A Face Of God
I swear it felt like we would spend our lives in line.
Amid a garish clutch of gibbering tourists we shuffled slowly forward to be processed in turn by a customs agent, a reservations clerk, and a robot with inoculative needles for fingers. Everyone smiled, even the robot. At all times we were surrounded by dancing holographic characters, witness to staccato bursts of terrifying music, and itermittantly sprayed with a sampling of promotional designer scents.
"Enjoy your flight, Mr. Apples."
"Say who? Oh, yes of course. Thank you."
Two dozen of us were corralled into a high-walled square with a grassy floor, where vendors hung around the rosebushes and proffered drinks and trinkets. It seemed like everybody had a giant hat and a small dog. Fartles comported himself admirably.
One white wall sported a wide screen carrying dense tables of departure times and destinations beside a bamboozling stream of flashing video imagery out of which I could occasionally catch glimpse of a car, a breast, or a celebration. Pish tugged on my sleeve and I realized firstly that I had been mesmerized, and secondly that I should probably consult Pallando Financial Services with regard to risk-managed interstellar investment before the close of the next tax season. Some restrictions may apply in certain jurisdictions.
"Funny sign," I said, craning my head around to look at it again.
Dear folks,
It has finally come to be: the free version of this science-fiction novel has been taken offline in order to make room for the hard-cover printed edition from Ephemera Bound Publishing, on sale in stores and online beginning Valentine's Day, 2008.
I regret any disappointment. I kept the free version available as long as I could. Please be sure to check out the new edition! See Cheeseburger Brown.com for more information and updates.
Love,
Cheeseburger Brown
P.S. You can read more of my free fiction via my weblog or in the complete story achives.
posted by Simon of Space at 02:16
18 Comments:
Dear all,
There is now a fair amount of story here. We have romance, action, humour and all the whiz-bang special effects you can get without actually making a movie. I hope some of you have come to care about Simon's fate, and the fate of his companions. I certainly have.
The time has come, however, for Phase II. Not enough people know about how much fun we're having over here. I know they'll probably find out about it when the story is all told and Simon gets Slashdotted, but to my mind it's more much fun to be along for the ride as early on as possible.
Therefore dear readers, your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to assist me in some viral marketing.
Are you a member of MetaFilter, MonkeyFilter, or another middling decent hyperlink-sharing meta-blog? If so, please consider posting a story about SIMON OF SPACE, or putting this weblog's URI up for editorial consideration.
Do you frequent a forum, chatroom or mailing list? If so, please consider mentioning SIMON OF SPACE or placing this weblog's URI in your signature. Contribute to topical discussions only, of course; as the French say, "Ne spam pas."
Do you run your own weblog? Many of you have already posted delightful and embarrassingly complimentary things about SIMON OF SPACE, for which I am grateful. If you haven't yet, please do consider a short write-up or an addition to your blogroll. Every bit counts.
Contributors to the effort who e-mail me asking for such can have their homepage or weblog listed in Simon's blogroll. You won't be sent a lot of traffic initially, but I have a feeling this site is going to go places.
With your help, of course.
Any other bright ideas? Post a comment here or mail me (cheeseburgerbrown@gmail.com).
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
Heh-heh, I was about to lament that I missed
first post. :) I guess it's ok since first post is by
the actual author. :)
Will gladly spread the word.
And yes, I've grown to deeply care about what
happens to the characters. You drew me in long
ago! :)
G’day!
long time reader, first time poster..
loving the journey so far..
keep up the great work
just some typos I wanted to bring to your attention:
"..I could occasionally catch glimpse of a car, a breast, or a celebration. "
- did u wanna say: 'a' glimpse..??
"..The top and the bottom of the pillar were capped with wide dishes, both of which studded with comfy chairs."
- both of which 'were' studded.. perhaps??
"The girl in maroon announced that we were about to lift off, and advised all passengers to attache their safety belts."
- should 'attache' be 'attached'..?
.. "Are you okay, Pish?"
"No nodded happily, leaning out of his seat to peer at the great frosted marble.."
- not exactly sure what you meant to say there, but I suspect a typo..
just doing my bit to perfect a great work..
keep on it.
FasMaster
CB, your sites have been listed on my site for some time now, and I've done everything including telling people how talented you are, and asking them to check out the story.
Please keep up the good work!
To space indeed! Great adventure.
