it... Instead of super powers, the boys were going to be able to drive custom buggys, and motorbikes with weapons, against the bad guys. This adds 'stunt drivers', to their list of titles, and it adds action to the humor, which is closer to my interests. Plus, kids wanna drive; if you're eleven or twelve, a concept like this is the ultimate fantasy.

This blog, is going to feature the process involved, in turning the "Smash n' Crash" character concepts, into an 'Intellectual Property'. Not all of the 'nuts and bolts' work, is going to be dumped here. However, you will see art, you will see pieces of background writing and world-building, and I'll be able to tell smaller stories, that will fit together like puzzle pieces. At the end of it, you'll not only have a full understanding of the property, you'll have the knowledge required to repeat the process, in order to fully develop stories of your own.

"Smash n' Crash" is being designed, as a fully-planned webcomic. For an example of unplanned fiction, please read my free ebook/blog, at nohonorfiction.blogspot.com (mature audiences only). Even more work from me, as an author, can be enjoyed at baseals.blogspot.com. That blog is a list of essays, called "Classic Movie Trailers"; they use YouTube links to theatrical trailers, and old movies as a springboard, so that I can write opinions regarding a wide range of topics.

If you enjoy my content, please follow me on Blogger and Twitter (I'm @ChannelSeals). With Twitter, you'll be up to date immediately, whenever I produce something. Also, please share my links with a friend! Remember: the bigger my audience is, the more time I can devote to entertaining you; and that's what I love doing.

-Brian Anthony Seals
@ChannelSeals
b.a.seals01@gmail.com

road2smashncrash.blogspot.com