Michael Morkboe

The Manse Bulb Michael Morkboe

Publisher Marketing: The reporter Nathan Furbanks arrives at the abandoned town of Shadowless in order to write the story about the town's mysterious decay. He has no idea of what to expect in his search of information of why the town fell apart. His late grandfather inspired him to pay the town a visit and after persuading his editing director, he is allowed to use a couple of days in Shadowless on his own to gather information for his article. During his first day, he visits the penitentiary, the Town Hall and the local newspaper. He finds pieces of a puzzle he can't quite comprehend. Apparently it involves a crooked mayor and someone or something called MANSE. Late in the afternoon Nathan decides to find a place to settle in for the night. Suddenly he stops and completely loses his breath. Is the low sun in the horizon playing him a trick? The MANSE Bulb is a grotesque story about a small-town-community that falls to pieces because of a mere light bulb. In an isolated town in desert-like surroundings a mysterious building emerges overnight. On the front side of the building, just above the entrance door, a name is written in black capital letters: MANSE. The building turns out to be a factory producing light bulbs. Even stranger is the fact that it's running unmanned. A young man Willard is hired by MANSE to become their representative. He is an outgoing man with no obligations and often acts on his impulses. Soon, he adapts to his new role as MANSE's associate. The job offers him a variety of assignments. The town inhabitants are completely amazed by the MANSE bulb, as they have never seen a light bulb before. The excitement, however, doesn't last long. The MANSE bulbs have side effects, which turns its popularity around. People begin to discard their bulbs all over town and that's when things start to go wrong.