Now CBB, a serious question for you. If Fartles is in freefall, can his, eh, 'stinky gas' be used to propell him forward a la the little dragon in "Guards! Guards!" from the discworld series by Terry Patchet?
Orick
Great episode, CBB, really. My compliments regarding 'castles'.
My blog'll be linking to this novel, of course, making my bit count as well.
anonymous poster; The moon dragons seen in Pratchett's The Last Hero also use this... err... method of locomotion, so I see on reason why it shouldn't apply to Fartles.
Fartles, gas-propelled rocket-dog.
Had your site linked from the first day I saw a post (I think around post #2), I still have "memoirs of a monster" linked :)
You are a genius of writing, and I spread the word to pretty much anyone I talk to (including my CEO).
I will continue to rave about how wonderful this story is to anyone I meet..
Keep up the good work CBB, we all appreciated it.
Possible continuity error?
Pish claims that he has never been on a shuttle before, but he also says that Duncan brought him to Pomona in the past.
Obviously there must be methods of travel in spacae other than shuttles (and gates) but that just kinda jumped out at me.
Dear drkdstryer,
Yes, I see what you mean. In fact, Pish has never ridden on a shuttle before -- his experience is limited to the private skiff hired by Duncan, who would naturally prefer not to travel by a tourist but rather by quieter means.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
Great descriptive post! I love your turn of phrase.
Why would Jeremiah care about the contents of Simon's diary? I know he played it back to himself... And did he hand back the real diary, or some kind of substitute - a tracker or bug, perhaps?
I posted about you on my own site which gets, like, 70 hits a day. So sit back and relax... you're golden.
Thoroughly enjoying this whole experience. If that's enough effort for some parsimonious mention on Simon's blogroll, that'd be cool too.
I do agree that there is something else going on with Jeremiah, but I don't think it has anything to do with Simon. I think he is there for Pish, like a guardian or something.
Keep in mind, it's only been a few days since Duncan was arrested and we don't know anything about him.
BTW- I truly enjoy your writing, the imagery is phenominal and love the innocent puerile view Simon has on life. You have done an excelent job so far, keep up the great work. I needed something to occupy my mornings after DarthSide was complete. Thank you.
I'm doing my best to evangelize Simon of Space around the internet. It certainly deserves all the readership it can get - a story is only good as long as it has an audience.
And Simon of Space is certainly good! In this episode I love the description of the shuttle flight, and the 'castle' which is certainly a unique name for an interspatial craft/station.
Dear Lilaena,
The term "castles" in this context and their function was first proposed by American astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin in the 1970s.
Aldrin proposed that these simple waystations be put into continuous orbit between Earth and Jupiter in order to ferry supplies, equipment and even people back and forth to the Moon, Mars, the Galilean Satillites and home. Multi-world orbits could be designed, Aldrin argued, that would necessitate only the most minor course adjustments every few years, using a solar sail and gravity slingshot effects for primary propulsion.
And, like I mentioned, he called them "castles in the sky."
I can't for the life of me remember Aldrin's collaborator in that proposal, and I'm having a hard time getting any wheat out of Google' chaff today.
Anyway, that's the story. My usage is an homage to one brilliant, lateral-thinking astronaut whose bright ideas have been ignored by NASA for the better part of forty years.
Love,
CheeseburgerBrown
I marvelled. Eight hundred million men and women and children, in a glorious aqua sphere I could make disappear by leaning back in my seat and hiding it behind Fartles' head.
From the magnificent expanse to the oblivious, malodorous canine... I love it.
Methinks Simon, in his pursuit of mastery, will have some learning to do about forgiveness, and Pish will -- as usual -- help him to understand.
Google is my bitch, I have persuaded her to reveal to me that Alan C. Friedlander and John C. Neihoff first came up with the 'castles' concept, which Buzz later improved on by suggesting some other orbits.
You caught my attention as a Star Wars fan with DarthSide, and I've been linking to that one for awhile.. I just wanted to tell you that after I recommended that and this blog to my sister-in-law, she was inspired to take her own fan-fiction online and has a blogspot all her own. So, between you and I, we've increased the blogosphere by one. :D
Ahh, he's a lapsed equestrian. I wondered if he'd have any muscle memory, but it looks like he lost all that. My own riding skills are mediocre at best, so I sympathize with all that he's lost.
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