14 Comments

It's rare that sci-fi holds my attention, but this one did. I didn't see any of the twists coming, and the nasty smell and taste in the story followed me too.

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What is a crime noir story without a twist and a betrayal? Our protagonist, Sarija and Harcken were practically writing themselves once I got past the first few lines.

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I wonder about people (like you) who can write this kind of stuff so realistically. It’s as if you have intimate experience of it!

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I dunno, I just… see the scene in my head, in full colour. Almost like a camera on a movie set. Then I just use that “camera” to follow the characters, and describe what they do and experience. If anything, I’m blaming it on all the time I spent on LEGO during my formative years - it really helped me to visualise things in great detail.

Of course, your own writing is also pretty darn realistic, so… I guess you must have intimate experience of fabled lands and haunted properties?

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I get the visual effect, I do the same more or less. It’s where you go with that camera that is totally mind-blowing. Fantasy lands and haunted properties are pretty run of the mill. Everybody has been over the rainbow at one time or another, and we all get a slight shiver of apprehension when we hear a strange noise in an old isolated building. I don’t buy the LEGO excuse. Unless LEGO has started to do a series of Texas Chainsaw Massacres for kiddies

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…you know, you might be onto something with that LEGO idea…

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I can just see the daft smiling faces of those little Lego people, performing the zombie apocalypse…

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This is awesome! What a twist - I was NOT expecting that!

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Glad you enjoyed it! It was quite a fun little story to put together, with a mix of standard and non-standard betrayals - and then seeing where our protagonist ends up. If I ever end up turning him (Unknown Man with Stolen DNA Chips) into a proper character in a full novel, this segment could well be his pre-novel origin story - with all the consequences and baggage that it would entail…

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Oooh! I love the double double cross! Good feel!

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This piece oozes style and sprawl vibes, I dig it and want to know where it's heading!

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Glad you liked it. I could tell you where Sarija is heading, at least - several somewheres, actually, once the Wizard is done with her…

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Reminds me a little of Case and Molly in Gibson's Sprawl trilogy.

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Oh wow, I’m taking any Gibson comparison as a massive compliment! I haven’t read or written any cyberpunk in ages, this piece was very much an off-the-cuff session last night. Which actually reminds me now… adds more Gibson to my Goodreads To-Read list

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