In other news, my site, http://www.ozero.ca is now equipped with a videos page, and the site is updated to include my WIP, Rubberman's Cage.
Joseph Picard's writing projects and life ramblings including the kiddos, and life in a wheelchair.
Showing posts with label sarah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah. Show all posts
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Echoes of Erebus Cahpter 2, Section 1.. reading and... ACTING! And a wig.
And makeup.
In other news, my site, http://www.ozero.ca is now equipped with a videos page, and the site is updated to include my WIP, Rubberman's Cage.
In other news, my site, http://www.ozero.ca is now equipped with a videos page, and the site is updated to include my WIP, Rubberman's Cage.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Echoes of Erebus excerpt - small one, and an update
Gee Mitch, where are your parents, Mitch? Eaten, you say? Intriguing. You even got to see it happen, and hear the screams of your mother as her own blood bubbled up her throat? See? There's a unique experience you can talk about to your school chums. They what? They were eaten too? Oh, some of them were doing the eating. What a diverse group!
-Sarah considering the futility of trying to converse with some people.
I'm at page 98/291 of another editing read before I pass it onto the editing crew. The cover is under some upgrade surgery.. still the same overall idea as the one that I previously posted, just... a bit better.
-Sarah considering the futility of trying to converse with some people.
I'm at page 98/291 of another editing read before I pass it onto the editing crew. The cover is under some upgrade surgery.. still the same overall idea as the one that I previously posted, just... a bit better.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Echoes of Erebus excerpt - talking with Eidechse
I just thought I'd give a taste of Sarah's conversations with another A.I. later in the book. This section hints at a BIT of a spoiler, buuuut..... here we go.
Oh, note again that the ":::" denotes that the speech is being done electronically in Sarah's skull.
***************
“:::As we have the time, Sarah, can we discuss 'comedy'?” Eidechse asked.
Bit by bit, Sarah had left the visual range of the base. Far enough that through all standard issue scopes and binoculars when used by optimal human eyes. As such, she had begun walking. The terrain was now almost devoid of vegetation, and the rocks were becoming smaller, and less frequent. They were entering sand territory.
“:::Sure Eid. Anything in particular puzzling you?”
“:::Slapstick.”
“:::Humour by means of violence. Hey, how old are you, Eid? Are you telling me no one's discussed humour with you before?”
“:::Not at any length.” Eid ignored that issue, and went back to what was interesting him. “Why is violence funny?
“:::Well... usually slapstick is fairly harmless. Maybe it roots in humiliation. Having someone else look foolish in order to show the viewer that their own natural foolishness it not uncommon.” Damn it, Eidechse had her talking like him. She had to watch that. She certainly didn't want to have the diction of a robot. “I read... well, Amanda read somewhere that humour is mostly based in surprise. An unexpected action, or thought, well timed.”
“:::Aardvark.” Eidechse said.
“:::Excuse me?”
“:::Was that funny? Aardvark. It has no bearing on anything currently happening, and was well timed in my opinion. Did that make it funny?”
Sarah walked along. Aardvark. Aardvark. “:::Maybe a little. Kind of. Not so much. Maybe some relevance to the situation is needed. Wit, sarcasm, irony.”
Eidechse thought for a moment. “:::I wish we had some sand.”
“:::Ah. Sarcasm. Not bad. Tone of voice might have helped that a bit. A human-like tone, maybe exaggerated a little.”
Sounding like a cartoon vampire more than anything, Eidechse called out, “:::I wish we had some sand!!”
That did it. Sarah staggered and laughed vocally. “:::Oh, that's not fair!”
“:::I made you laugh,” Eidechse said, “a genuine laugh? Why was it not fair?”
With a leavened mood, Sarah said “:::I don't know, maybe because it's you! You're not known for humour, and your attempt was kind of overdone. A good attempt, but way overdone!”
“:::I do not understand. If it made you laugh, how is it overdone? If I exaggerated less, would it have been funnier?”
“:::Probably not!”
“:::Then why was it overdone?”
“:::Eid, I was expecting a very human-like voice, and when you took my expectation and blew it up past what I what I thought I would hear, it was a surprise! It was what I told you to do, but not at the same time! That was actually great!”
“I do not understand.”
*******************
A chapter or two later:
“:::How you doing in there, Eid?”
“:::I've been watching movies. I have a question.”
“:::Of course you do. Just one, huh? Fire away.”
“:::Why did people think that crossing two 'streams' of protons would instantaneously stop all life and explode every molecule in a body at the speed of light?”
Sarah coughed. “:::What the hell have you been watching? Is it fact or fiction?”
“:::Fiction. I am still working through the comedy collection.”
“:::Well, that answers your question, Eid. No one actually thought that.”
There was a pause. For Eidechse, it was a very long pause. “:::Are people aware that movies are lying to them, on purpose?”
With a smile, Sarah replied with serenity. “:::Yes, they even pay to be lied to.”
“:::I do not understand.”
Oh, note again that the ":::" denotes that the speech is being done electronically in Sarah's skull.
***************
“:::As we have the time, Sarah, can we discuss 'comedy'?” Eidechse asked.
