Konn Lavery's Blog: Posts from konnlavery.com, page 27

Panpsychism

The end of the world is here. The Galactic Believers have
initiated the absorption into ABE – the All-Knowing Being. The planet and all
life will be brought into the next phase of existence, as one in the Galactic
Array. Yet, the depths of the universe are more complex than such a simple
solution.

Panpsychism is January’s flash fiction that brings readers into a cosmic horror standalone sequel of ABE. Enjoy the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.

—–

Panpsychism









Big Questions

Conspiracy theories are fun. People believe some of the
wildest things, which makes it so easy for the rest of us to write them off as
crack-monkeys. Conspiracists’ evidence is contradicting or vague. Most of the
time the true answer will never be found. Those conspiracy-nuts sure do try
though. Some are legitimate. If you want to get into politics, a lot of stuff
was proven right. It is just tucked under the table and life moves on. Conspiracies
about the end-of-the-world and extraterrestrial beings? Hard to hide or prove
that it happened when all is dandy. Maybe it isn’t the government. Perhaps
there is some underlining force that keeps us together. Call it God if you’d
like. Call it the universe. I honestly don’t care. I do know something is gluing
us together, some form of consciousness.

What is consciousness? That’s an age-old discussion brought
on by scientists and philosophers. Is it only humans that have consciousness,
or do the animals do too? How about a rock? I for one, have never really
worried about it. What’s the point? No one has ever been able to prove it. If
you dig too deep into a rabbit hole, you will never get yourself out, just like
conspiracists. So, I have just lived my life. Well, I used to until that damn
triangle showed up in the sky. ABE. The All-Knowing Being. The cosmic being has
some form of consciousness, however that works in a giant triangle. We’re
conscious too. It is an underlining layer of our reality. Consciousness is in
everything.

Before him, it was easy to avoid the Galactic Believers, his
loyal followers. They just came across as some wacky new-age belief. Then, the
numbers grew, and ABE showed up. He took so many people. He destroyed so much
of our planet, claiming Earth was to be absorbed into the bigger picture or
something.

End of the World

If you asked me any of this even a month ago, I think you
were shooting up smack. Today, I know consciousness can be sensed all around. ABE
communicated with us for years, through the Galactic Believers. The whispers of
millions of people that he has absorbed spoke only in fragments. I wonder how
much of those people are alive, or if it is just him manipulating us.

I remember watching with my own eyes as people were
dissolved into small particles and absorbed into the giant glowing triangle in
a spiralling upward fashion. People were too gullible. They couldn’t resist ABE
and his mindless followers. People are so easy to give up on hope. Not all of
us. ABE’s Galactic Array absorption is not the end-all-be-all as he claims.
He’s persuasive. His Galactic Believers are intimidating. ABE is also
vulnerable because he has an ego.

Still, ABE made Earth a mess. When he initiated the galactic
absorption, he took his Galactic Believers, and those who were unable to resist
him. Part of the planet had been completely torn apart. I thought that something
about us resisting saved the planet. I was there when my wife was dissolved.
Much like the other survivors, we were confronted in our homes by the Galactic
Believers. Those fools. They became one of many particles that encompass a triangle.
Not me.

Blind luck. I am no professor at some university. I’m just a
mechanic. Odd jobs, you know? A bit of a science geek, but that was all. Thankfully,
common sense isn’t bound to any sort of class. That is why I believed I resisted
ABE. That is why others did too. I wish I could say the same about my wife,
absorbed into the Galactic Array. A part of me wanted to just give in, let ABE
take every atom from my body so I can be with her again. Even after the
absorption, I was positive I could hear her. For all I knew it was ABE talking
to me, wanting me to give in. Thinking about this stuff can drive you crazy,
like the concept of consciousness. So, I just don’t overthink it.

I hid for days. ABE remained in the sky during this time as the
upward spiral of matter move towards him. His essence – or power – crumbled all.
I was frightened. I didn’t move. I even pissed my pants, so scared of making
any sort of movement. What a coward. On the bright side, lying under a car for
days is a great method to lose weight. That didn’t matter, though, since ABE
brought humanity into a new dark era.

I had grown weak. The lack of food and lying in my own
disgusting filth was driving me insane. Thankfully, ABE’s absorption stopped.
It caught my attention, and I got up from under the car. The spiralling
particles remained stationary midair, like a time capsule. I didn’t believe
exactly what I was looking at. I don’t think anyone did. In the midnight sky,
the giant glowing white triangle hovered above the planet, frozen. Well, in
front of North America. I wasn’t sure what the other side of the world was seeing.

The Resistant

Then, I saw other people coming from under the rubble. I remember
seeing one gal. Her eyes were puffy, probably from crying as much as I.
Hundreds of people started to appear from under the remains of the city. We
didn’t know what to say or what to do. ABE, the entity that was surely going to
bring our doom, remained motionless.

“Who dare prevent the natural order?” ABE’s voice projected
in my mind. By the look on everyone else’s faces, I think that bastard was
talking to them too.

We watched in awe, waiting to see what happened next.

“This planet is mine. The atoms that are treasured here must
be brought into the Galactic Array.” ABE spoke.

Some guy in front of me turned around to look at us. He
pointed towards the giant triangle. “He cannot absorb us! We have resisted
him.”

