Wednesday Writing & Who’s at the #ThursdayDoor? (1)

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

Wednesday, January 10, 2024

Angel-bots at door waiting for guest. Image collage by Teagan

Welcome, everyone.  As you probably know, I typically only do two posts per week.  When it fits, I sometimes combine my Wednesday Writing topic with Thursday Doors.  This year, I had the idea to do an occasional blogger feature, called Who’s at the Door?  Moments later, a generous blogger had emailed me her response for a writing exercise I posted last week, so it was the perfect fit for combining the two topics. 

Besides, she mentioned a 1927 science fiction film that inspired a few of the ascetics for my diesel-punk adventure, Hullaba Lulu.  How could I resist?  My angel-bots from Hullaba Lulu are lined up and ready for the catwalk, waiting to greet the featured blogger.

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Who’s at the door?

Resa McConaghy.  She’s such a generous person.  Resa has two blogs.  You can find her mural photos at Graffiti Lux Art & More, and her fashions at Art Gowns.

The writing exercise I offered was “Write something about a year 24.”  I wasn’t the only one to take inspiration from Metropolis.  The video and the song below got Resa’s imagination going.

As for the video above, it was done by a creative soul who goes by the name Sanjin, who cobbled together footage from the classic apocalyptic sci-fi film Metropolis, and combined it with the song In The Year 2525 by Zager & Evans.  (If you click on through to view it on YouTube you can read Sanjin’s description of it.)

Update: Since so many readers had not seen the film Metropolis, I’m adding a link to the full movie.

Here’s Resa’s short story.

Resa’s Short Story
2524

Lexica

Having learned the secret of time travel by mentally tapping creative friends’ energies (no need of a transporter pod or digital signal), I decided to head out to 2524, New Orleans.

Upon arrival I was greeted by two men under a large banner reading, “Welcome To 2525!”

As I looked around, dumbfounded by the sight of only a very few half-alive people, the two men extended their hands.

“I’m Zager,” said one.

“I’m Evans,” introduced the other.

“Welcome to 2525, if man is still alive,” they sang in unison.

Valentino and Lulu dance with angel-bots, by Teagan R. Geneviene
Image collage by Teagan

“I can see that,” I replied looking around, “but I’m supposed to be in New Orleans in 2524.”

“Ah, you’re not the first,” spoke Evans. “You made a left turn at Albuquerque in 2124, when you should have gone right.”

“So now you’re in our song, in 2525,” Zager informed, but if you don’t like it here, we can take you 3535, 5555 or 6565!”

Evans piped up, “We’ve also got 7510, 8510 or 9595.”

I was caught in a strange song in the wrong year. Why, oh why did I bother to listen to it when I bumped into it on YouTube? I had to get out of there! I was panicking while rapidly gathering creative friends’ mental acumen, so was not thorough before focusing intently on New Orleans, 2524.

My body drenched with sweat, I arrived in New Orleans. Several Model T Fords drove by, and I realized that although in New Orleans, there was no way it could be 2524. 

In moments I knew what had happened. It wasn’t Teagan’s fault that I had landed in 1924. I’d allowed a disproportionate amount of her imagination into my time travel ticket. No worries, I figured, she’s probably around somewhere!

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Heartfelt thanks to Resa for sharing this fun flash fiction with us.  Click over to her blogs for more fun.  Have a splendid new week.  Hugs!

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Obligatory shameless self-promotion

Hullaba Lulu cover by Teagan R. Geneviene

Universal Purchase Links

Kindle:  relinks.me/B08JKP1RS4

Paperback:  relinks.me/B08JDYXPZM

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(Since I finished writing this post on Tuesday, I don’t have the new Thursday Doors badge for 2024.  So, I’ve kept the one for 2023 below.)

Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. It’s hosted by Dan Antion.  Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

2023 Badge Thurs doors teresa-my-camera-and-i

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This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,

This is a work of fiction.  Characters, names, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2024 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

All rights reserved.

95 thoughts on “Wednesday Writing & Who’s at the #ThursdayDoor? (1)”

  1. One of my favourite songs over images from one of the finest early expressionist films – I’m in heaven! 😀 Teagan, a terrific post and thank you for reminding me how much I love Metropolis. I first saw it when taking German film as part of my German Uni Course – not sure we saw this full-length version so will take a look later.

    What a brilliant idea with Who’s At the Door and thoroughly enjoyed reading Resa’s story – good to know you’ll be there to help out in the end! Now we all need one of those – a time-travelling ticket, just hope they get you to the right time-line! 😀

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    1. It’s great to see you, Annika. I really enjoyed your comment. Did you know that there’s also an anime version of Metropolis? It’s not exact to the original, but it’s colorful and enjoyable. I’m happy you had a good time here. Thanks for opening this door.

