Category: writing

Irrational Pai, 5/5, End

Here’s the end of the first part of their journey together. A ending with a beginning. Already typing their next short story. From what’s here, she has to continue her mission to the imperium, something about the colony on Ceres, but will have to at some point have a conversation in tribe Mendro’s construct (and will it be in the dilapidated city or the elegant restaurant of Kuban’s?) with her mom about this human. It had better be short as their construct is not very “human friendly.”

For those curious as to why all the politics was not done via emails or chat, as Page Zaplendam pointed out to me in our last interview, even with 22nd century tech, some things are best by word of mouth only; diplomacy, technology, or other matters.

From a technological standpoint, this is a new situation. Unlike Nichole 5 who was a stand-alone android, this body of Pai is more like Minerva when she was still Reina. Once independent, Minerva chose to be with Laszlo Hartmann until he died. The other case of a machine in love with a human was Henge, but she assumed a human body to be with Gary. I think the next story will delve a bit deeper into what happens when Graf encounters the totality of Pai’s mind, of which her android we’ve been reading about is only perhaps 5% of her consciousness. Love stories are fun, but pushing the bounds of what I know is funner.

Thanks for reading, everyone. Hope to have more next week. Deus vult.

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Irrational Pai, 3/5

They are so pushy. All of them. At least Pai, it seems, know enough to realize when she goes too far, such as grabbing Graf by the throat in the last segment or demanding he marry her.

Nonetheless, it was still funny she took him to bed so fast. Hey: I don’t care what her claims are, if a cute girl wanted 17-year-old me? I would not even have asked my parents. In the Breakup/Change, families matter more than in our time, and even more for the Winsteads, what with their loss.

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Iter, 3/x

It was a 17-hour drive, augmented by my GI tract bug. DIdn’t get home until 2347. I’m recovering today but very glad to have the day off. In fact, after this update, I’m laying down for at least rest if not a nap

“A walk in the woods,” is an old military metaphor for a failed commander to use his sidearm to blow his brains out to try to expiate his failure. Thankfully, this is just a walk between two cousins, more human than human, who are groping their way to an understanding and acceptance what their loss.

I do like how Aurie – she’s so down-to-earth in private! – immediately recognized where Min’s grief was leading her. And put a stop to it, instantly. That meeting with Reina has me a little worried, though. She’ll likely work on Min’s mind in the exactly opposite way.

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Red Rain, 11/11, End

Welp, not where I thought it would go, but there it is. And, better for a lazy writer like me, it didn’t really “end” as we don’t know what happens one second later. However, all in all, it was an interesting exercise in allegory, even if heavy handed in a few places.

I’m already starting on my next and final project for my third collection. It will be much shorter than this but at least four times as depressing. I need to make book #20 into some kind of fun novel. There are millions of stories out there in hundreds of my characters; I just need to listen. Thanks, everyone, for reading along.

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Red Rain, 10/11

I’ve finished, but the last segment will need to be flogged a little bit more. In RealLife, still on semi-vacation, everyone else went out on the lake while I wrote, edited, and sent emails for the Lemur Throne Anthology, which I plan to publish on Christmas Day 2024. That’s fine; I don’t really like bodies of water and the sun turns me into a seeping blister.

Believe it or not, these last two parts, as Akky scales Building Three, was from an old memory of Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, and his fights to the top. There is nothing as remotely interesting here, but I take what inspiration I’m allowed to see.

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Red Rain, 7/x

Last weekend was Imaginarium. It went very well and I need to write something about it. That will probably be in 1-2 poasts. In the mean time, I wanted to get this story back on rails as I’ve now a very good idea where it concludes.

Following her encounter with little Silver, Akky gets a tiny glimpse into her and her brother’s backstory. It stirs her own memories just enough to make her contrarian, if not deadly, nature, come to the surface.

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Red Rain, 5/x

Busy day, Saturday. Helped Daughter #1 get a car to replace the one she totaled the Wednesday before; while that was going on, Daughter #2 texts she’s at the airport and ready to be picked up. So, I was bouncing around everywhere. Did anything else happen Saturday?

With Akaiame, we learn a little more about the Broken and the town of humans. Several other things are mentioned but remain a mystery for right now. As this will be a busy week for me in the RealWorld, I imagine these segments will pause for the coming weekend.

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Red Rain, 4/x

People settle in to a daily routine fairly quickly, no matter what said people are made of. The quicker I can establish a “baseline” for Akaiame, the faster I can jerk it out from under her. Sometimes being a writer means to be a terrible person.

Their names are related to how they died. I mentioned Purgatory. They’re dead. This blog is a writing exercise; if you don’t like it, my apologies.

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Red Rain, 3/x

Names are important and now she has one, reflecting the title of this short story. Having characters asleep is a cheap way of covering a lot of ground with little typing; a bit like a montage in video. I’m able to have a 3rd person say what happened without spending 3000 words on what did happen.

Now that she’s awake, things shall begin to happen faster and faster for Akaiame. This is supposed to be short story, after all. I’ve already cut the entire “meet the priests” segment from twice now (yes, for once I’m that far ahead) to keep the camera focused tightly on Akkie. I want to see this world through her eyes.

We get our first hint that this is a very different place; time is not.

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