                      Matthew Allen Carter

You are Matthew Allen Carter.  You always use
all three names.  You are what most people
might consider a looney.

To explain.  You aren't actually a lunatic,
exactly.  It is just that your version of reality
doesn't agree with everyone else's.  On a rather
frequent basis.  

You are a bit of a mystic.  Well, more than a bit
actually.  In fact you are one of the leading
figures in a very grey realm between shunned
cult personality and respected entertainer and
parapsychologist.  In fact you have speculated
that you would be widely respected and
accepted, like Uri Geller, etc., if your
personality was just a trifle more stable.  As it
is you have been known to become rather upset
when people have displayed a lack of faith in
your talents.  About like Sean Penn actually.

Well, perhaps not that bad.  You realize that the
majority out there of the "Great Unenlightened"
are going to stay that way, and that will just
have to do.  You usually ignore them, unless
they are obnoxiously insistent.

You have known Grant Cochran for a long time. 
You finally gave up on University life the year
he graduated, but you kept in contact with the
community of upwardly mobile drug-using
socialites.  You never really liked the socialites
very much, but you put up with them, especially
the group that hung around Grant, because that
man was into serious weirdness.  Most of them
were a shallow as an empty bathtub, and they
were drawn towards this depth. 

You could handle the sort of bizarre things that
he envisioned very well.  Well enough that he
talked to you a lot about the world over the
abyss, which you travel in frequently.  He used
this as the source of several of his story ideas. 
Particularly some of the passages in Trinity,
which was without doubt his best work.  Early
on he talked to you about paying you for your
ideas, but lately he has stopped.  He says that all
the material he got from you is why Sightless
King was such a flop.  Most other people realize
it was his shitty writing.  You talked to an
attorney about suing him, but you were told,
flatly you didn't have much of a
chance...certainly not enough of a chance to take
a five grand case to court.  

Maybe it was just your chickenshit attorney,
Gary Morant.  He is also Grant 's attorney, but
you have never seen conflict of interest matter
much to him if he can round on someone like a
jackal.  He did a fairly piss poor job of handling
your divorce too.  You were married to the
younger daughter of Senator Breezewood of
Connecticut.  You basically married her for the
money, though there were other benefits.  

Among the benefits were her connections,
including some very powerful people in
Washington.  Amid all the intellectualism, and
obscene grasping for secular power (what a
paltry imitation of the real thing), there is an
undercurrent of true need for knowledge, and
contact with true power.  You fill that need, and
because you really are an exceptionally generous
teacher, you ask only money in return.  How
much more you might ask.  Or take.  

She looked like a model, and could put up with
you freaking out in the living room at three
thirty in the morning.  Morant got a fair supply
of cash out of her father in order for you not to
make a public deal about it.  You had the
advantage because you had evidence of her
committing adultery.  Of course that was
because you had gotten Mike Ballistas to seduce
her.  The idea was Gary Morant's but it took
you to carry it out.

Ballistas owed you one because he is a leading
arms dealer.  About a year ago one of his
contacts got religion and spilled his beans to
you.  You convinced the guy to go off an join a
monastery in Tibet or something, rather than
going to the cops about Ballistas.  But you made
sure he knew about the favor.  You didn't try to
get money from him.  Even you know that is
unwise with a guy who has more firepower than
the U.S.S. Iowa unless it is truly necessary.  But
he was more than willing to sleep with your
wife.

Poor Emily, she just wasn't as advanced as you,
was a hopeless pupil, and to be frank now that
you have enough money to follow your paths
night and day, you really don't give much of a
fuck what happened to her.  She resented the
necessity of discipline upon the paths that lead
through the abyss.  You understand that after
living in New York for a while she moved back
to D.C. and got an apartment with Margot
Matthews, before finally moving in with Mike
Ballistas.  How happy for her.

There were changes in your exterior life after
Emily left.  You became somewhat closer to
Margot Matthews, who is also friends with
Emily, but was in Sweden when the whole thing
blew up.  Margot is a handy key to make sure
the doors of the well-to-do stay unlocked for
you.  You also began to take your work much
more seriously, and prevailed heavily upon
Linda Kane.  Linda is the Director of the
Institute for Parapsychological Research, which
is basically a one-room office that publishes a
cheesy little newsletter.  

