Yay! An Ekphrastic Exercise

Well, I decided to write a poem off of the picture. It's a little rough, but I might clean it up and hand it out to workshop class next week. Sorry I haven't written any comments yet. I decided not to read anybody's stuff until I posted, as Jen suggested. So here you go, everybody!

A Thrilling Publication

There will be women with loosely fitting
clothes. Big hairdos. Men with guns. They
won't be afraid to use them. Radiation suits.
Things we'll never see in our humdrum
lives. The hero will perhaps be shot. But he
will live. The heroine could remove the bullet.
With the hero's direction. Or perhaps she
is a nurse. Somehow caught up in this terrible
plot. Or she's the one behind it all. Maybe
she gets shot at the very last second. In
the heart. To save the hero. She has a change
of heart. Suddenly, she believes in God
and country. The American way. We're
all capable of being forgiven at the last
second if we surrender ourselves to our guilt.
If we announce it. From the tallest rooftop.
We love to see the guilty embrace our ways.
Embrace their punishment. The serial killer
sobs in the televised murder trial. He begs
for the chair. And prays for the families.
The crooked politician cites lines from
Ecclesiastes. To our great comfort. The high
school date rapist dies a hero in Iraq. Parades.
In the book, a Soviet spy has stolen enough
Plutonium to blow the eastern seaboard
to kingdom come. In the end, it turns out
the radiation kills him before he can leave
the country. The G-Men find him dead
and disfigured. No face for mother or God
to recognize. No great speech excuses his
actions. The main detective goes home, alone,
to a frozen dinner. He cries to himself as he
watches the evening news. Somehow, there's
been a switch. When we put the book down,
our small room has become a little smaller.

DIY Pulp Magazine

The year is 2050. The British government, still upset after 90 years about their lack of involvement in the original space race, now has the upper hand. Our plot picks up with their government working on a top-secret experiment to make colonization on the moon possible. The machine breaks down components in the rock to make oxygen, and uses any ice found in the process for water. The invention is being closely guarded, for now that they (finally) have the technology, they fear it being stolen by other countries.

The invention, 02H20 is being housed in an abandoned airfield. To be sure that it is kept secret, a machine is on the premises that emits waves in a 2-mile radius, making anyone within that radius violently ill (That's what that thing is in the upper left corner behind the title). The scientists and other workers all wear suits to block out the rays, but in case a brave (and iron-stomached) soul wanders in, there are guards with guns stationed about.

Our G-Man Detective is actually an American spy (though he does a terrible job - what with running around in uniform and all). Determined to be on top of everything (and deplete its resources first), the U.S. has found about about this secret invention and sent the G-Man, John Scarsdale, to get the information.

Finding the location wasn't very hard - thousands of people getting sick within a certain area? What those limeys didn't bet on was our man John having a metal plate in his head from injuries in previous service. Walking onto the premises unaffected by the waves, John comes upon a guard unawares (he was having afternoon tea). They tussle, and both draw guns, but as handguns were banned by the British government in 1997 (a law they apparently never repealed or amended in 53 yrs), the guard's is a decoy, and he is quickly overthrown. However rather than draw more attention to the area with gunshots, Scarsdale forces all the scientists to remove their headgear, causing them all to flee, vomiting all the way to safety. He grabs the plans (which were conveniently left on a table) and flees, ensuring victory for the US!

...Or did he? The British were more clever than he expected. That site was just a decoy and the British still hold all the cards - as well as a grudge now...

Three thousand years of beautiful tradition, from Moses to Sandy Koufax

I don't think I have anything to say about this topic. I think it was not meant for me. The title throws me; G-Men Detective? Shouldn't it be G-Man Detective? Or G-Men Detectives? I know a G-Man is short for "government man." (Though there is a gay magazine called G-Men, I think.) Is he detecting government men, or is he a government man detecting other people? I don't know. This is not meant for me, because I have no imagination. I don't think the guy is in a radiation suit, since his hands are bare. Wouldn't do too much good, right? And which one is the detective? "Death on the Runways" makes me think of the obvious. It's on an airport runway. The guys in the background are shooting some strange laser weapons at something; I'd guess it's an airplane. So this is some sort of retro-futuristic thing. Not sure what's going on there. Maybe the guy is supposed to be in a radiation suit; what else would it be? Some sort of space suit? Are they from space? Maybe it's a space shuttle runway. I dunno. I also like William O'Sullivan, the guy who wrote the story, because he kept the "O" on his name (once upon a time, the "O" was attached to my last name, until it was more suitably westernized long before I was born; the "O" means "grandson of"). Also it seems to say "British Edition" in the upper left corner; what's that about? What would need to be different? Some British slang maybe.

