Partum Per Unus Res (Created By One Being)

This implies a god-like entity, but New Eden's creator was neither a god, nor a man. Adam, or Great Adam, a moniker he would eventually embrace as his own, was a creation of science. Grown in a lab, and born of a human DNA, he was genetically engineered to be a bigger, stronger, and a more intelligent soldier. Bigger, stronger, and more intelligent he was. His intelligence was far beyond human capabilities. It was soon discovered that a side effect of super intelligence was incredible, and unheard of psychic abilities. Telekinesis, telepathy, extra sensory perception, empathy, and on, and on.... These abilities were manifesting themselves at an alarming rate, and even more alarming was how effortlessly Adam was able to take command of the abilities.

One thing he was not, was a soldier. He seemed to have no predisposition for violence of any kind. But still, he was viewed as a threat. And the decision was made to terminate Adam. The secret lab where Adam was created was a United States Military installation located in the upper Michigan Peninsula. Ironically, or maybe not so ironic was that the lab, because of its purpose to create life was designated as, New Eden.

The decision by the base commander to terminate Adam was his and his alone. Because of Adam's abilities he determined it needed to be done quickly, away from the base in an isolated area, and with as little forewarning as possible. The scientist whom Adam regarded as his father, and three soldiers assigned to protect Adam would take him off base under the premise that the base commander wanted to test how Adam reacted to unforeseen circumstances. Each of the soldiers would be given a cell phone. Once they reached their destination, and at a designated time, they would each receive a call simultaneously with instructions. Two would be told to stand down, and the other to kill Adam.

While the plan was well conceived and the execution of the plan perfection, no one could have seen the conclusion, not even Adam. Adam's abilities had developed to such a level that he not only knew what was happening, he knew it before the base commander's decision had been made. Adam was content to accept his fate, whatever that fate may be. He would allow this scenario to play out as the base commander had envisioned. Adam had already seen the whole ordeal play out in his mind, but he hadn't seen the conclusion. And he wanted to know how it ended. He saw the phone call to each of the soldiers. He saw two soldiers confused by their apparent orders, and stand down. He saw one soldier's conflicted expression as he drew his pistol and raised it toward Adam's head. He saw the horrific expression of the scientist he regarded as his father as the soldier pointed his weapon at Adam. He saw the depth of the confusion deepen on the faces of the two soldiers standing down as the situation played out. And in his mind he heard the shot... then nothing.

As the circumstances Adam had seen in his mind played out in real life there was one thing Adam could not have experienced in his mind, the emotions. That was why he hadn't seen the result because it wasn't a foregone conclusion. In the few days since Adam's creation he had developed many magnificent abilities. Among them, empathy was the most confusing, because the range of emotion he experienced was confined to a small group of stoic military men and scientists. 

Now, in the midst of this exigency, the flood of emotions is overwhelming, and time - stands still. The bullet stops dead in the chamber, and the scientist and soldiers are frozen. Adam absorbs the deluge of unfamiliar emotions that are bombarding him. Fear, anger, confusion, and sadness radiate from the men surrounding him. With time still frozen around him Adam steps away from the bullet's inevitable path. As he moves amongst the men experiencing and deciphering their emotional states, he begins to believe there is so much more that he could accomplish if he lives. Adam sees this as an awakening. Not only is he able to read their emotions, but he truly understands because he is reading their minds; making their memories, and their knowledge his own. As he walks a few feet further and away from the small group of men he feels yet another surge of emotion. An even broader range of familiar, and unfamiliar sensations. Then he sees the city... Sault Ste Marie

New Eden... My Gotham City

Many of my early artistic endeavors, whether written or drawn, centered around the comic book genre. New Eden, its creation and inhabitants were the product of my comic book influences. Geographically New Eden exists on the border of The United States and Canada; specifically, where the upper peninsula of Michigan and Ontario meet, and the real world the city of Sault Ste Marie stands today. It's neither a normal place, nor a part of the United States or Canada even though it occupies the soil of both countries. While Rome may not have been built in a day, New Eden literally came into being overnight, and was populated in a very short period of time to become one of the largest cities in the world. Its motto, "Partum Per Unus Res (Created by one being): Orior Oriri Ortus In A Singulus Dies (Risen in a single day): Prognatus of Pugna (Born of conflict): A Civitas Unto Ipsum (A City-State unto itself)" tells the story of New Eden’s creation.  

I wish I could take all the credit for the original concept of New Eden but I can't. The truth is I don't remember for certain how much, if any of it was my own. It was 1985 and I had only been out of high school a little more than a year. I was working construction with the company my father and brother were employed with, and at nineteen years old, with a pregnant wife, 900 miles away from home we found ourselves in a little town in Louisiana called Sulphur.

This was my second construction project and the very first time out on my own, so to speak. My wife and I had found a small furnished apartment in this little town and settled in. I worked on the construction site with my father, and she found a job at a local pharmacy. Not knowing anyone there she made friends with some co-workers and I, of course, sought out the local comic book shop. This is where I must have met Victor, Gary and Matt. They were high school age, probably juniors, so 16 or 17 years old. I'm fuzzy on the details because it was so long ago, but some how we struck up a conversation and decided to game together.

