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Captivated citizens in a small city witness the super-powered actions of one "hero" and debate his identity and intentions; a secret that is even kept from the audience.Bystanders is a superhero story with violence akin to Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1. The twist (I like twists) is that the reader doesn’t know the main hero’s secret identity any more than the characters do. The mystery element was something I’ve only ever seen in Mad Dog, a DC comic character. It had four issues in the 80s. The character was on Arrow for a few seasons, but he had absolutely nothing to do with the comic namesake.
Trophy Hunters is the sequel to Bystanders. It adds to that story, but the unique take here was a spaceship crashed on Earth around 50,000 BC. The crew of the ship were Eve (Captain) with her husband, Adam. Her officers included Odin, Zeus, Vishnu, Arthur, Quetzalcoatl, Baiame, and gods from many different religions. It serves as an origin story to the superhero powers of the modern characters. Only one chapter has the gods (called Gudz), but it was different. The Assassin Creed games have a similar feel, but not quite the same thing of all gods being of one people.
Sleepers and Scouts, aka Bystanders III, introduces the concept of war simply being a game. The Gudz characters don’t fear death because they have proof of an afterlife. The humans of Earth aren’t so accepting of this, so they fight like normal war. I thought it was interesting to show a different motivation for conflict. I know things like Secret Wars use war as a competition, but all still fear the stakes. Here, only humans worry about the stakes.
Our Contest ends my Bystanders series. The only thing notable here (besides concluding the story) is I have a fight on a space station in zero g. People have to push blobs of blood and spent shell casing aside as they fight. It felt pretty cinematic, so I hope there is a movie that does this.
The Chosen One needs an army, unfortunately, a potential ally has a Chosen One as well. Can there be a Chosen Two?Augury Answered plays with the chosen one trope. Some consider two people from two cultures to be their respective chosen ones. They must unite to fight an oppressive regime, but who will ultimately lead? Can there be a chosen two? I’ve seen things with multiple chosen ones, such as the new Mortal Kombat movie, but they always work together. I want something with the politics of who truly is important, if any.
Big game hunting is good business Down Under, especially when the prey is the remnants of a zombie apocalypse.Zombie Walkabout is a lighter story. It has people going on vacation to Australia ten years after a zombie apocalypse was placed under control. The tourists don’t seem to care that real people are essentially slaughtered for their amusement. This ISN’T Jurassic Park with zombies. That was done with the B movie, The Rezort. This is more like Fantasy Island. I call it a zom rom com, but not like Warm Bodies.
Two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of an interplanetary war learn that there are no good guys or bad guys in combat; there's only honor and dishonor.I’m a Soldier of 19 years. I care about my fellow Soldiers, but I know the other side thinks like that about their comrades. I want a story where neither side is considered good and the other bad. My main protagonists should be best friends, but they were born on different planets. Many anime series work with this concept, but they still make it clear which side is just. I like the ambiguity of having to decide as a reader/viewer.
Phillip wrote: "Trophy Hunters ...The crew of the ship were Eve (Captain) with her husband, Adam. Her officers included Odin, Zeus, Vishnu, Arthur, Quetzalcoatl, Baiame, and gods from many different religions. It serves as an origin story to the superhero powers of the modern characters. Only one chapter has the gods (called Gudz), but it was different...."The Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. I can't remember off the top of my head which issue numbers, it was somewhere in the middle.
Phillip wrote: "Big game hunting is good business Down Under, especially when the prey is the remnants of a zombie apocalypse...."I was talking to someone about this very story in another thread, an author asking for Australianisms for a zombie hunting story set in Cairns.
Was that you?
Phillip wrote: "Two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of an interplanetary war learn that there are no good guys or bad guys in combat; there's only honor and dishonor...."Enemy Mine. It's a movie from 1985.
This is a common subtheme in many Fantasy novels also. I have come across it recently in Shadow and Bone and the Witcher. Both have a story line of a witch getting together with a witch hunter.
Phillip wrote: "The Chosen One needs an army, unfortunately, a potential ally has a Chosen One as well. Can there be a Chosen Two?..."The Wars to Light and Shadow series
Helena wrote: "Phillip wrote: "Big game hunting is good business Down Under, especially when the prey is the remnants of a zombie apocalypse...."I was talking to someone about this very story in another thread,..."