“How?” shouted a woman.

“We must be special,” the man said. “Our mind, or DNA,
something.”

“I prayed!” A man said, his voice trembling. “God answered
me. He answered us all!”

Before anyone else perked up, a pulsating wave erupted
throughout the landscape. I felt it in my core, holding onto my chest as the
force moved through me. I almost toppled onto the ground but managed to remain
stationary. Another wave pulsated, knocking me to the floor. People screamed. I
landed on my ass and didn’t bother to get up. The particles falling from the
sky had my keen interest. ABE’s spiralling absorption began to crumble. The
matter began to move back down in a reverse spiral. It was as if everything was
beginning to rebuild itself. I didn’t believe it. No one did, I don’t even
think ABE did.

Beyond the All-Knowing

“Who defies me?” ABE shouted. This was the angriest I have
ever heard the triangle talk. The prick was always so well composed. About time
he was shaken up.

YOU DO NOT BELONG HERE, came another voice.

I got up from the ground, trying to pinpoint where the voice
came from. This one was external, unlike ABE’s. It was all around.

ABE’s glowing form began to shake violently. Parts of the
triangle began to crack like glass. All clouds blew away as the sky itself
began to distort, rippling like water. I think. I really can’t describe this to
you. It was as if there were an upside-down ocean and the sky, filled with as
many colours as I could possibly see outlining the ripples. People ran, some
people stayed. I was one to watch. If we are all going to die, I at least wanted
a good show.

OUR PLACE IS NOT HERE, came the booming voice from
all around. The sky ocean began to extend downward, like two massive tidal waves
aiming for ABE. The triangle continued to shatter, violently moving
back-and-forth, up and down. A type of motion that defied logic.

“This is mine to take. For I am the All-Knowing Being!” ABE
shouted.

THE ALL-KNOWING WOULDN’T NEED TO SPEAK IN SUCH LINEAR
FORMS OF EXPRESSION. COME BACK HOME. The two sky tidal waves collided with ABE.
The impact caused the triangle to dissolve like ink in a bucket of water. The
two forces that collided rebounded and soared towards the surface of Earth.

I finally started to run. A little late. I wasn’t sure
where. I was weak, hungry, and frightened. The massive force from above
engulfed the entire sky. It was faster than anything I’d seen before. Its
motion appeared before I could hear millions of voices talking at once. The sky-ocean
collided with me and sucked my body in.

My body froze. Senses stopped. Black. Light. Reverse, like a
VCR in rewind. Everything moved so quickly. Every sensation was backwards – try
and explain how that feels, huh? I relived being under the car, ABE’s arrival,
watching my wife be dissolved (or pieced back together in this reverse-time),
and the appearance of the first Galactic Believer. This continued until I was
brought back to the moment before any of this happened.

Back Home

I drop my wrench, shouting, catching the attention of my
other co-workers at the shop. It had to be a dream. No sweat drenched me. No
piss-coated clothes. A strange sense of déjà vu rushed over my being. I had
been through this before. I swear to God.

“You all right?” asked a co-worker.

“Yeah,” I said. “What day is it?”

“Thursday,” he said.

I sighed, realizing I could answer the damn question myself.
I reached into my pocket for my phone to check the time. It was exactly what I thought
– the sky ocean rewound time. There were no special people with unique DNA, or
mindset, that could resist ABE. What a foolish thought. There was only some
other force, greater than us, and greater than ABE. Something we couldn’t
exactly see. It took care of humanity and our planet.

Whatever it was, brought me back before the first Galactic
Believer, years ago. I had all this knowledge and experience in my mind, yet no
one seemed to be different from a regular day of work. I left the shop and immediately
called my wife. I cried. She was confused, but lovely as she always was. I
don’t think she will ever fully understand why I was crying. I didn’t tell her
why. No way. I just told her I missed her or something corny like that.

I took a stroll through the city, experiencing the
buildings, sounds of the metropolis, and embracing the moment. Some hokey shit,
hey? When you go through an end of the world experience, only to have it all be
brought back, you appreciate life a bit more. Maybe those hippie-dippies were
right about living in the moment. Whatever took ABE, was capable of abilities
that scientists can even fathom. I sound like a crackpot.

The years went by, the Galactic Believers never arrived. ABE was just a figment of my imagination. At least that is what sane people would say. The classic Mandela Effect. I learned I was not alone. There were others online that shared the same memories that I do. We can all discuss in immense detail about the destruction of Earth and the days leading up to it. We all sound crazy because there is no proof of it. It only exists as a collective story told by hundreds of people who have never met. Another conspiracy theory that will drive you mad.

The post Panpsychism appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Liz Butcher, Australian Horror Author of Fate’s Fury

For our first guest of 2020, we welcome Liz Butcher from
Australia. She writes primarily in the occult, horror, and dark fantasy genres.
She’s a self-confessed nerd with a BA in psychology and lives with her husband,
daughter, and their two cats. She has published short stories in anthologies
and released her own collection, After Dark, in 2018. In September of
2019, she released her debut novel, Fates’ Fury. Let’s welcome Liz
Butcher to the blog and learn about her writing!

Welcome Liz Butcher! Tell us a bit more about yourself.

