Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Short Characterization from My Novel "Revelation"


For all of you scientists out there whose work is vetted by clueless administrators, below is a short characterization with which you’ll unfortunately be familiar. It’s taken from my just-released novel, “Revelation”: enjoy!

The telephone beside Steven Helmsley’s obscured right ear kept ringing until the bureaucrat was awakened out of a profoundly satisfying dream. He had taken to the ritual of the late afternoon nap, perfecting all the accoutrements of deception lest anyone discover his true enterprise, that of escaping the horridly boring insignificance of his daily workday existence. He was on his way to mastering the art of channeling, directing his unconscious awareness into a Walter Mitty dreamland. Unlike the predictable monotony of his workplace, little thrills and surprises often peppered these directed flights, taking him to the levels of scientific accomplishment that had so successfully eluded his conscious pursuits.
He stuck it out because he needed the income, and the pension they had offered in exchange for his freedom was just two years from vesting. Working for the government had robbed him of the opportunities and rewards of outside industry, or so he believed, and he was not about to forego the comforts of this costly security blanket, no matter how much crap he was catching from them. In reality, he had been too afraid to chance it on his own, which was more than likely fortuitous. Steven Helmsley lacked the imagination to ever contribute to the body of significant research, and so he made his living overseeing its practice under the auspices of the National Institutes of Health - another bit of oxymoronic logic in the unique operational construct of the United States government.

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