But the credentials sound great, and you list her
as a reference.  You have grown closer to
Linda, and taught her somewhat of the paths, as
well as used her to assuage those physical needs
that you have not risen above.  Linda is, of
course, far too preoccupied with the physical
world, and has not really seen into the darkness
beyond.  Perhaps you will be able to show her
that, though the experience might well destroy
her.  For now she is useful.  You have been
holding down the research center for her while
makes trips for her other job.  

That was a bit of a disappointment to you.  She
had told you that she was carrying bribes for
Mike Ballistas, and you had rather hoped to take
advantage of the situation.  But when you
steamed one of the envelopes that she was
delivering to some arab businessman open at her
office, it turned out not to contain bribes at all,
just a fat folio of manifests in French.  You
could care less than nothing about Ballistas'
business dealings, but you wish you could
quietly sidetrack some of his cash.  Your work
requires vast stretches of uninterrupted time, and
working a normal job, or even making regular
appointments is simply not possible for you.

The only real loss from your divorce was the
devotion of your agent.  Your literary agent is
Karyn Seidman, though you have been on
somewhat lukewarm terms since your divorce. 
She took Emily's side, and Emily lived with her
in New York for a while after she left you. 
Unfortunately, she is the only agent you have
got, and the only one who believes that you
could possibly actually coordinate yourself
enough to write something.  You prevailed on
Linda Kane to talk to her at length, and
eventually she agreed to continue to have a
business relationship with you.  She is very
interested in having you collaborate with Jeffrey
Saxon, a published occult writer.

You have read Saxon's work, and it is not the
most miserable dreck you have ever read. 
Certainly he does not really understand any of
the inner mysteries, but he seems well informed
for a dilettante, and behind the garbage that is
his published work, and his idiotic obsession
with bodily health, he actually shows a distant
glimmering of enlightenment.

You are actually a pretty smart guy, but you
aren't exactly aces on thinking things through.  
When you heard from Linda Kane that Grant is
signing a multi-million dollar movie deal with a
major studio for the screenplay of Trinity, you
did some serious thinking.  One thing you have
decided is that you do not intend to let Grant
Cochran live.  You have known him a long
time, and he has fucked you over one too many
times, and then made you apologize because you
needed his name and his connections.  Now that
you have made some money off of old man
Breezewood, you don't have to grovel before
Grant Cochran anymore.    

In fact, you've decided to kill him.  You aren't
sure how, but last night you saw him lying dead
in a coffin, and you can always make such
visions come true.  It is time for Grant to see
the other side of the Abyss that he is so fond of
having you describe.  You will stand idly by
while Chorazon desiccates his soul...it will be
sublime.  And of course, who else but you
would be competent to organize Grant's notes
and produce his last, posthumous, novel.

Linda Kane was with you when you had your
vision of Grant's demise.  You cautioned her not
to tell anyone, lest it disturb the cosmic balance. 
You kind of wish you hadn't told her, but on the
other hand, you are always so proud when your
predictions come true.

You are rather tightly wound...

THE OTHERS

What they know about you:

Matthew Allen Carter:  A well known mystic,
Carter is associated with decadence, drugs, and
bizarre mysticism.  It is unclear where his
money comes from, though he is known to be at
least moderately wealthy, and eccentric.  
M.A. Carter provides spiritual consultation to
some of Washington's most prominent social
figures.  He has appeared on several area talk
shows, notably Panorama in July 1979 where he
was involved in an altercation, and declined to
appear on Good Morning America in August of
1982 on the topic "Senators who follow the
Horoscopes."  He has assisted Federal
authorities as a consultant on "Cult Related
Cases", and appeared before a Senate
Subcommittee Special Hearing in 1983 to
discuss "Cult Phenomena and Crime."

PEOPLE YOU KNOW WELL:

Mike Ballistas: an international weapons
smuggler who you did a favor for you.  In
return, he took Emily off your hands. 

A wealthy international consultant with
impressive offices downtown.  Ballistas has
numerous prominent government contacts, and
is generally known to be an influential
businessman.  He donated heavily to the Reagan
Campaign.

Anthony Blaine:  You have tried very hard to
convince Anthony that the secret of Grant's
success is his collaboration with you. 

