Csick Volume 1

By Platypus T

"Hi there," Nate pops up and looks at you, the reader. "You're looking at the first ten blog posts for the story Csick. These blog posts are self-edited and imperfect, lacking the polish of a professional."

"I hope I'll see you soon," with a final wave Nate jumps into the book.

Synopsis:
Nate wakes up with no memories. As he partially regains them he realizes that something is wrong. He’s living in a fantasy world, as the character in a story. He continues struggling with the mysterious writer while winning the contest of his dreams. A chance to go aboard the Csick cruise liner and battle against the best writers that can be found in this strange fantasy world.

His roommates include Stan Realman, five raccoons in a trenchcoat masquerading as a human. He is joined by Luke, the gentle giant who writes romance, Alvin the fortune teller, and many more.

Between mermaids and fire-spewing flowers, Nate finds both new friends and rivals as he faces intense writing contests and fierce competitions. There’s also a theme song, the occasional over-the-top martial arts move, brainstorms that physically manifest, and a hint of romance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Platypus T
• Release date: Jun 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005570392

Platypus T

Hi, I'm Platy. I'm nearly 40, married, and owned by 3 cats. I've been writing on and off my whole life, inspired by The Hardy Boys and Gordon Korman.

Book preview

Csick

Volume 1

By: Platypus T.

Published by Platypus T. at Smashwords

Copyright 2022 Platypus T.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Thank you for downloading this ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favorite ebook retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

This book is dedicated to all the comedians who have come and gone before me. Movie stars like Robin Williams and Betty White. Stand-up comedians like Mitch Hedberg. Authors like Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett. The world needs laughter and these people gave so much more than they took.

Rule 1 - Winners must respond within 48 hours

What the cotton candy? Nate was laying on the grass beside an empty soccer field. He put a hand to his head and felt his short hair. He couldn’t remember what colour it was. For that matter, he couldn’t remember anything.

Nate tried to remember his name. Of course, it was Nate, but why was that the only thing he remembered.

He felt around for a lump to explain the pounding in his head, but couldn’t find anything that felt out of place. Nate realized that he remembered the feel of his head. He could even remember the colour, it was brown, or black. That’s right, naturally brown but he was allowed to dye it black on his thirteenth birthday. It had remained black in the three odd years since then.

What’s going on? Nate mumbled to himself as he stood up. Or tried to stand up, but his first attempt was a complete failure. He brought himself up to his knees, then finally stood up.

As he looked around more memories came back to him. He recognized the field. It was beside a school and just a few blocks from his house. He even remembered how to get home, but not what it looked like.

This is too weird, It felt like the memories had been written into his mind by some unseen hand.

Hey, are you ok? A strange teen girl was running up to him.

Nate’s mind flashed and more memories were added. The girl running to him was Jess, his best friend. Nate’s thoughts started racing.

Why am I just remembering her now? Am I just a character in a tv show? Am I even real?

I was wondering where you ran off to, Jess had reached Nate and was bent over catching her breath.

I, uh… decided to lie down, Nate decided against telling her about his memory loss, and his theory that he was in a tv show. He brushed the grass off his pants.

You had me worried.

I believe you have mail, sir, the voice came from Nate’s pocket.

Nate took out his phone and unlocked it on muscle memory alone, seconds before he remembered his pin number.

There was more than one message waiting for him. Texts, emails, social media. His phone must have been going off nonstop.

How long was I out for? Nate wondered as he scrolled through the lists.

The first few emails were ads from various companies. Most of them had been a one-and-done purchase from years ago that he hadn’t bothered unsubscribing from. The next was an acceptance letter to the Hagwarts school of Lizardry. Nate marked that one as spam. He opened the next one and stopped breathing.

It was another acceptance letter, but this one was legit. The Community of Stories, Inspected by Clark & Kent, or Csick. They were the largest publishing company in the world, run by twins Clark and Kent. They operated a huge cruise ship just for writers.

It was a school of sorts, but also a contest. While there you could get school credits, from grade school through college. If you failed a class, you were dropped from the contest. Anybody could apply, any age and only the children and teens had mandatory classes.

Every writer dreamed of getting on board the yacht. The popular opinion was that even if you lost, you still came home with a pretty handsome consolation prize. At the very least, they published all your stories into a book for you. A step in the door of publishing that many writers would die for. The flip side of the coin is that everyone would know you failed. While the contest was exclusive, there were rumours that there were thousands on board the cruise ship. Losing at that level was a disgrace and you had to work twice as hard to prove yourself. Despite this, it was still wildly popular, and whenever they had a contest for new openings on the ship they got a massive response. It was nearly impossible to get in. But the impossible had come true. Nate was looking at a letter from Csick, he had been accepted.

Winners have 48 hours to respond. Was written at the bottom of the letter, in large red letters. Followed by a box that said Confirm and buttons labelled yes and no.

Nate’s finger hovered over the buttons. He should talk to his parents first.

Nate started to turn blue, and he finally remembered to breathe. He gulped at the air until his lungs were full, then screamed out loud in joy. It was supposed to be a Yee-Haw or a Yeah but ended up being a dozen things all meshed together. The resulting cacophony made several cats near a dumpster take notice.

Are you ok Nate? A voice floated up from around the corner. Even when yelling, it was soft and flowing. His little sister.

I’m perfect! Nate shouted back as memories came flooding back. His little sister, Susan. And don’t you dare call her Sue or Suzy.

I’ll explain when we get home, Nate grabbed Jess’s arm and took off running. He grabbed Susan’s hand with his spare hand and sped home to tell everyone the news.

Suddenly the scene changed. It was a large room, like a warehouse. The wall was pure white. A tiny wooden sign hung at the top of the wall. Theme Song Room was engraved in bold letters.

Music started playing, a bouncy pop tune. Pictures of Nate came into view, as though projected against the wall. They showed him writing during his entire childhood, into his teens.

Nate wandered into the warehouse and came into the reader's view.

What’s going on? Is this a theme song?

The picture on the wall changed to somebody else. A teenage boy with shocking golden hair. His face was rather plain until you got to his pure gold eyes. They had a swirling pattern that drew you in, making it difficult to look away.

The focus suddenly changed, It was zoomed in to an elaborate gold pen. The view zoomed out slowly, showing that the pen was being held by the golden-haired boy, who started swiping it through the air. Water rose up, and towered around him before it splashed down. Once the water had drained from view, the picture was of a massive yacht, Csick was proudly written in large rainbow letters on the side.

By this point, Nate was convinced he was living in a tv show. He banged