A dramatic tale of love and obsession set sometime in a cyberpunk
mid-21st Century
Kiss Of The Bee, an evocative title 'lifted' from a track by the musician
William Orbit, whom I listen to a lot when writing. The title brings about
three images: that of a woman's lips - the main protagonists and antagonists
of this tale are all female - of a bee, and that of the bee's sharp sting: its
kiss.
Kiss Of The Bee, or KOTB, was the name of the first, or rather prequel,
Bubblegum Crisis fanfiction story, after which the follow on original stories
received their own titles of some appropriate word followed by Of The Bee;
such as Nature Of The Bee (the second novel).
However, I feel that the series is better served by all being titled Kiss
Of The Bee; all the novels (there are four of them after '0', the fanfiction)
share the three images described above. All have their moments of romance, and
a painful sting. Instead of titles to differentiate the novels I have chosen
Japanese numbers. I believe that, as much of the entire story occurs in Japan,
that it is appropriate and possibly expected, and for the fourth novel, shi,
the Japanese word can also mean death, and that is quite what happens. The symmetry
is perfect.
'0': The first Kiss Of The Bee story
started as a Bubblegum Crisis fanfiction. For those who do not know Bubblegum
Crisis, it is a Japanese animation firmly set in a futuristic Tokyo where a
band of power-armour clad cyberpunk females (real girl power with Hacker-spice
Nene, Sporty-spice Linna, Grunge Singer-spice Priss and Elegant Psycho-spice
Sylia), take on the most powerful megacorporation on Earth: Genom, and their
boomer (robot) creations. BGC had three series (original, crash and 2040), my
story was based on the 2040 world but diverted from the storyline with a
popular Priss+Linna pairing (most fanfiction is based around character
pairing) and high action plot that I believe went far beyond the other fanfics.
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Ichi: The end of '0' didn't leave the
story dead, although it had a definite conclusion that did not require, or
want, a sequel, in the BGC world. However, I was engrossed with the world and
characters I had just created. I wanted to continue their lives in an original
world and put them through more hell and me through as much introspection as I
could. Thus Linna became Vivian, Priss: Satomi, Nene: Serge, Sylia: Gordon and
added Hansel, mixed in some Spanish guitar, and an original world was born to
destroy. Ichi takes place six or so years (I'd have to read the book to find
out how long exactly) after '0' and many things have changed. The beginning
romance between Vivian and Satomi has been ruined for some time now and the
members of Gordon's band only see each other at the time of his funeral, all
except for Satomi. Vivian is still a member of the Triad and one of their top
assassins but she has finally come to the conclusion that there is no life for
her in the criminal organisation and she seeks to escape and regain her life
with Satomi. To help she calls upon her former team mates and so begins a
deadly race against time, and the past.
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Ni: After successfully escaping the
Triad and going into hiding from a more sinister foe, Gordon resurrected in
the form of Vivian's old body, Vivian having changed her appearance with a new
doppelganger, Vivian, Satomi and Serge seek the answers behind their former
leader's survival: Vivian for revenge. Serge travels independently to America
to seek answers also from a secretive Internet Coven called Thebes about a
powerful hacked named Mercury who almost killed him. As their searches
progress, tension increases between Vivian and Satomi over their objectives
and when they do encounter Gordon, employed once again by The Program that
trained him, Vivian is unable to contain her nature (was titled Nature Of The
Bee).
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San: From Europe the action and
actors return to Japan. Sundered from each other and with conflicting yet
overlapping objectives, Satomi, Serge, Hansel, Vivian and G play out there
serious obsession wracked games ignoring the supposed greater powers that are
trying to control or destroy them. Serge and his Japanese hard-boiled police
bodyguard and Hansel continue their mission to find Mercury, now capable of
mass murder over the Internet, whilst Satomi falls in and out of depression
over Vivian and contemplates suicide. As for Vivian, she has lost herself in
lust to overcome her own loathing. G still has her eyes on the same goal:
Vivian, and ever works to fulfill that wish. The story is divided into two
themed parts: Sex, and Violence. Another huge melee akin to that in Ichi takes
place as Vivian's organisation is targeted by a Gothic motorcycle gang which
also draws in Satomi and Kaneda's gang from '0'.
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Shi: Means both four and death. In
this unwritten novel the violence and obsession shared by the main
protagonists, Vivian, Satomi, G, and Vivian's Shaolin lover Cho Sen, spiral to
even greater depths of depravity, jealously, and murderous behaviour that will
leave few souls drawing breath. It is the aim of this story to be the most
intense of the series, tightly focused on the main characters and their greed
for Vivian.
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