Dark Fillage

Introduction

Sasha Fischer was born in my imagination long before his protagnostic challenger, the enigmatic and eclectic, oddball: Tollylister. Fischer has ancestry going back to 19th century Luxembourg (for his surname) plus elements via various maternal and paternal lines that range from the English Aristocracy via a 1960's Parisian showgirl-cum-whore to an African princess. He has achieved phenomenal wealth in a society where the only relevant currency is celebrity or that charlatan's dark cousin: infamy. Fischer is the world's first and last trillionaire. His fortune was misbegotten more by tricks of accountancy than by any act of physical creation of wealth and his colossal economic empire has expanded to the point that it succeeds in holding the first effective monopoly of world power. He controls space, and thereby he holds all the world's telecommunications and IT systems in his hands.

He is neither good nor bad. He is flawed, of course; but he is as powerless to help himself or anyone else because the possession of such huge power is both too easy to lose and too difficult to keep. What can be taken so easily by one man can just as readily be taken from him by another and there are two — at least — who have the will and means to sieze the Fisher's mantle. One is a Colombian paisano turned coke magnate whose power has grown to the extent that he is de facto ruler of South America; the other is a genetically engineered 9 year old child with a terrifyingly original way with software. Fisher's hegemony is under threat and only the aging rock-icon, Tollylister — with his bizarre dress sense, and even stranger morals — seems unconcerned and uninvolved as the world goes quietly to hell around him.

The story was originally conceived as set in the not too distant future but the events of 9/11 were rather too similar to my own future history — I first started on this in 1991-93 and part of the plot's premise concerned a series of shocking events marking the millenium years — and I have been redrafting the plot outlines to rework the foundations of the plot so that it remains standing. The main action centres on the decade of the 2030's and I have left Fischer and Tollylsiter with their orginal birthdates in the 1980's so in one sense, at least, they have both grown up with me.

Much of the story is related through the eyes of the women around these men. Llewella, for example, as Fisher's PA is on the receiving end of her boss's four-letter tirades and his sexual rapciousness in equal measure. Tollylister is pursued through life by a dreadful trail of damaged women and girls; a serial philanderer and lifelong hedonist, Tolly makes Ozzy Osborne look like a kitten but if he is flawed to the point seemingly of irredemption, this fact does not seem that clear at any point ... mostly one can't help liking and feeling sorry for the fellow. His women on the other hand rapidly make apparent their thoroughly loathesome natures as soon as they utter a word.

One of my favourite female characters that I have been building for some time is Meena a woman of Punjabi roots but whose own ruptured past makes a pretty cool story on its own. Her role is pivotal although as I have never actually tried serious plotting I do not yet know exactly how she will fit in. I know where and why she arrives ... but what she does when she gets there will depend a lot on how the main characters are holding up at the time.

I am in no rush to complete this project. I am doing it for my own sake and for mine alone. If someone wants to buy it email me with a serious bid ... I'm not completely unwordly but I san't be holding my breath.

posted by Trillian @ 3:31 PM