My brand-new novel Greyward :)

Hello fam, it’s Gregory Thomas again!

I wanted to let you know about a new novel of mine. It’s called Greyward!

Greyward is a scifi dystopian set in the 22nd century of America.

It features 18-year-old Mable, a New Jersey girl insanely obsessed with her favorite pop singer group Jodie Jodeci, and their lead singer Jody Jodie.

Crippled hopelessly with her obsession over Jody Jodie, the Thought Police snatched her up, and tossed her in the infamous Greyward. There, she meets new friends, soaks in the brutalist structure, and tried not to think about Jody.

A scifi suspense/comedy, I wrote this as a spoof against Taylor Swift fans, “Swifties” I was joking about the novel at first, but then it started getting good, and I decided to turn it into a book. Honestly, this is one of those works it’s better if you just read for yourself, than if I tell you.

Here is a Chapter 1 sample. Enjoy!

-Sincerely, Gregory Thomas

===

*Note: This work is PG-13, with mild cursing, and themes.*

---

Chapter 1

Jody’s Biggest Fan

Jodie Jodeci was an American Pop Rock band, led by the lead singer “Jody Jodie”.

Jodie Jodeci was famous both nationally and internationally, with millions of people traveling to see her band perform; one of her concerts would be so packed, that people at entire football stadiums had to be turned away, because it would turn the building into a safety hazard. Streets would be packed for miles and miles with cars, unable to traverse due to the radically desperate screaming Jodie Jodeci fans trying to see their favorite idol.

In fact, their first #1 chart topper was their song, “Mona, Mona Lisa Smile”, which shot up to number 1 both in America and the UK, and stayed at the top for 2 years straight! People made memes about how popular the song was, and even did amateur covers of the song all across social media. In fact, despite the band’s demographic being made up of mostly female fans, male fans couldn’t help but be enraptured by how popular the band’s songs were.

The band was immensely popular, but the most popular out of the group, was the band’s lead singer Jody Jodie—she was the main star, and the true reason the band was so popular.

In her late 20s, Jody Jodie was a pop icon, she was known for her brunette hair, that would have a single strand painted pink in the front, she had her trademark light brown eyes, and a beauty mark on her left cheek just under her eye. She wore a leopard print scarf, and go-go black boots—overall, her producers dressed her up to appeal to teens, just like her fans.

The band hailed from Birmingham, Alabama…But her biggest fan, was in New Jersey, and her name was Allison Wadenski. She was an 18-year-old Freshman in college, and was unhealthily obsessed with her pop singer/idol. To the point that she took the liberty to dress up like Jody every chance she got.

Allison dyed her hair brown, with one single strand in the front pink just like her hero, and changed her name to Mable—named after Jody Jodie’s strange love for maple syrup.

Mable had brown eyes just like the famous pop star, and took it as a sign that she and her were destined to be together forever.

Having a New Jersey accent, she worked hard and practiced every day to make it sound like she had a southern accent, using slang and a southern draw just like the people from Jody Jodie. All around the house, and all around her classroom, she would walk around with a New Jersey accent that was pretending to sound southern, clothes that would match her favorite pop rock singer, with tiny black go-go boots. Still living with her mom and dad, her bedroom had the band plastered all over the walls—posters of the lead singer by herself, and posters of the band, long blankets with the band’s image on it nailed to the wall, hung over her bed, and even some used as rugs, with Jody’s favorite colors; pink and turquoise, used for most of the furniture; her desk, chairs, even her clothes and closet.

Just like Jody, Mable strived to portray a very animated and bubbly personality; swinging her hair, and constantly resting a hand on her hip, trying her best to come up with witty jokes and catch phrases the same way as she did on television; thus, Mable tended to resemble a 12-year-old kid.

She would paint her nails and toenails pink and turquoise just like her hero, and she would even carry a signature leopard scarf around the neck, just like the pop singer.

Due to her unhealthy obsession with the pop singer, Mable had no friends.

On her outside world, people at school, in her neighborhood, and in her house saw her as annoying, and judgmental of everything that didn’t reflect Jody…And online, her ‘holier than thou’ personality was immensely worse. Starting fan clubs on virtually every social media platform, she would serve as the forum’s leader, blocking, banning, muting, and shadow banning anybody in her Jodi Jodeci fanbases that failed to see eye-to-eye with her visions on how to be Jody’s perfect fan. Alone in her room with nothing but the light coming in through her curtains, she would sit endlessly at her laptop, ruling over the internet with an iron fist.

