The Thirteenth Floor

Two queries sent, one by form, the other by mail. No response. Oh well. I expected that anyway. Rejection is part of the game, right? (although I've never ventured into the arena of trying to get published; what do I know?)

Is no response a form of rejection? Probably.

I've been writing for a long time now; grade school on up, mostly for my own escape from reality, to turn to my inward psyche and play out the movies in my head and see them on the page. Funny that I never thought of getting published; I just couldn't see it as a reality. I mean, you walk into any Barnes and Noble and see wall to wall volumes of fiction, non-fiction, instruction books, antique guides, art collections, art instruction, writing instruction (I've read those ad nauseum) - I see all that and think 'Christ! What chance do I have?' It's like playing the lottery.

And BTW, I don't think quality enters the picture. A lot of poorly written books out there - some of them on the best seller lists. Admittedly, it'll be a gamble, but I don't have anything better to do. I need all the damned distractions I can get to keep my mind off the constant pain I'm in.

So, the book is entitled "The Thirteenth Floor", a story about a group of urban explorers who enter abandoned buildings. The leader of the group, Jerry Mooney, an aspiring filmmaker, sees this as an opportunity to pitch all the footage the group shoots to a cable network for a reality show. When the group accepts Evetta Kellor into the fold, he sees this as his ace in the hole; she's a spiritual medium who can get in touch with the past spirits of said abandoned structures. Things get intense when they find a way into the empty Norman Building, the city's psychiatric hospital, which was shuttered in the early 90's when the state decided that keeping patients who were not a danger to themselves or the community was costing too much money. Once inside the building, the group finds that the former tenants are getting inside all of their heads, not just Evetta's.

The Norman was inspired by the Terrance Building here in Rochester, NY. It's still standing, unless the city finds some other use for it (and most likely it won't; asbestos removal for a building of that size would break the bank).

So off we go. A new adventure and a new blog. Progress reports to be updated.

Chuck Gombatto (that's Mister Gombatto, mind you!)