Bit by bit, Sarah had left the visual range of the base. Far enough that through all standard issue scopes and binoculars when used by optimal human eyes. As such, she had begun walking. The terrain was now almost devoid of vegetation, and the rocks were becoming smaller, and less frequent. They were entering sand territory.
“:::Sure Eid. Anything in particular puzzling you?”
“:::Slapstick.”
“:::Humour by means of violence. Hey, how old are you, Eid? Are you telling me no one's discussed humour with you before?”
“:::Not at any length.” Eid ignored that issue, and went back to what was interesting him. “Why is violence funny?
“:::Well... usually slapstick is fairly harmless. Maybe it roots in humiliation. Having someone else look foolish in order to show the viewer that their own natural foolishness it not uncommon.” Damn it, Eidechse had her talking like him. She had to watch that. She certainly didn't want to have the diction of a robot. “I read... well, Amanda read somewhere that humour is mostly based in surprise. An unexpected action, or thought, well timed.”
“:::Aardvark.” Eidechse said.
“:::Excuse me?”
“:::Was that funny? Aardvark. It has no bearing on anything currently happening, and was well timed in my opinion. Did that make it funny?”
Sarah walked along. Aardvark. Aardvark. “:::Maybe a little. Kind of. Not so much. Maybe some relevance to the situation is needed. Wit, sarcasm, irony.”
Eidechse thought for a moment. “:::I wish we had some sand.”
“:::Ah. Sarcasm. Not bad. Tone of voice might have helped that a bit. A human-like tone, maybe exaggerated a little.”
Sounding like a cartoon vampire more than anything, Eidechse called out, “:::I wish we had some sand!!”
That did it. Sarah staggered and laughed vocally. “:::Oh, that's not fair!”
“:::I made you laugh,” Eidechse said, “a genuine laugh? Why was it not fair?”
With a leavened mood, Sarah said “:::I don't know, maybe because it's you! You're not known for humour, and your attempt was kind of overdone. A good attempt, but way overdone!”
“:::I do not understand. If it made you laugh, how is it overdone? If I exaggerated less, would it have been funnier?”
“:::Probably not!”
“:::Then why was it overdone?”
“:::Eid, I was expecting a very human-like voice, and when you took my expectation and blew it up past what I what I thought I would hear, it was a surprise! It was what I told you to do, but not at the same time! That was actually great!”
“I do not understand.”
*******************
A chapter or two later:
“:::How you doing in there, Eid?”
“:::I've been watching movies. I have a question.”
“:::Of course you do. Just one, huh? Fire away.”
“:::Why did people think that crossing two 'streams' of protons would instantaneously stop all life and explode every molecule in a body at the speed of light?”
Sarah coughed. “:::What the hell have you been watching? Is it fact or fiction?”
“:::Fiction. I am still working through the comedy collection.”
“:::Well, that answers your question, Eid. No one actually thought that.”
There was a pause. For Eidechse, it was a very long pause. “:::Are people aware that movies are lying to them, on purpose?”
With a smile, Sarah replied with serenity. “:::Yes, they even pay to be lied to.”
“:::I do not understand.”
Thursday, April 29, 2010
I'm not that old yet!! Keep the archaologists away from me and my pen for a while. Also- 'Echeoes of Erebus' excerpt.
I contributed to an article about annoyances with loud TV ads, and in my submission, I referred to myself as a "Cranky old man in training". Because of this, I might sound like an old man. Hey, just an Old man In training! I have the cranky pretty much nailed down, but I'm only a third of a century old! I need to be about twice as old before I legally qualify as 'old'.
It's not a big deal, I guess. When I'm rich and famous, it will just be a bit of amusing trivia for the entertainment TV when they do stories on me, and my vast harem. Archaeologists will be confounded at the inconsistency, then move on to examining how the ink I used to sign books changed when my OFFICIAL SIGNING PEN runs out of ink.
This is a really darn good pen for a disposable mind you. It's been chugging for years. I only use it for signing though. Why have I declared such a pen? Just to give archaeologists something to talk about.
Time for another Echoes of Erebus excerpt- roll the tape! (for the record, the first editing pass is half done)
---
“:::Yeah, well... I still don't know that Doug has smartened up at all. A broken wrist doesn't grow more brain cells. In fact, screw the whole job thing. First, I want to leave Doug a message.”
“:::W- what kind of message?” Jon asked.
“:::Nothing harmful. Maybe a short note carved in his front door. I don't know, I'll think of something on the way.”
Sarah changed direction. She didn't dare use her transit pass. They probably had tracking data on them, and the stations had a ton of cameras. Her hair and clothes were different, but her face was still the same.
At least for now. That was something definitely worth thinking about.
Walking past a bank machine, she grabbed a deposit slip and chained pen, and began jotting down a note.
“:::Sarah, you realize the bank machine has a camera staring at you right now.”
“:::Aw, damn. I guess it's kind of inescapable. The rural option is starting to sound better and better. I'll leave Doug's note, then we're off to the hills, I guess.”
Dear Douglas Villa,
I do hope you're healing well. I just wanted to say hi, and that yes, I am watching over Dan, and all her friends. Please play nice. Repeated breakage of the same bones can have long term effects.
“:::Alright, how should I sign it?”
“:::How about FISH GIRL!”
