Vampire Unicorn

By R C Ducantlin

For everyone classified as a Baby Boomer or a Gen-X'er, this story is the confirmation that we live in extraordinary times.

 

Astonishing advancements, and history-changing knowledge, are arriving faster than can be conceived. Do we accept our fate when the velocity of change exceeds our capacity to adapt?

 

Have you seen your future in today's concepts? Does knowing the path to your future equate to personal satisfaction?

 

Vampire Unicorn and the Mandarin Pith is the description of one person's decades-long journey to find self-acceptance. Acceptance in a world that is continuously shifting the sand under our feet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R C Ducantlin, Ltd.
• Release date: Nov 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781949211580

R C Ducantlin

Fortunately, in secondary school, my interest in reading was sparked. A close friend and an instructor, who took interest in a boy he later called ‘The rebel without a clue.,’ were instrumental in my learning the value of a good book. Both piqued my interest in reading. My lifelong friend inspired me to read J.R.R. Tolkien and I became addicted to the fantasy genre. The instructor required I read interesting historical novels for academic credit. Frank Norris, Leon Uris, and Ken Follett are inspirations and fuel my love of history. Born to a military family, it was logical that I follow the military tradition. However, after four years of “yes sirs” and scraping the wax off floors I decided there must be more fun in a corporate career. Thirty plus years of work experiences across the globe, the corporate career landed me in Colorado, where I live with my wife and I can be close to my children and grandchildren.

Book preview

Foreword

"The future rewards those who press on.

I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself.

I don’t have time to complain.

I’m going to press on."

Barack Obama

I am not a fan of the horror genre. Horror movies. Horror books. None appeal to me. Why do I want to scare myself? Real-life is scary enough, which is why I do not read Stephen King.

As a 17-year-old with no sense, I ventured out to the cinema to watch Sissy Spacek dispense justified comeuppance on her classmates. The summer of 1977, sitting in a musty rundown theater outside Florence, Alabama, is where I sat. It is as close as I want to come to be peeing my pants by fiction.

Occupying the second seat of the back row put me close to the exit. The girl sitting directly in front of me squatted on her heels the entire movie. When the climactic scene overwhelmed the 50 people in the small playhouse, the girl sprung up, fell back, landed in my lap, covering her face with her hands. Her boyfriend thought her sitting in my lap was my fault.

My fear of the horror on the screen vanished with Bubba’s desire to inflict pain on the California Boy. Fortunately, it did not come to blows. Bubba liked my "Californa ack-cent" and thought I was funny. A little self-effacing humor goes a long way. I have not watched another horror film.

I, however, read On Writing by Stephen King. In fact, after ensuring I bookmarked my place correctly, I put it down and wrote the words you are reading. Correctly stated, I am reading On Writing by Stephen King.

I read books, lots of them. Too many. The last physical book I read, a book constructed from dead trees, was A Column of Fire by Ken Follett. That was four years ago. I met Mister Follet, he signed the book, and I treasure the memory.

Before that, I think it was An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor 10 years ago.

I read books on my phone.

I don’t read books written to creep me out.

After more than a year of hard struggle to move my new career as a writer in a positive direction, I needed change. I went to the library to reserve, wait, then check out the hardback version of On Writing.

My thinking is simple: If you want to understand something, to learn it intimately, hold it in your hands. My desire to be a better writer meant I needed to understand the art of writing.

My goal: Comprehend the art of writing intimately.

The result of my new grasp is this collection of fictional vignettes that describe one person’s growth and overcoming. Growth beyond that which is expected. Overcoming that which real-life pushes into your chosen path.

Preface

Dear reader, this collection of stories is a fictional memoir. If you prefer, a fictional autobiography.

I do not think the prior two sentences pass the On Writing smell test. I don’t care. I like how they flow.

Using the word fictional is deliberate. It means I made it up.

I trace this narrative’s genesis to something I pondered when my grandfather was alive. My grandfather’s 96 years of life experience spanned eras of massive change. His life started with oil lamps, a wood-fired stove for cooking and heat, and outhouses. Technological growth allowed his life to develop into a simpler existence with electric lights, central heating, flush toilets, automobiles, and the technology that supported putting men on the moon.

In my lifetime, the changes are no less dramatic. Consider, in your pocket, is the ability to speak, in real-time, with anyone, anywhere. Converse while sitting on the davenport. Sitting with a wireless personal computer on your lap, you have access to the collective sum of human knowledge.

With progress comes benefits. Today humans live longer, better lives. There has always been an abundance of hope for the future. Hope in every lifetime, mine included. But, there is no assurance of the future being something more.

This collection of invented mythologies purposefully tells the story of the future so bright you have to wear shades.

I encourage you to read on, put on your shades, let the imagery fall over you. Consider the implications of being alive during the best time to be alive.

It is, as always, your choice.

The story begins now.

Prologue

"Only I can change my life.

No one can do it for me."

Carol Burnett

Hello, my name is Richard Anthony Albert Garcia. For obvious reasons, my friends call me Rag. I am the narrator of this story, but it is not my story.

Some of it is my story.

Most of it is my story.

In reality, this is a collection of