Thanks for having me! Writing is my happy place, as I’m sure
it is for many authors. I get up before 4am everyday, just to make sure I get
my writing time. If I don’t, look out! I might get a little crabbie!

Let’s discuss your debut novel, Fates’ Fury, what is it about?

It’s about three friends, Jonah, Tristan and Ava, who find themselves in the midst of an apocalyptic scenario, where the Fates have decided they want to rid the world of mankind. An ancient alliance of gods returns to the mortal realm to help man fight for their survival. All while they’re discovering the truth about themselves and what they’re really capable of.

Fate’s Fury by Liz Butcher



What sparked the idea for Fates’ Fury?

I think the idea was initially sparked when I thought about
the way the world was, and I wondered if the ancient gods could see us now,
what would they think? Would they see how we’ve evolved and be impressed or
dismayed?

You’ve written a lot of short stories, has that been your main interest?

Yes and no. I did spend a lot of time while writing Fates’
Fury also writing short stories. I found writing prompts and exercises a good
way to improve my writing and I was fortunate to have numerous short stories
published while I was working on Fates. A lot of these went on to make up my
collection, After Dark.

Share some of your writing process, are you a plotter or panster? Or
perhaps a mix of both?

When I first started out, I was a panster, which I still am
to a degree with my short stories. But when it comes to novels, I am a pedantic
plotter! Every aspect of every scene charted out. Obviously the story still
grows and evolves as I write it, and the plot may change, but I like to have
90% of it plotted before I start.

Do you have anything else – short stories or new novels – in the works
right now?

I have two more novels I’m looking to release this year. The
first, LeRoux Manor, is a YA horror, and the second, Never, Never is a
paranormal/crime novel.

Any advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors?

Reach out and connect with other writers. Back yourself and
practise writing every day. Write down all your ideas, no matter what they are
and file them away for inspiration. Write, write, write!

Let’s thank Liz Butcher for joining us again to the blog!

You can find her new novel on her website, amazon, and the
various links below:

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/lizbutcherau...Twitter  – @lunalovelizInstagram – @lunalovelizAmazon – https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00X6XN5O6Website – https://lizbutcherauthor.wixsite.com/...

The post Liz Butcher, Australian Horror Author of Fate’s Fury appeared first on Konn Lavery.

So Now What Panel

I am pleased to say I will be joining the Edmowrimos on their So What Now panel. Below is the information about the event:

—-

Now that January is here and we’ve had some time away from our novels, it’s time to think about what might come next.  Are you interested in editing, revising, and publishing?  We have a panel just for you!

So What Now Panel

When:
Sunday, January 26 from 2:00 – 3:30 pm

Where: Idylwydle Library (8310 88 Ave NW)

What: Konn Lavery, Natasha Deen, and Susie Moloney chat with us about
the next steps we can take with our novels.

RSVP

Hope
to see you there!  Until then, stay warm,

Your friendly neighbourhood MLs

The post So Now What Panel appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Handling Project Burnout

For the first blog post of 2020, I figured we could tackle project burnout, a concept that is common among many people, not just creative types. Of course, this is tailored towards writers. If you haven’t experienced project burnout, you are godlike, or you haven’t quite pushed yourself far enough over the edge. That’s okay. You’ll get there. For the rest of us, project burnout is a very familiar and dreadful experience.

What Is Project Burnout?

If you are unfamiliar with the term or haven’t experienced
project burnout, let me tell you what it is. Project burnout is when you have
taken on too much work for too long and the burden weighs you down. You face a
massive mental wall. Your productivity ceases to exist. What you think you can
do in half an hour is either impossible or takes you twice as long. You feel a
sickening sensation within you, physically and mentally. The thought of doing
work becomes so for that you despise even looking at it. It’s unhealthy.

What To Do When You Have Project Burnout

Everyone has their way of getting out of project burnout or avoiding. In this blog post, we are going to look at a few examples that you can try if you’re finding yourself stuck in a rut. Or if you are not, these are some methods to help avoid burnout. Bookmark this blog post for future use. I guarantee that you will end up at project burnout at some point in your life again.

Method 1: Stop Working

Duh. It sounds easier than it is. Sometimes you can stop
working. Sometimes you cannot. We will tackle that in method two. Projects can
accumulate all at once that it creates a snowball effect rolling downhill. The
snowball gets bigger and bigger, picking up more snow – projects – as it
accelerates. If you have the option to stop working, do it. Even for 10
minutes, or an evening. Pause your projects and soak in reality; it goes a long
way. Do this because we get so hung up on the work that it creates tunnel
vision and we forget what is right in front of us. So stop.

Method 2: Drop What Is Unneeded

If you are unable to stop working, due to the urgency of
projects, drop what is unneeded. Perhaps you don’t clean that week or are you order
takeout, so you don’t have to cook. Remove some of the additional tasks that
aren’t a make it or break it scenario. Dropping tasks will vary depending on
your life and your other responsibilities. Think about what can be pushed aside
during this crunch time so you can put more careful time into the work the
needs to get done.

