New Reality Part 1 - "New York Times Obituary"
Part one of three. Each part has a narrator and a reality. First up - The New York Times' Obituaries. What is the truth?
Catch-Up: The following contains spoilers for the Roleplaying Campaign “Delta Green: Impossible Landscapes”.
In 1995, “Delta Green”, a secret organisation which identifies and neutralises supernatural threats, discovered a New York property, The Macallister Building, might be corrupted by alleged demonic forces.
“M-Cell” (Nathan “MAC” Brooks, Tadhg “MO” Mohannery and Steve "MDUANE" Vardanyan) were sent to investigate, leading them to a strange strange dream-like reality they nicknamed the “Night Floors”.
They successfully contained the threat bound to the Macallistar Building and managed to save a long-lost cable repairman, David Langford, from the “Night Floors” in the process.
But their time spent there revealed a more malignant influence at work; a viral play called “The King in Yellow”, transmitted in a small leather-bound red book.
M-Cell, compelled by the building’s malignance, shared a mysterious and contagious symbol known as the “Yellow Sign” on the World Wide Web. Dumbasses.
We pick up the story 20 years later, in 2015….
Nathan Brooks, the founder of MacAllistar Analytics, has passed away at the age of 41, after taking his own life, and that of his son, in their Mexican home.
Brooks was best known for creating the pioneering social media site Redbook, and with it, he turned social programming into a fortune, this data and wealth provided him untold influence in the US.
Popularly known as "RedBookScorpion," he was the first friend automatically assigned to new Redbook users. Brooks played a pivotal role in Redbook's innovation, development, and growth throughout his career, becoming its president and strategic adviser.
Founded in August 1999 by Brooks, Redbook quickly gained popularity among teenagers and young adults. Between 2003 and 2008, Redbook emerged as the largest social networking site globally, surpassing even Google in website visits. It experienced exponential user growth, reaching milestones like 100 million users and signing a lucrative deal with Google for ad sales.
Following the acquisition of Redbook by Meta in 2010 for $5.8 billion, Brooks evolved his role within the company. He stepped down as president in April 2012 and later stepped back from his prominent position on the platform, transitioning into retirement at 37. Nathan Brooks pursued a new private life in South America, as a single father to his young son.
He found solace in the arts, and literature, supporting Imperial American and Russo-French performing arts charities like "Americans for the Arts" and "The Field".
Nathan's passing is a sad end to his already miserable story. In 1990 he was wrongly convicted of the violent double murder of his parents and coerced into pleading insanity. He spent one year in a psychiatric secure unit for teenagers, and then 2 years in a federal penitentiary, where he continued to study programming, network systems, and encryption.
After his release in 1993, he worked as a cyber-intelligence consultant. In 1996, after 3 years of campaigning, his murder conviction was vacated and compensation was settled out of court.
His fiancé Michelle died in 2007 of an accidental overdose, soon after the birth of their son, George. This event was seen to be the catalyst for Brook's exile from the tech industry in 2012.
Despite the evolution of social media landscapes over time, Nathan Brooks' impact as a pioneer in the digital realm and his unique connection with millions of users as "RedBookScorpion" will be remembered fondly by those who were part of the early social media era.
Thank you for reading!
Support from “Between The Cracks” readers has been astonishing, often sarcastic, and I am astonished that you people can give this work your time and suck some enjoyment from “getting between your cracks”, as one “person” said.
FUKYABIN?
Bit of a break over the crazy period, and then into the next short story which is “The Bridge”. It’s coming along so well. But in typical fashion I parked it.
Here’s a teaser for “The Bridge”
“I'd like to say it was the start of the end when we grabbed her from the bar. Or when Rikki insisted we used three hundred baboons as part of the exit plan. Or when my machete got lodged in the bone of one of her fourteen legs.
It was all over as soon as I agreed to this farsical operation. And for what? Another book locked away forever in a crate. Some more trinkets disposed in an active volcano. And they know even that isn't always safest option.
But baboons, yes baboons, that will definitely help us out.”
It has long legs, I just have more chipotle-fire in my belly prepping for Part 2 of the Impossible Landscapes campaign. So you’re seeing a little bit or LORE this week and in the following couple of posts.
One question though…
OLD NEW
The Last Remembrance jumped back into edit this year, after meeting up and sharing with a Netherlands Writing Group run by
from The Writing Grove. First steps outside of this site, with fantastic writers who know what they are doing. Part terrifying, part inspirational, and part educational. I am blessed for their feedback.WHITE HOT WARES
Adjacent to everything, I saw that Yorkshire Tea controllers are were a thing.
Thanks to
whose excellent and funny-again article helped me to understand how the world works, just a little bit more.
And to
who smashed out a great piece on originality. ending with a blistering quote:Striving after originality takes you far away from your true self, and makes your work mediocre.
PMPOL
and have been making me piss my pants out loud. These two posts especially:
KTHXBYE
Thanks for reading. See you next week whenever, for hopefully a safe landing with Part 2.
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And we are back