“:::Yeah, no.”
She simply signed it 'Sarah', put the pen back in its little cubby, and continued on her way.
“:::No Fish Girl?” Jon asked.
“:::No Fish Girl.”
“:::How about 'The Defender of the Sea!'”
“:::No. It's done, moving on.”
“:::How about 'The Holy Mackerel?”
“:::Am I going to have to send you to your room?”
Jon rallied his whiniest remorseful voice. “:::I'll be good.”
It's not a big deal, I guess. When I'm rich and famous, it will just be a bit of amusing trivia for the entertainment TV when they do stories on me, and my vast harem. Archaeologists will be confounded at the inconsistency, then move on to examining how the ink I used to sign books changed when my OFFICIAL SIGNING PEN runs out of ink.
This is a really darn good pen for a disposable mind you. It's been chugging for years. I only use it for signing though. Why have I declared such a pen? Just to give archaeologists something to talk about.
Time for another Echoes of Erebus excerpt- roll the tape! (for the record, the first editing pass is half done)
---
“:::Yeah, well... I still don't know that Doug has smartened up at all. A broken wrist doesn't grow more brain cells. In fact, screw the whole job thing. First, I want to leave Doug a message.”
“:::W- what kind of message?” Jon asked.
“:::Nothing harmful. Maybe a short note carved in his front door. I don't know, I'll think of something on the way.”
Sarah changed direction. She didn't dare use her transit pass. They probably had tracking data on them, and the stations had a ton of cameras. Her hair and clothes were different, but her face was still the same.
At least for now. That was something definitely worth thinking about.
Walking past a bank machine, she grabbed a deposit slip and chained pen, and began jotting down a note.
“:::Sarah, you realize the bank machine has a camera staring at you right now.”
“:::Aw, damn. I guess it's kind of inescapable. The rural option is starting to sound better and better. I'll leave Doug's note, then we're off to the hills, I guess.”
Dear Douglas Villa,
I do hope you're healing well. I just wanted to say hi, and that yes, I am watching over Dan, and all her friends. Please play nice. Repeated breakage of the same bones can have long term effects.
“:::Alright, how should I sign it?”
“:::How about FISH GIRL!”
“:::Yeah, no.”
She simply signed it 'Sarah', put the pen back in its little cubby, and continued on her way.
“:::No Fish Girl?” Jon asked.
“:::No Fish Girl.”
“:::How about 'The Defender of the Sea!'”
“:::No. It's done, moving on.”
“:::How about 'The Holy Mackerel?”
“:::Am I going to have to send you to your room?”
Jon rallied his whiniest remorseful voice. “:::I'll be good.”
Monday, April 12, 2010
Echoes of Erebus first draft nearing completion
I'm roughly forty pages away, and with no toddler around in the next week or so, I have a lot of opportunity to do it. I'm not saying it WILL be done in the next week, but it's very possible.
I have recently threatened to drop Sarah 17 stories, and chop her roughly in half. I'm not sure how she'd deal with those situations, and neither is she. Thankfully she managed to think her way out of both threats in fun ways. Right now I have her deep underground. She just dealt with a boobytrap and some Erebus-grade opponents,all while struggling with visibility issues. Light amplification won't help much when there's no light to amplify.
An 'Erebus-grade' creation comes in two varieties depending on the mood of the creator at the time. Effective, or 'unique'. Those two categorizations sometimes overlap, but an effective design will be re-used, making the creature much less unique. Case in point being the common zombie. Sure, you can do artistic things WITH zombies, but this often reduces their effectiveness.
The cover I posted last time has been changed... at least there's another draft in the mix now. Same general idea, but somewhat darker blues.
In other news, I ran into a review of Lifehack that I wasn't aware of before. It was pretty darn complimentary, and illustrates how I need to stop chasing after reviewers who I know to be tough as nails, and let some gentler readers have a crack at it now and then.
I've also been interviewed for another website, thought I'm not sure when it will be posted. You can bet I'll pop the link up when it happens!
I've gotten 'clearance' to do a signing event in a local coffee shop. I just need to pick my saturday, do a little promo work, and it'll be done. The manager was quite open to the idea... it makes me think I should try some other coffee shops, and do these kinds of things until I need to reorder for my personal stock.
In other other news, I just had a sneezing fit so violent, I now smell blood.
In other other other news, my cat is going bat-poopie insane, and just clobbered herself by running into a doorframe at mach 47.
I have recently threatened to drop Sarah 17 stories, and chop her roughly in half. I'm not sure how she'd deal with those situations, and neither is she. Thankfully she managed to think her way out of both threats in fun ways. Right now I have her deep underground. She just dealt with a boobytrap and some Erebus-grade opponents,all while struggling with visibility issues. Light amplification won't help much when there's no light to amplify.
An 'Erebus-grade' creation comes in two varieties depending on the mood of the creator at the time. Effective, or 'unique'. Those two categorizations sometimes overlap, but an effective design will be re-used, making the creature much less unique. Case in point being the common zombie. Sure, you can do artistic things WITH zombies, but this often reduces their effectiveness.
The cover I posted last time has been changed... at least there's another draft in the mix now. Same general idea, but somewhat darker blues.