When she wasn’t online, she was listening to Jodie Jodeci’s music on repeat, bed-rotting with a magnanimous smile, while staring at the posters all across her room. Whatever Mable failed to find success in, in her life, she would find it by pretending to be her hero…And when she wasn’t pretending to be Jody Jodie, she was pretending to be her advisor, instructing all the people around her in a WWJD (What Would Jodi Do?) mindset.

Even her parents weren’t safe from their own daughter’s judgmental behavior. Mable resorted to only eating what her pop idol Jody Jodie eats—the singer worked to keep a light palette in order to stay thin for her performances, and so her mega fan Mable would also stick to the same regiment.

Confused and deeply concerned for their daughter, Mable’s parents were at a loss for words, it was almost unreal how consumed by the band on tv’s stardom completely changed her.

“You’re not from Alabama!” growled Mable’s mom, “You’re from New Jersey! Stop acting like you’ve got a southern accent!”

“But Jody’s got a southern accent!” beamed Mable, “She’s born and raised in Alabama. On her page she says she’s lived there all her life.”

“But Alabama is a trash state!” hissed Mable’s dad with a smirk, “Nothing but hillbillies and beer chuggers live there!”

“It is not! It’s an amazing state! It’s home to some of the best people in the whole wide world! All of Jody’s family lives there!”

Mable’s dad grunted. “Dammit, Jody this! Jody that! When are you gunna cut it out with all this Jody shit, young lady?”

“Henry!” cried out Mable’s mom, “You know how much that band means to Allison, she’s starstruck over them!”

“What the girl needs to be starstruck over Shelly,” Henry began, “Is getting her grades up in college. Look at these low scores, F’s left and right, it’s like she’s skippin’ school for Christ’s sake!”

“Jody never finished high school!” beamed Mable again, “Or went to college. She said she dropped out, and just started singing, and became popular!”

“HA!” grumbled Mable’s dad, “More like she started suckin’!”

“Henry!” hissed Mable’s mom, “Keep that talk outta this house!”

Henry sighed and threw up his hands, and Shelly shook her head and scoffed in annoyance.

Mable crossed her legs at the dinner table, and ate her celery sandwich.

The next day, Mable went back to college.

Midway through the day, she got into a heated disagreement with another student in the hallway about Jody Jodie’s favorite day of the week.

“You’re wrong!” yelled Mable, “Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! Jody Jodie told me she likes Tuesday, because it’s Taco Tuesday!”

“What are you talkin’ about?” scoffed the other female student, “You don’t know Jody Jodie! You’re crazy! She said she spoke to Jody, you ain’t never spoke to no damn Jody, ahahaha!”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I did speak to her. I sent her a message over her official social media page on PingPong, and she told me, yup; she loves Tuesdays, because of Taco Tuesdays.”

“You ninny! That wasn’t the real Jody Jodie! That’s probably just her agent or some secretary that responds for her! She doesn’t have time to respond to your messages when she’s in a band touring!”

“That was too Jody Jodie! You’re just jealous because I’ve got clout, and you ain’t!”

The crowd of people couldn’t believe how deep Mable and the other girl’s argument was growing, watching helplessly as the two ladies got angrier and angrier.

“I’ve got more clout than you!” hissed Mable, “If you were a true fan, maybe you’d be able to get Jody Jodie to speak to you, like she does me.”

“You klutz! Jody Jodie doesn’t even know you. I keep tellin’ ya she’s got two favorite days, Tuesday and Sunday. She likes Sundays because she doesn’t have to work so hard.”

“Nope! Just one: Tuesdays! She likes that day more, because of Taco Tuesdays!”

“How’s about I Taco YOUR Tuesday, bitch?!”

And that’s when the other girl pushed Mable. Mable pushed back, and before anybody knew it, the two girls were snatching at each other’s hair, and tumbling on the ground in rage.

“OW! Get your hands off ‘a me, ya priss!” hollered the other girl.

“AHH! Let go of me, you crazy bitch!” shouted Mable. “LET GO! YOU CRAZY BIIIIITCH!”

The two fought until both the students and the teachers had to break up the fight, there was ripped strands of hair like a molting cat from the fray all around.

Copyright March 29, 2024