In the wake of silence

Until recently, not many have heard of the late author Lamar Grover Wiggins, born on July 27th, 1968, amid the chaos surrounding the assassination of Rev. Martin Luther King Junior.

Lamar was an author who sat quietly in his corner, churning out interesting works of writing that never found their way into the mainstream.

Until one lucky read changed it all...

Tragically, the author met an untimely death.

Ironically, it was doing something he'd dreamt of since childhood: He was one of many cruising in orbit aboard Space X in the 2036 tragedy that claimed 73 lives—a commercial space flight that never returned to earth.

Beating the odds, Lamar won the trip in a raffle that cost him only $100.00. With 54,000 tickets sold and just 3 winners selected, the victory almost felt cosmic—a reminder that fate is a strange messenger, allowing dreams to be fulfilled at any cost.

We were able to trace Lamar's writing journey to the 9th grade, beginning with the occasional poem—scribblings that helped him deal with the world when no one else would listen.

Soon after, he found inspiration from watching variety shows like Saturday Night Live. This led to him writing humorous skits in hopes of getting friends to act them out on an old VHS camera.

His interest in writing these skits would prove valuable in an 11th grade talent show. He wrote a 3-minute skit called Kung-fu Theater. Joined by 3 classmates, they stole the show 3 nights in a row.

What was interesting about the performance was they practiced the kung-fu routines to an audio tape of the dialogue they recorded. Eventually, they realized they should perform it the same way live. This would match the quirky charm of old-school martial-arts films where the dubbed dialog never quite syncs with the actor's lips. It was a successful move on their part, leaving the audience in fits of laughter.

Lamar never associated the development of skits with writing in general. Writing was just something that needed to be done in order to bring the skit to life. He didn't make the connection until the late nineties, when a friend asked him for help with a graphic novel. Our office was able to contact that friend, and this is what he had to say:

"We were excited to work on my project and came up with some great angles, but the timing was off. I ended up going to Bosnia for a year and when I came back, Lamar was knee-deep in other projects. I eventually wrote it myself. I had no idea he would thank me later for inspiring him to write stories of his own. That man had some crazy ideas. And I mean that in a good way."

Ian K.

Fast-forward some years, and Lamar had produced more than a dozen short stories. He leaned heavily on paranormal activity due to his belief in the unknown, driven by experiences that came from the sleep paralysis he acquired after a playground accident when he was fifteen. Those experiences remained unclear to anyone interviewed for this article. If he ever wrote about them, our team couldn't find any definitive evidence among pieces he had written.

In 2003, he took a handful of his stories and teamed up with another friend from MI—an artist. They set out to create Lamar's first publication: Cliff Hangar. Pictured below.

Cliff Hangar published only three issues, with more stories ready for print. According to the artist (name withheld), distance was a problem: he lived in MI while Lamar was in CO. Timing was crucial for producing a monthly publication, and they both missed scheduled deadlines.

In addition, the author was behind on payments to the artist and was having trouble getting bookstores or any store that sold magazines to pick Cliff Hangar up.

Lamar handed a good portion of the first issue out to friends and family and convinced one newsstand in Boulder, CO to sell it for their profit, hoping the contact info on the last page would begin to spread his name and build interest in future issues.

None of it panned out the way Lamar wanted.

Cliff Hangar sadly failed.

In 2011, Lamar began corresponding with magazines who accepted short stories. He also finished writing his first screenplay that same year. He sent the script out to several studios, hoping it reached an actual person but never heard back.

He wrote a second screenplay and sent that out as well but was met with the same result—silence. His expectations were low and rejections were piling up.

In 2015, Lamar went back to working on video projects but kept writing in his spare time. Fiction took precedence over any other category. Dreya, his younger sister, was generous and allowed me to browse through boxes where I found all sorts of different titled folders. I opened the one titled 'skits' first and began reading Those Amazing Guests which generated laughter as I read through.

But part of Lamar's other-worldly spark came from the books he immersed himself in, particularly works such as A Separate Reality by Carlos Casteneda, The 12th Planet by Zecharia Sitchin and The Akashic Records by Edgar Cayce—among other groundbreaking titles that used to line a humble bookshelf within his writing space.

In 2021, our featured writer began crafting pieces on a site called Vocal Media. According to articles published by him, he was able to gage different writing styles from the numerous writers he interacted with. Reading their material, Lamar found mistakes in his own writing and began paying closer attention when editing. This slight adjustment gained him moderate success as the site awards monetary prizes and achievement badges.

The following quote was written by a judge for one of his winning pieces. After reading the micro fiction titled, Route 96, I agreed.

Lamar Wiggins' story is a masterclass in gradual tension-building and the art of the twist. The dialogue effectively paints a vivid scene while dropping subtle hints about a darker truth, and the innocent facade of the conversation with Jimmy builds to a spine-tingling climax. This creative risk pays off beautifully, leaving a lasting impression.

Vocal Curation Team

Near the end of 2036, almost two years after his passing, marked the moment when a buzz around his name began to surface.

Stefano Zanniricci—a film producer—stumbled upon a stack of scripts collecting dust. He stated he was looking for something fresh, innovative, supernatural. He found Lamar's core idea unsettling but in a compelling way.

Upon completion of the first read, Stefano set it aside in the 'possible' section. Several weeks later, he read it a second time and was convinced he had found what he was looking for and had his assistant try to contact the writer. When he learned of the author's death, Stefano encountered a snag. He needed the rights to the story in order to take it to the next level. The only person who could allow the transaction was his sister, Dreya who was named executor over his intellectual property. She knew what it would mean to her brother and agreed.

Beautiful Scars—a psychological thriller with supernatural edge, centered on a tattoo artist—went into production 4 months later and premiered in the summer of 2038, doing fairly well at the box office.

"Wiggins wrote a script that played out like a revelation. Impossible to forget." -- LA Times

"A gripping exploration of the unexplained through the lens of a practical imagination."--Rotten Tomatoes 71%

"This film's psychological depth gives every reveal a chilling resonance"--Entertainment Weekly

Rumor has it, a second movie is in production based on a short story Lamar wrote called After Midnight.

Stefano hasn't stopped exploring the work Lamar left behind. He attempted to purchase the full rights to his body of work but ultimately had to negotiate a licensing agreement with the family.

It’s unfortunate the author wasn’t able to see where his work was headed. Many say he had the charisma of a bright flame. He was a deep thinker, intrigued by metaphysics, flying saucers and unexplained occurrences.

He was a man who survived many pitfalls and a generous soul who contemplated the nature of existence.

I lost myself in hours of reading Lamar's stories and was left mesmerized by how he liked to bend reality until it feels like a living, breathing character. I was easily drawn in by his off-kilter rhythm—the way he could make a scene wobble just enough for you to lean closer. This author had a great sense of humor as well, some of it even sneaks its way into the darkest corners of his stories.

One thing remains certain: Lamar Wiggins ultimately solidified a name for himself. And though the novel he spent twenty years on was never completed, the unwritten future of his remaining stories suggests his influence isn't done shaping the world of entertainment.