In other news, I ran into a review of Lifehack that I wasn't aware of before. It was pretty darn complimentary, and illustrates how I need to stop chasing after reviewers who I know to be tough as nails, and let some gentler readers have a crack at it now and then.
I've also been interviewed for another website, thought I'm not sure when it will be posted. You can bet I'll pop the link up when it happens!
I've gotten 'clearance' to do a signing event in a local coffee shop. I just need to pick my saturday, do a little promo work, and it'll be done. The manager was quite open to the idea... it makes me think I should try some other coffee shops, and do these kinds of things until I need to reorder for my personal stock.
In other other news, I just had a sneezing fit so violent, I now smell blood.
In other other other news, my cat is going bat-poopie insane, and just clobbered herself by running into a doorframe at mach 47.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Echoes of Erebus civer draft (and misc news)
Here it is, bask and enjoy. Breakdown after the images....
That's our lass Sarah. She doesn't actually have cable plugs, or visible circuitry on her arm, but hey. Metaphor. Cheap flashy metaphor. The one cable with the loose plug does loop around her arm and end with a bleeding fishing hook. For those that haven't been paying attention, or haven't skipped to the 2nd image, yes, Sarah is made out of fish. She does not do any fishing herself, nor draw much in the way of blood. In the lower left we see a bit of my 'mascot nanite'. We'll talk about him in a bit.
The full wrap for the cover. Here we see more of mascot nanite.. he is positioned so that the 3 books, when set together, will make him in whole on your bookshelf. Whee! I'm witty! No, but moving on....
New author photo.. might replace it again. Mildly modified author blurb, and up top, well.. click the pic if you have trouble reading that. I left a lot of 'white space'... hm. We'll see.
As for the writing itself, I'm on quite a binge. This week has been compromised by a lot of random stuff going on, but I had been getting 2o pages a week on the first draft for 3? weeks in a row. This week might be more like 15.. which I hope doesn't mess up my general momentum. (or count). Yeah, 20 pages a week might seem like a lot to anyone who's tried it, and... it is. What I end up with will need a lot of work, but this phase is the most stressful, I think.
Current pagecount, (with no chapter breaks and such put in) 158. I'm hoping the final will be close to Watching Yute's 256, but we'll see.
I've been burning the midnight oil a lot in this past month, staying up til 1 am, (or later.. once or twice to 3 am) which makes for a lonnnnnng next day when Caitlin gets me up at around 7.
I gots a seekrit:
That's our lass Sarah. She doesn't actually have cable plugs, or visible circuitry on her arm, but hey. Metaphor. Cheap flashy metaphor. The one cable with the loose plug does loop around her arm and end with a bleeding fishing hook. For those that haven't been paying attention, or haven't skipped to the 2nd image, yes, Sarah is made out of fish. She does not do any fishing herself, nor draw much in the way of blood. In the lower left we see a bit of my 'mascot nanite'. We'll talk about him in a bit.
The full wrap for the cover. Here we see more of mascot nanite.. he is positioned so that the 3 books, when set together, will make him in whole on your bookshelf. Whee! I'm witty! No, but moving on....New author photo.. might replace it again. Mildly modified author blurb, and up top, well.. click the pic if you have trouble reading that. I left a lot of 'white space'... hm. We'll see.
As for the writing itself, I'm on quite a binge. This week has been compromised by a lot of random stuff going on, but I had been getting 2o pages a week on the first draft for 3? weeks in a row. This week might be more like 15.. which I hope doesn't mess up my general momentum. (or count). Yeah, 20 pages a week might seem like a lot to anyone who's tried it, and... it is. What I end up with will need a lot of work, but this phase is the most stressful, I think.
Current pagecount, (with no chapter breaks and such put in) 158. I'm hoping the final will be close to Watching Yute's 256, but we'll see.
I've been burning the midnight oil a lot in this past month, staying up til 1 am, (or later.. once or twice to 3 am) which makes for a lonnnnnng next day when Caitlin gets me up at around 7.
I gots a seekrit:
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Got interviewd! And to celebrate, have an Echoes excerpt too...!
Clinton Foster's 'Interviews and Projects' blog has just posted a spot about Watching Yute. I kind of end up on my gay-rights soapbox a little bit, but worse things could happen. All in all, it's good stuff. (in the event you're reading this long after my interview has sunk into the archives, you can probably find it directly by this link.) Thanks again Clinton! I know there's a reason you invented the internet... huh? Different guy? Okay. His own main site is here by the way.
Ah, I've been promising a new excerpt for a while, and I keep procrastinating. Here's the freshest stuff... it's not finalized by any means, and has had limited proof reading, but it does show a facet of "Echoes of Erebus" that I haven't really shown before. To set it up, our hero Sarah dreams from time to time when she has nothing else to do. It becomes clear soon that in her dreams she is 'Amanda', living out events during Erebus' attacks on the city of Meston....
-------
Sarah found herself again dreaming that she was this 'Amanda'. She was with a group of a dozen or so people, wandering down a deserted street. A nearby discarded newspaper reminded her that she was in the city of Meston.
Some of the people in the group were wounded. Two were kids. A few could be seen carrying weapons. A couple rifles, a bat, a shovel. Everyone walked on cautiously, looking around now and then.
