51 Ghost Town
The mythical cities of Atlantis, Avalon, Xanadu, and Shangri-La exist out of place, out of time, and out of legend. It's often said that behind every legend lurks a kernel of truth, which often pales when compared to its glorified counterpart. The United States has it’s own mythical city, the top secret Dreamland—Area 51. Steeped in the lore of UFOs, the secrecy surrounding Area 51 does nothing to dispel its reputation, and that’s the departure point for 51 Ghost Town, except that the reality is more fantastic than myth (this is a fictionalized account, so just pretend that it's real, you know, suspension of disbelief... ;-), where it seems to be just a quaint old western mining town… with secrets older than mankind’s oldest civilizations, and the source from whence come mankind’s legends of dragons, fairies, gods, goddesses, and more recently, aliens, time-slips, and interdimensional travel, et cetera.
The 51GT Cast:
Flork, the protagonist, is the resident gray alien and administrator of one of Earth’s IIWDs, Intergalactic Interdimentional Wormhole Depots.
Colonel Lord Basil Dooley, Earl of Frickinshire, his ‘adventure mentor’, is a British-Lord-turned-bombastically-prolix-ex-adventurer, and owner of “Dooley’s Saloon.” Although Dooley’s tales are tall, especially his African adventure stories, they pale when juxtaposed with the preposterously unimaginable things that happen around him in 51 Ghost Town.
Andric Kalliglouti-O’Cleirigh, a human-alien hybrid, is the town’s blacksmith. He’s an engineering guru (inspired by Nikola Tesla) who can achieve with his forge and anvil, what our scientists and engineers can only dream of (“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”—Arthur C. Clarke). He works with his assistant, Ding, a clumsy floating robot. A magic blacksmith exists in so many legends. In Greek mythology, it was Hephaestus, the Son of Zeus and Hera, and in Norse mythology, it is Eitri with his brother, Brokkr, working the bellows.
Betsy, Pete’s semi-sentient ‘smart ass’ mule, with a dark and twisted sense of humor.
Bobili “Hero Bob” Kalliglouti-Dooley, is a bumbling hero archetype like Dudley Do-Right or Don Quixote with the ambition of being the best hero he can be.
Ding is Andric’s clumsy robotic assistant.
Hehewuti is Marsie’s unknown and very long-lived Anasazi grandmother.
Julie Anne Mary Kalliglouti-O’Cleirigh, (a loose amalgam of Julie d’Aubigny, Ann Bonny, and Mary Read to reflect their inspiration for the character), like her brother and half-brother, is a human-alien hybrid.
Leila, a female Bellatrax gray alien with alabaster skin, large, shapely, dark green eyes, knockout curves that exude sexuality, works in the town’s bordello, and is Bob’s hedonistic love interest.
Madam Catherine Kalliglouti, a Nordic type alien, is the town madam, and mother to human-alien hybrids, Hero Bob, Andric, and Julie Anne Mary.
Marsie Lenmana, is an Air Force intelligence officer chosen by Flork as a liaison to 51 Ghost Town and the IIWD. She’s unaware of her Anasazi ancestry, and on her off time, is accomplished at pottery, weaving, and other traditional Indian artistry.
Peter ‘Cackling Pete’ O’Cleirigh is an old Irish prospector with few redeeming social qualities and a significant bit of luck (Is it just luck of the Irish, or left over Druid magic?), which somehow allows him to survive whatever disasters befall him on his voracious quest to fulfill his obsession with precious metals and gems.
Rrom Psittacist is the sentient hyacinth macaw mouthpiece of the mute T’Naercsim.
T’Naercsim, a mute and seemingly superficial sentient robot entity, is a complex narcissist who revels in attention (Jungian trickster), and is symbiotically voiced by Rrom. It started out as a NAERCSIM (Neurosynthetic Automaton Encoder & Raciocinating Cybernetic Sensory Interface Modulator), who, except for its spherical head and perpetual ‘happy face’, resembles a black plastic drawing manikin (my old, wooden graphite, charcoal, and paint-stained nearly black drawing manikin is the literal inspiration for this character's appearance).