Method 3: Remember What Is Fun

Why did you start writing to begin with? Remember that. As authors, we wear so many hats, which creates many additional tasks. Some we may not like. It is easy to get wrapped up in the chaos of deadlines, word counts, reviews, and so on. You can go insane. If you’re stuck in project burnout, remember why you started writing. Questioning yourself can lead to an existential crisis, believe me. Discussing that state of mind is a blog post on its own. It’s healthy to question yourself. Why are you writing? Why are you marketing? Why are you writing blog posts? Remember what got you started. With writing, chances are you enjoy it because of the characters you create, because of the unknown at the end of that last word you typed. Get back to basics.

Method 4: Learn Something New

Project burnout is often due to the continual strain on the
mind. One helpful way of breaking out of project burnout is to put your mind in
a new state of being. This is achieved by learning. When you are studying
something new, it forces your brain to work in new ways, breaking your thinking
patterns. It is a bit of a roundabout way to handle project burnout. Learning
brings back the inner discoverer in you, which leads us to the last method.

Method 5: Take the Time

Project burnout happens. It sucks. Ultimately it takes time
to get through. You can try and power through it, thinking it will go away, but
that will make you resent everything more. Trying to ignore it doesn’t help
either. This will reflect in your attitude, the quality of your work, and your
personal life, whether you know it or not. So, don’t try and take a shortcut.
When you realize you are experiencing project burnout or see it on the horizon,
accept it, and work your way through it. In the end, it is only you that can
pull yourself out of that rut. Take the time and do not beat yourself up.

Stay Clear of Icy Ground

Once you experience project burnout, it is a dread that you will not forget. It requires humility and discipline to remind yourself that you need to slow down and not take on so much work. Sometimes the work does pile up all at once, and there’s nothing you can do about it. Remembering your mental exercises of handling project burnout will help you avoid it or face it healthily when you are in doubt.

Do you have any methods of handling project burnout? I’d
love to hear them, feel free to share in the comments.

The post Handling Project Burnout appeared first on Konn Lavery.

New Website

I am pleased to announce that the website has gotten a massive overhaul! The blog is still here, same with all of the previous content. The layout, design, and user experience has been revamped and new sections to the site have been added.

The primary reason that the new site was initiated was the previous site was built on a no longer supported module that was becoming a problem. Plus, overtime, other modules were used that ultimately created a long loading time.

This new site uses less modules and has a lot more custom code that makes it faster and more unique. There are a lot of sections to the site with the blog, short stories, about, novels, etc, that it needed a new way of organizing all of the content.

Some of the new features to the site are:

A complete publications listFAQ pageRevamped Novel Page With Extra Goodies Per BookThe Wiki



The Wiki

The wiki is the largest new section to the site. It is a living archives of the worlds, characters, locations, and more, found within the novels. There are lots of articles to add still, but it is fully populated with information from Mental Damnation and some found within YEGman and Seed Me.

I too will be using the wiki as reference to keep timelines, characters, and continuity throughout the expanding universe.

So please, explore the site and see all the new features it has to offer.

The post New Website appeared first on Konn Lavery.

New Decade

We’ve made it, it is the end of 2019, and we’ll be into a new decade next month. It is exciting because it is the end of the 2010s. Technically we will be in the 20s. As with every decade, you see social, cultural, fashion, and musical trends change decade to decade. I am quite excited to see what the 20s will shape. It is always humorous to look back at the previous decades and see what was once cool looks pretty goofy now. How will we look back at 2010-2019? With any luck, with more wisdom, and understanding of the big-tech age we’ve sprouted into.

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

A lot happened in 2019, as I mentioned in the newsletter this month, with the release of the final Scrappers chapter. The White Hand was released and is the only novel published this year. However, I have had three short stories published and have continued the monthly flash fiction. It truthfully needs a new name as they aren’t flash fiction, they mutated into regular old short stories. If you didn’t know, flash fiction is anything under a thousand words. Short stories are generally a thousand to ten thousand.

Onto the main point, 2019, I also spent time learning speech
to text software. I promise I will do a blog post on it for my author friends
reading this. Trust me. It is a game-changer. Thanks to the speech to text
software, I was able to crank out two large manuscripts at incredible speed. It’s
night and day for the first draft processes and publishing process.

Learning this tool and writing short stories has allowed me
to focus on the main purpose this year: work smarter, not harder. So, I am continually
learning how to improve upon this. It is an ever-learning process.

Beyond 2019

Now, with the end of the year, I often reflect on what I
have done over the year and lifetime. Most people do. Then they jump into “a
new year, a new me” mindset. I don’t think I do that. Truthfully I don’t
overthink it. For 2020, I am shifting focus on revising a ton of projects that
I have on the go. Let’s go through them:

Fire, Pain, & Ruin: A Rutherford Manor NovelMental Damnation IVThe untitled slasher novelAn anthology novel (you can probably figure this
one out)An accompanying score for the anthologyContinue to develop the Harvesters/Scrappers
universe

Oh, and somewhere in all of that, I started a music project
and will be exploring that more in 2020. Then I also have the day gig of
running my design/web development business. The list is large, which includes
four novels and a whole new universe to write stories about. Yet, the exciting
thing is the four novels are in various stages of completion, with Fire, Pain
& Ruin being the most completed.

Revise, Revise, and Distribute

All these projects need finetuning or revisions rather. That
will be the primary focus for next year. Then comes the fun process of
marketing. Personally, it is not my favourite part of the writing career or my
design business, but it is required.

