NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA 8 THE MAGICIAN: THE KILLER WHO MADE WOMEN DISAPPEAR

 

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA 8

THE MAGICIAN:

THE KILLER WHO MADE WOMEN DISAPPEAR

 Robert Porter West compared himself to the actor Lon Chaney; with each new face he took on a new name and a new identity. What he could not change were his fingerprints.

One newspaper reporting on a possible serial killer in the Midwest labeled the killer the Chameleon because he changed his appearance and identity with each new woman who disappeared. Another news outlet called him the Actor because he played different parts. The task force hunting him called him the Magician, because he made women disappear.    

The Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons database reports over 600,000 persons missing each year. A quarter of a million cases involve women and girls often connected to violence by men. Even when there is evidence of foul play, a missing person case takes on less importance until there is a body.

In 2023, a fortune teller in a traveling carnival was reported missing. Investigators found evidence of foul play, but her body was not found. Two days later, a high school teacher, Robert Westport, was listed as missing by his fiancé, Ginny Hagland. According to Miss Hagland, she and Robert had their fortunes told by the missing gypsy.

Fingerprints found in the missing woman’s trailer were sent to the FBI’s National Crime Database; several matches were found in the identity theft section: Robert Porter West, Billy Bob Porter, Wes Roberts, and Bob West. Robert Westport’s name was added to the database’s identity theft list. 

Robert Porter West was fingerprinted in 2011 when his high school girlfriend, Helen Gale, disappeared. Robert was questioned and released.  

Bob West was one of two students attending Western Michigan University who were reported missing in 2013. West worked as a student disc jockey at WMU’s radio station. Twenty-one-year-old Mariam Ingles was a senior in communications. She was a reporter on the school’s newspaper. West and Ingles disappeared on the same day. It was believed that they had run off together.  

In 2016, B.B. Porter disappeared from his job as a photographer and cub reporter with the Bloomington Star, in Bloomington, Illinois. Porter’s disappearance coincided with the disappearance of Constance Blackwell, a publicist and social media specialist working in Normal, Illinois.

Wes Roberts worked as a writer in an Indianapolis public relations firm. He disappeared in 2019, two days after a report was filed for Deana Bailey, a high school teacher who failed to show up for class.    

In photographs Robert Porter West, Bob West, B.B. Porter, Wes Roberts, and Robert Westport looked different. They had unique physical descriptions and backgrounds, with different occupations and skills. What tied them together in the database was that their fingerprints matched.

The fact that the disappearance of a woman or girl was connected to each of these men was not realized until one of Robert Porter West’s “victims” reappeared.  

NANOWRIMO STORY IDEA #7 A LIFE WITH MEANING

 

NANOWRIMO STORY IDEA #7

A LIFE WITH MEANING

Psychologists claim the elements that bring meaning to a person’s life are coherence, purpose, and a sense of worth. In the research interviews that produced these findings, happiness and love were not as significant as factors, even though people who are happy and in a lasting relationship live longer.

Alvin Networth was watching the PBS program “Nature” on the television when he came to realize his life had no meaning. At the time, Albert was sixty-six and living alone in a five-room bungalow in Detroit. Alvin and his deceased wife, Alberta, lived in the same house for thirty-nine years.

Alvin was a retired autoworker. His career at Chrysler began hoisting engines into vehicles. When that job became automated. Alvin drove a forklift. Alvin took an early retirement to care for Alberta. Alberta was the light in Alvin’s life. She was the only woman with whom he had had sex. In his mind, Berta was the only woman who loved and understood him.

Alberta’s death from cancer was both horrible and preventable. Alberta and her OBGYN missed the signs of her breast cancer. Alvin was with her when she died.

At her funeral service, the minister told Alberta’s family and friends that she was in a better place. During the service, Alvin held his head and cried from grief and the massive hangover from a night of mourning and drinking with his son Calvin.

Upon leaving the church, the minister took Alvin aside and offered, “Go with God. She is in heaven doing God's work.” To which Alvin answered, “Bullshit, father. Her body’s in the cold hard ground feeding worms.”

A year later, Calvin had died overseas in an automobile accident while serving in the Army. The letter from the Department of Defense said Calvin had died fighting to keep America safe. Alvin told all who would listen, Cal died for nothing.