Yeah it was him.
Helena wrote: "The Sandman comics by Neil Gaiman. I can't remember off the top of my head which issue numbers, it was somewhere in the middle."Thank you. This is a great recommendation. I've obviously heard of these comics, but never tried them. Now I'm very curious.
Helena wrote: "I was talking to someone about this very story in another thread, an author asking for Australianisms for a zombie hunting story set in Cairns.Was that you?"
Yep, that was me.
Helena wrote: "Enemy Mine. It's a movie from 1985.This is a common subtheme in many Fantasy novels also. I have come across it recently in Shadow and Bone and the Witcher. Both have a story line of a witch getting together with a witch hunter."
I've seen Enemy Mine (in fact, I own the DVD. I love Lou!). That's a good recommendation. Enemy Mine is more enemies to friends than enemies that should be friends, but I like the similarity. If memory serves me correctly, we never learn the motivations for the war in that movie.
Thanks for the Shadow and Bone recommendation.
Phillip wrote: "Trophy Hunters is the sequel to Bystanders. It adds to that story, but the unique take here was a spaceship crashed on Earth around 50,000 BC. The crew of the ship were Eve (Captain) with her husba..."The idea of a plethora of gods/immortals reminds me of a Michael Scott series
The series has every god you can think of and other well-knowns such as Billy the Kid, Joan of Arc, Shakespeare, to name a few - and a space ship in at least one of them. Many different settings, London, Paris, California Alcatraz Island. At center are the twins of power and Nicholas Flamel. Oh, and it starts with golems.
Adding: This series might also come under the heading or idea of two chosen ones. The twins of power.
Naomi Novik jumps right into my mind as someone who puts bright new pavers on old trails. She does it so well.
"Helena wrote: I was talking to someone about this very story in another thread, an author asking for Australianisms for a zombie hunting story set in Cairns. Was that you?"Phillip wrote: Yep, that was me."
Aha! I was fascinated by that idea back when we were discussing Oz Slang. Still fascinated by the idea. I honestly haven't come across anything like it. It's such a great concept.
Helena wrote: "Aha! I was fascinated by that idea back when we were discussing Oz Slang. Still fascinated by the idea. I honestly haven't come across anything like it. It's such a great concept."Thank you.
M.L. wrote: "The idea of a plethora of gods/immortals reminds me of a Michael Scott series."It sounds interesting. I hope it's as good as Michael Scott's screenplay, Threat Level Midnight.
Phillip wrote: "Two soldiers fighting on opposite sides of an interplanetary war learn that there are no good guys or bad guys in combat; there's only honor and dishonor."The last Samurai
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Avatar the last air bender
Legend series - Marie Lu
Honestly it doesn't matter. South Park is still successful.
Tolkien wrote Lord of the Rings after being inspired by 'The Worm Ouroboros' where the armies fought on middle earth. Then the wheel of time writer wrote his version of the lord of the rings because he was so inspired by that work. Disney is famous for retelling stories from the Brothers Grim who wrote down fables told by other people.
Go write your story and if something inspires you let it be known. Don't be like JK Rowling and say all your ideas are original.
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
The Necromancer (other topics)The Alchemyst (other topics)
The Warlock (other topics)
The Enchantress (other topics)
The Magician (other topics)
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There’s a classic South Park episode where Butters (in his Professor Chaos guise) complains that The Simpsons have already done everything. I started writing novels because I thought of ideas that I hadn’t come across in books, movies, TV series, or video games. I wanted to talk with others about these ideas, but unfortunately (for me) few talk about my books, and most of my friends and family aren’t readers. I’m not narcissist enough to think I’m the only person who came up with these ideas. I’m hoping some of you have examples that used ideas similar to my own. This way, I can at least speak to people about the ideas, the whole reason I started writing. I look forward to seeing the various recommendations.
To make responses easy, I’ll make a new entry for each of my novels. Thank you in advance. I hope this is in the right folder. I'm asking for recommendations, so I haven't linked any of my stuff.