A New York writer considered a protege of
Grant Cochran, Blaine is handled by Jonathan
Drake, the same publisher as Cochran.  It was
rumored that Blaine and Cochran had a very
serious argument while appearing together at a
promotional convention after the publication of
Sightless King.  Blaine is best known for his
Fantasy-Horror novel Wunderking, and his most
recent work The Dinner Guest.  

Emily Breezewood: Your ex-wife.  How
regrettable.

A college friend of Grant Cochran, and a prep-
school friend of Margot Matthews, Emily is the
daughter of Senator Breezewood of Connecticut,
a very powerful senior U.S. Legislator.  Emily
was married to Matthew Allen Carter, and
divorced him, in a particularly messy case
during which Mr. Carter was represented by
Gary Morant.  They are reported to be on barely
civil speaking terms now.  Emily is living with
Mike Ballistis.

Avery Carson: you missed Avery while he was
gone, as he was a convenient "one stop shop"
for various of the pharmaceutical substances
that you require for your work.
Since he returned, you have made considerable
use of him. 
Attended George Washington University and has
many acquaintances from that period, and
immediately afterward.  Avery met most of
Grant's circle of friends in the seventies while
they were working in Washington after
graduation.  Mr. Carson occupied a position in
the staff of the late Darrington Ripley, U.S.
Ambassador to Sweden.  Currently employed by
the State Department, Avery Carson is rumored
to actually work for the Company, or No-such-
agency.

Grant Cochran:  the dead man.  Grant
Cochran is a horror writer whose early work
brought him wealth and recognition.  His first
acclaimed work was a collection of short stories
in 1977 entitled Look Ma, No Hands!  Grant
achieved a more limited success with The
Sickness in John Harrol, 1977; The Collection,
1979; but his mainstream horror novels  Dark
Symbols,1980; and Trinity, 1982; were
extremely successful.  His Lovecraftian fantasy-
horror The Sightless King, 1984 was universally
panned.  Grant also wrote the screenplay for the
1981 film The Blinding. Numerous short stories
including The Metallic Taste of Blood Omni,
Feb 1982.

Grant's work has tended more towards the
occult and fantasy side than Stephen King, and
his success has been less marked, but his early
novels were commercially successful.  Born
1955 to a wealthy Virginia family, Grant
graduated from George Washington University
in DC in 1975, aged twenty.  Writer and
playboy, known to have inherited some money
from parent's death in 1974. He is widely
rumored to have been hospitalized recently for
rehabilitation.

Linda Kane: A fairly nice girl who you met
through your ex-wife.  She was responsible for
arranging your initial Panorama appearance,
and kept you from strangling Jackson Bain on
live TV.  Since you rid yourself of Emily, you
have found increasing uses for Linda.  She is
one of the only people who has ever really
belived in you, and you are unflaggingly kind
to her for that reason.

Parapsychological researcher for the Institute for
Parapsychological Studies, 1567 23rd St. NW. 
Graduate of Columbia Prep, and Mary
Washington College.  M.A. Barnard.  Kane is a
literary agent for Matthew Allen Carter and is
rumored to be his lover.  

Margot Matthews: Margot was a friend of
Grant Cochran, and several other attendees in
college, but went on to become a prominent
Washington socialite who rose out of the ranks
of minor political followers due to her
connections with the late U.S. ambassador to
Sweden Mr. Darrington Ripley.  Margot is
giving this party in honor of Grant Cochran's
birthday.

Margot is currently employed by the Department
of State, where she is rumored to the mistress of
a powerful political appointee.  She was
mentioned in People magazine shortly after the
inaugural ball, and her fortunes have definitely
been on the rise with the Reagan government. 

Gary Morant:  Washington Attorney. 
Graduated from George Washington University
in 1974, GW Law in 1978.  Formed Morant and
Steele with Harlan Steel in 1980.  Known for
handling some of the messiest and most
prominent divorce and lawsuit cases in the
Washington social spectrum.  Morant is a rising
star in the social constellation of Washington,
and is Grant Cochran's attorney, and is currently
representing him in all of his sordid legal
affairs. 