 Alvin was halfway through a pint of Bushmills when he turned on “Nature.” The program was about the North American beaver. A rodent the narrator called “Nature’s Builders.” According to the program, a beaver dam provided the rodent with a secure place to breed and raise its young. The beaver’s dam or lodge is built using tree branches, vegetation, rocks and mud. Beavers chew down trees to build a dam and lodge. Beaver dams restrict water flow, forming ponds, and lodges (usually built in ponds) serve as shelters. The infrastructure created by a beaver dam in a wetland makes the beaver a keystone species because of its positive effect on others. The narrator claimed the male beaver’s life is orderly, has purpose, and matters to others in the wetland.

Alvin set his drink aside and announced, “If a fucking beaver can live a meaningful life, so can I.”

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA # 6 STATION 3 MARS

 

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA # 6

STATION 3 MARS

 In 2125, the population of humans on Earth reached 31 billion souls along with 3,031 scientists and colonists, men, women, children, and a few pets living on the Moon and Mars. The colonies were self-sufficient when it came to power, water, food, and air. The monthly supply ship to the moon made life tolerable for the 2,713 residents. Station 3 was a different story. They had all the life systems working, but the 318 residents still depended on the Moon’s quarterly supply ships for expanding their footprint.  

The scientists on Station 3 Mars were the first to detect a massive meteor heading toward Earth. The World Space Agency Command Center on Earth projected that the meteor would pass by the Moon. However, the safety of the Earth was in question.

WSA scientists on Earth determined the meteor’s present course would bring it close to the Earth’s North Pole but not hit the Earth. Astronomers in New Zealand and China disagreed. Their calculations had the object hitting in a barren region above Norway.  

All scientists agreed that the meteor, now called M3 was a significant threat to life on Earth. The director of the WSA and the commander of the Meteor Defense Network met in private with the US president. They assured the president that by working together, WSA and the MDN would to divert the meteor from its path and protect life on Earth.

The US President, spoke on a world feed in which she recommended that the people of the world not panic but take the precaution of stocking up on emergency supplies and where possible, identify potential shelters where they could go if the need arose. As a precaution, the WSA scheduled additional ships to send supplies to EC2 and to S3M. 

In the weeks that followed, as grocery stores’ shelves emptied and the cost of building materials for Bomb shelters skyrocketed, wealthy travelers started booking accommodations in cities above the Arctic Circle in order to have a front-row seat to view M3 as it passed closest to the Pole on December 14.

On November 27, when the Meteor Defense Systems failed to divert the meteor off its course, there wasn’t adequate time to implement a second defense, because there wasn’t another defense. Rather, weeks later when the meteor hit Earth, the majority of humans died watching their TVs.

The few who survived were below ground in shelters that were unaffected by the mile-high tsunamis that swept around the world for weeks. Months later when they emerged, they found a lifeless, barren world that would take centuries to recover, if it ever did.

Violence, starvation and suicide were the primary causes of death among the surviving humans on Earth. The fate of humanity fell to the 3031 colonists on Mars and the Moon.

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS IDEA # 5 SHOTGUN KATE NOLAN Wells Fargo Express Agent

 

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

IDEA # 5

SHOTGUN KATE NOLAN

Wells Fargo Express Agent

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEA # 4 - THE ROMANTIC ARMS A Senior Living Facility With Benefits

 

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

THE ROMANTIC ARMS

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

THE ROMANTIC ARMS

A Senior Living Facility With Benefits

 Calvin Leonard’s children, Henry and Linda convinced Cal that he could no longer live on his own. With Love in their hearts and a strained bank account, they found their dad a low-rent single in a subsidized apartment for seniors on the wrong side of nowhere, on Detroit’s east side.

The Roman Arms, built in the go-go 1980s was designed for those wealthier senior Italian Americans, primarily men, living on Detroit’s eastside. In its heyday, the Knights of Columbus held monthly meetings in the Arms cafeteria. Reliving stories of the old days over a lunch of antipasti, lasagna, pizza, and wine. After, the old men played cards in the game room and talked about women and sex in a mixture of second generation Italian and a crude version of blue class Detroiter.

Over the decades, as the neighborhood lost its shine, the facility opened its arms and welcomed Poles, Iranians, and even African Americans; people who polite Detroiters (read, bigots with a conscience) called Negros or Blacks.

