After a pause of several years, I'm posting another story. I had started it in the heat of composition as soon as I completed the Stewart stories. The story was intended to be a departure from the Swarm cycle; a lighthearted 1960s sitcom, complete with commercial breaks and wrapping up in four segments.
But darn it, these characters wouldn't cooperate. I hit a roadblock and set it (reluctantly) aside. I never forgot about it, but I could never make the comedy flow in the story. It devolved into an ugly farce. There it sat, just a story idea. Recently, I pulled the old story out and asked a test reader for some advice; they pointed out that there was a very dark subtext to my story.
Subtext? Me?
So, I picked it back up and restarted. I amplified the dark hints in the earlier scenes. I found that the story went from 1960s network sitcom to 1980s Basic Cable movie. Think SciFi channel meets Skinimax.
So here it is.
I'm an older guy, I admit it. With classic older movies and television shows available for (nearly) free, I have been able to revisit some of the most beautiful women ever filmed. Some of them are breathtaking. Rita Hayworth, for example.
But for me, some of the most attractive, sexy, and desirable women were on weekly television in the 1960s. Networks had access to armies of stunning talented women and were able to cast the cream of the crop: Barbara Eden, Elizabeth Montgomery, and many others. As a kid, I didn't fully understand how wonderful it would be to come home from a tough day at work and have Samantha Stevens waiting by the front door with a cold martini. I have since learned.
Of course, for me as a space kid, the ultimate was Jeanie. But as I have grown older, I wondered, "What would a genie want? What would I want from a genie?"