Amazing Lonely Journey for Writers of Other-world Experience
Beyond the Twilight Zone
I recently started creating a memoir.
The Skeleton in Enid’s Attic
“The world is full of vibrational energy. We might feel it on the rare occasion, either by choice or otherwise. It’s hard to shield against a touch from the other side.”
Inver Joe
“They say obsession is a form of madness. From what I now know, this is true. What unseen privilege led me to this moment where I might witness my demise?”
A crazy concept, huh? Other people’s stories in an author’s memoir. Not really. Even the wildest story holds a personal truth. The author’s voice is as profoundly unique as the singer’s voice because it is a composite of all things observed and experienced at rough or smooth junctures that cannot be duplicated by anyone. For me, exploring characters is tactile. You can feel them, hear their voices, sense their palpable human essence. You weep or laugh with those characters, use of past tense because hindsight is better than foresight. And if physicists are correct in saying time isn’t linear, then why not look back at the future?
Speculative Fiction is an umbrella genre of fiction. Often used for literature, film, television, drama, radio, video games. It can cover science fiction, alternate history, dystopian, utopian, weird fiction or hybridize all of the above. I like to write fairy tales or myths. I’m drawn to speculative fiction for both its latitude and restraints. You gotta keep its complex contemplations simple even if they star aliens and ray guns.
The people who have taught me a few things about speculative fiction.
Can you recall the power held within An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge? Written by Ambrose Bierce? You might remember the film?
Kurt Vonnegut once famously commented
“I consider anybody a twerp who hasn’t read the greatest American short story, which is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. It isn’t remotely political. It is a flawless example of American genius, like “Sophisticated Lady” by Duke Ellington or the Franklin stove.”
Ambrose Bierce was a very versatile writer. A pioneer of realistic fiction. Known as a great satirist and social critic. As a journalist he worked in San Francisco, as well as London.
Well known for his journalism, he also wrote fiction. Pioneering psychological horror. His work includes ghost stories, war stories and poetry.
Unknown Destinations with Ambrose Bierce
Aged over 70 Ambrose Bierce toured the sites of battles from the Civil War. then crossed into Mexico. There he accompanied the army of Pancho Villa as the Mexican Civil War raged. In one of his final letters he wrote:
“Good-bye. If you hear of my being stood up against a Mexican stone wall and shot to rags, please know that I think it is a pretty good way to depart this life. It beats old age, disease, or falling down the cellar stairs. To be a Gringo in Mexico – ah, that is euthanasia!”
After writing to a friend he disappeared.
“As to me, I leave here tomorrow for an unknown destination.”
The unknown destination is the existential dangling carrot. Widely recognized and celebrated by many writers in their work. Portrayed by the likes of Ray Bradbury, Jack Finney, Carlos Fuentes, Winston Groom and Robert Heinlein. For me, Ambrose just about said it all.
Onwards to The Twilight Zone
Robert Enrico was best known for his making the film “La Rivière du Hibou” (An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge). The film won an Oscar as a short film. Aired as an episode in Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone (Series 5, Episode 22, aired 28th February 1964). ON TELEVISION. Serling, who famously introduced the Twilight Zone episodes, announced:
“A Confederate soldier is about to be hanged when the rope breaks, allowing him to escape and return home – or does it?”
And in closing.
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge as it was dreamt … and as it was lived in death. This is the stuff of fantasy, the thread of imagination … the ingredients of the Twilight Zone.”