Since I started perusing writing professionally in 2011, I
have written a lot of stories, blogs, and built dense worlds. They’re trickled
all over the place if you look hard enough to find them. That is the trouble. They
are too hard to find. I don’t think the stories have gotten exposed to a large
enough crowd.

I am fully grateful and humbled by all of the loyal readers
and fans that follow me work over the years. You all rock and are a huge motivator
for me to get that next book out because I know you’re waiting for it at the
next expo or the next season. Even today, I am still surprised by who enjoys my
stories. That tells me that the net isn’t wide enough, and I haven’t even come
close to reaching the full capacity of the audience the stories can reach.

New Decade

Reflection is healthy. I tend to do it frequently. Call it
daydreaming, pondering, or whatever, but it is helpful, so you don’t fall into
bad habits. The trick is not to overthink things. It is a weird balance.
Regardless, the work crunch with my design business is coming to an end, and my
holiday time is starting soon. In the new decade, I’ll be back online and at in-person
events with plenty of exciting stories to share with you all.

Enjoy the holidays, be safe, and have a Happy New Year.

Beer Note: Red Racer Imperial India Pale Ale

Wow! I didn’t read the label at the bottom “Extra Strong Ale.”
They weren’t kidding. It is bold in flavour. Heavier than I had expected for an
IPA, which is a fun change from the typical overly hoppy double IPA beers. A
couple of these would go down nicely once you adapt to the strong taste.

The post New Decade appeared first on Konn Lavery.

New Decade

We’ve made it, it is the end of 2019, and we’ll be into a new decade next month. It is exciting because it is the end of the 2010s. Technically we will be in the 20s. As with every decade, you see social, cultural, fashion, and musical trends change decade to decade. I am quite excited to see what the 20s will shape. It is always humorous to look back at the previous decades and see what was once cool looks pretty goofy now. How will we look back at 2010-2019? With any luck, with more wisdom, and understanding of the big-tech age we’ve sprouted into.

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

A lot happened in 2019, as I mentioned in the newsletter this month, with the release of the final Scrappers chapter. The White Hand was released and is the only novel published this year. However, I have had three short stories published and have continued the monthly flash fiction. It truthfully needs a new name as they aren’t flash fiction, they mutated into regular old short stories. If you didn’t know, flash fiction is anything under a thousand words. Short stories are generally a thousand to ten thousand.

Onto the main point, 2019, I also spent time learning speech
to text software. I promise I will do a blog post on it for my author friends
reading this. Trust me. It is a game-changer. Thanks to the speech to text
software, I was able to crank out two large manuscripts at incredible speed. It’s
night and day for the first draft processes and publishing process.

Learning this tool and writing short stories has allowed me
to focus on the main purpose this year: work smarter, not harder. So, I am continually
learning how to improve upon this. It is an ever-learning process.

Beyond 2019

Now, with the end of the year, I often reflect on what I
have done over the year and lifetime. Most people do. Then they jump into “a
new year, a new me” mindset. I don’t think I do that. Truthfully I don’t
overthink it. For 2020, I am shifting focus on revising a ton of projects that
I have on the go. Let’s go through them:

Fire, Pain, & Ruin: A Rutherford Manor NovelMental Damnation IVThe untitled slasher novelAn anthology novel (you can probably figure this
one out)An accompanying score for the anthologyContinue to develop the Harvesters/Scrappers
universe

Oh, and somewhere in all of that, I started a music project
and will be exploring that more in 2020. Then I also have the day gig of
running my design/web development business. The list is large, which includes
four novels and a whole new universe to write stories about. Yet, the exciting
thing is the four novels are in various stages of completion, with Fire, Pain
& Ruin being the most completed.

Revise, Revise, and Distribute

All these projects need finetuning or revisions rather. That
will be the primary focus for next year. Then comes the fun process of
marketing. Personally, it is not my favourite part of the writing career or my
design business, but it is required.

Since I started perusing writing professionally in 2011, I
have written a lot of stories, blogs, and built dense worlds. They’re trickled
all over the place if you look hard enough to find them. That is the trouble. They
are too hard to find. I don’t think the stories have gotten exposed to a large
enough crowd.

I am fully grateful and humbled by all of the loyal readers
and fans that follow me work over the years. You all rock and are a huge motivator
for me to get that next book out because I know you’re waiting for it at the
next expo or the next season. Even today, I am still surprised by who enjoys my
stories. That tells me that the net isn’t wide enough, and I haven’t even come
close to reaching the full capacity of the audience the stories can reach.

A New Decade

Reflection is healthy. I tend to do it frequently. Call it
daydreaming, pondering, or whatever, but it is helpful, so you don’t fall into
bad habits. The trick is not to overthink things. It is a weird balance.
Regardless, the work crunch with my design business is coming to an end, and my
holiday time is starting soon. In the new decade, I’ll be back online and at in-person
events with plenty of exciting stories to share with you all.

Enjoy the holidays, be safe, and have a Happy New Year.

Beer Note: Red Racer Imperial India Pale Ale

Wow! I didn’t read the label at the bottom “Extra Strong Ale.”
They weren’t kidding. It is bold in flavour. Heavier than I had expected for an
IPA, which is a fun change from the typical overly hoppy double IPA beers. A
couple of these would go down nicely once you adapt to the strong taste.

