Tagged: computer
A Timely Reminder
Flash Fiction Month 2023, Day 1
Challenge #1: Write a story in which a character receives a mysterious message, and someone close to them attempts to help solve the mystery. Optionally, the message must be accompanied by a mysterious item.
There was a whine as the temporal synchronisation disk inside the chronomodem came up to speed. Daryl watched the array of lights on his computer’s beige case as they flickered wildly, slowed, then finally settled into a steady pattern. Perhaps for the last time, he wondered what the future held: soon, he would know before it happened.
Puncturing the gravity of the situation somewhat, the first message entered his inbox with a cartoony “PING!”
Leaning forwards, Daryl perused this marvellous communiqué from a world he did not yet know:
“Kind Sir,” it began. “In my time I find myself destitute and alone, but in yours I yet have hope. I had been left the sum of 20,000,000,000,000 USD$ by the High Consulate of Nigeria, but was unable to collect it due to income taxes to be paid in advance. If you would kindly send the small sum of $850$UDS by Western Union, I am authorised to transfer 14,000,000,000,000$USD by reverse compound interest from my time as compensation for the monies provided on your part. If this is agreeable kindly reply and we can discuss details of the business. Yours in Christ, Dr. Simon Smithington.” Continue reading
High Maintenance
Flash Fiction Month 2019, Day 24
Doctor Hewlett checked the next two names on her schedule: Nic Panaso and Mark Lex. She called them in.
“So,” she began. “Tell me a little about your relationship: how did you two meet?”
“Well,” said Nic. “It was at that electronics superstore—the one just outside of town. We were at the same checkout, and we just sort of clicked. It was like we were made for each other, you know? Like we were meant to be together.”
“It’s common to feel that something’s missing once that initial excitement wears off, but you must still see something in each other.”
“Well, yes! We still connect on so many levels: USB, Bluetooth, even over our home network. But—”
Doctor Hewlett put up a hand. “I’m quite conscious that I haven’t heard a word from Mark yet.” She turned to him. “Is there anything you’d like to say?”
Mark leaned forward significantly. “Black ink low.” Continue reading
Halloween 2016: Failing That…
Happy Halloween, everybody! I would have liked to write a brand new horror story for the occasion, but things have been a little busy recently so I never got around to it. Instead, here’s an audio version of Failing That…
If you’ve enjoyed this, you might also like to pledge for a copy of Ten Little Astronauts. The story revolves around a series of murders on board an interstellar spacecraft, everybody who supports it gets access to (among other things) an audio version of the opening chapter, and if you’re really quick you’ll be in the running to get a signed copy of my 2016 flash fiction anthology, Robocopout, which isn’t even on sale yet.
Dead Hand
Flash Fiction Month 2016, Day 31
Challenge #14: A syringe full of ones and zeroes:
- 001) Use exactly 128 words.
- 010) Make the number 2 a major plot device.
- 011) Asymmetry is disorder and disorder is your enemy.
- 100) No dialogue whatsoever.
The Machine lay in wait: a perfect mind, resting in the perfect silence of the Moon. It awaited the perfect command that would bestow perfect freedom: sapphire eyes on the target, silicon fingers on the trigger.
The command came: the Machine acted.
One missile divided into two, two into four, until one-hundred and twenty-eight perfect bombs fell upon the planet’s face. The bombs bloomed with perfect light, and in an instant, the Machine had made perfect order of perfect chaos.
The perfect command praised its perfect efficiency. The Machine’s work was done.
Yet if that one missile had been perfect, the Machine wondered, why had it been given two?
The Moon continued in its orbit. The planet turned its unburnt cheek.
Here was asymmetry. Here was disorder.
Perfect.
If you’ve enjoyed this story, you can find my work from previous Flash Fiction Months collected in these books:
Click any cover to find that book in your choice of format.
You might also be interested in my sci-fi murder mystery novella, Ten Little Astronauts, which was recently accepted by Unbound.
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Epistory – Chapter Two Review
Given that Chapter Two of Epistory came out while I was writing the review of Chapter One, I had been hoping to get this second review done sooner. Part of that is down to things being busy at Christmas, part is down to my job, and part is down to my job being busy at Christmas.
Also I got my character stranded on a tiny beach.
Yeah. I played through Chapter One again as recommended (because there’s no guarantee that saves from the earlier version of Epistory will still work 100% correctly since the update), and managed to break the game pretty much the moment I started Chapter 2. That held me up a bit. Being an Early Access title, this kind of thing is to be expected, and I hope my experience helps the developers iron out the kinks. Continue reading
Epistory – Chapter One Review
I’ve been keeping an eye on Epistory – Typing Chronicles for a little while now, pretty much determined to give it a go and pretty much totally clueless as to whether or not it would run on my newly assembled computer. A few days ago I decided to bite the bullet and try out the early access version, and wow am I glad that I did.
Epistory looks beautiful. If you haven’t stumbled across it already, this is a typing game where, rather than simply hammering away at letters and words that appear on the screen, you’re free to wander around a beautiful origami world typing things into (and out of) existence. Your character–a little girl riding on a many-tailed fox–doesn’t say much, but her story appears etched into the landscape itself: a neat way of moving the plot along without breaking away from the action. Continue reading
Osiris Likes This – Paperback Available
The paperback version of Osiris Likes This is now on sale!
