Sliders: Your Ad Here (3 of 8)

by Nigel G. Mitchell

Wade froze, huddled in the bathroom as she heard scuffling in the other room. Then she turned the doorknob as quietly as she could. Wade opened the door just enough to look through the crack.

Two policemen had burst into the hotel room. Their blue uniforms were familiar, except for the ads for the Club printed on their backs. They had grabbed Quinn and shoved him up against the wall.

"What's going on here?" Quinn yelled.

"You're under arrest," one of the policemen said.

Sliders: Your Ad Here (2 of 8)

by Nigel G. Mitchell

Quinn walked through what was once Golden Gate Park, but was now Golden Gate Square. Colored lights were flashing and playing across every surface in dizzying patterns, projected by the seemingly endless neon signs that were on every store. He couldn't seem to shake the dazed expression he wore. It was a reflection of how he was feeling inside. He had never seen any world like the one he was in now.

Wade's head was constantly in motion as she took in their new surroundings. She locked onto a Ford Truck that drove by, the phrase "Ford Trucks Are Ram Tough" printed on both bumpers.

"Advertising," Wade said. "It's on *everything.* The cars, the clothes, the buildings, the clouds..."

Quinn glanced up at the clouds. Or what he had thought were clouds. It turned out they were sky-writers that were spelling out "Campbell Soups Are Mm-Mm Good" in white smoke.

Sliders: Your Ad Here (1 of 8)

by Nigel G. Mitchell

This document can be freely distributed with the condition that it is not modified or sold in any way. Some characters and elements of this story are the property of Universal and St. Clare Entertainment, used without authorization. The author receives no compensation from the distribution of this work.

"Advertising is the foot on the accelerator, the hand on the throttle, the spur on the flank that keeps our economy surging forward."

-Robert W. Sarnoff

"The product that will not sell without advertising will not sell profitably with advertising."

-Albert Lasker

Quinn watched a chicken run across the straw-laden floor of the Dominion Hotel. It darted expertly among the people in the lobby, finally running behind the front desk.

Quinn looked back at the clerk, Gomez Calhoun, who was muttering to himself as he worked a calculator.

"Okay," he said, "that's a four-bedroom for six days and five nights, plus room service...that'll be three chickens, fifteen apples, and a new hammer."

"Got it." Quinn turned to Wade, who was holding the handles of a wheelbarrow loaded with goods and produce.

Sliders: All For One

by Nigel G. Mitchell (c) July 1996

Author's Notes: The following story takes place sometime between "Rules of the Game" and the third season premiere, "Double Cross." It was inspired by the short, but deeply introspective and character-oriented Sliders fanfiction written by Diana Jones that changed my view of how SLFIC could be written. I'd also like to acknowledge that some technical elements mentioned in this story are entirely my invention with no basis on the show whatsoever.

This document can be freely distributed with the condition that it is not modified or sold in any way. Some characters and elements of this story are the property of St. Clare Entertainment, used without authorization. The author receives no compensation from the distribution of this work.

Quinn studied the timer on the table in front of him as droplets of rain pattered against the hotel window. He carefully wrote down the numbers flashing across the timer's display in a notebook, one already filled with calculations and formulae.

Quinn glanced around the hotel room at the other members of his group. They all seemed lost in their own worlds. Wade lay sprawled on her side on the couch, watching a TV that filled the room with the bang of a police gunfight. On the other side of the room, Arturo sat in a brown leather armchair while reading a copy of Taming of the Shrew. From the bathroom, Quinn could hear a rhythmic swish as Rembrandt brushed his teeth. It was quiet. Too quiet. Even before Rembrandt walked into the room, Quinn knew the fight was about to begin again.

Story Structure as a Roller Coaster [Art]

We all know that reading can be an adventure with all sorts of twists and turns, which is why this image is so great. What is exposition? Falling action? An unreliable narrator? What if you could illustrate story structure as an amusement park roller coaster? That's where this hilarious and really insightful cartoon by Grant Snider comes in. A glance shows how a great plot twist can be an exciting part of the journey while an unresolved subplot can send you crashing. Check it out.

