Matryoshka

[muchtooarrogant]

LJI FAR 1: Trust Everyone, but Cut the Cards

Comments

[halfshellvenus]

Ha! I definitely think this is going on in Nick's head. It all seemed so reasonable, until,

there was no limit to the variety of people and scenarios they could create to influence his actions.

Hmmm, yes... Of COURSE (back away slowly, back away).

I am ridiculously pleased that you know they are Matryoshki and not Babushki. I researched those for a story once, and my brain remembers the distinction. Unless it's lying to me, of course.

[muchtooarrogant]

"Hmmm, yes... Of COURSE (back away slowly, back away)."

Hahaha! Yup, you nailed it. I wrote that paragraph, reread it, took it out, dithered over what to do with it, and only put it back in once I had decided to let the reader make their own judgment. Thing is, with supporting evidence, the paragraph would be a bit superfluous, although I might have still left it in for build up. Without the evidence though, I can see someone saying, "Dude be whacked!"

The Matryoshka idea actually came from a book I'm reading now, City on Fire, about the 1977 blackout in New York. It was just one sentence, a niece researching Matryoshka shell companies her uncle had set up, and I thought, "Oh yeah, I remember those, what a fun idea to play with."

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Dan

[eternal_ot]

Ha! This was Fun and I am hoping there is more to come..Enjoyed reading this..:)

[muchtooarrogant]

Thank you!

Dan

[bleodswean]

Yikes! What a great internal peek inside someone...who's quite conflicted.

[muchtooarrogant]

Reading the feedback on this piece has been a lot of fun for me because of the varying takes regarding Nick's sanity. Even without any substantive evidence, quite a few bought into his narration of events and believed he was being manipulated. As I said in other comments, I didn't have the time to put in the scenes which would have "hopefully" made him more credible here, and so chose instead to leave it up to the reader.

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Dan

[prog_schlock]

The main character and the Matryoshka doll reference put me in mind of Ibsen's version of Peer Gynt - particularly the scene where he uses an onion as a metaphor for his essential character and peels away layers of the onion looking for its core. I like the sense of otherwordliness in the story - the conspiracy against him might be real, might be in his mind, or might be a little of both.

Doll references often put me in mind of Jonathan Coulton and Elvis Costello.

[muchtooarrogant]

Thank you! Yes, the onion, news aside, is a very commonly used metaphor for stories of this type. And hey, it's also a vege I like. :)

Thanks for reading, as well as for the recommendations.

Dan

[whipchick]

Sooo interesting - this guy seems like he's hanging by a thread, whether his paranoia is justified or not.

[muchtooarrogant]

Absolutely. Even if everything he believes about the Matryoshka Handlers is true, he's making snap judgments based on really random stuff, like the ringing of a doorbell. Lots of fun to write, but halfshellvenus is right, "Back away!" :)

Thanks so much for reading and commenting.

Dan