New Year, New Projects

Happy New Year to everyone! As the title says, I've got some new projects I'm working on. One is a weird-horror anthology called The Agency, featuring an agency that deals with the supernatural, paranormal, and unusual and is divided into 7 main branches and 24 support teams. The other is a currently untitled science fiction project that is still in the beginning "world-building" stages, but I may post more about it here once in awhile. 

Now, given that this is a new year, this blog is going to be a bit different from how it has been in the past. I'm going to be posting regularly for starters. Next, I'm going to start sharing information about writing projects as well as excerpts here and there. I'll also include writing tips that work for me and links to articles that have helped when it comes to world-building. 

Also, I need to shout-out my friends over at DandyTimeCafe on YouTube for giving me the courage to be more open with my writing. They're amazing and if you love literature, but don't have time to sit and read, go listen while they read some of the classics.

The Agency

A weird-horror anthology that contains the strange and unusual from a lighthouse that shows up at the scene of certain suicides (Artifact 0037LH) to a mushroom that burrows into the skin of anything it touches (Specimen 024SB) as well as the untold story of what really happened in Centralia (Location 024C) and the truth behind the Tunguska Event (Inmate 003). Not to mention a cult surrounding a wish-granting quarry (Location 014Q) and small town with their own take on "God is in everyone" (Location 062EP). 

I think we're getting ahead of ourselves. First, let's meet the Agency. 

Divided into seven main branches and 24 support teams, the Agency has quite the reach. The seven main branches are: 

• Field - Known as collectors, they're the ones on point the minute something strange and unusual happens. They receive weapons training and are given brief rundowns of what to expect when they go into a location or go to retrieve an artifact, tome, specimen, or entity. They aren't always given all the information. Sometimes, when clearing a soon-to-be-quarantined area, they work with support team Alpha, soldiers with specialized training that assist with extractions and body retrievals. 
• Museum - Known as curators, the Museum is where all the artifacts collected are housed. Much like a standard museum there is a look-but-don't-touch policy in place. The curators and a couple other support teams (namely Omicron researchers and Omega scientists) are the only ones allowed to touch the artifacts, but all things considered, most do not want to. 
• Greenhouse - With a name like that, it only makes sense that the ones working here are known as gardeners. The Greenhouse is home to all manner of dangerous plants and thus requires precautions be taken. Full coverage outfits are expected in most of the Greenhouse and it isn't uncommon to meet a gardener or Omicron researcher with missing fingers or scars from violent encounters with the specimens. 
• Library - Created only after an encounter with a constantly screaming book that wouldn't shut up until moved from the Museum, the Library houses all the books collected as well as books that are less supernatural, but contain occult rituals that the librarians and the Omicron researchers may find useful. 
• Prison - Controlled by the wardens, the Prison houses all the entities that the Agency is able to apprehend. The Prison is divided into different cell-blocks labeled from A to D and houses entities that can be considered apocalyptic should they escape or mostly harmless except under certain situations. The wardens are the ones here most often, though they also have support team Zeta act as janitors and others from different divisions or support teams are allowed to visit prisoners. 
• Containment - The division that spends the least amount of time actually interacting with other divisions or support teams other than Zeta, the custodians are in charge of securing the locations and guaranteeing that the areas stay secure with nothing entering or leaving them. In the case of certain locations, the custodians merely make sure to document incidents and minimize security leaks while in others they are authorized to use deadly force to keep the area secure. 
• Archives - The ones who document all the strangeness and keep both an audio and written record, the archivists and support team Iota (archival assistants and translators) are the most removed. It is uncommon for them to leave their department, but sometimes they will take statements in the field. Otherwise, those who are approached by the Agency after seeing or experiencing something supernatural are brought to the Archives to give their testimony. 

All stories in The Agency are formatted with the designation the Agency gave them as either Artifact, Inmate, Location, Specimen, or Tome as the title and include a brief overview of the description and history followed by a testimony (or testimonies) written as a transcript(s). Some entries are longer than others due to the number of incidents involving whatever is being discussed as well as how much history Omicron researches have tracked down about the subject. 

Not every story will involve the same characters, though there may be a cameo here or there of some of them if the time frame is right. One recurring character to keep an eye out for is Superior Callum Read, the head of the Agency. Pay attention to him and the dates that he's mentioned. 

An important note is that anyone can become an employee of the Agency if they show enough promise or the supernatural event involving them is severe or life-changing enough. The Agency will offer employment and find jobs that suit them in the various support teams or main branches depending on what the person did before their life was dramatically changed by an encounter with the supernatural. 

That's all for now about The Agency. Keep checking back for more about the Agency and its employees as well as my other project, tips, writing advice, and even excerpts from The Agency.