No one spoke, everyone listened. An unidentified sound caused the group to stop and listen. “What is it?” asked the younger child, a boy. He was shushed quickly by the girl standing next to him. Everyone kept listening.
Sarah looked down and saw blood on her hands. Was she injured, or was it someone else's blood? She felt pain. Her hands were scraped. She had fallen at some point.
The sound happened again. A dull but sharp sound. “It's one of those cannon things again.” said a man at the front of the group. “Maybe it means they're trying to send in more evacuation craft. Keep one eye on the sky, folks. If we spot a chopper, or one of those airlimbs coming in, we might be able to hustle over to get a ride.”
“Sure,” Sarah said, “If they don't get shot down by those things first. They'd be nuts to try that again.” Sarah didn't mean to say that, Amanda was in control of this dream. Sarah was just a passenger. Sarah didn't have much of an idea what she was talking about, but it didn't sound that optimistic. “Let's just keep going for now, alright?” A few people in the group murmured in the affirmative, and they got underway.
After a block or so, they came to a blood spill that reached across the entire street. They stopped at the edge of it, each silently considering having to walk across it. It looked to go on for about half a block.
“What the hell happened here?” someone asked quietly.
A woman in the group spoke up with a bit more of a tactical mindset. “Is it even safe to cross? I mean, if the zombies are nanite-driven like the Autar ones were, who's to say that this blood isn't infectious? Or even some kind of trap? It might infect us as soon as we step on it!”
The older of the two kids, a girl roughly twelve years old wandered away from the 'pond', muttering “This isn't happening, this isn't happening. I'm going to wake up now, alright? Someone wake me up now, please!”
That got the attention of the group. Many also looked to the younger child. A boy about eight years old. He was standing, shaking, staring out across the blood pond with wide eyes.
Amanda picked up the boy. “Oh to heck with this. We're not hauling these kids across this. It's too much.”
One of the men with a rifle nodded. “It's not like we were headed for anywhere specific. If we took a left back there, it's still roughly the same distance out of the city.” Amanda hadn't been waiting for his approval, nor the opinions of any of the others. She had already begun carrying the boy in the direction he suggested. The girl was the first to follow and the others were not far behind.
The boy clung to Amanda tightly as they walked, but he was still trembling. “What's your name, kiddo?” Amanda asked softly. He wasn't answering. “Hey little man, can you tell me your name?”
The girl walking beside them answered. “His name is Mitch.”
Mitch was getting heavy, but he still trembled enough that Amanda didn't feel like asking him to walk. “Hi, Mitch. Is this your sister here? She was kind enough to tell me your name, can you introduce me to her?”
“Cathy.” Mitch said quietly. Amanda wanted to draw more conversation out of Mitch, but every topic she could think of probably led to the horrible things going on. Gee Mitch, where are your parents, Mitch? Eaten, you say? Intriguing. You even got to see it happen, and hear the screams of your mother as her own blood bubbled up her throat? See? There's a unique experience you can talk about to your school chums. They what? They were eaten too? Oh, some of them were doing the eating. What a diverse group!
Amanda kept her mouth shut and just gave Mitch an extra squeeze. She wanted to give Cathy a squeeze too, but her arms were full with Mitch. Instead, she looked over to Cathy with a sympathetic forced smile. Cathy returned a similar look. It was heartbreaking.
“What the fuck was that?” a man in the group asked. He was pointing down the street, but nothing was there. “It ran across, it looked kinda big!” Amanda and everyone else kept an eye on that street. Something indeed sauntered out from an adjoining street, several blocks ahead.
A horse. With a rider. Maybe. It was too far off to see details, but it walked like a horse, and it was coming their way. It sauntered casually. Another two horses with riders stumbled into view behind him. They were wrestling as if they were dogs playing. The riders didn't fall off somehow, despite the horses falling on their side several times in their playing, often nearly upside down.
The first horseman continued striding forward slowly as the two playful ones were joined by a fourth. The first was close enough to see that the rider's head was little more than a skull. He raised his arms high in proclamation. He lacked hands; the forearms ended in narrow points. A voice came from him, booming so loud as to rattle windows.
“Hail, good travelers!” Despite a deep tone and immense volume, the voice sounded friendly enough. “This apocalypse is brought to you by our new and righteous lord and god, Erebus! Yes, Erebus! For when death isn't enough for you, Erebus will put extra spring in your step and extra human flesh in your mouth! If you get mutilated by only one necromantic god this year, make it Erebus!”
As the lead horseman lowered his arms, the other three ceased their play and began to charge. It was now easier to see that none of them had normal heads. One's head was replaced with a rifle sticking up, one had a roast turkey sitting up as a head, and the last one had half a dozen impaled rats planted in its neck stump.
All four charged with pointed arms held out to their sides, pointing downward at an angle. With that same volume, a scream came out that sounded a lot like that 'demon of Densfarn' that Sarah had seen.
Mitch grabbed onto Amanda even tighter as the group braced for the inevitable.
