Genius

I'm writing a new series. I don't really want to, but I'm having trouble with my other projects. Astonishing Adventures is like moving a bad couch. I just can't get a good handle on it. Most Modern (the indie project I have yet to even talk much about) is a bit too whimsical and social, so it seems like something I might be able to write when my life is a bit more... well, whimsical and social.

Stargame work is on hold for me. I can't really be the one to push this along. I have an opportunity to pitch something to an assistant editor at Marvel, but the idea I had is getting worse and worse the more I think about it.

The only idea I'm really enjoying right now is a project that I've entitled "Genius." It's the story of Adam, a young college graduate whose mother died of a brain tumor while he was young, so the boy decided that he was going to find a cure for cancer. From these noble ambitions, he studied pharmacology and managed to get a job as a lab assistant at a leading pharmaceutical company.

As for his personal life, it isn't much: a roommate, his ex-girlfriend, and occasionally he talks to his dad on the phone. He has lived by the philosophy that the best way to solve all problems is by being the smartest man in the room and always looking for a smarter room.

The plot begins when Adam is accidentally exposed to a concentrated dose of an experimental drug named G3N5. After the initial exposure, he is sent to the hospital where he is given a clean bill of health... with the exception of a slight fever. Naturally, they send him home to recuperate.

At first, nothing seems any different, but he gradually starts noticing little things. At one point, he plays a game of chess with his neighbor, a champion who he has never beaten, and defeats him fairly quickly. He guesses that it was just luck, but as he goes through the supermarket, he realizes that he has calculated the cost of his cart including tax before reaching the register.

Before long, he is making money as a pool shark and a card counter or staying up all night reading Wikipedia, WebMD, and eHow. He learns a lot in a very short amount of time, but the knowledge makes the ignorance of others all the more obvious and frustrating. When he tries to learn about his own condition, he discovers that his company has been involved in many such accidents and is secretly doing research on pharmaceuticals for the military and designer drugs for the extremely wealthy. When the company realizes what happened to him, they frame him for murder and leak to the media that his mind has been deranged by chemical exposure.

Essentially, this is a "man on the run" story about the strengths and limitations of intellect. What does a man do when he is the smartest person on Earth and can't find a solution to his problems? It should prove a good topic for analyzing intelligence and drug use.