Dormant Projects: Small Arms
As said before, I'm more a fan of war comics than superheroes...but even now, there is a bizarre dichotomy in our pop culture as to what the youth demand from war stories--and what the entertainment media are willing to provide.
I came up with the following idea little by little. It's not a conventional war story as such...and that's what gives it its potency. It starts with 150 pre-adolescent boys, who go to bed in their comfortable homes one night...and wake up the next day in the barracks of a fortress in the middle of nowhere, wearing military uniforms.
Small Arms is basically Lord of the Flies meets Sgt. Rock of Easy Company. The kids of Fortress Evermore approach their sudden change of setting and life-purpose with varying degrees of willingness. Most of the boys who become "officers" quickly grow into the jobs and soon the boys aren't just a mob, they're a battalion...
But there are two wild cards in this deck. The first is a kid whose nickname is "Clank" for his previous habit of banging on things to make noise. Clank is an unabashed peacenik, and the only duties he recognizes are the jobs he orders himself to do. But in spite of this antipathy for his new lot, he becomes the main techie of Evermore--and in turn makes some important discoveries about where they are and what their situation really is.
The other wild card is a boy named Bob. Bob is a psychotic...and this new situation deprives him of his medicine. The only substance that straightens him out that's available is ADRENALINE. He's impossible to live WITH in peace--and impossible to do WITHOUT in the heat of battle. He's the Sgt. Rock. No matter how bad it gets, he gets the job done and accepts whatever risks he has to take. And, strangely enough, it's Bob who is the first to realize how high the stakes really are.
It turns out that the boys are on another planet--put there by a young alien being (a hyper-powered Q/Squire of Gothos-variety superbeing) who has done the same to dozens of equally-unfortunate alien races...basically stocking a colossal "army ant farm". The races are expected to fight one another--and the weapons (while kid-sized) are real and DEADLY.
The first part of Small Arms is the Evermore Battalion's plight and survival. The next is their rebellion and ESCAPE!
I'd love to write it. But it'll never happen because of American censorship rules that make it impossible for stories of actual child soldiers to be told to children, let alone fictional ones.
FP
I never wanted Army life!
Gee Mom!--We wanna go home!
I came up with the following idea little by little. It's not a conventional war story as such...and that's what gives it its potency. It starts with 150 pre-adolescent boys, who go to bed in their comfortable homes one night...and wake up the next day in the barracks of a fortress in the middle of nowhere, wearing military uniforms.
Small Arms is basically Lord of the Flies meets Sgt. Rock of Easy Company. The kids of Fortress Evermore approach their sudden change of setting and life-purpose with varying degrees of willingness. Most of the boys who become "officers" quickly grow into the jobs and soon the boys aren't just a mob, they're a battalion...
But there are two wild cards in this deck. The first is a kid whose nickname is "Clank" for his previous habit of banging on things to make noise. Clank is an unabashed peacenik, and the only duties he recognizes are the jobs he orders himself to do. But in spite of this antipathy for his new lot, he becomes the main techie of Evermore--and in turn makes some important discoveries about where they are and what their situation really is.
The other wild card is a boy named Bob. Bob is a psychotic...and this new situation deprives him of his medicine. The only substance that straightens him out that's available is ADRENALINE. He's impossible to live WITH in peace--and impossible to do WITHOUT in the heat of battle. He's the Sgt. Rock. No matter how bad it gets, he gets the job done and accepts whatever risks he has to take. And, strangely enough, it's Bob who is the first to realize how high the stakes really are.
It turns out that the boys are on another planet--put there by a young alien being (a hyper-powered Q/Squire of Gothos-variety superbeing) who has done the same to dozens of equally-unfortunate alien races...basically stocking a colossal "army ant farm". The races are expected to fight one another--and the weapons (while kid-sized) are real and DEADLY.
The first part of Small Arms is the Evermore Battalion's plight and survival. The next is their rebellion and ESCAPE!
I'd love to write it. But it'll never happen because of American censorship rules that make it impossible for stories of actual child soldiers to be told to children, let alone fictional ones.
FP
I never wanted Army life!
Gee Mom!--We wanna go home!