Ah, I've been promising a new excerpt for a while, and I keep procrastinating. Here's the freshest stuff... it's not finalized by any means, and has had limited proof reading, but it does show a facet of "Echoes of Erebus" that I haven't really shown before. To set it up, our hero Sarah dreams from time to time when she has nothing else to do. It becomes clear soon that in her dreams she is 'Amanda', living out events during Erebus' attacks on the city of Meston....
-------
Sarah found herself again dreaming that she was this 'Amanda'. She was with a group of a dozen or so people, wandering down a deserted street. A nearby discarded newspaper reminded her that she was in the city of Meston.
Some of the people in the group were wounded. Two were kids. A few could be seen carrying weapons. A couple rifles, a bat, a shovel. Everyone walked on cautiously, looking around now and then.
No one spoke, everyone listened. An unidentified sound caused the group to stop and listen. “What is it?” asked the younger child, a boy. He was shushed quickly by the girl standing next to him. Everyone kept listening.
Sarah looked down and saw blood on her hands. Was she injured, or was it someone else's blood? She felt pain. Her hands were scraped. She had fallen at some point.
The sound happened again. A dull but sharp sound. “It's one of those cannon things again.” said a man at the front of the group. “Maybe it means they're trying to send in more evacuation craft. Keep one eye on the sky, folks. If we spot a chopper, or one of those airlimbs coming in, we might be able to hustle over to get a ride.”
“Sure,” Sarah said, “If they don't get shot down by those things first. They'd be nuts to try that again.” Sarah didn't mean to say that, Amanda was in control of this dream. Sarah was just a passenger. Sarah didn't have much of an idea what she was talking about, but it didn't sound that optimistic. “Let's just keep going for now, alright?” A few people in the group murmured in the affirmative, and they got underway.
After a block or so, they came to a blood spill that reached across the entire street. They stopped at the edge of it, each silently considering having to walk across it. It looked to go on for about half a block.
“What the hell happened here?” someone asked quietly.
A woman in the group spoke up with a bit more of a tactical mindset. “Is it even safe to cross? I mean, if the zombies are nanite-driven like the Autar ones were, who's to say that this blood isn't infectious? Or even some kind of trap? It might infect us as soon as we step on it!”
The older of the two kids, a girl roughly twelve years old wandered away from the 'pond', muttering “This isn't happening, this isn't happening. I'm going to wake up now, alright? Someone wake me up now, please!”
That got the attention of the group. Many also looked to the younger child. A boy about eight years old. He was standing, shaking, staring out across the blood pond with wide eyes.
Amanda picked up the boy. “Oh to heck with this. We're not hauling these kids across this. It's too much.”
One of the men with a rifle nodded. “It's not like we were headed for anywhere specific. If we took a left back there, it's still roughly the same distance out of the city.” Amanda hadn't been waiting for his approval, nor the opinions of any of the others. She had already begun carrying the boy in the direction he suggested. The girl was the first to follow and the others were not far behind.
The boy clung to Amanda tightly as they walked, but he was still trembling. “What's your name, kiddo?” Amanda asked softly. He wasn't answering. “Hey little man, can you tell me your name?”
The girl walking beside them answered. “His name is Mitch.”
Mitch was getting heavy, but he still trembled enough that Amanda didn't feel like asking him to walk. “Hi, Mitch. Is this your sister here? She was kind enough to tell me your name, can you introduce me to her?”
“Cathy.” Mitch said quietly. Amanda wanted to draw more conversation out of Mitch, but every topic she could think of probably led to the horrible things going on. Gee Mitch, where are your parents, Mitch? Eaten, you say? Intriguing. You even got to see it happen, and hear the screams of your mother as her own blood bubbled up her throat? See? There's a unique experience you can talk about to your school chums. They what? They were eaten too? Oh, some of them were doing the eating. What a diverse group!
Amanda kept her mouth shut and just gave Mitch an extra squeeze. She wanted to give Cathy a squeeze too, but her arms were full with Mitch. Instead, she looked over to Cathy with a sympathetic forced smile. Cathy returned a similar look. It was heartbreaking.
“What the fuck was that?” a man in the group asked. He was pointing down the street, but nothing was there. “It ran across, it looked kinda big!” Amanda and everyone else kept an eye on that street. Something indeed sauntered out from an adjoining street, several blocks ahead.
A horse. With a rider. Maybe. It was too far off to see details, but it walked like a horse, and it was coming their way. It sauntered casually. Another two horses with riders stumbled into view behind him. They were wrestling as if they were dogs playing. The riders didn't fall off somehow, despite the horses falling on their side several times in their playing, often nearly upside down.
The first horseman continued striding forward slowly as the two playful ones were joined by a fourth. The first was close enough to see that the rider's head was little more than a skull. He raised his arms high in proclamation. He lacked hands; the forearms ended in narrow points. A voice came from him, booming so loud as to rattle windows.
“Hail, good travelers!” Despite a deep tone and immense volume, the voice sounded friendly enough. “This apocalypse is brought to you by our new and righteous lord and god, Erebus! Yes, Erebus! For when death isn't enough for you, Erebus will put extra spring in your step and extra human flesh in your mouth! If you get mutilated by only one necromantic god this year, make it Erebus!”