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    1. Haha. Thanks, Rebecca. It seems like the universe conspires to push me back to 1920s New Orleans for a third volume in the series “A Medium’s Peril.” *Sigh* So many books to write, so little time… It’s always a joy to work with Resa. Thanks for opening this door. Hugs on the wing.

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  7. Very unique. Often Sarah and I talk about time and while my sister always wishes that if she could go back in time she would. You know meet our late parents and tweak some events. I disagree with her. Obviously, she is quite startled to hear this because why would I not want to meet my late mom whom I love so dearly? Well, I explained to her that I was only 14 then, and her passing away brought me enormous hardships. To which she says, then why you don’t want to go back? I say without all that hard journey I would not be the person I am today. The same I think will happen if we happen to go in the future. When we return knowing what’s about to come, we will never be the same person we were in the present before heading to the future, would we?

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    1. Thanks for pondering about time, Sharukh. I can certainly see it from both you and your sister’s points of view. Personally, I my thoughts are more along the line of specific “turning points” — when I remember those events, and wish and wonder how life would have been different now, if I had done what I “should” have, or done what my heart told me to do — in stead of what I did. Some of us would like to be much different from the person those hardships created. However, for me, what’s done is done. I feel better imagining good things in the future. Thanks for opening this door. Hugs.

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      1. Well, we all think of what we should have done instead of what we did. I made many immature decisions when I was in my college days. Today, I feel I could have done better. However, this is my wise version thinking about my dumb version. We can only learn from our mistakes and become wiser.

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  8. I enjoyed Resa’s story. Very imaginative–and all’s well that ends well! I loved the Metropolis/In the Year 2525 video. I remember the song when it came out. Adding it to the Metropolis footage adds a whole new dimension of horror to the song.

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  10. The Model T Fords shimmered in the air and were replaced by Lincoln Towncars . . . a more luxurious model by Ford’s upscale label. The Lincolns drove off into the future, to be greeted by cheering crowds and streams of confetti.

    Teagan, thanks for leaving a comment at my blog. Keep commenting.

    http://www.catxman.wordpress.com

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    1. Flying Lincoln Towncars — now there’s an image… which leads to the idea of levitating boats, since they were land-yachts. My grandparents had a Mark VI in the early 1980s. Yacht or not, it was one quiet smooth ride.
      Thanks for commenting with this micro story. Hugs.

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  12. Dear Teagan,

    Thank you for creating this challenge and featuring my response.
    You are a terrific host.
    I had fun writing this short bit. I hope it’s as funny to all as it is to me.
    I just know I’m going to find you in 1924 New Orleans, and I’m off to check the French Quarter.
    You are the bee’s knees!
    Hugs!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Tee-hee! I might show up in the Garden District, to work on the next “A Medium’s Peril” series book. Feisty housekeeper, Maisy, has a cousin with a big old house there and she was planning to stick around for a visit, when A Peril in the Bayou ended. 🙂 ❤

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    1. I thought you’d get a kick out of that Albuquerque remark, John, given your run-ins with Warner Brothers characters. 😀 (Although I admit the reference escaped me until someone mentioned it. I don’t know how I don’t remember that particular cartoon. I grew up on those cartoons…) Thanks for spending time here. Hugs.

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  15. I’ve seen Metropolis two or three times. The soundtrack music put to it really makes a difference. One soundtrack was so bad, I turned down the volume and just watched the movie, but a great soundtrack makes the movie even better. Love the story, and love that song video with the clips from the film.

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  17. Resa’s story is fantastic, Teagan. I love the “left turn at Albuquerque” reference, too. Letting too much Teagan’s imagination into the mix could certainly have profound effects. Thanks for including the song and video. I know the song, but I had never seen that video.

    And welcome back to Thursday Doors 🙂

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  22. A packed post! I’ve never seen “Metropolis,” and I was wow-ed by the scenes in the video. And a fun short story. A story that has a quote from Bugs Bunny about making a left turn at Albuquerque will make me smile 🙂

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    1. Thanks very much, Dave. Resa will be delighted.
      I was surprised to see how many people here aren’t familiar with Metropolis, so I updated the post to include a link to the full film. There’s a color-ized version too. Also, there’s a very good anime version from 2001, although not 100% true to the 1927 film. Thanks for reading and commenting. Hugs.

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  24. Fabulous work by Resa! It’s difficult to know where one of your stories, combined with a song, will send our minds. So right! Thanks for sharing this and for the fabulous video. (Oh, Metropolis. What a movie!)

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          1. Thank you, Teagan!
            I didn’t want to intrude… but wanted to be polite.
            It’s a fab post! You do great CGI. I’m surprised everyone doesn’t know the movie “Metropolis”!
            Hugs!

            Liked by 1 person

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