So I Wanna' Be A Paperback Writer...

A while ago and idea struck me that I realized was not a bad plot for a novel. Now, I'm not going to reveal all here, but I wrote up a quick one page intro/first page, and felt like posting. So here you go, a quite taste of it all:


John Claymore awoke as the bright sunlight glinted through his window. He saw that the clouds from the day before had broken. He yawned and let out a long sigh. ‘What had happened last night?’ John thought to himself. He remembered nothing at all. John sat up on the side of his king sized bed and looked out the window again. The town of Denver looked small from his apartment on the thirtieth floor. Just as he got up he caught a small whiff of his breath. He coughed and realized that it must have been quite a night. John got up and walked to the shower, turned it on, and looked back at the message machine. It was flashing red. He trudged over and pushed the play button.

“Claymore? Where are you? I told you to come in today. Look, I know you don’t like to work weekends, but we need you to file those reports on the Africa findings. That really must have been quite the adventure; you know once when I went to Africa…” Claymore sighed, that man could drone on for ages. He cut off the message and deleted it. John hopped in the now warm shower and lost himself in thought.

After his brisk shower, Claymore made himself a bowl of oatmeal and read the paper. The ever more liberal editor was beginning to annoy John. Realizing that he probably should go into work, Claymore quickly tore out the crossword and grabbed his keys. He never noticed the blinking red icon on his laptop, Claymore had mail.

The parking complex looked the same as it always did. Cars parked where they should be, Mrs. Johnstone’s large Yukon SUV took up her usual spot and a half. Her neighbor, Craig Phillips, didn’t mind though, his small Grand Am fit nicely. Claymore walked quickly to his spot in the back corner. He didn’t really mind that he got the worst parking space. He was given by far the largest and best furnished apartment in the building. Besides, he didn’t mind walking the distance to his car, he liked a bit of exercise. Claymore arrived at his car, already unlocked by the keyless entry; he opened the door to his Audi A6. The big engine roared to life and Claymore backed cautiously out of the space. Waving a quick “hello” to Craig, Claymore sped quickly out of the complex and on to Blake Street. There were not many cars on the road this time on a Saturday, so Claymore made excellent time. He parked outside the lavish building. Thinking that he wouldn’t be there long, Claymore put about an hour’s worth of coins into the meter. He walked into the lobby and flashed his ID badge on the scanner. After quickly returning it into his back pocket, Claymore hurried to the elevator. He really did have better things to do this morning.

The express elevator seemed to crawl up the sixty stories of the sleek Rhinehart building. Built just three years prior, the lower levels of the building were occupied by the Rhinehart engineering corporation. The top two floors were bought from the company for a hefty price, but they were perfect for the research that went on inside. Claymore was almost lulled to sleep from the background noise of the elevator. Thankfully, the Rolling Stones were playing softly on the speakers, and John hummed along with the song to keep himself occupied. The doors opened and Claymore was greeted to not only a fully lit office, but the entire staff had been called in...

Heh heh, not exactly Nobel Prize, but hey, it's a start.