As the lead horseman lowered his arms, the other three ceased their play and began to charge. It was now easier to see that none of them had normal heads. One's head was replaced with a rifle sticking up, one had a roast turkey sitting up as a head, and the last one had half a dozen impaled rats planted in its neck stump.
All four charged with pointed arms held out to their sides, pointing downward at an angle. With that same volume, a scream came out that sounded a lot like that 'demon of Densfarn' that Sarah had seen.
Mitch grabbed onto Amanda even tighter as the group braced for the inevitable.
Friday, February 5, 2010
When good packing materials go bad.
"Y'know, I kinda hate cauliflower, but this marinate makes it pretty OK. It makes me forget that cauliflower usually tastes like styrofoam that's gone rotten."
"What? How does styrofoam go rotten??"
"By turning into cauliflower."
Yeah, that's about all I have to say. I plan to post another excerpt from 'Echoes of Erebus' soon, but part of the problem is giving away a big spoiler. an even BIGGER problem is posting something that needs a ton of explaining... then again, maybe I can just caulk that effect up to creating some mystery. Maybe I'll post cliff's notes to go with it.
It's not that any one section is all that complex, but there's a layering effect going on. Some rules get set, and the book follows them. Ok, a short tutorial, with minor spoilers:
Sarah isn't human, although she looks it. Her nervous system, brain included, is heavily operated by a fleet of nanites and related techno hooba-jooba.
Something she has in her brain is her 'father', Jason, who lives in her mind as a separate, mostly-independent thought process. Jason wants to help guide his 'daughter' in her new life, so they talk to each other a lot. Still with me? Seeing as they both think inside the same skull, there's no need for any vocalizations. Much like an online chat, they send thoughts at each other. And when this happens in the book, I let you know by modifying the syntax-
":::Hey Jason, I have to talk to you, but the people on the bus don't need to hear it."
":::No kidding. I, on the other hand, really have no choice but to talk to you through this system, because I don't have a mouth. I'm basically just a program in your head."
":::Where's the uninstall button?"
":::Ha freakin' ha, Sarah."
That lame exchange wasn't from the book.. it's just a demonstration. This ":::" syntax won't be totally alien to anyone who's read Watching Yute.
Well, it's late, I'm gonna pass out now. Bug me to get an excerpt up!
"What? How does styrofoam go rotten??"
"By turning into cauliflower."
Yeah, that's about all I have to say. I plan to post another excerpt from 'Echoes of Erebus' soon, but part of the problem is giving away a big spoiler. an even BIGGER problem is posting something that needs a ton of explaining... then again, maybe I can just caulk that effect up to creating some mystery. Maybe I'll post cliff's notes to go with it.
It's not that any one section is all that complex, but there's a layering effect going on. Some rules get set, and the book follows them. Ok, a short tutorial, with minor spoilers:
Sarah isn't human, although she looks it. Her nervous system, brain included, is heavily operated by a fleet of nanites and related techno hooba-jooba.
Something she has in her brain is her 'father', Jason, who lives in her mind as a separate, mostly-independent thought process. Jason wants to help guide his 'daughter' in her new life, so they talk to each other a lot. Still with me? Seeing as they both think inside the same skull, there's no need for any vocalizations. Much like an online chat, they send thoughts at each other. And when this happens in the book, I let you know by modifying the syntax-
":::Hey Jason, I have to talk to you, but the people on the bus don't need to hear it."
":::No kidding. I, on the other hand, really have no choice but to talk to you through this system, because I don't have a mouth. I'm basically just a program in your head."
":::Where's the uninstall button?"
":::Ha freakin' ha, Sarah."
That lame exchange wasn't from the book.. it's just a demonstration. This ":::" syntax won't be totally alien to anyone who's read Watching Yute.
Well, it's late, I'm gonna pass out now. Bug me to get an excerpt up!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
New Echoes of Erebus 'clip', Also- yay. vamps.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “That's dis-”
“:::I am not discussing that kind of imagery with my daughter,” Jason dryly interrupted, “I didn't see it, you didn't see it, moving on.” Such 'art' seemed like a mild offence after the whole zombie-genocide simulation, but Sarah let it slide.
The fourth door stood at the end of the hall. Most of the hall was made from the same wood that most of the bar seemed to be made of, but the wall at the end was solid concrete. The door was steel.
“:::I'm guessing that's probably not the grill's meat freezer.”
Jason scoffed. “:::I'm guessing they store their meat in the sun.”
Sarah reached out for the handle, and pulled it open. It was a door from a freezer, but inside it was lit even dimmer than the rest of the bar. A diffused warmth and mild scent of tobacco and other burnable things seemed to press out towards her. New sounds also found her. Yelling and cheering mostly. Past the door the hallway continued as concrete, and slowly lead downwards.
“:::Pop the strength to max, Sarah.”
“:::Already did.”
====================
Just the rost recent lil bit from Echoes of Erebus. I wrote that about 15 min ago. Pardon the formatting, but the blog ignores indents, so I used a few double returns to break it up. For those unaware, in my books the ":::" denotes that the following statement was done digitally. In this case, (as with much of the book) the ::: conversations are between Sarah and Jason, who lives in Sarah's brain.