Besides the comic book passion I was also, at that time, an avid role playing gamer. I had been introduced to Dungeons & Dragons in my freshman year of high school and played often with my best friend at that time, Donny. He and I spent hours playing, adapting, changing, and creating new and exciting adventures, magic items, creatures, and characters for the game. We eventually took another passion of ours, Star Wars, and coalesced it with the Dungeons & Dragons gaming system to create our own game. 

If the word nerd or geek has entered your mind while reading this then banish that thought immediately. In reality I don't think either of us, that is Donny or me, fit that mold. Quirky maybe, but not nerdy, or geeky. There were no computers per se, like we have today. Electronic gaming systems were limited to Pong and Atari so my friends and I spent much more time roaming the woods, playing baseball, and many other physical activities than we did playing games. 

Now, Victor, Gary, and Matt were borderline nerds. Besides the comic books, and role play gaming, they enjoyed medieval festivals. This included dressing up for these events and fighting with foam covered mock ups of medieval weapons. Admittedly, that was a little weird for me. I will say that I learned to appreciate those festivals, and may have partaken in medieval combat on an occasion... or twelve. But I can say with complete and utter certainty that I have never dressed in any garb other than my regular attire to attend any festivals, movie openings, or conventions. That, for me, is the difference between being borderline nerdy, and full blown nerd. Not that there's anything wrong with that….

So, I've met Victor, Gary and Matt. Probably at the comic book/ gaming store and we've some how formed a friendship and decided to game together. Up until this point my gaming experiences had been limited to Dungeons & Dragons and while I knew there were other types of games out there I had never been exposed to them. When I met these guys they introduced me to something completely new, superhero role playing. This was awesome! The system was Hero Games and it was surprisingly well developed and much more realistic in the cause and effect of actions than what I was used to. I don't know how I found the time, but I know we played often. Mostly weekends and evenings when my wife was working and I'm sure some times at Victor's house when she wasn't. In any event I found the time and it was out of these gaming sessions that New Eden, along with many other ideas to be discussed later, were born.

Like I said, I can't take full credit for the creation of New Eden; not in name anyway. And I'm not sure what part, if any, of the original concept was mine. New Eden, as it was, as it began, stood in Victor's superhero world before I came along. It was his idea, and his setting for our adventures. The New Eden in my writings uses some elements of his concept, but for the most part is completely different in its origin and design. 

So, why Gotham? Even if you've never read a comic book you have no doubt heard of Gotham City. A dark corrupt place where crime is king and those who are dedicated to serve and protect are all but insignificant. If not for its personal champion, the Batman, Gotham would have ceased to function as a city many years ago. Gotham can easily be compared to several real world cities at some point in history. Chicago and New York during the height of organized crime resemble the Gotham of comic book lore. These cities were so corrupt that they stood at the brink of destruction if not for their own champions. In the real world though, our champions are not super powered, and our villains are just misguided, or in some cases evil, people. 

Although the name, New Eden, shouldn't conjure images of darkness or corruption it's important to note this is the current state of being, and not its origin. In the beginning New Eden was a prosperous untroubled place. All that came to live and work there were successful in their ventures, and enjoyed a happy fruitful existence. There was no crime, sickness, unemployment, homelessness or unhappiness. It was, in every sense of the word an Eden. Though many marveled at New Eden’s miraculous birth, few knew the dire portent of its existence, or it's creator.

Welcome To My Trap...

You may ask the question; "what the hell is a Bigfoot trap?" And you may be surprised to know there is an actual Bigfoot trap in Oregon. But my trap has less to do with catching a Bigfoot and more to do with capturing the imagination.
The real trap was built in 1974 by The North American Wildlife Research Team (NAWRT) but has never yielded any results to my knowledge. My trap was born of inspired thought August 16, 2008.
It was a Saturday evening and I was up late as I normally am. In the news that week it had been reported two Georgia hunters had claimed to have discovered the corpse of a Bigfoot in the North Georgia mountains. The media and Internet were buzzing with pictures of the 500 pound beast's disemboweled body lying crumpled in a freezer. While the pictures looked fake and the character of the two men involved was being questioned many people who "believe" these creatures exist were hopeful and curious. As the week wore on a noted Bigfoot hunter, Tom Biscardi had become involved and there was a news conference scheduled to release more evidence. To make a long story short the whole thing turned out to be a hoax. But before the news conference was held and the hoax eventually revealed, the Bigfoot trap was born as an eBay auction.
With the news reports and images of the phony Bigfoot discovery fresh in my mind I pondered what would happen if a Bigfoot came across an abandoned refrigerator in the wild. The thought of the curious creature climbing into an abandoned refrigerator and trapping itself amused me for some reason. I have always wanted to put some kind of joke auction on eBay just for the fun of it, and this was perfect. I knew it needed a creative touch so I enlisted my best friend of 34 years, Phillip. So at 11:30pm I emailed him with my idea and request for a picture. To my surprise he was awake and within 30 minutes I had the perfect picture back in an email. Everything was coming together; now all I needed was the right text. Below is the text of the ad as it appeared on eBay with the picture above.

