Synopsis of The Guerrilla Poet
Promo
Companion Episodes
Release Calendar
The Written Word
The Office
Characters
Alan PorterLocations
Trev Haroldson
Inspector Panice
Christina Tacatta
Verity Hendricks
Throm City
Tiba
Synopsis of The Guerrilla Poet
What if by simply Writing a Word you could build a wall, light a fire, or cloud someone’s mind? In an environment like this Alan Porter struggles to use his talents to overthrow a totalitarian government that controls the masses by controlling Words. Access to Writing materials is restricted, and creating Verse without a license is severely punished. Raised in this atmosphere of systematic censorship, Alan heeds the irresistible call of Words to create a better world.Top
Now Alan gathers people who will fight with him to bring about a society based on freedom. In a war where the weapons are stylus, paper, and Words, he is the only one who can lead the battle and show the way to victory, a fight that Alan Porter wages even long after his death, because he is
the Guerrilla Poet.
Promo
Listen to the promo by using the player below, or download it here.Top
If you are a podcaster please play my promo on your show. E-mail me yours and I'll gladly return the favor!
Run time: 1:51
Companion Episodes
In companion episodes you'll hear the author discuss feedback and give DVD-like commentary on recent episodes. These are available by subscribing to either the dedicated feed for The Guerrilla Poet on Penslinger.com or the Penslinger Meta Feed. Companion episodes are recorded live, and you can take part by visiting the Live Podcasts page. There you will find information on the next scheduled episode, along with everything you need to join in.Top
Release Calendar
Check below to see when episodes will be released, and when the next LIVE companion episode is scheduled.
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The Written Word
The Written Word affects the physical world in a very fundamental way. It is used to build, create, and fabricate items in a way very different from when mundane skills are employed. Writing can also affect people, places, and things. Misuse of language can cause mayhem, death, destruction, depression, mass suicide, and addictions to happiness and euphoria.
Writers of books, of which there are precious few, are heavily supervised by theTop
Office, and provide the basic emotional and societal infrastructure. Certain people can have a greater effect through their innate understanding of the Written Word. These people are the Poets. They provide the spice of art, inspiration, and dedication that makes for a vibrant culture.
The Office
Instituted: June 6, 2006
In the midst of a spate of terrorist attacks and other horrific incidents caused by the improper use of Words, Congress
passes the Mallory Act of 2006 which creates the Office for the Regulation of Acceptable Usage of the Written Word. Widely known as the Office, this organization treats the Written Word as a controlled substance. All unapproved uses are punishable by imprisonment and/or death, depending on the severity of the crime.
The Office soon removes words from all publications, changing society into one based on pictures, audio, and video. After 25 years Congress itself is disbanded, as lawyers and bureaucrats cannot function without unfettered access to the Written Word. By the time of the Guerrilla Poet, the Office has become the single controlling arm of government.
As part of their re-shaping of society, the Office creates new cities built from the ground up using controlled language. These grim, urban landscapes became a testament to the uninspired lives that many are forced to endure under the baleful gaze of the Office.
Although people perform all sorts of roles within the Office, two of them are infamous. Compliance Officers are a cadre of men trained in crowd control, suspect apprehension, and basic interrogation. They are often described as the fist of the Office. The most feared functionaries are the Inspectors. This role is reserved for women trained from a young age to be clever, suspicious, ruthless, cruel, and unswervingly loyal to the Office.Top
The logo of this organization is an piercing eye set on a field of obsidian and trimmed in crimson. It is the personification of the grim watchfulness, and lust for bloodshed and misery that are the hallmarks of the Office and the people that worked in it.
Characters
Alan Porter
Born: February 22, 2059Top
Died: March 13, 2112
Alan Porter, also known as the Guerrilla Poet, has been captivated by the Written Word ever since he was taught it in the eleventh grade. After years of trying to find his place in the Writing world, Alan finally ends up working in a drinking establishment as a bartender. Through all of this he yearns to take a stylus in his
hand and commit Words to paper. It is only his fear of reprisal due to the Mallory Act that has prevented him from doing so. Despairing of an empty life without a release for his creative energies, he applies to the Office for the Regulation of Acceptable Usage of the Written Word to be accepted as a licensed Poet.
