Darkness & Stars - the story so far

I'm in a relatively good mood. So here I am, making use of my time in posting the drafts of the first 20 chapters of Darkness & Stars. They're in ZIP format, so you'll have to unzip first. Also, they're just in the draft stages. Once the story is done, I'll put up the master document, which is the one that's getting all the editing and polish as the story goes along, when the whole thing is done.

That'll take a long, long while.

The Download Link

Enjoy.

So, what's this all about?

Well, this is your pretty standard "boy meets girl" story, except the characters have personalities that are about as odd as can possibly be made.

The main narrator, who has a real name that is never revealed, is probably the least likely ladies' man in the world. He's nihilistic, lazy, seems to have a variety of personality disorders, and is just this side of being locked up in an institution. To top it all off, there's a very good chance that none of the things he's narrating are real, though there's an equally good chance that he's perfectly sane and the whole story actually did happen.

The main female character, Cecilia, is a cold, calculating shrew. She's a conniving witch in the vein of Lady Macbeth, though she's far less...malignant in how she manifests her desires. Yet, she has a sweet, tender side that the main character brings out of her. She's highly aristocratic in her behavior, with a clear psychological need to dominate the people around her. 'Dominate' in the non-sexual sense, mind you.

The other main female, Mint, is your standard hyper-active girl with boundless energy and a lot of spunk. However, she's probably just as crazy as her sister is, though she clearly has a very different set of issues. She's interested to the point of morbid obsession with the guy, even though he's her sister's boyfriend. She's nearly brutally honest about her feelings, not to mention having what appears to be a knack for predicting how other people will feel about her.

Factor in that this story virtually has no other male dramatis personae, the shady nature of the girls' family's business, the complications of the guy's two friends (both female) and past relationships, and the inevitable chaos of two sisters fighting over the same guy. For some reason, I couldn't help but let slips of philosophy and political theory worm their way into the narrative, with some of the conversations echoing my own internal arguments exactly.

This story, Darkness & Stars, is not for everyone. Indeed, there are elements of this story that are bound to offend someone out there. Hell, I'd be offended if it didn't offend anyone! Still, this story is the one I'd finish even if it killed me. So here it is, not quite ready to be torn apart by the people of the Net, but there anyway.