The fandom is a new one to me: a game that features cards that look like book covers. The request was to write a classic pulp-style story inspired by one of those covers. The "Dead Planet" card called out to me, with its sci-fi elements.
Indiana Jones jumped to mind as a pulpy kind of hero, so I set him in space. Why not pair him up with another Harrison Ford character who's already set in space: Han Solo? That gave me two of the characters from the book cover. The other human character was a beautiful woman wearing something entirely impractical, so she became a supermodel who happened to live in a hidden base on a supposedly dead planet.
The research aspect of this story was great fun, giving me an excuse to read classic sci-fi stories.
Less fun? Picking character names. That's always a struggle. In the past I've taken names from Jane Austen novels and Casablanca. This time I went for something a bit more unusual: Silbrith's collection of stuffed animals, a.k.a. "The Animal Crew" who act as our muses and cheerleaders for writing projects.
Now, it just so happens that several members of the Animal Crew feel an attachment to specific characters from our Caffrey Conversation series. In particular, Niall speaks for Neal, Petric for Peter, and Gigi for Sara. Is there a bit of those characters in Dead Planet? If that idea brings you pleasure, then by all means read the story as yet another White Collar AU.
Happy New Year!
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