A Darkness Dwellers ARC goes to the first person to correctly answer the following question . . .
If the Irregulars were to visit your hometown, what's the most interesting thing they'd find there?
Please leave your answer in the comments section of the blog. (In this case, a correct answer is one that amuses me.) Good luck!
30 comments:
They would find this bakery, whose name I'm not going to say because I don't want everyone to know where I live. :-)
Anyway, on the outside, there's this rickety porch, rocking chairs and all. It's hard to explain, but just by looking at it, you get this generally creepy feeling. Like you should stay away. This sounds weird, but it looks like a witch's hovel. And it's a bakery . And they don't even make any good desserts, which leads me to believe that something sinister is going on in there. (Plus, it's right next to the local orthodontist. Who puts a sweet shop next to an orthodontist's office?) What ever they're covering up in there, I might never know. I don't have the guts to figure it out, but I know the Irregulars wouldn't be able to resist.
I think the Irregulars would find my little town of Olympia, Washington rather dull. I used to live in New York City, and I know that Olympia isn't nearly as exciting. We have some amazing local bookstores though, which Ananka would like.
Also, the Irregulars spend all their time in the city; they could do with some nature, which we have plenty of here. Trees, streams, etc. The Irregulars might not find any underground tunnels, but there probably would be enough to amuse them before they headed back to Manhatten.
Incidentally, I'm very familiar with Greenwich Village (33 1/2 Bank Street specifically), so it was really nice when I reread Kiki Strike this summer to notice that.
Our library. It is one of the nicest in montana, and we have a huge selection of interesting books! our museum is also really fascinating: it is one of the best dinosaur museums in the world
In this case they would be traveling to St. Louis. So The City Museum. An old shoe factory with an insane tunnel system (my friend accidentally wandered into the air vent system once) with a mueseum, aquarium, circus area, ten foot slide and a ferris wheel on top the roof. Need I say more?
the most interesting thing they would find in my hometown (the ever so chilly and always wet and misty Katoomba in the middle of The Blue Mountains, Australia) is the Renaissance Centre. an old abandoned and boarded up building that was once an all girls christian boarding school. many rumours and ghost stories surround it. and i have even heard that there is an underground tunnel that runs all the way from the basement to the other side of town!
here is a link where you can read a bit more: http://www.katoombaleuraonline.com/2009/06/25/renaissance-centremount-saint-marys-convent-for-sale/
Me! Because let's face it: I'm far more interesting than the trolls with gills swimming under the Sydney Harbour Bridge (they had to adapt), the kangaroos we ride around in the pouches of, or the chupacabras rumoured to be terrorising said kangaroos. ... On second thoughts, though, perhaps the drop bears are more interesting than me. It's a toss-up.
While my hometown lacks any dangerous and/or interesting places, the city I'm currently living in is home to Bennett's Castle. It was the home of Harry Bennett, Henry Ford's main henchman/enforcer during the early days of labor unrest in the 1930s. The castle boasts a number of secret rooms in the basement, from a bar and billiard room to a hidden Roman bath. And like any top henchman of those days, Bennett housed a lion and tiger den in an outbuilding, linked to the castle by an underground tunnel.
I just found out about the existence of this castle, but now I know where I'll be spending my time whenever I'm feeling dangerous...
If the Irregulers visited Haverstraw they could visit the Haverstraw Brick Museum and see the miniature reinactment of the 1905 landslide. Many of the bricks in the streets of lower Manhattan came from there and the landslide was caused by over production. Susan S.
Ironically, my very small town in Northern Vermont is located on the "King's College Tract" and was originally supposed to be the location of Columbia University (Yes, THAT Columbia-or King's College as it was known) when set aside by the British Crown way back in the 1700s. So by all rights its Ananka's home (ish).
Alas, it did not come to pass this way, so the Irregulars would have to be satisfied with ME (!) giving them a tour of an old valley mill town with old cemeteries, railroads, houses in exchange for the skyscrapers and subways of NYC. Not to mention some real VT maple syrup!
The fairies!
I lived in Ann Arbor, MI for most of my life.
-Athena
In my friends basement( her house was built in the 1920's) They would find a small door, opening to a tunnel about 5 feet long. At the end of the tunnel, they would find paintings and crayon drawing from me and her growing up through the years:) Much like modern cave paintings! They would also find my French teacher, and she's...um.. "interesting" as well. So, you know, there at least are two mysterious/interesting things in my town!