You are bidding on one Bigfoot trap only used once by two Georgia hunters. This trap is in excellent condition and already has a Bigfoot creature's scent inside. Cleverly designed to look like an abandoned refrigerator this trap plays on the Bigfoot's childlike curiosity. Since it's already scented to attract the creature they are instinctively drawn to the trap. Once they crawl inside they are compelled to shut the door and you've got them. We suggest you may want to add some bait, such as cookies and milk. But, be very careful using this trap in late December with that bait because you could catch a Santa.

The Bigfoot Trap is very easy to set up and can be used as storage after you capture the creature. Also included is the handy Bigfoot Trap Transporter. Just what you need to haul that 500lb beast out of the mountains.

Trap may be utilized to catch cryptid creatures other than the Southeastern Bigfoot. These include but are not limited to Chupacabra, The Lizardman, The Ohio Grassman, Florida Skunk Apes, Sasquatch, The Western and Canadian Bigfoot, Yeti, The Moth Man, Giant Snakes, Super Rats, The Wisconson Dog-Man, The Black Beast of Exmoor, Mega Hogs, Birdzilla, Werewolves, Vampires and Space Aliens. Not recomended for use underwater for Nessie, Champ, Sea Monsters, Giant Squid or Mermaids.

Price includes shipping within the Continental United States. Canadian require additional shipping cost. We will deliver locally to anywhere in South Carolina, Georgia and North Carolina. Please read our disclaimer below.

Actual trap and transporter may vary from the picture. Trap is purchased as is with no performance guarantee. Actual Bigfoot scent included cannot be substantiated and therefore is not guaranted. We had the residue tested three times and it came back as human, opossum and inconclusive. The two Georgia hunters mentioned are NOT "The" two Georgia hunters you're thinking of. In the event someone actually buys this I suppose we'll donate some of the proceeds to charity minus listing/ selling fees and the cost of buying an old refrigerator and shipping it. With that in mind delivery could be 2 to 3 weeks.

I amused myself when I was writing this and if that was all I accomplished it would be enough. I did send it out to my friends, family and some co-workers. I was receiving positive feedback and having fun with it. Everyone who viewed the ad was amused. It wasn't long before I started receiving questions from other eBayers who had run across my ad during a search. They ranged from asking how much shipping was to a certain location, how much it made them laugh, to whether or not the trap could be used to catch Leprechauns. I really enjoyed these questions and comments. But the most fun I had was answering them because I could post the questions and answers to the listing for all to see. Some were pretty crazy and I enjoyed giving crazy responses. The Q&A part of this listing took on a life of it's own. It became a blog of sorts which inspired me to start my Bigfoot Trap Blog.
I'm not trying to accomplish anything with this other than as an outlet for my creative ideas. I have always enjoyed being creative. It began when I was young and used to spend hours drawing. Many of those hours were in school. My love of drawing led to a fascination with comic books and eventually a dream of becoming a comic book artist. As my love of comic books and superheroes matured my appreciation for the writing did as well. Eventually a well drawn book wasn't enough unless it was accompanied by a well written story.
I truly admired those comic book artist/ writers who delivered some of the great stories that captured and nurtured my imagination during those years. It sustained me throughout my teenage years as I worked toward that goal into my early 20's. I eventually gave up on my art and got away from being creative all together. After years of collecting comics I sold my entire collection and with that I sold my dream.
It was a decade later before the creative juices within me began to stir once again and I decided to focus on writing. Never much of a student for the English language and a horrible speller I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me. I started reading books on writing and books by writers about writing . I became interested in words; learning new, more creative ways to express myself. The Thesaurus and dictionary became my friends. I would listen to talk radio, specifically Rush Limbaugh and write down words Rush would use that were unfamiliar to me. Later I would look them up; learn them and incorporate them into my vocabulary. I bought books on punctuation and studied the use of the comma, semi-colon, ellipse and many other punctuation nuances. I took two adult education creative writing classes at tech, and I read.
I've found through all this that while I enjoy writing and am filled with ideas for stories of novel length I still don't make the time to pursue this endeavor. It's too easy to say I don't have the time. There are many activities that I could replace with writing and not take away from my family. The truth of the matter is I don't have the drive. It's there, deep inside me and it comes out from time to time but fades just as quickly. Reading, a good movie, an idea or conversation will light the creative fire within me but it's many times quickly extinguished by life.
I stated earlier I wasn't trying to accomplish anything with this blog. But, actually, I think... no, I hope this will be much more than an outlet for my creative expression. I hope this will be my inspiration to write something publishable. Something to carry on my name long after I have left this world. To paraphrase an old saying, "If I could make a living writing then I'd truly be doing what I love and never have to work another day in my life". If I don't make a dime, but it makes someone happy then I will have accomplished just as much.
I hope if you've stumbled into my little Trap you enjoyed your stay. I look forward to any comments or questions that may come my way. I have a long way to go toward becoming a writer. I know it's a marathon, not a sprint. This is just the first mile....