by Bryan Smith
At the beginning of chapter seven, Mike strains to describe an unfamiliar piece of music. He doesn’t name the band because he doesn’t know them. However, in my mind the music he is hearing actually exists. He’s hearing a song called “Tyrant” from the album Wyllt by Black Math Horseman. The music is very dark and haunting, veering from ethereal to heavy. I recommend it.
Twins Of Evil, the movie screening on the TV during the orgy at Nadia’s house, is a real movie. Most of you probably knew that. It is from 1971 and stars horror legend Peter Cushing.
Regarding the Frankenstein meal Mike vaguely recalls eating when he wakes up the morning after the orgy…well, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? What, you haven’t? Well, some of us have, trust me. Have a late-running party with a bunch of people who are just drunk or stoned enough and the motherfucking munchies will eventually set in. And occasionally when this happens, such culinary horrors occur. On a related note, I recommend checking out Hannah Hart’s My Drunk Kitchen on You Tube.
The scene where Mike and Marnie have a tense discussion on the porch outside Nadia’s house was another opportunity to heighten the sense of an ordinary suburban landscape. You may also have noticed that at no point did I name the city where these characters live or even refer to what part of the country they’re in. This was no accident. My stories are typically set in the American south, which makes sense given that I grew up there. But with this story I wanted to convey a sense that it could be happening anywhere. Maybe even in your town.
In chapter ten we get a look at what Mike Bradley does for a living. He works in the customer service center for a major national chain of some type. This was another thing I left intentionally vague, again in order to heighten that impression of universality. Some of his insights are drawn from my own experiences. I worked in customer service for Borders Books for five and a half years before the center was shut down. The company Mike works for is not a bookstore chain. In truth, I’m not sure what his company does. I just know that it’s another big operation requiring a national contact center. What they actually do doesn’t matter much. A lot of what you encounter in call center settings is the same from industry to industry.
When I sent Mike out on his mission to eliminate all the conspiracy members, my original plan was to have him successfully kill them all, with one eventually obvious exception. The final scene would have been him arriving home after killing the last target on his hitlist (who would have been Nadia). He’s weary and drenched in blood. He knows he’s left a trail of damning evidence behind him, but he doesn’t care because now he knows his loved ones will be safe. He doesn’t try to run because he’s too weary and knows he’d never be able to get away. He just wants to rest some prior to his inevitable apprehension. So, intending to crack open a beer, he goes to the refrigerator in his little apartment…but when he opens the door, he sees his sister’s severed head resting on the top shelf. He screams and staggers backward. And then Marnie appears. This scene would have been an intentional homage to the opening scene of Friday The 13thPart 2. If you’ve seen that movie, you know what I mean. But I started thinking about what a massive undertaking this would have been for Mike. He has a lot of targets scattered at various locations across town. There would have been so many potentially unanticipated complications he would have encountered along the way. I wound up illustrating this point with his struggle with the mystery girl at Blake’s apartment. I knew by then he would not be able to kill them all. Sure, it’s fiction, I could have had him do it anyway, but I went with what felt right to me. Mike was doomed from the beginning no matter what, whether he killed them all or just a couple of them. Mike’s struggle was futile and he knew it likely would be, but he tried anyway. Despite his shortcomings--and despite the terrible things he did--this, to my mind, is what partially redeems him. He really did try to do the right thing when it counted most. Unfortunately for him, the cards were too stacked against him.
The one other thing that would have been constant regardless of which direction I went was Marnie’s reappearance. Bottom line, Mike fucked up and didn’t finish the job on her. You could consider the events I’ve outlined above as an alternate timeline, a slightly different version of how things might have gone. In the world of The Diabolical Conspiracy, however, all alternate timelines eventually culminate in Marnie surviving and Mike dying.
The child character, Brittany, is named after a real person, too. But which one? I know a couple of Brittanys. My good friend Brittany Hudson and Brittany Carothers-Hembree. They’ve both suggested I use their names in fiction before, so let’s just say this is for both of them.
I’m sure there’s an actual restaurant named Fat Sam’s somewhere in this country, but mine is a fictional creation. There is a local place called Fat Mo’s and the name of my fictional restaurant sort of derives from that, although the restaurant in the story is very different from Fat Mo’s. Fat Sam’s is supposed to be a TGIF-type place, whereas Fat Mo’s is smaller and has no bar. They do make a mean burger at Fat Mo’s, though.
And of course Marnie would eventually go into government. If you are truly, with all your heart dedicated to spreading the cause of evil, what else would you do?
SEMI-OFFICIAL (okay kinda, sorta, but not really) SOUNDTRACK FOR THE DIABOLICAL CONSPIRACY
Look this stuff up and compile a play list. Then you’ll have the soundtrack for this book.
1. Cavity-First Communion by Christian Death
2. Tyrant by Black Math Horseman
3. Origin Of Savagery by Black Math Horseman
4. Heroin by Velvet Underground
5. Ultra by KMFDM
6. Brute by KMFDM
7. A Daisy Chain 4 Satan by My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult
8. I Walk The Line by Alien Sex Fiend
9. Long Way Back From Hell by Danzig
10.Nemesis by Shriekback
11.Fiend Club by the Misfits
12.Death Valley 69 by Necrophagia
13.Queen Of Pain by the Cramps
14.Black No. 1 by Type O Negative
15.See You In The Boneyard by the Flesh Eaters
16.Boneshaker Baybee by Wumpscut
17.Hellfire! by the Electric Hellfire Club
18.Cake And Sodomy by Marilyn Manson
19.Spookshow Baby (Black Leather Catsuit Mix) by Rob Zombie
20.Thunder kiss ‘65 by White Zombie
21.Sin City by Genitorturers
22.Fun With Drugs by Velvet Acid Christ
23.I Sit On Acid (Original) by Lords Of Acid
24.Every Day Is Halloween by Ministry
25.March Of The Pigs by Nine Inch Nails
26.Sabbath Bloody Sabbath by Black Sabbath
27.Say You Love Satan by Toxic Coma
28.In League With Satan by Venom
29.Nuns Have No Fun by Mercyful Fate
30.Assimilate by Skinny Puppy
BONUS TRACK: Unholy Roller by The Electric Hellfire Club (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yg7rmEqmS8k)
It’s true that I mentioned none of these songs or artists by name in the story, but they would all have been played at some point during one of Nadia’s diabolical gatherings. Trust me. If you’re too lazy to compile the play list yourself, you’re in luck if you use Spotify because I’ve already compiled it for you there.
Spotify soundtrack link:
http://open.spotify.com/user/bryandsmith/playlist/7hMWMaX74YFo3NPcQpDiEt
Table of Contents
The Diabolical Conspiracy
Midpoint
EPILOGUE
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