The post New Decade appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Scrappers Part V

The concluding chapter in the Scrappers story. Follow Angie and Ruggy as they make their grand escape from the stalking Harvesters. The two have a hell of a lot of questions for their operator when they get back to base, presuming they make it out of The Lost alive.

Scrappers Part V continues the sci-fi horror universe that is being developed through short stories. Enjoy the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.

Part I

Part
II

Part
III

Part IV

Scrappers Part V









Time Passing

Time became an abstract concept. I wasn’t sure if I stayed
in the abandoned wreckage for hours or days.  I preferred it that way. It would be easy
enough to turn on the time stamp in the chat thread Ruggy and I had open. I
didn’t want to. Watching those numbers go by every minute was discouraging. We
knew that the Harvesters would give up on the hunt, eventually. The challenge
was knowing when.

The two of us could stay in the dark for days if we wanted.
Or we could attempt to return to The Lost, risking our lives, for the
Harvesters could be waiting right outside. I was comfortable waiting longer.
What was the rush? No one would miss two scrappers back at base.

The harsh reality was that Ruggy and I weren’t anyone
special and would never be. Scrappers were disposable, which is hard to believe,
considering the diminishing human population. The higherups don’t care. We
server a purpose in this new world. We gather the remnants of the old for those
deemed better than us.

As the hours – or days – passed, I kept thinking back to the
operator that brought us here, operator 43-S3. I’ve never met him. Ruggy says
he met the man. A typical computer geek. Fast-talking and poor posture. We need
folks like them, though. I just don’t get why they would send us out to a death
trap. Operator 43-S3 knew that he was sending us to a Harvester’s crash sight. Maybe
he was taking orders from the higher-ups. Maybe he thought we were disposable
and only wanted the goods from the crash site to be rewarded. Who knew? We’d
get answers when we got back to base. Eventually.

THINK IT IS SAFE TO GO NOW? I typed with swift eye
movements, controlling my goggle’s interface.

NAH, Ruggy replied. WE’D BEST WAIT ANOTHER DAY
JUST TO BE SURE.

A DAY? HOW LONG HAVE WE BEEN IN HERE? I instantly
regretted asking the question. Knowing that an answer would tell me exactly how
long we’ve been sitting in the dark.

A COUPLE OF DAYS. Ruggy typed. I HAVE ENOUGH
CAPSULES TO LAST A WEEK. YOU?

SAME. THE SURVIVAL KIT WAS FULL WHEN I GRABBED IT.

A couple of days. My mind could barely wrap around the fact
that I had been sitting in the same spot for that long. The night vision the
goggles provided made the dark more bearable. Plus, it was warmer down here
than on the surface. I kept staring at the Harvester’s tentacle that I crushed
days ago. I knew it was destroyed, but I couldn’t help and wonder if it would
pop back up and attack me again. Or perhaps it is like a beacon signal for the
Harvesters, and they would come for me. It was nonsense, I knew that wasn’t
going to happen. If it were, the Harvesters would have come for me by now.

IF WE’RE GOING TO STAY HERE ANOTHER DAY, HOW ABOUT WE
MEET UP? I typed.

WE’VE BEEN THROUGH THIS. THE FEWER MOVEMENTS THE BETTER.

IF THEY CAN SCAN THE LANDSCAPE, CAN’T THEY DETECT HEAT
ANYWAYS? THIS IS POINTLESS.

WE DON’T KNOW WHAT TYPE OF TECH THE HARVESTERS HAVE,
Ruggy typed. WE CAN ONLY MAKE EDUCATED GUESSES. THE WHOLE POINT IS TO
SURVIVE THIS ORDEAL.

I WANT TO GIVE THAT OPERATOR A PIECE OF MY MIND. I
replied.

TRUST ME, SO DO I, Ruggy typed. THAT RAT KNEW WHAT
HE WAS DOING WHEN HE SENT US TO THE HARVESTER’S CRASH SITE. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT
WAS IN IT FOR HIM.

Ruggy and I exchanged some messages back and forth a few
times, other than that, we didn’t have much to say to one another. We’ve
scrapped long enough that we know each other well. No point in small talk. Most
of my time was spent evaluating the digital map in my goggle’s interface to try
and make a guess as to where I was. The maps were based on the old world. We didn’t
have any satellites to map out The Lost, so I could only guess roughly where I
was. Based on the map, it was some skyscraper, one point in time, collapsed during
humanity’s split.

Exploration

I was careful not to overuse my goggle’s battery life. I
couldn’t spend days just browsing around the maps and local documents. These
things were high tech for humans but didn’t have otherworldly wonders like the
Harvesters have. So, I eventually did get up from my location and wandered the
halls. Ruggy didn’t need to know. If he wanted us to wait another day, I wanted
to get a better sense of my environment. His reasoning about the scanning tech
that the Harvesters have was stupid anyway.

The night vision goggles let me navigate through the
crooked, uneven hallways. No light was visible, so I had to be underground
still. Some of the halls had doorways that weren’t collapsed, and I could enter
the rooms. I walked into a room, cautiously avoiding the walls and rocks. The
last thing I needed was to make some noise and trigger a Harvester, or
something as simple as a collapsing ceiling.

