A person who publishes a book willfully appears before the populace with his pants down. If it is a good book nothing can hurt him. If it is a bad book nothing can help him. –
I realized recently that because I’m working on a novel right now, I’m not really able to immediately post or share the fiction writing that I’m currently working on at this time. The problem is that I do want to share more of my actual writing with you all. I haven’t been published that much, and never in anything really reputable, so call me crazy but I suppose starting here is as good as anywhere. I did have a post a few weeks ago where I shared some of my poetry writing, which you can find here, and that was fun. So I began to think about how I could share more of my fiction writing here on my blog too. And, well, I came up with an idea.
Around four years ago I was dancing away on the floor of a live show at the famous and classic venue The Troubadour in West Hollywood with a dear friend of mine when inspiration struck me, and I conceived of a character. I knew on the spot that he would make for a great story. His name is Roland, and he makes me laugh and smile. At the time of my inspiration, I wanted to write about this guy and just follow him along on all the various adventures he may experience in his everyday life. I suppose there is nothing particularly special about Roland, and I don’t exactly have a story arc for him. He is a graphic designer and lives in Los Angeles. Soon after that concert I began writing a short story about Roland, and more recently when I started to think about how I could write more fiction for the blog, Roland’s name popped up in my head again. And so here we are.
The truth is I wasn’t really ever done with Roland when I wrote my first story about him. But other stories came into my mind’s eye, and I traveled around with other characters and ideas and ultimately landed here, where I am now, writing a novel about other characters elsewhere. But as I say, I was never actually done with Roland. There’s a lot more of life I really want to see him go through. So I’ve decided to try a little experiment here if you will. I’m going to write ongoing stories about my dear friend Roland here on the blog. I’m not going to plan it out too much (so you have been warned!) – the writing could be bad, the story may jump around and not follow in any chronological order, or maybe the story drags on and on, I don’t know! But what I do know is that I want to explore life with him on the page, and I figured that we could all travel together on this journey through Roland’s life. Beyond that I haven’t planned out too much else. I can tell you he’s a quirky, shy little guy, and I love the idea of throwing him around into all sorts of funny and wild situations.
So that’s my latest idea for sharing my fiction writing here. I figure I’ll post something new in the Roland adventures about once or maybe even twice a month. I am thinking that each post will be around 500-1,500 words so it’s not going to be too long of a read in one sitting. I don’t know though, maybe as I get going it will be more or maybe less. We shall see how this all unfolds! Please note that I don’t really intend for each post in the Adventures of Roland to be its own complete stand-alone story. Rather I’m more conceiving of this endeavor to be like the ongoing serial periodicals from the Victorian era, and I’m sure that even in that regard my efforts will be far less than satisfactory both in style and form as each post may not even connect to the others before or after it. So it’ll be an on-going process step by step, scene by scene, with essentially no real end in sight. This type of writing and approach to story telling is of course new for yours truly, so please bear with me as we venture together with our dear friend Roland. I do sincerely hope you enjoy him, and I pray that the writing and storytelling are fun, entertaining, and maybe even something close to “good” (whatever that may mean exactly).
Please, as a further side-note, I must confess that sharing my fiction publicly is perhaps the most thrilling and nerve-wracking experience I’ve felt yet. I have not the slightest anxiety sharing my non-fiction works or my poems with you wonderful people and all the wide world out there, but for whatever reason fiction feels different. Fiction feels more vulnerable, more risky. It’s an interesting and curious phenomena I must admit, and I wonder why that may be. I’m sure there are many reasons and most of them lie deep within my own heart and not so much with the genre itself. Then again, maybe there is something to fiction that just lends itself to painful paranoia and a genuine fear of being seen. There is clearly a power in publishing that is nothing at all like the power found in writing. Publishing perhaps closes the creative circle and makes the process complete. I have done my part, for whatever it may or may not be worth. Now it is your turn my friends. Also a further side-note, I’d like to admit that I have made the decision to NOT review or edit my original short story which I wrote those four years ago (truly it feels like a lifetime ago!). I say this as a caveat that if the writing seems young, wasteful, meandering, or just not very good, perhaps I may, for at least a while, be able to explain it away to gaining my sea legs on the page and cutting my teeth with the proverbial pen. Or perhaps if the writing is far better than whatever I’m doing now, then well, yikes! I mean if that’s the case, what more can I say to that! Either way I shall let my past self speak fully for himself, warts and all, and we shall venture onward together from there, again with warts and all.
Since I already have one short story written about Roland, I figured I’d begin by sharing that with you all. The total story is around 3,600 words long, so in an effort to stay consistent with the general parameters of this project, I plan to break up this short story into three posts which will come out gradually over time. I’ve even created a special page on my website that will curate all of the posts in The Adventures of Roland so you can easily find them all and follow along at your leisure. The specific page where all the Adventures are located is here at www.amusingmario.com/the-adventures-of-roland/.
Now all that being said, I do hope you enjoy The Adventures of Roland! It’ll be fun to see all of our reactions about him, the events and characters he encounters, and where this whole new project will take us! Of course please know that I love, cherish, and welcome ALL of your comments – the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful (and anything else too!) – so please feel free to share, post, and comment as liberally as you wish!!! Happy reading, and to all of us, including Roland, Bon Voyage!!
—-THE ADVENTURES OF ROLAND—-
Roland got up from his desk, not even fully clear if his legs really were carrying him off to his boss’s office. Without knocking, he opened the door, and looked at Jason. Jason was of course in mid-bite on a doughnut, looking at his computer screen, reading an email from a client that his boss was copied on. It wasn’t exactly the best moment to walk in.