That's really all I can think of. But on the bright side, I've set the bar suitably low for everyone else's responses.

UPDATE: Jen, you have a much better imagination than I. I don't want to say I have absolutely no imagination; I think I do sometimes. I fear I'm going to be embarrassed because this topic will be better received by everyone else, since I think everyone else here has a better imagination. I guess I could look at this picture and make something up; I took it seriously when you said to write my post first. I wasn't sure what you were looking for. And then I read your post. So I'll try again. Here goes.

The men are from space; they established a colony on Mars. They came back to take more people with them. That's why they are in space suits. The G-Man Detective is trying to stop them; he was investigating the strange disappearances of people and uncovered their plan. Maybe they are taking people back to populate their species, trying to create a more perfect human race. And leaving Earth to rot; and even draining some of their resources/money/etc. And ruling them from afar; trying to meddle in their affairs and influence Earth, especially trying to keep people from progressing/evolving and particularly from venturing outward and discovering their presence on Mars. G-Man Detective wants to uncover their plot and stop them from disappearing people and from creating a master race to rule Earth from afar. How's that? Doesn't really jibe with "Death on the Runways." Damn. Well that's as good as I got.

Discuss.

This week, this G-Men Detective cover is your inspiration. I won't tell you where I got it or anything else about it, just respond to it by saying whatever it makes you think of. In fact, this might work better if you don't read the other responses until after you've written your own-- then it will be truly yours and not a continuation of someone else's. that said, here's mine (and I promise I just found this image 2 minutes ago, so don't put an awful lot of thought into what you want to say; obviously, I'm not).


The first question that comes to my mind here is, who exactly is the g-man in this drawing? The guy in blue appears to be a cop, but then, who's dressed up in that HazMat suit? then I have to wonder, if this is Death on the Runways, where's the plane? and what's that planet-shaped thing behind the title?

Radiation is fascinating to me because the human body has absolutely no way of sensing it. Literally, you could be walking around town completely covered in radiation particles(which I always think of as little glowing green dots--thank you, TV) and have no idea. And as you're walking, you're leaving a trail of green dots, and green fingerprints and shoeprints, and other people are picking them up as they follow behind you. Yet, none of you can see, feel, taste, smell, or hear your contamination. The only thing you'll eventually feel is the sickness you may get later, if you received a serious dose. But with most radiation, you just have to change clothes and take a shower and *poof!* all safe! Other types can be treated rather easily, you just have to know you need treatment, which is the tough part. In fact, you are exposed to radiation every day, but the level you get has been deemed safe and acceptable by people who presumably know about such things and you'll just have to trust them until you hear differently.

Although radiation suits, when worn properly, can protect against radiation poisoning, they cannot protect against bullets. This is doubly bad news for our startled HazMat responder, as he's backing away from the cop's gun AND not wearing gloves. Hopefully, HazMat training in Britain has improved since the late '40s: 1.) wear gloves when responding to a dangerous situation, even if you chose to respond with pistols and lasers, and 2.) Try not to anger any local police, even American police, who may be quick to shoot and slow to understand, or 2b.) Wear bullet-proof vests under all HazMat attire.

Despite who the good guys are or why the bad guys are so bad, we have to wonder what the two fellows in the background are shooting. As in, what type of weapon is that, what is coming out of it, and what is whatever's coming out of it actually hitting.

Here's the situation as I understand it: The Russians were building a new, secret super-weapon somewhere on the outskirts of London. Our hero, G-Man Detective (who dresses like an American cop, not a Bobbie, to prove that he's just that cool), is immediately put on the case when Scotland Yard discovers a dead scientist in the general vicinity. After some careful sleuthing, G-Man finds the underground Russian lair and is able to observe the building of this super-weapon. Unfortunately, before he can get word back to Scotland Yard, he is discovered by the Russians and has to fight his way out of the lair and destroy the super-weapon single handedly. All this, of course, he does without breaking a sweat and at some point hooks up (in clean, 1940s fashion) with the hot Russian girl-scientist. Well, maybe not scientist. He hooks up with the hot Russian maid/cook who is actually being held captive by the weapon builders because her father, coincidentally the scientist found dead at the beginning of our story, was asking too many questions about the fairness, power, and implications of the super-weapon.

Why are they building in London? well, the climate is much better there, which is saying something.