Although not inside the city where I live, close by is a mountain called Pilot Mountain. A remnant from an ancient North American mountain range, it juts out of the landscape like a fortress in the middle of a forest. It's so odd-looking, like some prehistoric pimple, that I am sure the Irregulars would discover some hidden secret buried inside of it. An ancient Native American treasure-trove guarded by giant rabbits?
Picture link:
http://www.ncparks.gov/Visit/parks/pimo/main.php
The most interesting things in my town are the hipsters.
Our city is crawling with hipsters.
They have their little hipster shirts and those hipster glasses wearing "all-natural, Eco-friendly, organically grown t-shirts."
Oh and we also have the best coffee houses ever!
My city is weird.
We have a huge billboard sign thingy that says it. :3
But other than that we have so much wilderness that you can explore. There are national parks state parks, a whole lotta mountains... Who knows? There
Might be something secret hidden in those trees.
I love my city.
-hmh
If the Irregulars visited my home town, the most interesting thing that they'd find would be my room. Books with their faces on it? Check. Chocolate? Sorry Kiki, check. My laptop that shows that I must be a creepy stalker who follows a website revealing the Irregulars' private information? Check. My crazy dream of becoming an Irregular and watching all their mouths drop in astonishment as I take out a giant rat with my bare hands and a hardcover? CHECK!!! And one more thing. They'd find the undeniably interesting, completely unbeatable, weatherworn villain, that goes back through the ages... the mess on my floor.
If the Irregulars came to my hometown, the most interesting thing that they would find there would be my room. Books that inexplicably have their faces on them? Check. Laptop that shows that I must be a creepy stalker who reads a website that reveals private information about them? Check. My dream of saving the day in Shadow City by taking out a giant rat with my bare hands and a book? CHECK!! And last: Definitely interesting, undeniably difficult, completely weatherworn villain; the mess on my floor.
What might be most interesting to the Irregulars is the site of the mansion where Jack Parsons -- famed occultist, one-time friend of L. Ron Hubbard, and founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- lived and carried out unusual experiments (and, well, some not so middle-grade appropriate rituals). Jack, born "Marvel," led a "lodge" of Aleistair Crowley's magical order, the Ordo Templi Orientis. Although he was a well-known, successful scientist, he was obsessed with the spiritual, as well. Before rocket launches at JPL, Jack/Marvel would invoke the Greek god Pan and allegedly he spent considerable time trying to conjure elemental beings...however, he's most famous for inventing rocket fuel.
He died by blowing himself up to smithereens in his workshop while experimenting with mercury...
Something tells me there would be plenty for the Irregulars to dig up by visiting the site of his former home...
To "hmh", the anonymous comment leaver from earlier, Berkeley? Bay Area FTW.
I would have to say my school when asked to name a place.
My high school was built in 1914, and was built to resemble the main science building of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was declared the 99th historic landmark in my city in the 1980's. There are probably ghosts roaming the halls... and who knows, although we aren't all girls, or anything close to private, maybe an escaped princess believed to be dead and exploited by the murderers of her parents would find some reason to come into my class with a forged enrollment and sit down. And maybe I would hear the words "I want to be dangerous" uttered from her mouth and feel compelled to follow her into a world of danger. It's a place where anything could happen.
Check it out: http://oaklandtech.com/staff/files/2009/03/knave.jpg
-SW
Ah, well, in my town, there's this whole area a two minute walk away from where I live that contains a whole run down neighbourhood from the 1800s. There's even an ivy-ridden castle, an old windmill, a gigantic half-burned gymnasium that Kiki would absolutely love to sneak into, and a huge foresty area with some huge stone statues and fountains I've discovered hidden inside.There are many secret entrances I've found to the old, dangerous buildings, one of which contains broken computers and electronics and old technology magazines from the early 1900s. There are many underground rooms I've found with old supplies and gloves and things. This is actually all right behind a bunch of new townhouses, so it's half-hidden by new development. Basically, the Irregulars would love it. I could send over pictures of the area to this blog, it's full of the stuff you usually post about :)
The most exciting thing the Irregulars would find in my hometown would be the cemetery attached to a playground. The cemetery looks deserted, with ivy vines and dandelions popping up everywhere, but has has many a suspicious looking grave. It is across the street from a deli, and the playground is always packed. A series of bad things happen there though. I broke my arm there, and a girl I somewhat knew flipped off the swing. Yet I always wanted to go back. The playground can appear as a playground of the spirits during cold winter nights, with icicles on the swing chains, slightly swaying and creaking in the blistering breeze.
