Christopher B. Wright's Blog, page 27

Echoes and Consequences: Part Five

Elsewhere, Again

Only a tiny sliver of light remains in the sky—the last vestige of sun seeping in through a tiny crack at the very edge of the horizon—and the shadow cast across David’s dreamscape is so deep it almost has weight. Something is pressing down, all around him, and he’s sure it’s more than the wind.

David tries once again to change the nature of the dream. He stares up at the ever-darkening sky, then holds out his hand, palm up, trying to imagine a tiny ball of light.

Such a small...

Echoes and Consequences: Part Four

Haruspex Analytics, Top Floor

The board room is designed to be subtly unsettling. It’s large and windowless, it appears to be circular, with a long table running up the middle of the room. Appearances are deceiving: it’s actually a slight oval, and the table is set slightly off kilter from the oval. People who don’t know the trick feel ever-increasing levels of anxiety as they subconsciously realize something is off but can’t identify what. Jason figured out the trick, so the room doesn’t put...

Echoes and Consequences: Part Three

Thorpe Island, Recovery Room

David Bernard lies in a recovery room in the medical facility on Robert Thorpe’s private floating island. This means, among other things, that he is currently hooked up to some of the most sophisticated diagnostics and monitoring equipment the world has never seen—so advanced that the phrase hooked up to is inaccurate, because the sensors that monitor his vital signs don’t require human contact to function. The only equipment physically attached to the man is an IV...

Echoes and Consequences: Part Two

Thorpe Island, Robert Thorpe's Office

Robert Thorpe sits alone in his office, studying the information scrolling past his screen. Digital forensic teams have been going through all the data collected from the underground facility in Farraday City, and they've been forwarding him the most interesting bits all day.

And they are interesting. But they're not coherent—not yet. At the moment Robert's juggling, keeping each piece of information in the air until he can find the pattern that makes...

Echoes and Consequences: Part One

Elsewhere

David Bernard stands on the cracked stone floor of an open dojo in the middle of an endless grassy plain. A warm wind blows, carrying with it the smell of dry soil. The sky is clear and blue, and the sun shines hot on his face and neck.

It’s a simple dream, one he used often when he was trying to learn staff fighting. He’s not sure why he’s dreaming it now: it wasn’t by choice, which makes the setting unusual.

When he dreams spontaneously about a specific location, it’s usually abou...

Issue 26: Echoes and Consequences

Story: Christopher Wright
Cover: Jamie Robertson
Logo: Garth Graham

Out of the Woods, Heading to Civilization

A quick update, with (it is my fervent hope) more enjoyable updates to follow in the days ahead:

1. I have a job! Huzzah.

2. I start Monday! Double-huzzah.

3. I start getting paid before Christmas! Triple-huzzah.

The only thing left is to make it to that paycheck, which is doable.

This going to be another complicated year, since it requires locating the family to Georgia. (Hello Farraday City!) But it beats homelessness and starvation, so I'll take it!

I'd like to thank everyone who helped ou...

Encouraging News

In my last status update, which was rather grim, I mentioned there was one potential lead that might still break my way. Well, I have to pass a background check and a drug test, but assuming I haven't been living a wild double life that I've been hiding from myself with self-inflicted amnesia there's a pretty good chance I'm going to have a job again.

Of course we have to make it to the point where I actually get a paycheck, and I want to thank everyone who has volunteered to help. And in par...

Curveball Year Two: That Which Does Not Dream, Available Now

Curveball Year Two: That Which Does Not Dream is now available for purchase on Amazon.com, Kobo, Google Play, iBooks, Page Foundry/Inktera, and Scribd in eBook format. It should also be available in the Barnes & Noble online store soon.

If paperbacks are more your thing, the Curveball Year Two trade paperback is also immediately available on the CreateSpace and Amazon online stores. It may start showing up in other places eventually, but that tends to take longer. Anyone who purchases the...

Status Report: Here Is Us, On The Raggedy Edge

A not particularly pleasant update:

You may be wondering where I've been for the last two months. Issue 26 of Curveball was supposed to come out in September, after all, and here it is almost the end of October and it's turning into another round of "will he or won't he" terms of getting everything ready on time. Well I haven't forgotten or abandoned any of you, but the non-digital world has been very demanding of late.

In August the long-term contract I was working ended. I have been looking...