Adventure #1

I’ve decided to switch from mysteries to adventure for this next series since 2012 is proving to be a year of venturing into new territories around our house.  Some welcome, some unexpected, some pleasantly surprising, some tragically devastating.

Above is a jungle adventure scene.  If it was a pulp story, it’d be titled “What Lurks in the Darkness Above?”

Who knows what manner of unexpected creatures creep high in the  trees above Sir Raleigh Halifax and Professor J.P. Norton as they seek the lost treasure of the legendary Queen of Xanxibia?  Are they malicious cannibals intent on devouring them alive, or protectors of an ancient secret attempting to keep a pair of wandering adventurers from entering into their own doom?

Day 18

Mysteries are about the unexpected.  The unseen.  Just as you think something is solved, a new problem, a new twist, a new clue arises.  The picture above is an example of one such occasion based off the pulp cover below.

Day 16

Day 14

The lines between mystery, horror and adventure are really quite thin.  Think about it: there always seems to be a damsel in distress, there’s always a single, malevolent mind dictating the situation, and there’s always a hero of some kind.  The main difference in all of them is the occupation of the hero and how he provides a resolution to the problem.  In a mystery he’s a detective who solves the case.  In an adventure story he’s an explorer (archeologist?) who discovers the truth.  In horror he’s an ordinary Joe who glimpses the real truth behind the evil events (and occasionally dies in the process).

The picture above can be any of the three.  Pick your poison.  It was inspired by the pulp cover below.