User:Kip Langton/sandbox

 is a literary graphic novel by Cleve S. Langton, Jr.

PART ONE of PAT. PEND. takes place in an unknown point in the future. The protagonist/narrator, JAMES ORSON, only knows where he is. Other than being in Angelholm, Sweden, he has no idea what day it is, or even what year it is. The past, the present, and the future are happening all at the same time, further propelling him out of his own reality into insanity. Is it a reflection? Is it a hallucination? Or is it real? Towards the end of PART ONE, the answer comes together as events repeat and others convey a strange sense of familiarity. It isn't until then that James finally gains clarity and understanding.

PART TWO of PAT. PEND. takes place in the past. James works for a predictive analytics company called Crow Conn Works (CCW). James is the Director of HR and he lives in anarchy under his boss, CROW CONN. Conn is the antagonist and James doesn't know whether to admire him or hate him. The admiration comes from Conn's raw ability to uproot his identity as a poverty-stricken Malian and transplant it to a leading American businessman and innovator. His hate for Conn comes from the magnate's ability to disrupt and take advantage of the time's political climate.

Yet, there's more to James than his opinion of Crow Conn. Despite his inability to escape from his own reality, James finds solace in his girlfriend, RORY LADVEL. Rory and James float around in this new technological, social media-driven world with an intense loss of purpose even though they are both functioning citizens. There's a dysfunction in their function and their interaction with one another represents a much broader contextual issue - a lack of depth, even in the most serious of subjects. Due to the constant display of information, both James and Rory (and the landscape around them) follow the trends of things rather than the substance of things. People know everything - and nothing.

As James blindly follows this ebb and flow of modern society, he also follows another tendency that leads him down a path of misfortune. Out of his boredom and growing lack of interest and enthusiasm, he loses his job at CCW and, consequently, begins to destroy the one thing that has any purpose to him - his relationship with Rory. As he helplessly attempts to follow his childhood dream of becoming a writer, lying begins to fill the void that his writing isn't able to fill. Lying becomes a game of Russian roulette and, each time he gets away with the deceit, his excitement for the things around him builds. Until. ..

Rory soon discovers that James' so called "brainstorming" sessions for a new screenplay aren't really brainstorming sessions. Having known the truth for a while, she finally breaks down and forces James to drive her to the destination of his infidelity - a diner called Blanch's in upstate New York. There, Rory and James discover what a bad lie can lead to and they both pay a debt that neither could have dreamt of paying.

PAT. PEND. (a novel)
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