Origins Part Two

Did you read Origins Part One?

No?

Well go ahead and read it, we'll wait.

So you're back for more right?  You would like to know where more of the stories from in By The Bay came from right?  Did it stem from something that happened to them or was it just a creative idea?

Well wonder no more!  Our wonderful author, Jenny Sparks, came up with a great idea.  Why not share how we came up with our stories.  

So, over the course of the month we will share our authors thoughts with you.

I hope you enjoy installment number two!


Lights On The Water by Will Hopkins

"Lights on Water" originated with a Norfolk city maintenance sign I saw over in West Ocean View announcing road work on Buckman, Marlow and Orange streets.  I thought that sounded like a pretty good name for a law firm.  Creating a dissolute lawyer as the main character was no novel achievement, I'll admit.  The notion of the lights or flying saucers or whatever they were is a bit more interesting, as it's based on an actual event that occurred damn near East Beach during the great UFO scare of 1952. According to people who follow this stuff, the "Nash-Fortenberry Sighting" ranks as one of the most inexplicable UFO encounters ever recorded.  There are, of course, a thousand (okay, that's a guess) accounts of the story on the internet.  Dare you to read a few of them.  

The Town Hall Incident by Patrick Clark

“The Town Hall Incident” evolved from two separate ideas.  The first was the venue.  A few years ago, several politicians from the across the state held a political rally at the Bay Front Club.  It was an opportunity for them to meet with area residents, discuss their platforms and answer questions.  That event was, effectively, a Town Hall Meeting and that was the genesis for the event and the venue.  The second idea came from a disturbing newspaper article I read that described a growing concern of security agents at airports around the world; weapons developed using 3D printers out of materials that would elude discovery by metal detectors.  I did a little research and learned that plastic and carbon fiber weapons have already been developed and tested.  And, I found that instructions and examples of 3D printed weapons were easily found on the internet.  Yea, that's the world we live in.  So I merged those ideas together and I had a storyline and a plot.

Boneyard by Patrick Clark

East Beach wasn’t always the idyllic neighborhood, with custom designed homes and manicured landscaping, that it is now.  In 1980, when I reported as a newly minted ensign, to my first ship that was home ported out of Little Creek Naval Base, East Little Creek was a pretty rough area.  Sometimes, when I walk around in East Beach or on the East Ocean View Beach, I muse about those days and about how different the area is now.  “Boneyard” is a product of those thoughtful walks.