As mentioned, there is a bit of zombie-fun in the coming book. Less than in Lifehack, but more than Yute. The creatures in Echoes will be somewhat more memorable I hope- partly due to my own writing experience, and partly because fewer numbers of creatures allows more time to be spent paying attention to each; both in tactics and in imagery. Oh, there will be a few scenes of the huge mobs, but not as many as in Lifehack, and it won't be solved by ordinance. And they're not necessarily the main issue.
Then again, the zombies in Lifehack weren't the main event anyway. Erebus wasn't playing to win. Zombie outbreaks were just his opening volley, a declaration- not of war, but of "Yeah bitches! What ya gonna do about THAT?" until he got ideas that amused him more.
This isn't a huge spoiler, and you might have figured it out by now anyway, so let's make it official oublic knowledge. Yes, 'Jason' above is indeed Erebus, A.K.A Jonathan Coll. Well.. kind of. If you remember Lifehack's events, you might have a better idea.
Alright, it's way too late. I had planned to do a blog entry about aspartame, (summary: aspartame bad, breaks down into nasty stuff like formaldehyde in your body, and can do nasty stuff to you, so ditch the diet pop!)
-and about the movie Daybreakers which I saw last week. (summary: cool vamp ideas, some poignant moments, but marred by moments of especially cheesy gore, 3 pointless 'surprise bat flying at the screen' shots, and a couple gaping plot holes.
In other news, True Blood rocks.... but "Sookie"? WTF kind of name is that?
I think the recent surge in vamp stuff is due to twilight... not because it was good and people want to jump on the bandwagon, but because it was HORRIBLE, and people want to remind the world how vamps are supposed to be done.
Oh, by the way. Claudia Black. (Did I get ya? You know who you are!)
“:::I am not discussing that kind of imagery with my daughter,” Jason dryly interrupted, “I didn't see it, you didn't see it, moving on.” Such 'art' seemed like a mild offence after the whole zombie-genocide simulation, but Sarah let it slide.
The fourth door stood at the end of the hall. Most of the hall was made from the same wood that most of the bar seemed to be made of, but the wall at the end was solid concrete. The door was steel.
“:::I'm guessing that's probably not the grill's meat freezer.”
Jason scoffed. “:::I'm guessing they store their meat in the sun.”
Sarah reached out for the handle, and pulled it open. It was a door from a freezer, but inside it was lit even dimmer than the rest of the bar. A diffused warmth and mild scent of tobacco and other burnable things seemed to press out towards her. New sounds also found her. Yelling and cheering mostly. Past the door the hallway continued as concrete, and slowly lead downwards.
“:::Pop the strength to max, Sarah.”
“:::Already did.”
====================
Just the rost recent lil bit from Echoes of Erebus. I wrote that about 15 min ago. Pardon the formatting, but the blog ignores indents, so I used a few double returns to break it up. For those unaware, in my books the ":::" denotes that the following statement was done digitally. In this case, (as with much of the book) the ::: conversations are between Sarah and Jason, who lives in Sarah's brain.
As mentioned, there is a bit of zombie-fun in the coming book. Less than in Lifehack, but more than Yute. The creatures in Echoes will be somewhat more memorable I hope- partly due to my own writing experience, and partly because fewer numbers of creatures allows more time to be spent paying attention to each; both in tactics and in imagery. Oh, there will be a few scenes of the huge mobs, but not as many as in Lifehack, and it won't be solved by ordinance. And they're not necessarily the main issue.
Then again, the zombies in Lifehack weren't the main event anyway. Erebus wasn't playing to win. Zombie outbreaks were just his opening volley, a declaration- not of war, but of "Yeah bitches! What ya gonna do about THAT?" until he got ideas that amused him more.
This isn't a huge spoiler, and you might have figured it out by now anyway, so let's make it official oublic knowledge. Yes, 'Jason' above is indeed Erebus, A.K.A Jonathan Coll. Well.. kind of. If you remember Lifehack's events, you might have a better idea.
Alright, it's way too late. I had planned to do a blog entry about aspartame, (summary: aspartame bad, breaks down into nasty stuff like formaldehyde in your body, and can do nasty stuff to you, so ditch the diet pop!)
-and about the movie Daybreakers which I saw last week. (summary: cool vamp ideas, some poignant moments, but marred by moments of especially cheesy gore, 3 pointless 'surprise bat flying at the screen' shots, and a couple gaping plot holes.
In other news, True Blood rocks.... but "Sookie"? WTF kind of name is that?
I think the recent surge in vamp stuff is due to twilight... not because it was good and people want to jump on the bandwagon, but because it was HORRIBLE, and people want to remind the world how vamps are supposed to be done.
Oh, by the way. Claudia Black. (Did I get ya? You know who you are!)
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Title graphic for Echos of Erebus
At this point, I think the cover will likely have a lot in common with this graphic. I was thinking of adding a couple lines about Sarah there,but nah... my previous blog entry gives you enough of a taste of Sarah for now. Well.. maybe not a super accurate taste. It's not like she's always drunk or anything.
Maybe she should be. It could make her almost as silly as Regan was.
Short blog entry! Still waiting for Amazon to get on board. Got my table assignment for the VCON sci fi convention. Whee! Less than a month to go...! By the first day of it will keep me from watching the Stargate:Universe premiere. Grr.
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