The room was mostly the same as the hallway. It did have
some snapped planks of wood. Some garbage and I think something that was once
clothing. Anything we find in The Lost is usually a wreck due to past fires, falling
rocks, or deterioration, rendering them useless.

I left the room, there was nothing of value there. The
hallways led further into the unknown, but I didn’t want to go too far from my
location. I shared the coordinates with Ruggy earlier. In case I had to go
back, I didn’t want to hike too far. All I wanted was to get a better sense of
my surroundings. Everywhere here was as dead as the closet I rested in.

Meeting Point

The wait finally ended when Ruggy texted, OKAY, LET’S GET
THE HELL OUT OF HERE. A wave of relief went over me. We’d finally be
getting out of this dungeon.

WHERE SHOULD WE MEET? I asked.

YOU REMEMBER WHERE WE SPLIT? SEE IF WE CAN MEET UP THERE,
Ruggy typed.

IF WE DON’T MEET THERE?

WE’LL FIND EACH OTHER ON THE SURFACE.

Ruggy’s order sealed the deal. We could return to The Lost.
A second thought entered my mind – what if the Harvesters never left? They had
probes. They could be waiting for us to tire out and leave our hideouts. We had
no way of telling. Ruggy must have finally gotten sick of sitting around like
me. Guess we’d face our fate.

I retraced the steps that led me to the dark hideout that I
stayed in. Thank God. The mouldy, musty smell was beginning to irritate me. It
wasn’t difficult to find my previous locations. The collapsed rubble that
separated myself and the Harvester was exactly where I remembered it being. This
time, there was no Harvester. I slid my gun under the slit and then moved under
to the other side. I eyed the opposite side of the hallway in the opposing
rooms, the rooms that Ruggy had taken. He wasn’t anywhere near.

RUGGY, IM BACK WHERE WE SPLIT, I typed.

I COULDN’T FIND HOW I GOT HERE, Ruggy replied. I
THINK I’M GETTING CLOSE TO THE SURFACE THOUGH.

COORDS? I asked.

-22.951470, -43.212165

That was something useful. We’d meet up back on the surface.
With the new plan in mind, I continued backwards from whence Ruggy, and I first
entered the cavern. It was easy enough to retrace, not sure how Ruggy was
having a difficult time. It didn’t matter. We’d get out of here, get back to
the cruiser, and give a piece of our mind back at base.

The light grew brighter, the closer I got to the cavern
entrance. The old world architecture began to be replaced with rocks and rubble
– remnants of conflict. A part of me wanted to go deeper into the cavern to see
what type of artifacts I could find down there, but it didn’t matter. Our
history was partly archived in digital storage. Anything else took up space,
and I didn’t need to haul that around.

I found the cavern entrance and hiked out into The Lost.
Despite the clouded atmosphere, some light made it through to the planet’s
surface. It was daytime. I shut off the night vision of my goggles and scanned
the terrain. There were no signs of the Harvesters ground troops and no sign of
their ship.

IT’S ALL CLEAR HERE RUGGY, I typed while walking
towards the coordinates he provided.

GOOD, SEEMS CLEAR HERE TOO. Ruggy replied. I’M
ALMOST AT RENDEZVOUS.

Cattle

A sense of relief went over me. We beat the Harvesters at
their own game. Sure, we may have wrecked our cruiser in the process from that
beast, but we survived. No one survives a Harvester.

WE HAVE SOME BRAGGING RIGHTS HERE WHEN WE GET BACK TO
BASE, I typed.

The coordinates Ruggy supplied weren’t far, and I reached
the location. It was an open patch of rubble. Nearby rocks and collapsed towers
were a good several dozen paces away, this had to be some sort of park, based
on the goggle’s old world map.

RUGGY? I typed, looking around the area. The wind
blew past me, blowing some of the dust in my face. No one. There didn’t seem to
be any cavern entrances nearby either.

RUGGY, DID YOU MESS UP THE COORDINATES? I’M OUT IN THE
OPEN.

No reply. Something wasn’t right, and my instincts told me to
get the hell out, yet Ruggy ordered me to come here.

RUGGY, I’M MOVING. I typed.

ANGIE STAY, Ruggie typed.

WHERE ARE YOU? I replied.

Still alarmed, I took my first step back as a humanoid
morphed into view. The large being’s form rippled from transparency and into
full view. The gunmetal armour shined in the daylight as high-pitched clicking
began to project from the being.

“Shit! Ruggy!” I called out, pulling my rifle’s trigger. The
gun clacked, firing at the Harvester as it began to walk towards me.

ANGIE, COME HERE, Ruggy typed.

Then, as I continued to fire at the approaching Harvester, I
realized that I hadn’t been talking to Ruggy at all. Maybe at one point, I was.
I don’t know. The Harvesters hacked out communication port. It was supposed to
be a closed-off network, clearly not.

The bullets pinged off the Harvester’s suite as it marched.
The sound clicked in a wave motion, moving at faster and slower tempos. I
continued to back up in the open space. Glancing back, I saw I could make a run
for it. I had to try. Guns were pointless. I sprinted from my battle stance, dashing
as fast as I could.

