Front Matter
For Duz, Rick and Jason
Preface
When I conceived the Sunset Saga I decided to embed the protagonists in a vast setting that would be very difficult for any of them to fathom. This does leave a lot of narrative ‘space’, particularly since this is a time-travel setting with innumerable timeframes, and up to seven alternative time-lines. The 21 novel series will touch only a fraction of the setting.
In this light I have decided on a literary experiment. Out of Time is a chance for me to write a story that I have not plotted as a writer, but which will instead be ‘oriented’ by a randomized matrix.
Pozer Senski is a character based on three people I know: Duz from the Harm City books; Rick Wayne from the Harm City books, and Jason, a man who I am getting to know through viewing his YouTube videos and serving as the ghostwriter for a boxing manual he has been working on for some time. I have long wanted to combine Duz and Rick because they are likeable men of Polish descent with immense ‘retard strength’ and a greater than normal reluctance to do wrong. When Jason asked me if there was anything he could do for my help with the boxing manual project other than the payment we had agreed upon, I said, “I have already exacted my pound of flesh. I am basing a character on you, a character who gets in a lot of trouble.”
Jason objected, “But I’m a good boy.”
I responded, “That is why I’m going to have so much fun writing you as someone who cannot stay out of trouble.”
Jason’s voice over the phone was warped by his smile, “Sounds cool man—I’ll be checking it out.”
Below is the ‘misfortune matrix’ I will consult before writing each installment by rolling a percentage with two 10-sided die.
Out of Luck
01-10% Pozer is in a ridiculous amount of trouble, and has no clue why?
11-30% Pozer gets screwed over, betrayed, dumped, ripped off, duped, turned in, marooned…
31-50% Pozer is in a ridiculous amount of trouble and actually understands or figures out why.
51-70% Pozer does the right thing, knowing full well that it will get him into a ridiculous amount of trouble!
71-90% Pozer tries to do the right thing, but fails, resulting in him doing the wrong thing, and landing him in a ridiculous amount of trouble!
91-100% Pozer gets lucky; really lucky; jealousy-inducing lucky; and this good fortune gets him into a ridiculous amount of trouble.
After each roll, I will make another roll. If the exact result [a 62% for instance] repeats, Pozer gets whacked, and I will have to write in a replacement character to continue the serial, subject to the same 'misfortune matrix' that did Pozer wrong.