Other than rain and trees, my hometown boasts the country's largest independent bookstore. I'm sure Ananka would love it. Just imagine: bookshelf after bookshelf, each holding an immense amount of new knowledge to absorb. So many books, you need a map to find your way around the place (otherwise, you might be lost for a week, and they'd have to call in a search team to find you. That might not be such a bad thing, though...). Also, the place is so big, it takes up an entire city block! There are books on everything, so all the irregulars have something to read up on. It's a beautiful sight to see for anyone who likes reading.
Unfortunately, there's one bone I have to pick with our wonderful bookstore. It's just...it's not beautifully disorganized or vintage or cozy, like, for example, Shakespheare and Company. I love it nonetheless.
If they were to ever visit my little town here in rural NJ then I would probably take them ghost hunting to our two major local ghostly attractions, the Hooker man who lurks our abandoned and still used railroad systems and then the ghost of Tilly who was murdered at our local college back in the 1800's, then we may go out and search for the springs that made our town a spa destination a hundred years ago while eating day old M&M's from the M&M factory. We also have some nice good old antique shops and some lovely old church ruins to explore in the middle of our town.
If the Irregulars were to visit my hometown they would find that there are more ways to get around town above ground than below. We have a series of +15 walkways that connect the vast majority of our downtown area, even at the university this method allows a student to get everywhere without having to step outside.
There is a reason for this, I live in Canada and snow causes so many problems the only real solution is to ignore them and stay inside.
This, however, was not always the plan for travel in the city. A few years back it was discovered that an architect who was consulted in city planning had wanted to make it a modern (and North American) version of Venice. The idea was to direct our (now paved over) rivers into canals so that the inhabitants of the city could travel by boat. Let me tell you, in a land locked province this would be pointless and also highly inconvenient when the snows came and everything froze over.
My hometown (Fort Wayne, Indiana) isn't exactly a major tourist destination, though it is an intriguing place, if one knows where to look... and the Irregulars seem to always know where to look. I think the place they'd find most interesting is Hyde Brothers Bookstore on Wells Street, a strange little shop that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary in business. A member of the Antiquarian Book Dealers' Association, Hyde Brothers carries a potpourri of used, rare, and out of print books in every genre, and several languages. In addition to the portion of the shop that is above ground (inhabited by a quirky cat who meanders about and may possibly sniff you and whatever you're reading), there is also an underground labrynth of reading materials below street level. I think the Irregulars would be all about subterranean scholarship and exploration of the wall to wall, floor to ceiling stacks, complete with rolling wooden ladders, vintage yearbooks, and creaky steps coming from above.
My husband and I had our engagement pictures taken here (he's studying to become a high school english teacher and I'm a YA author, so you can see why we'd be so attached to this bookstore), and you can view them to get an idea of the place. See how the books seem to go on forever?
http://verymuchmeg.blogspot.com/2011/02/for-those-of-you-who-are-not-up-to-your.html
In my city, (Santa Clarita) I think the Irregulars would like visiting Mentryville, (well, probably Ananka), because of all the old things, and history.
But I think that the Irregulars would enjoy Vasquez Rocks the most. Secret caves, supposed hidden treasure, yep. Sounds like Kiki's home turf. Also makes a perfect hideout, or if you aren't as adventurous, a good old hiking spot.
Knowing them, they would prove that there is treasure hidden there, and find it.
And, of course, there is always me, which they could pay a visit to, as I am quite, quite strange.
Abandoned intercontinental ballistic missile test facilities.
The working 1 1/2 foot gauge minature railroad. \
The salt works at the southern tip of the bay.
The research labs of Nobel Prize winners.
But with all this, I still think in terms of interest I'm beaten out by Isabella's myserious creepy bakery.
Robert in San Diego
Probably me. If not, the walk I take home from school goes past a truckload of eccentric window displays in stores, which are interesting in an oh-my-god-who-thought-of-that-they're-crazy kind of way.
So my school has a human brain in the hallway.
@ anyonymous: A HUMAN BRAIN?! how dare you beat my feeble answer so badly.!.
jk jk.
XD
This is Julia again... Signing in under my blog thingy. I forgot to add:
If you hike up to the original Mentryville, you will find an abandoned, overgrown oil boom ghost town. There isn't usually anyone up there, but is there?
I've heard some strange noises coming from the one-room school house before. Perfect place for an evil society to thrive.
ME... Oh wait the contest is over, right? Aw, dangit.
Oh well. I'll just wait until the book is released publicly. I'll be dying until then.
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