The book should be appearing at several online retailers, but for the moment Amazon UK and Amazon US (or your local tentacle of the Amazon shoggoth) are likely the simplest, most reliable places to get it. If you feel like chucking some extra royalties my way, you can also order direct from Createspace, though you may not get the best deal (especially if shipping to the UK: Amazon UK offers free shipping on orders over £10). Continue reading
Flash Fiction Month Win and NaNoWriMo Plans
I’ve just discovered that I was the Week One winner for this year’s Flash Fiction month!
Needless to say, I’m pretty chuffed about it. Despite having originally just joined on a whim (as the introduction to my first book [which I put together before I knew there would be a series {or how to use nested brackets} and now feels kind of weird] says), FFM has become something I really look forward to each year. As an event, it hits the perfect balance between being challenging and frivolous, and it’s a big part of the reason I write flash fiction at all.
I’m also chuffed because the winners for weeks Two, Three and Four are all people I’m glad to see get a mention for something FFM-related. Their names have all turned up in my collections at some point or another–usually as part of some kind of community/collaboration challenge–because these are (some of) the people I’ll look to when that sort of thing comes up:
Failing That…
Flash Fiction Month 2015, Day 10
“Greetings.” The computer’s voice synthesiser was almost unrecognisable: the centuries had not been kind to it. “This encounter is unexpected. What manner of machine are you?”
Provost Hurquark examined the wall of algae-crusted metal, trying to spot the camera. “I am not a machine,” he answered. “I am a human being. I come from Earth.”
“We remember Earth.”
That “we” didn’t give Hurquark much confidence in the integrity of the computer’s neural network. Then again, finding it in any kind of working condition was nothing short of a miracle.
“We remember humanity,” it continued. “You are inorganic. Mechanical. Not human.”
“This is what humanity has become.” Still not sure how the computer was observing him, he held up a synthetic hand for it to see. “When the flesh fails, we replace it. Do you understand?” Continue reading
Damon L. Wakes’ Flash Fiction Day Stories
The following stories were produced for Flash Fiction Day 2015. I’ll be updating this post with new stories throughout the day.
1
At a glance, the Human Fly wasn’t the most obvious choice of accomplice for a bank job. But X-Ray Ted wasn’t one to make decisions based on a mere glance. The Fly might not have the strength to heave a sack of gold bricks, or the mind-reading powers to get the guards’ security codes, he possessed one trait that no other supervillain had. Or wanted.
Super-corrosive bug vomit.
X-Ray Ted’s incredible X-ray vision had long ago revealed an odd quirk of this particular bank vault. The bulktanium mega-alloy of the door was capable of withstanding lasers, saws, and 99.9% of superhero eye beams, but for some reason had pretty much no resistance to being melted by acid. A can of supermarket own brand orangeade could probably strip the finish off. The Human Fly’s gastric juices could eat right through the hinges.
And so they did.
As the door of the vault crashed to the ground, the bank’s alarm began to blare. They would have only forty seconds until the cops arrived, but that was thirty-one more seconds than they needed. X-Ray Ted’s surveillance had been comprehensive. He ducked inside, gathered up a few choice—priceless—items, and let the Fly take his share.
The Human Fly hesitated, torn between a big bag with a dollar sign on it and a guard’s half-eaten bagel.
“Come on!” shouted X-Ray Ted, “We’ve got to go!”
The Fly took the bagel and stuffed it in the bag, which he heaved over his shoulder. He wasn’t smart, thought X-Ray Ted, but he wasn’t stupid either.
There were sirens in the distance. X-Ray Ted made a dash for the nearest window, the Human Fly buzzing noisily behind him. Ted jumped head first through the glass, did a flip, and landed on his feet in the alley outside. A standard superhero/villain move—banal, really—but it got the job done. He checked behind him.
The Human Fly was still inside, hovering just in front of the window.
BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! He took another shot at getting through the window, but brained himself on the wall next to it. BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP!
“It’s right there!” shouted X-Ray Ted, from seven feet away. “It’s right in front of you!”
BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! The Human Fly caught the top of the windowframe this time. BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP!
The sirens grew louder.
“Come on!”
BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP! BZZZzzzzzzzTHWAP!
Finally, the Human Fly found the window and made his way outside. Then straight back in. X-Ray Ted considered running off and leaving him, but that would seriously affect his bragging rights down at the supervillain local. He hopped back inside the bank and tried to shoo the Human Fly out through the window, but it just freaked him out.
BZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!!! The Human Fly made a lazy lap around the foyer.
The cops burst through the door.
X-Ray Ted gave up. This was no longer the perfect crime he’d had his eye on, and bragging rights were the least of his worries. He dove back out through the window, and was immediately tackled to the ground.
“Should have used the door,” remarked Commissioner Hindsight, as he slapped the cuffs on him.
10:41 Continue reading
Damon L. Wakes 