John Noble (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jackofallgeeks) wrote2004-07-15 01:24 pm
jackofallgeeks) wrote2004-07-15 01:24 pm
Snippet Snipity-Snip
So this guy, Warren Ellis, is having a 'Fast Fiction Friday' on some blog site he calls 'Die Puny Humans,' or something. At the encouragement of Kirt (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
xiombarg), I decided to put in one of my pieces. Quite a few of the older pieces I had were 150 words or less, far fewwer than the 200-word limit Warren imposed, but the later ones that I was really pleased with were rather far beyond the mark. When I stumbled onto A World of Darkness, I couldn't make myself pass it up. I still think it's my favorite piece out of my Anthology. But at just-over 400 words, it needed to be trimmed. I don't think it'll actually make it in, but Kirt helped me trim it, and here's what I sent out for F3, including my little biography:
Work, damn you!
With a whirr, Samson leaped over another gap between crowded buildings, landing hard. The hydraulics were failing.
He scanned for signatures before running over the roof. The mission had gone horribly wrong; his squadmates were already dead. This guy was worse than those nuts who believed they could fly; this guy didn't believe he couldn't fly.
A pipe grabbed his foot. A loud snap as his shoulder hit. Rainwater trailed down his face as he lay there, gasping up at the sky. Lightning revealed a figure suspended in the air.
It was the Deviant. He hung there, leather boots five feet up. Every so often blue-white energy would spider up his form. Despite the rain, his hair blew dry in the wind.
The Deviant spoke, though his mouth didn't move. A soft sound, but heard over even thunder.
"You and yours have held sway long enough. The Reckoning is upon us, and it is time for a change."
Samson struggled to get to his feet as the Deviant began to chant. A crack of thunder, and the last thing Samson saw was a wind-blown silhouette against a backdrop of purple and grey.
Then everything went white.
Andrew Portner is a Senior-level college student working toward a Computer Science degree. He likes techno, red meat, and kittens.
xiombarg), I decided to put in one of my pieces. Quite a few of the older pieces I had were 150 words or less, far fewwer than the 200-word limit Warren imposed, but the later ones that I was really pleased with were rather far beyond the mark. When I stumbled onto A World of Darkness, I couldn't make myself pass it up. I still think it's my favorite piece out of my Anthology. But at just-over 400 words, it needed to be trimmed. I don't think it'll actually make it in, but Kirt helped me trim it, and here's what I sent out for F3, including my little biography:Work, damn you!
With a whirr, Samson leaped over another gap between crowded buildings, landing hard. The hydraulics were failing.
He scanned for signatures before running over the roof. The mission had gone horribly wrong; his squadmates were already dead. This guy was worse than those nuts who believed they could fly; this guy didn't believe he couldn't fly.
A pipe grabbed his foot. A loud snap as his shoulder hit. Rainwater trailed down his face as he lay there, gasping up at the sky. Lightning revealed a figure suspended in the air.
It was the Deviant. He hung there, leather boots five feet up. Every so often blue-white energy would spider up his form. Despite the rain, his hair blew dry in the wind.
The Deviant spoke, though his mouth didn't move. A soft sound, but heard over even thunder.
"You and yours have held sway long enough. The Reckoning is upon us, and it is time for a change."
Samson struggled to get to his feet as the Deviant began to chant. A crack of thunder, and the last thing Samson saw was a wind-blown silhouette against a backdrop of purple and grey.
Then everything went white.
Andrew Portner is a Senior-level college student working toward a Computer Science degree. He likes techno, red meat, and kittens.
no subject
You've probably heard of Dick's work, but just don't realize it. Several of his pieces have been made into movies (with mixed results). _Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?_ became *Blade Runner* (not very faithful, but a good movie in its own right), "We Can Remember it For You Wholesale" became *Total Recall* (not faithful at all, and crap), "Second Variety" became the movie of, I seem to recall, the same name (didn't see it, but trailers made it look not faithful at all, and probably crap), "Impostor" was from the short story of (again, I'm pretty sure) the same name (also didn't see it, but trailers made it look reasonably faithful and halfway decent), and "The Minority Report" was also from a short story of the same name (reasonably faithful, though Spielberg cheesed out on the tough choices at the end).
I've heard word that someone is planning a movie of _Through a Scanner Darkly_, which is in many ways an overtly Christian parable on drug use and redemption...
One thing that Dick movies tend to lose is the cultural context of his stories. Dick wrote mostly from the 60s-80s (I think he died in... '92?), and most of his stories are steeped in a very Cold War/McCarthyist dystopic atmosphere (some of us are old enough to remember at least the tail end of the Cold War). Many of his short stories especially are set against the backdrop of uber-conformist 50s-style 'air conditioned nightmares'. The cyberpunk treatment many of his pieces get is a reasonable translation of the paranoia into our contemporary set of fears, I suppose... but I still yearn to see someone do "Service Call" as a short film with everyone sporting house dresses and Ward Cleaver helmet-hair.
no subject
I've always kinda liked dystopian themes, a la 1984, and the recent movie Equilibrium. The Giver is really dystopian, too, and I like that. Plus, I think I'd enjou a little of the '80s-style and McCarthyism stuff, too.
no subject
In terms of his novels, _Electric Sheep_ is pretty decent, but I honestly think it's one of his weaker novels. In terms of his relatively straight-up SF, I'd suggest _Now Wait for Last Year_ or _The Man in the High Castle_ instead. YMMV.
Maybe I'll have to read _The Giver_. I've been on a nonfiction kick for the past few years, though...
no subject
"Now Wait for Last Year" sounds interesting. You think it'd be a better start than "Do Androids..."?
Yeah, "The Giver" is fiction, and it's apparently supposed to be on a 4th-grade level, or something, but I'm loving it. I'm overly sentimental anyways, but spots just keep really grabbing me, y'know? I really like this book.