Trev Haroldson
Born: October 25, 2178Top
Born in the small town of Dale, Indiana, Trev was always interested in relics from the past. Now as a professor of archaeology at the University of Throm City he is working to discover the truth about the Guerrilla Poet's legacy. He struggles against the apathy of his peers as they blindly cling to the myth-like accounts of the Poet's life and accomplishments. Trev's studies of the Poet's work leads him to believe that society has started to slip back from the heights Alan Porter led them to, and he is determined to sound the alarm in order to prevent future generations from losing access to the Written Word entirely.
Inspector Panice
Born: June 4, 2068
Like that of all Inspectors, Panice's training began at a very young age,
and themost important lesson was an unswerving dedication to the Office. She also learned how to detect when Writing has taken place, along with techniques in interrogation and psychological warfare. Present in all of this training was an undercurrent of cruelty, ruthlessness, and cynical skepticism toward the masses. Inspector Panice absorbed these lessons well, and has become a fearsome opponent of Alan.
Top
Christina Tacatta
Born: August 21, 2065Top
A native of Treeland, an Office-designed city in the Pacific Northwest, Christina's parents died of unknown causes when she was only three. She stayed in several orphanages over the course of her childhood as a ward of the state. This less than optimal environment taught her to never back down and to take care of herself, which resulted in frequent fights. She spent most of her teen years supplying mild contraband to her classmates, mostly cigarettes and alcohol. When Christina was expelled from high school in her junior year for punching an amorous teacher, she spent a year wandering aimlessly across the country. Finally settling in Throm City, she returned to what she knows best, peddling in the black market.
Verity Hendricks
Born: December 12, 2182
TopVerity was a curious child with a sharp intellect who always seemed destined to leave her home town of Tribune, Kansas. Her constant desire to find out the whys and hows of life led her to a career as a reporter. She spent some time working as a beat reporter for a vid news channel in Topeka. Her striking looks paired with platinum blond hair gave her a sophistication that drew the attention of other media outlets. Currently she works in Tiba for the subscription vidzine Modern Archaeology, where she encountered Trev's unorthodox proclamations.
Locations
Throm City
Location: Southeast IndianaTop
Founded: April 13, 2025
In Alan Porter's time, Throm City is a bleak, industrial location. It contains the headquarters of the Office for the Regulation of Acceptable Usage of the Written Word, and the aura of tight authoritarian control that the Office projects has spread throughout the city like a disease. Interest in art and theater has long since waned. It is a dark time in the soul of the city and its populace.
Over a hundred years later, Trev Haroldson lives in a city that has been reborn through the efforts of the Poet and his followers. Now a vast metropolis full of gleaming buildings and shining wonders, the populace is happy and well cared for. Despite this, the city is starting to show signs of decay. Not because of governmental intervention, but because the fire of Poetry has all but gone out since the Poet's demise.
View The Guerrilla Poet - Alan's Journey in a larger map
Tiba
Location: Virginia
Founded: January 27, 2026
Tiba is another city created by the Office from the same mold as Throm City. This is the base of operations for Verity Hendricks and the vidzine Modern Archaeology. Trev Haroldson also attends The Symposium of Modern Archaeology in Tiba.Top
View The Guerrilla Poet - Tiba in a larger map
Cover art for The Guerrilla Poet was designed by Kathy Sanderson
Images provided via Creative Commons by BriYYZ, freddyfromutah, and lindes.
Theme music used for the podcast is Here Comes the Rain by Big Blue Barry via Mevio's Music Alley.
Story So Far and additional music provided by Julayne Hughes.
Sounds effects courtasy of the Free Sound Project.
Images provided via Creative Commons by BriYYZ, freddyfromutah, and lindes.
Theme music used for the podcast is Here Comes the Rain by Big Blue Barry via Mevio's Music Alley.
Story So Far and additional music provided by Julayne Hughes.
Sounds effects courtasy of the Free Sound Project.
