$Marvellous Hairy - a novel in five fractals - - MarvellousHairy 09$

MarvellousHairy 09

09/30/09 • 16 min

Marvellous Hairy - a novel in five fractals -

Win a copy of Marvellous Hairy, or a role in my next novel. Contest runs until Oct. 16th, 2009: details here.Episode Nine — Part Three (Chapters four to eight): This slightly shorter episode is all about being shaken down, stood up, and freaked out. In chapter four, Seedy and Spider put their kidnapping plan in to action, causing Hippolyta to be both amused and terrified. Ariadne stands up Shute, and we discover that he’s even colder than we thought. Erma isn’t exactly stood up by Nick, but she sure is worried about him, as she should be. We end with another update to Nick’s journal, in his Titania3000.

An excerpt from his journal:

Friends are so lovely. You feel safer around them. I like their smells, even the disgusting ones. You know they’re safe, not like the strange smells outside. The scary smells of all those throngs of people walking and laughing and hurting one another in the world. So many of them. I am so itchy. My body seems to be covered in tiny dark hairs, darker than normal.

I need to work on the opus, but is gettttting ssso hard to type. It’ssss like IIIII can’tttt ccccontroll the pressssurreee with my fingerssssss.

Itch.

Scratch.

I could rrrrreally goooo forrrr a bananananananan smoo-oo-oothy —

An excerpt from his journal:

I need to work on the opus, but is gettttting ssso hard to type. It’ssss like IIIII can’tttt ccccontroll the pressssurreee with my fingerssssss.

Itch.

Scratch.

I could rrrrreally goooo forrrr a bananananananan smoo-oo-oothy —

Previous Episode

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Episode Eight — Part Three (Chapter four): In this episode we gather for a nice evening out, with Rob, Nick and Max. The good news is that Rob happens to run into Ariadne at the pub. The bad news is that Max drops acid, gets “the Sauce” and has a meaningful experience with a cactus. Oh, and Nick is pretty weird too. But Rob is definitely falling for Ariadne.

An excerpt:

Meanwhile Max came out of his bedroom, dressed in some running shorts and a singlet. His green eyes looked scary, the pupils tiny despite the duskiness of the room. Nick calmed down again, and Max poured himself a scotch. He sat down, and immediately said, “Holy shit. Look at the fucking cactus!”

“What about the cactus?” I asked.

“I mean, look at it. How can you miss it?”

Nick sensed Max’s fascination, and he started staring at it too. It was like they weren’t there, and Ariadne and I started talking.

“Do they do this often?”

“Hardly ever. Nick especially. I have to say, I’m really surprised. Tundra is a freak. He probably does this more than he should, but I’m not usually with him when he does, so I couldn’t tell you how frequently.”

“It’s nice that you look out for your friends.”

“Ah, I’ll tease them mercilessly tomorrow. And for the foreseeable future.”

“Yeah, but you know.” She slid closer to me on the couch.

Next Episode

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Part Four (Chapters one and two): Determined to save Ariadne and Nick, Rob goes to Gargantuan the next day, but he is unable to get past the (potty-mouthed) guard at the elevator. Meanwhile, Shute springs a hell of a question on Helena, but allows her to talk to Larry the Letch, who is the lead researcher turning Nick into a monkey.

An excerpt from chapter one, as Rob tries to visit Helena, and is prevented by the security guard:

“That’s not a valid ID, sir,” he said. His voice had a little more of an edge to it now, as though he was saying to me, “I may be a security guard, but I’m not an idiot.” I didn’t think he was an idiot. Really. I would never assume that about someone just because of their job. “What is your business on the upper floors, sir.”

He kept saying “sir” like it was some kind of insult, I mean, I’m sure he was saying “sir” but the subtext was all different. Actually, what I heard was different. So while he said, “What is your business on the upper floors, sir,” what I heard was, “What is your business on the upper floors, you lying sack of shit.”

It kind of threw me.