Roland said, “Jason, I need to talk.”
“Hey, take a seat buddy. What’s on your mind?” Jason urged as his mouth was still full of a doughnut.
“Well…Jason…I don’t know how to say this exactly, but I think it’s time that I quit.”
Jason just stared at him for a moment. His brain wasn’t expecting such a string of words at this moment, and it took time for him to unravel them, spread them out on the table, piece them together like a puzzle and decipher them.
“Okay. Is something wrong? I don’t understand. You got an offer from Mainstay didn’t you?”
“To be honest Jason I haven’t gotten any offers. I haven’t even been looking. I think it’s just time for me to leave.”
Jason just stared at Roland. As it became clear that he wasn’t kidding around and that there was no real business acumen or logic to his decision, anger began to arise in him. “This is a joke right? You’re kidding! I mean I just put you on the new Steinman project. You’re joking here right?” Jason’s eyes were now red with pent up oxygen. It seemed like he might cry, perhaps even weep right there in front of Roland.
“I’m sorry Jason.” Roland placed the letter of resignation on his desk carefully. It slid a few inches further, gliding like a hovercraft over top the glass desk.
As he rose from the chair and began to walk out of the office it was already beginning to set in. A large anchor had just been dropped and cut off from the main ship. Now he was free sailing. Really there was no going back, and his legs, gummy as they felt at this point, carried him back to his desk. And it looked brand new to him somehow. Bright and shiny. He marveled at the keys of the keyboard. Who decided to arrange the letters in this way, he thought to himself. What genius devised that? Would we be able to type just as well in any other arrangement I wonder? The screen on his computer had a new glow, a sheen almost to it, as though it were some radiant electric alien to him. Some holy of holies, some magical luminescent. He still wasn’t exactly sure what had happened, if it had happened at all really, when his phone began to vibrate. Alice is calling. Oh great! Alice!
“Hey, honey, how are you?”
“Hey, are you all set for tonight?” In her voice there was a mix of equal parts urgency and equal parts carelessness which often belied a woman who’d probably been in a relationship too long. Of course though her phone call was founded; Roland had completely forgotten about the dinner tonight with her parents. They were visiting in town from New York, and wanted to take Alice out to dinner, and therefore that meant Roland as well. They were going to the Peninsula in Beverly Hills that evening. Roland would definitely need to iron some clothes.
Shit! “Oh yeah of course, honey. Of course I remembered.” Don’t mention the job Roland. Don’t mention the job. “Okay so I’ll meet you at the Peninsula at 7 right?”
“Yes 7 at the Peninsula. Don’t forget and don’t be late.”
“You got, A-lista. Love you honey.” Roland paused for a moment and listened for a reply, but she had already hung up. He scanned the room around him to see if anyone nearby was listening or watching him, and then casually hung up his phone as well. For a moment he stared at his computer, not really thinking of anything. Just a moment of blankness. Then he realized, Shit, I’ve got to leave early now. This of course meant another talk with Jason. His stomach already began to turn. His legs started to shake as he raised himself from his cubicle, and began making his way to Jason’s office, butterflies all over again.
“Hey, Jason.”
Jason looked from his desk with equal measures of fear and disdain now. “Well if it isn’t the man of the hour! The free man Roland!”
“Hey Jason, I haven’t taken lunch today yet, and it’s 2 pm already, and so I figured given the circumstances I’d just leave early now and head home.”
“Well of course you would old buddy! Of course you would! The free man Roland has spoken again! You can be sure to get a great recommendation from me anytime you need it old buddy!”
Roland dropped his gaze slightly to the floor. I guess that just about does it then.
As he walked out of the office, he began to feel a heavy weight on his shoulders. A weight more noticeable than ever before, and yet even still, within his onus there was a levity. Some type of a lightness that brought his chest up a bit higher. Yes, of course he was carelessly throwing himself into the wind. And of course Alice was going to tear him apart and chew him alive, and he definitely would need to be able to pay his bills somehow, and yet even still in the face of all of this he was himself. He was acting on his own. He was his own man now, albeit in some small, insignificant, perhaps even destructive way, and yet it was all his nevertheless. His insignificance and inferiority was somehow taking a blow to the kidneys. And the further he walked from Jason’s office, from his own desk, from Terry’s desk, from the front placard “CUE WEB DESIGN”, out in the small elevator, the tiles on the floor creating a large compass diamond pointing due North, all the way out onto the streets of Los Angeles, he began to feel lighter and freer like a cloud gently overlooking an easy green hill. The cars swerved past each other on the street outside, the birds perched on signs and wires above everyone, the great, blue sky beyond us all. Yes, it was all Roland’s now. Finally now! For two years, he’d been walking this path to and from work each day and not until now did the streets and buildings all around him appear to stand out before him, even speak to him. His feet walking freely now over top the sidewalk, the gritty concrete beneath everyone. His sneakers felt alive as they rubbed against his feet and his little toes. Yes, even his toes were happier now! Arriving outside his apartment building, faster than usual today no less, he pushed open the main door and felt like a god. A Herculean king! In this manner he nodded to the front deskman on duty today. Yes, hello there dear sir. We are kindred brethren, connected now more deeply than ever before. His gaze in the deskman’s direction was more than enough for the transmission, and the deskman tipped his hat in response. Up the elevator and down the narrow black and white hallway with fierce art deco architectural lines and up to his apartment – Apartment 2B. Yes, his cave dwelling. His man-home. His sanctuary and abode from all the weight and pain of this world.
Great! I can’t wait. I like the quotes here.
Thanks!! Me too! 🙂