The McAllister Code - Prelude

The McAllister Code
By
Steve McAllister


Prelude

Where do I begin to tell this story? I suppose the proper answer would be ‘at the beginning.’ That is, after all, where most great stories begin. However, the question arises, when did this whole thing begin?

Was it the day I left Sarasota in pursuit of the gelatinous haze I considered destiny? Was it the day I returned four years later with empty pockets and an open mind? Was it when the press release came out stating that the book I had yet to write was the bestseller at Amazon.com? Perhaps it was the revelation that Sarasota had been infiltrated by alien life forms? Maybe it was the day I met them.

Each of these occurrences had the heavy air of the beginning of something, but compared to my current state of affairs, they seem like nothing more than a light breath. Perhaps that is the beginning of everything.

In this moment, after all that I’ve been through, I should be wiser for it. Yet I don’t feel wise, I just feel.

Right now, my brain feels like a baked potato, the eyes of the world pushing out in all directions and my life’s events oozing through its flaky whiteness like melted butter. My body feels heavy like a tweed jacket when you’ve been caught in the rain. I feel like I just want to throw it off, but my spirit doesn’t feel quite ready for the task. And my heart… my heart just feels open.

Through the fluid perception of time as we know it, all sorts of things are bound to happen. Things I dreamed of as a child have taken their spot in the absolution of the manifest at one time or another. Things that have happened in my past are still lodged in the folds of my memory. And through the stunning brilliance of what the visitors have just shown me, I see these words creating the future that awaits me.

I’ve never had an Estralarian mind meld before. It certainly gave me a new understanding of Salvador Dali. The clock on the wall has melted and is stretched from ceiling to floor in a vertical recollection of Vonnegut’s view of time in the Slaughterhouse. It’s not really like that, you know. Time takes on a much different form when you come out the other side of a mind meld.

I’ve seen people on TV who said they were abducted by aliens. I’ve always been fascinated by the consistency of the looks in their eyes. Though many have worn expressions ranging from lunacy to lucidity, there is always that hollowness of eye that seems to lend the idea that they are seeing more than they can truly express. In my current state of mind, after the rush I’ve just lived through, utilizing this archaic form of expression that is the written word seems almost futile. I could spend eternity at this keyboard trying to fully communicate all that I’ve just seen.

But that’s what the Estralarians told me to do. They told me to “write the world.”

Now, where do I begin?


This is an excerpt from The McAllister Code. To be a part of the adventure and read the entire story for only one dollar, go to www.themcallistercode.com.

The Beginning

My latest book, The McAllister Code, was written by developing an outline derived from several different ideological paradigms. By laying these paradigms side my side and seeing how they interweave, I wrote the story by following the consistent flow between all of them. Upon reading it, some of them are more glaring than others, but I would like to use the next few blogs to state what paradigms were used, and continue to write about them over the coming months and discuss how they were used in the book. I feel that I have been drawn to these, because each of these paradigms describe the human experience and can help us as we make our way to whatever "next level" we are striving for.


The first is one of the oldlest, but it is still used today in every story that is told. Aristotle, in his book Poetics, wrote of the Three Acts.

The Beginning
The Middle
The End


The first of these Acts is The Beginning. Every story, evey project, every relationship, everything starts at the beginning. Some beginnings are big and bold and some beginnings are hardly noticable. Like Lao Tzu said, the greatest journey starts with a single step. Whatever that step is, regardless of the magnitude it might appear to have, it starts a remarkable chain of events called "The Journey."

Now this "Journey" may be an actual physical journey or it may be a spiritual one. It may be mental or it may be emotional. But every event that happens is the beginning of something. Every single thing that happens on this planet incurs a chain of events leading to change. This is the Journey. It is the change brought about by the initial event, the first step. For as it is written, the End is embedded in the Beginning.

That first step, that initial action, contains the promise of whatever the end result might be. Our duty lies in focusing our attention on the events and taking the steps that will lead to the changes we want in our lives. Sometimes these changes are of our own doing, and sometimes we are merely instruments of their evolution.

As far as The McAllister Code goes, a few years ago, someone, and I don't yet know who, took a step and wrote into existence the possiblity that a book written by me would make my beloved hometown of Sarasota into a marketing mecca. They took the first step which set in motion the book that will be released on July 1st of this year. May you enjoy this particular journey as much as I am.