Footsteps thudded behind me. The Harvester picked up its
pace. CLICK. CLICK. CLICK.

RUGGY, ANSWER ME. I typed. I wasn’t sure if he’d get
the message. The Harvesters were one step ahead of us. I had to try, though.
There was no other way of communicating with him.

ANGIE COME HERE, The Harvester typed.

“Ruggy!” I cried out as a large hand snagged my arm,
spinning me around.

I pulled the trigger of my rifle, trying to do anything to
save my skin. The bullets pinged off the armour. The Harvester swatted the
weapon clean from my hand, knocking it to the ground. It snatched my neck as a
spear erected from a small opening in the Harvester’s palm. The weapon expanded
into its full form as it sparked to life – humming. An electro-spear.

The Harvester plunged the weapon into my gut, causing my
whole body to tense up. The shock erupted through my chest and to every limb in
my body. The pulsation hit my head and travelled through the goggles – frying
them. The interface was gone. My head spun. I had lost all control of my being.
I could see…no. My vision was blurry. I could hear… a little. I felt… nothing.
Numbness.

My captor chucked me to the ground as two more Harvesters
came into view. The high-frequency clicking multiplied as the beings stared at
each other. I tried to fight the electrical current that numbed my body. I had
to. No one else was going to get me out of this. I couldn’t.

I felt fear in my mind. My muscles didn’t respond to the stress of the situation. It provided an odd sense of calmness as my captor dumped my body into a large steel crate. Holes horizontally lined the container walls. Airholes to let me breathe. I could hear groans other than my own. The smell of sweat and dirt filled the space. Other humans were in the cage with me. We were cattle, harvested.

The post Scrappers Part V appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Home Stretch

Almost at the end of 2019, which means the end of a whole
decade! We will officially be living in the 20s. That’s a fun concept to ponder
over. As with every year, I get into the super-work-crunch-time-extravaganza.
November gets ever closer to the home stretch. The contract work escalates.
Projects once in limbo are are being resurrected. End of the year budgets needs
to be used up. The list goes on.

Welcome to another edition of Unprocessed Thoughts

With December around the corner, I’ve had little blips of memories
of what happened this year. Then I think to myself, “Wow, a lot happened this
year.” I wouldn’t even know where to begin nor figure out how to explain it
all. The writing career sure had a busy and successful go while only releasing
one book. I’m hoping to do two releases per year over the next couple of years.
That’s the plan. There’s enough material in the backburner that I can play with
new forms of releasing the novels to broaden the fanbase. It’ll be a fun
experimentation.

Now, with December around the corner, I can see how many
weeks I have left and how much work I have to get done. It is daunting. It is
intimidating. Yet, somehow, I always manage to get it all done every year for
the past five years. In the back of my mind, I’m just reminding myself that I’ve
done the grind before, and this year is no different.

Exciting things!

Enough whining, let’s chat about some of the exciting stuff, such as the recent reveal of the second Rutherford Manor Novel – Fire, Pain, & Ruin. The cover and title were shared, along with some fun info about the book. The official synopsis is coming soon, and the novel is aimed to come out in the spring of 2020.

Following that, I have two short stories to write this month. One is the concluding part five of Scrappers, and the second is an anthology submission – more on that in the future. Then there is Mental Damnation IV, which has a solid list of revisions to do. Some teasers about that will be coming in December as well, keep watch for those!

Getting through the home stretch

So, there is a lot of cool things happening in the
background despite my quite online activity. Don’t worry. I am hard at work to
bring tons of exciting things to you all in 2020. This includes new stories and
extras.

Even though I am exhausted, grumpy, and experiencing project burnout once again, I am excited. There is a lot of cool things in the works for 2020, and I want to share them all now. Yet, they need some TLC. Good things come to those who wait. So stay tuned, keep watch, and we’ll be back for the final Unprocessed Thoughts of 2020 in December. The end of the home stretch.

Beer Note: Town Square Brewing Co. Alberta Ale Air Tractor

This beer is not quite a blonde ale and not quite a pale ale,
as stated on the can. It sits at a 5.3% alcohol level and is light, sour, and hoppy.
It fits well in the pale ale realm, getting close to an IPA.  It mentions it has a fruity body, which is hinted
in the flavour. Or perhaps my taste buds are off due to working too much and
being run down. Who knows?

The post Home Stretch appeared first on Konn Lavery.

Cover Reveal Fire, Pain, & Ruin

Announced on the Rutherford Manor Facebook page, the cover and title to my new novel have been revealed!

Fire, Pain, & Ruin – A Rutherford Manor Novel

From the Facebook Post:

FIRE, PAIN, & RUIN – A Rutherford Manor Novel

Trying to live a normal life in the world of Rutherford Manor is difficult at best and sometimes impossible for the residents of the infamous household. Lisa and Louise Savidge are now young teenagers with a growing interest in the world, boys, and the family business.

Spalding and Penny Savidge certainly have their hands full with these young and highly curious girls and that doesn’t include all of the trauma, family dynamics, infatuation, past loves, supernatural events, and ancient dark curses that they must all endure.

All of this and MUCH MORE will unfold in our next Rutherford Manor book; Fire, Pain, & Ruin written by Konn Lavery – Horror Author!