jackofallgeeks: (Seriously Though)
John Noble ([personal profile] 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] 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.

[identity profile] jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com 2004-07-16 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Dude, I HAVE heard of Dick, then -- I've been meaning to get a coppy of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for years now! That's going on the list right behind The Divine Comedy, lest I forget. I think I'll look into Minority Report (as I liked the movie) and We Can Remember it For You Wholesale (as I liked the concept, if it was just another Action movie), too.

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.

[identity profile] dikaiosunh.livejournal.com 2004-07-16 06:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, be prepared for "We Can Remember..." not being anything like the movie at all.

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...

[identity profile] jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com 2004-07-16 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
YMMV?

"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.