In 2020, when Henry and Linda deposited Calvin at the Roman Arms, the facility had lost all its luster and most of its male residents. Calvin was one of only a handful of men living among three floors of aging widows and single women with cats.

Calvin stayed in his room for the first few days, watching TV and eating cold cuts and frozen dinners. The apartment had a stove that Cal was permitted to use. His “Life Plan” paid for two meals a day along with an evening snack.  

At breakfast, from 6:30 to 9:00 the seating was open. At lunch, the residents ate in shifts and at assigned seats. Lunch was the main meal for most residents. For dinner, they could eat on their own or go out to dinner. The evening snack included a sandwich and a dessert. Residents were allowed to take a tray from lunch or a snack back to their rooms.   

Cal attended his first lunch on his third day at the Arms. At seventy, he was the youngest man at his assigned table. The men ate in silence. Two required some assistance cutting their meat. Halfway through lunch, Cal asked for a to-go tray. In the elevator, Calvin cried, imagining his life was over.

At 8:30 that evening, Calvin was a little surprised when he found himself standing in the doorway of the second-floor game room where six of the twelve men living at the Roman Arms were playing poker.

“Excuse me, it’s late,” said Cal.

            “No worries. We have the room until 10:00. You’re the new guy, ain’t ya? What’s your name?” asked the only African American in the room. “I’m Bill Jefferson.”

            “Calvin … Cal. Can I join you?” Calvin asked.

“Grab a chair, brother,” said a bald man with rosy cheeks, a massive betty, and a laughing voice. “I’m Constantine, but folks call me Connie. Welcome to the Jury. Twelve men and true. You've already met Jeff. Our fellow jurors are Sam, Jefferson, Charles, Karol with a K, and Lev. Tonight the game is poker. How’s your memory?”

“Pretty good, I guess, why?”

“On Tuesdays we play for money. Penny ante with raises limited to a nickel or dime. On Thursdays, the boys with memory issues play cards for chips. No money, it would be fair. Monday and Wednesday, the room is reserved for the ladies. Cookies, gossip, and cards. No drinking and no men allowed.”

“What about Friday and Saturday?” Cal asked.

“How’s your plumbing?” Lev asked.

“Plumbing?”

“You know your stuff.”

“I …”

“It’s okay, brother,” said an extra-large black man with short white hair, a winning smile, and two-day old stubble. “Lev tends to talk in code. He’s asking if your dick works. Can you still get it up?”

“If not, Sam there,” said Lev pointing, “has a supply of those little blue pills.”

“It’s been awhile,” said Cal. “My wife died three years ago. I haven’t…”

“All that’s going to change,” said Charles, with a grin.

“Can I ask why you call your group the Jurors?”

“Cal, when a new man moves in here, he’s sort of on trial. We are on trial.”

“There ain’t no lawyers,” said Jefferson, looking hard at Lev.

“You have to defend yourself. We are the jury,” said Connie.

“Is there a judge?” Cal asked.

“The women,” said Charles, again with an even larger grin. “Welcome to the Romantic Arms. Or as I like to say, ‘Senior Living with Benefits.’”

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS STORY IDEA # 3 STUMBLE AND FALL

 NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

STORY IDEA # 3

STUMBLE AND FALL

The poem “Persevere” (1876) by Thomas Dunn English has this verse:

“Failed, you tell me, for all of your striving,
Failed, in spite of your utmost care,
Failed, with indolent people thriving–
Why should it breed in the mind despair?
Although your vanity may be humbled,
Your energy back to its place recall;
Your feet have tripped, you have merely stumbled.
You learn that a stumble is not a fall.”

 Avery Nankin has what most people described as the perfect life. I loving wife, three great kids, and a tenured professor position at a major university; Avery is a pleasant, attractive middle-aged man in good health, with a dog who loves him. Colleagues at his university say Avery is a go-getter, a man on the move, a rising star in his department. At church, he is thought to be a decent, principled man. 

What no one anticipated, not even Avery, was that he was about to stumble. The question to be answered is whether Avery will learn from his mistakes and recover or fall.    

