The Idea

Gotta start this story thing someplace, after all.

So, where does this quasi-fanfic series of mine take place? Well, the location is largely based on the local shopping malls in my childhood home town. I say that as plural because there were indeed two that went beyond just the strip mall sort of thing, which seems a little weird for a city as relatively small as that.

The actual physical structure I was using the first time I started this little universe as a fan-based Mystery Science Theater thing was the smaller of the two malls, anchored by a movie theater and a regional discount chain store called, quite literally, The Half-Price Store. Both went under in the late 80s or early 90s, and the place sat relatively empty and quiet until Best Buy got big in the mid to late 90s.

Although the most major parts of what I could call “my mall”, meaning the internal structure, the relative locations of the other stores and businesses to “my” theater, and the like were based on that one mall, there were some details I took from the more major of the two malls I grew up visiting. The most notable was the highly polished stone floors. Far as I can remember, the smaller place always had carpet of some kind, whereas the larger had these really cool waxed stone floors. In one instance, this surface played into a gag at the end of a story.

The other was the relative volume of the place. Essentially, the square footage was someplace between the two. I'd estimate half again as big as the smaller, or two-thirds the size of the larger. I don't have any numbers to give, largely because I'm no good with such things. Even if I did, I'm not sure how much they'd matter.

At any rate, this is meant pretty much as a starter for this whole fiction writing thing I want to try my hand at again. I'd like to think it could go someplace, but it's hard to say. Wish me luck, folks.