Strangulation Point: Unpicking The Coils.

Unpicking The Coils I:
Behind The Scenes Of Strangulation Point
(Contains Spoilers)

Strangulation Point.

        Strangulation Point was originally published The Naniwa in Osaka (with a circulation of 200) at the beginning of March. It was intended as a one-off piece in a series of 500 word Mysteries.

        So far I have published three of them. 2 (Congleton Conundrum and Strangulation Point) in the Naniwa and a third (Japanese Roulette) exclusively on Writerscafe.

        The original name of Strangulation Point was “See Saw C” (Naniwa) but was changed to Saw 500. This was so that early readers would equate its style from the Saw movies. While not intended as a fan fiction piece it did take its inspiration from the Saw style scenarios and makes reference to them because the Saw movies would have been seen by the principle characters of Strangulation Point.

        My basic idea was to construct a contraption which required passwords to solve. I didn’t want another who killed who scenario. While the contraption took its direct inspiration from “Saw” I didn’t want it to be as gruesome so I mixed in a tiny bit of the classic “Batman” TV series.

        James Courtney-Everard which I did spell wrongly in the original stories (now corrected on file) is perhaps the most simple character. His name is the only one which doesn’t hide a clue. That is because he is the cop who is principally investigating it.

        In the summer of 2006 I enjoyed a fine British meal on Cannery road and the big old factories stood out as a great location. The location in Hispanic, Spanish speaking, America allowed me to use the various character names that I had planned.

        Before I get onto the teams I want to talk about the room. The room had to be claustrophobic and it had to offer a single escape route so that the tension racketed up. I quickly realised that the space had to be sorted out in detail so drew a couple of maps on a notebook. They were not to scale. In hindsight I believe the room should have been a little bit bigger to fit them all in better.

        I purposefully split them into two teams, Alpha and Beta because I wanted each group to provide clues for the two monstrous passwords. Alberto Sphingo was the last man to enter by chance. I quickly decided that he would “accidentally” shut the door behind him and thus lock them in. However, I did tone it down which opened the way for the little plot twist in part 4.

        Team Alpha was designed to reveal the Chimera. Beta team was designed to reveal The Sphinx. To work out their names I just scrambled the letters up until they seemed to fit a strange and vaguely plausible name.

        Lets start with Alpha team. Ronophe Bell is an anagram of Bellerophon; the man who killed the Chimera. Gus Pesa is of course the Pegasus; the magical beast given to him so he could avoid the Chimera’s flames. Lastly, Hugo Spears… well, Hugo Spears is an actor from “The Full Monty” which I have only watched once. Yet as I was wondering what to do with the spear that Bellerophon used I remembered the actor’s name.

        Beta Team was made up of Sara Rhee, Epi Duso and Alberto Sphingo. Sphingo sounded vaguely Hispanic so I gave him a Hispanic first name. Sphingo though is Greek and means to strangle… big clue which most people got. Sara Rhees is an anagram of Ares and Hera with an extra s. There is some disagreement over who created the Sphinx but it was put down to one of these two deities. Lastly Epi Duso is of course Oedipus, the man who solved the riddle of the Sphinx.

        The machine itself is another clue to one of the passwords as it is designed to strangle its victims. I kept the description brief to save on wordage and hopefully to let people’s imaginations run free.

        The computer served two basic purposes. A consol for entering the code and a speaker/trigger for the self-indulgent bad guy’s speech. The speech of course, for those who have read all of the pieces, is by Walker Tyson Mason (more on him in part 5). By pulling the ticket out it starts the tape player… simple.

        The speech had three purposes. Firstly it allowed the baddie to have a voice rather than be nothing. Secondly it allowed me to succinctly introduce the victims and the room’s contents. Thirdly, it allowed me to give out loads more clues.

        The numbers: Hopefully the first number was relatively easy. The baddie tells you exactly how to get it. Just times 587 by 477 then by 428. This generates the answer 119 839 572. The word times was hopefully a big clue. The second number was much harder. The voice introduces the victims with numbers. Write those numbers out then squeeze them together to make a bigger number. For example, Amy, 17 13 06 89 = 17130689. Then after the descriptions the voice tells you what to do next “Add them all together” - just a matter of adding.

        The three descriptions also offer up another clue to one of the monsters. They are the answer to the riddle of the Sphinx. Amy is young (albeit not a baby - I couldn’t put a baby in the noose), Joe is middle-aged and Dora is old. Dora Pandleson herself is a bit of a clue that things are not all what they seem.

        The voice warns that one box will be totally useless. Each box was meant to house random objects that could lead you to the answer or mislead you. One clearly misleads and the clue for that is in a name. Amy Manewarring is a hint to the Chimera and Sphinx (mane). Joe Dans means nothing (though Jodan means joke in Japanese). However, Dora Pandleson does have a meaning. Cut off the last 5 letters and you get Dora Pand. Join them at the d and you get Pandora = Pandora’s Box.

        To fit this the clues within Dora’s box point towards blindness (eye patch - see medusa and you die), a dead snake and a wig. Those last two also point towards Medusa. The last one I hope is an obvious misleading item… her red ring - red her ring = red herring. Though, the walking stick is outside the box so it is still a useful clue towards the Sphinx (the third leg of an old person).

        Joe’s clues were varied. The horoscope, belt and snake’s tail point towards legendary descriptions of the Chimera. The guidebook to Greece points you towards the origin of the monsters. However the walking boots are more aimed at the Sphinx as the Sphinx waylaid walkers by.

        Amy’s box was aimed at both monsters. The children’s clothes are linked to the pub crawl guide which point towards the riddle of the Sphinx. The plastic nose is a symbol of the Sphinx in Egypt - the nose has fallen off. The cigarette lighter means fire, which can burst into flames with the application of alcohol - the chimera breathes fire. The toy lion represents the bodies of the chimera and sphinx. The plastic head represents the human head of the Sphinx. Lastly the toy horse and angel wings represent the Pegasus.
 

Reviews

[Mischa Keats]

By reading this first chapter, "prolouge", whatever you may call it... I've grown increasingly excited to actually read the story. I hope that you post it, and I will be looking forward to reading more from you.