Off to the side of this blog, you may spot a gadget referring to itself as my "online resume." On it are a series of links to various works of mine. It's not complete, despite what it may tell you. I don't remember all of my works, and there are bound to be a few I don't even want to share. But in the meantime, I had may as well describe what each link actually links to.
OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING
Quite a while ago, there were these "rumours" going around that the world was gonna end on May 21st, 2011. It was some Christian in Florida or something named Harold Camping; he was saying that "Rapture" was coming at 6 PM on that day. I don't know if anyone believed him, but when the day finally came around... suffice to say, everything was fine.
On May 21st, 2011, I came up with an idea while talking with a friend of mine on AIM, a friend I call "Fentzy." She posted, as an AIM status, "GOD THE RAPTURE BURNS." I paraphrase. We wound up having a discussion about the Rapture phenomenon that was (sarcasm)totally(end sarcasm) going on around us. It was then that I came up with an idea I'm surprised not more people did: Write a journal telling of my struggles to stay alive as all the sinners of the world are cast into Hell.
So I went on Facebook, and I opened up a new note. I titled it "OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING (Cyborn B: The Decade of Rapture) Or 'How I Survived the Apocalypse.'" I began writing a journal taking place between 11:59 PM on May 20th and 6:00 PM on May 21st. It involved myself as I saw the sky turn red, cats grow into demonic spider-like beings, I made some social commentary, I fought The Rake, and I discovered a portal to another dimension. ...actually, the note featured a lot of genuinely appealing things. Like Cockroach Jesus, who is exactly as he sounds: a man-sized cockroach with the head of Jesus Christ.
The note became a surprise hit, attracting the attention of people who would normally never read my stuff, and then I realized that "Rapture" was allegedly coming at 6 PM Eastern time, which was 11 PM my time. So I decided to make a sequel note, extending fictional Jordan's journey to just after the story reached 11 PM. I really took the time to experiment with my writing, adding situations more imaginative than I thought I could do, pulling off tropes I'd only read about before, and throwing in an ending that was more comedic than religious. I was genuinely proud of my work, and the reception was more than warm.
I was going to end it there. That's when another good friend of mine, a mister Danny Finnegan, informed me that Harold Camping was restating himself. Rapture was said to only be beginning; it wouldn't fully arrive until some time in October.
I made the decision that would change my artistic future forever. I decided to extend OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING. I wasn't entirely sure where the story would go, but I was sure I wanted to keep going with it. My first thought was to expand upon the fact that The Rake was present in the first log. Why not say it's a Fearblog? So I decided to work the Fears in the story.
Note: There's a lot of story-related production information that I will not disclose here at the moment, as the plot is still ongoing and to release the information here would be giving spoilers I don't want to disclose.
Before long, I had one of the most intense and promising plots I'd ever imagined. I had a legitimate cosmic horror story on my hands. I had a topical plot, above all else. And I had a definite fanbase. I made a few more Facebook notes before realizing that, in order to make more fans, I'd have to circulate the story on other websites. So I decided to give the story its own blog. But Blogger didn't feel right, so I tried giving Tumblr a shot.
I transferred the Facebook notes into an organized Tumblr format, and then I set out to write future logs on the blog. But I still needed one thing in order for it to feel right.
I put on my slendercoat, my trilby, my purple scarf, and my 3D sunglasses, and then I grabbed my Guitar Hero II-brand Gibson X-Plorer guitar controller. I went downstairs and asked my mother if she could take a photograph of me posing with "Tiger Stripes," my guitar (that I had also sprayed with a little ketchup, to give off the illusion of a bloody weapon). I put the photograph on the Tumblr; now my story had visualisation to add to it.
Every entry is written in an almost Twitter-like stream-of-consciousness style, and the reader is asked to keep a willful suspension of disbelief that Jordan can somehow write in his journal in some of the most bizarre of times. There has been an entry for every day since May 20th, 2011 (except for May 22nd), and I intend on there being one for every day until October 21st, 2011.
Shortly before October 21st, Harold Camping suddenly changed his mind and said no one can define when the world's gonna end. So Camping's story ends with a whimper, and OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING's story lives on.
The overall plot is divided into four acts. The table of contents can be found here.
Act I: The Coming of the Four Rakes
Our narrator meets up with a strange girl named Donnie, and the two set out to search England for a safe haven from this "Rapture." On the way, they discover that there are these portals called "rabbit holes," eldritch creatures of all sorts of sizes and threat levels, survivors who may or may not be as insane as the beasts scattering the planet, and that Rapture is not here yet. But it's coming. Meet Mistress, May 20th-July 4th.
Act II: The Seven Ciphers of the Blind Man's Book
Jordan and Donnie have arrived in America and met up with fellow youths Danny and Fentzy. The group must search the States for the closest thing to a world-saving lead they have: seven mysterious phenomena simply referred to as "Ciphers," all scattered deep within the other universe. Can they decipher the ciphers before they are hunted down by the Fears and before Rapture arrives? Meet Fentzy, July 5th-August 7th.
Act III: The Duels of the Knights of Xanadu
With the decoding of the Ciphers came seven legendary figures known as "the Knights of Xanadu." The prophecy goes that Jordan has to duel them all, but with the protagonist party at its full number of six, the kids are finding it hard to save the world without stepping on each other's toes and hearts! Things get obfuscated further when several new Fears appear completely out of nowhere, and Jordan has to settle conflicts among his friends and the eldritch abominations populating the apocalypse! Meet the Neonate, August 8th-September 15th.
Act IV: The Hunt of the Beast and the Harlot, The Seven Beacons, and The Terminal Coming of Rapture
The protagonists have discovered the meaning of "Rapture," and now their hopes are running slim. As twisted figures hunt to bring the end of the world, The Beast returns to his people and hunts for his wife, and the rabbit holes cover entire countries, the question now is whether Jordan can do what the prophecies ask of him. Meet The Beast, September 16th-October 21st.
The whole website has a slew of bonus features, including critical acclaim, promotional artwork, and even fanart.
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