NOVEMBER NOVEL MONTH STORY IDEA # 2 Returning to Dust

 NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

STORY IDEA # 2

Returning to Dust

In the Bible, God told Adam, “… you were made from dust to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19)

Growing up in Utah, Marcus Killeen learned to hunt and track his prey. His father emphasized that a kill needed to be quick and clean lest the animal suffer, and the meat be tainted in death.

Working as an EMT in Park City, Marcus accepted that returning to dust is a natural part of life. He had witnessed firsthand those ready to return who welcomed death. What Marcus could not understand was why God would strike a person down before he or she was ready.

In time, Marcus came to believe it was his job to prepare those chosen to return by giving them a message: “To dust you will soon return. Prepare.” He hoped this would give them time to get their personal and business affairs in order before returning to dust.

Marcus could not explain why his messages went to so many wealthy men and women. Nor could he understand why the first three ignored his warning. When he helped them return, he discovered they were still unprepared even though his message had been clear.

His fourth message went to a wealthy widow living in Canyonland. Just to be sure, he sent her a second message. Rather than ignore his warnings to prepare, she went to the police, who assured her they would keep her safe and find the madman who wrote her letters. Unfortunately, they did neither.

Delmar Johnson, a retired congressman who had lost his reelection when his appetite for escorts and prostitutes was revealed by the press received Marcus' next message. Johnson, being a sensible man, went to the police, hired a bodyguard, and contacted the press. 

Unfortunately, Johnson’s response to a second message was to hire another bodyguard. Again, none of these precautions proved adequate. The two hired guardians were asleep when Johnson left early from his escort’s apartment and met Marcus. 

It was at this point that the Governor requested the DOJ, FBI, and Utah State Police to form a special task force to hunt down and stop the serial killer a local newspaper had labeled “The Dustman.”

NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS Story # 1 Devil’s Night

 NOVEMBER NOVEL STORY IDEAS

Story # 1

 

Devil’s Night

In 1994, Donald Ouellette died in a senseless car accident caused by a Devil’s Night prank gone bad. For Detroiters, Devil’s Night once known for pranks by neighborhood kids had changed by the 1990s to vandalism and arson committed by adults. Donald was driving home to his new bride, Madeline, when he hit a telephone pole placed across the street by teenage vandals. Losing control of his car, he hit a tree; killing him. Neighbors reported seeing older kids running from the scene of the accident; the police determined the telephone pole was left by AT&T repairmen unable to complete their job by nightfall.

In 1995, Detroit’s mayor and city officials created Angels’ Night. A program in which volunteers patrolled neighborhoods at night from October 29 to October 31. The program reduced crime and vandalism, but it didn’t bring to justice the kids whose prank killed Donald or ease the pain Madeline experienced every year on Devil’s Night.

Madeline awoke from a troubled, nightmare-filled sleep to a man’s voice telling her to wake up. Madeline sat up imagining she was still dreaming. The old man shaking her shoulder resembled what gray-haired Donald had he lived to be sixty-four, as Madeline had.

            “Come on, honey, wake up. We have to get a move on. We have to get the porch decorations out and buy candy before Beth and the kids arrive.”

            “What’s going on? Who are you?” Madeline cried.

            “It’s Ok Mad. You’re just having one of those senior moments.”

             “Who are you?” Madeline shouted.

            “Donald, your husband.” The old man took her hands and tried to calm her.  

            “You are dead. You died on Devil’s Night.”

            “You’ve had that dream again. I’ll get you some coffee and juice. You don’t want Beth to see you like this. She’s worried enough about us living in this neighborhood. I wish she weren’t coming. Not with the kids, anyway. You know how I feel about Devil’s Night.”

            Madeline did not know how this man felt about anything. For her, Devil’s Night was a nightmare, and this one was starting out to be the worst.  

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MISSING PARSON - NEW BOOK BY ROGER C. LUBECK ON AMAZON

MISSING PARSON

NEW BOOK BY 

ROGER C. LUBECK

MISSING PARSON ON AMAZON

Seamus Clarke, an ex-priest turned private investigator, is hired by the Episcopal church to find a missing parson, the beautiful and enigmatic Reverend Joy Knight. The search plunges Seamus into Joy's past life as a Las Vegas showgirl, revealing a dangerous world of high-stakes gambling, blackmail, and a deadly debt owed by her brother. As Seamus follows Joy's desperate flight, he must confront criminals, his own lapsed faith, and a fatal attraction that will change him forever.