Mort Nicholson: The PI who Gary hired to
take the pictures he used to procure your
divorce "settlement."   
A well known private detective.  Nicholson has
worked for Gary Morant, and was a research
reference for the character of Detective George
Panopalous in Grant Cochran's Trinity.

Roger Pierce: Treated you shortly after your
divorce for personality disorders.  He is
normally a professor at GWU, but was serving
as a consulting doctor at the Psychological
Extension of GW hospital.  He is the one who
gave you the line about your version of reality,
and he said you were not really a juicy fruit. 
You have told him quite a few secrets.

A Professor/practitioner of
Psychology/Psychiatry at George Washington
University.  Young but promising, for several
years his 400 level course on Personality
Disorders has been considered the "most fun"
class in the entire psych department.  Many of
Dr. Pierce's associates consider him to be "that
strung out quack", Dr. Pierce considers himself
a "perceptually enhanced alternative
practitioner."  It is obvious that Dr. Pierce either
has something on the University, or has tenure.

"Psychological disorders can be not only
instructive, but entertaining as well..."
(American Psychiatric Yearbook, 1980).  

OTHER PEOPLE:

Thomas Cochran:  Grant's failure of a brother. 
Thomas dropped out of school, and was deeply
involved in drugs.  He narrowly avoided jail on
larceny charges.  He lost his share of the family
wealth, and is currently employed by his brother
as a handyman. 

Leda Deerden: A New York author, or visual
artist, guest of Grant's Publisher.  Ms. Deerden
is known for her terra cotta figures, which are
widely sold in gift shops in the Village, and her
work at the 42nd Street Gallery, but is a
newcomer to the writing field.  Her first project
is projected to be a collaboration with Grant
Cochran.

Jonathan Drake: Publisher of Grant Cochran,
Drake is Editor of Horror at Electra publishing,
a division of Robert W. Thormond and Sons,
Inc., one of the nations largest publishing
houses.  Despite the failure of Cochran's latest
novel, Drake is reported to be successful and on
the rise.  He handles many other writers
including Anthony Blaine, and is also in charge
of titles under the smaller, but profitable Medea
imprintaur, for occult paperbacks, which
includes the works of Jeffrey Saxon.

Sarah Lamont: Sarah Lamont is an old Prep-
school and College friend of Margot Matthews,
Linda Kane, Emily Breezewood and others. 
Sarah went to work for Gary Morant as a
paralegal, and is now his chief secretary.  

Tony Randall-Smith:  Olympic Equestrian
Medalist, winning two Silver and one Bronze
medal at Los Angeles in 1984.  Native of
McLean Virginia, the child of a former
ambassador to England.  Personally acquainted
with Princess Margaret, has appeared in Sports
Illustrated, and network television.  Currently
holds American and European Championships in
several categories of jumps.  Professional status
has been called into question, but intends to
compete in 1988.  

Jeffrey Saxon: A noted Parapsychology/Occult
writer and Astrologer, author of Health Signs,
Astrology for You, and Psychic Defense, and
several other successful books published in
paperback.  Jeffrey is rumored to be practically
the only person in New York who does not
suffer from an incapacitating drug addiction.

Karyn Seidmann:  A New-York literary agent,
Seidmann is not well known in literary circles,
though there are some dark rumors about her
past, including a lawsuit.  Seidman handles
small time occult authors, and until recently her
biggest literary success was Jeffrey Saxon, the
popular occultist and astrologer.
Oliver Stewart:  A comic-book author and
illustrator for Universal Comics, a major
competitor of Marvel and D.C. 
Oliver responsible for the satirical Captain
Flapjack miniseries, but is best known for his
work with Blood Hound, a revitalized 1960's
Superhero, and with Revenant, a dark-horror
miniseries.  Stewart handled a graphic-novel
adaptation of Grant Cochran's Sightless King,
which was somewhat more successful than the
actual novel.  Oliver is a New Yorker, but has
maintained a friendship with horror writer Grant
Cochran, and has come down with some of his
other New York acquaintances to make his
birthday an interesting affair.

Craig Webber: An acquaintance of Margot
Matthews, Mr. Webber is a well-to-do local
business consultant, rumored to have
connections to smuggling and the underworld. 
Webber is said to be a business partner of Avery
Carson.