What do you think?

More aliens and planets lie ahead as the journey continues in Heart of the Nexus, part two of the Nexus Trilogy!!

Available: "Little Green Men: The Complete Novel"

All three parts of the Little Green Men serial are now assembled into one volume, Little Green Men: The Complete Novel.

Saving the world was just the beginning...

Jeffrey Foster thought saving Earth from an alien invasion would be the high point of his life. Now he just wants to find a nice place in the Galaxy to settle down. But when he discovers the Xenon Empire plans to send its deadliest warlord to destroy the Earth, he must go through grueling training to earn the right to become an official Planetary Savior. If the training doesn't kill him, his annoying squadmates just might. And can he ever find some alien food to eat that won't make him gag?

"Little Green Men" is the second in the "Flying Saucers" trilogy. Fans of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and "Red Dwarf" will enjoy this new series.

CLICK HERE to get it on Amazon. You can also buy the first in the series, Flying Saucers.

More aliens and planets lie ahead as the journey continues in Heart of the Nexus, part two of the Nexus Trilogy!

Myths of "Fight Club": Homemade Napalm

This is a series about Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The novel is famous for the popular movie adaptation, but also for the numerous anarchist "recipes" provided in the text. Throughout the book, the narrator and Tyler Durden provide various tips and methods for everything from making nitroglycerin to how to make a silencer. Palahniuk has claimed he carefully researched all of them and apparently a lot of people believe him. I'd like to set the record straight: Fight Club is full of lies. Today, we'll talk about his "homemade napalm."

“The three ways to make napalm: One, you can mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate. Two, you can mix equal parts of gasoline and diet cola. Three, you can dissolve crumbled cat litter in gasoline until the mixture is thick.”

This "recipe" is one of the most frequently mentioned in the novel. In fact, it becomes a mantra of sorts with members of the secret society Project Mayhem reciting it at random times. That made many readers and fans of the movie wonder, can you really make napalm with gasoline and orange juice concentrate? No, none of these recipes is even close to accurate.

This Copy of "1984" Gets Less Censored As You Read It [Art]

1984 by George Orwell is a classic and defining dystopian novel, set in a future Britain ruled by a fascist government that uses manipulation, propaganda, and censorship to control the minds of its citizens. The novel brought us the term "Big Brother" as a catch-all term for any oppressive government actions, and has only grown more popular over the years as technology has allowed new levels of surveillance into our lives, and propaganda grows more sophisticated.

Why This "Forager's" Cookbook Almost Killed Someone

Johnna Holmgren is a hugely popular Instagram star known as "foxmeetsbear" who's built a following around her natural, raw diet so it seemed natural to release a cookbook. The new book Tales From a Forager's Kitchen hit shelves but was quickly removed after it was discovered some of the recipes weren't just wrong but lethal.

This Awful Premade Book Cover Costs $85

I've been shopping for book covers, looking to see if I could find a good premade cover. I came across this and just had to share because it shows the problem with book cover design these days. It's hard to find good designers, especially when people who have no idea how to do it throw themselves into the market.

For example, the site I was looking at had a bunch of premade covers from various designers and I was stunned by this one. It's pretty much the worst book cover I've ever seen. It's a headless body badly cropped out and set to one side with a jarring color in the background. Plus, the fonts are all wrong for the romance category it was in.

Worst of all, the cost is $85.

Eighty-five dollars for this monstrosity?! If I paid five dollars for this cover I'd demand my money back! It probably took the artist ten minutes to make, and he or she has the nerve to slap an eighty-five dollar price tag on it. I only hope some desperate author isn't dumb enough to pay that for it.

More aliens and planets lie ahead as the journey continues in Heart of the Nexus, part two of the Nexus Trilogy!!