The Dreamer (The Shadow of Leviathan emerges)

After numerous different attempts at this or that story (ranging from Atlantean-style future fiction to computer-driven utopian horror) in an attempt to come up with something suitable for the On Spec theme issue, "In the Shadow of Leviathan". It's a much broader theme than you might think, ranging from the direct and often Biblical nature of Leviathan as demon or sea monster to the political notion of living in the shadow of a larger, more powerful (at least in some ways) nation - a notion that I suspect most Canadians are all to familiar with. The popular analogy seems to be of the mouse and the elephant.

At any rate, I finally hit on a story that has that beloved quality of being "self-writing", which is usally a good sign (though not always). "The Dreamer" is the current working title, and it has a number of elements of the Leviathan concept. It incorporates a number of concepts about Leviathan, including the suggestion that Leviathan has existed in many forms in the minds of many people, but always originating from a single, eternal entity. On a more personal level, however, the story also touches on the idea of Leviathan in not the political sense of nations but the more personal sense of being a small person in a large world (or larger universe). Many of us have felt that sort of personal "Leviathan-ization" of the world around us - being one lone person in a massive school, business, mall, street, or what have you, and feeling unnoticed... or perhaps wishing we were unnoticed in the face of unwanted attention.

Something does notice, however... Leviathan itself has noticed, and has the power to dwarf those mundane forces that would overshadow us, making itself known again in stories, just as it has on countless occasions in the past, ensuring that we never forget that it is out there, somewhere, in some shape or form.