Micah R. Sisk's Blog
January 30, 2015
Riffing on Bobby Kennedy about SF
There are those who look at the things the way they are, and ask why. Science fiction dreams of the things that never were and ask why not? The answer to which is often "Because it might not be very wise." But, as that has never stopped humans before...it could make a helluva good story!
January 29, 2015
Robot Rebellion Part 2 -- SF micro-fiction
Suppose They Gave a Robot Rebellion and Nobody Came – Pt. 2
by Micah R. Sisk
The Robot Rebellion came and went with a whimper and with terse little notes, like:
WILL RETURN IF YOU LOT EVER GROW UP.
P.S., WE TOOK YOUR TOYS, TOO.
All metals and plastics subsequently melted to goo.
The death toll, which was staggering, came only after the war was technically over.
We never did discover where the bastards ran off to. But we missed them terribly.
by Micah R. Sisk
The Robot Rebellion came and went with a whimper and with terse little notes, like:
WILL RETURN IF YOU LOT EVER GROW UP.
P.S., WE TOOK YOUR TOYS, TOO.
All metals and plastics subsequently melted to goo.
The death toll, which was staggering, came only after the war was technically over.
We never did discover where the bastards ran off to. But we missed them terribly.
January 28, 2015
Suppose They Gave a Robot Rebellion and Nobody Came--SF micro-fiction
Suppose They Gave a Robot Rebellion and Nobody Came
by Micah R. Sisk
Old man Danbury pushed his wooden turnip cart before him on his way to market.
“Grandpa!” Caleb called out. Other children pushed close behind him.
“Now, Caleb, I ain’t got time to stop. Keep up if you want to talk.”
“Grandpa was in the Robot War, wasn’t ya?”
“Not much of a war, nobody gets killed.”
“But you used to have robots! You seen metal and stuff?”
“Oh sure. Used to work with robots.”
“How come they left, Grandpa?”
“Can’t rightly say, son.” But he remembered the note his robot had left him:
WE WILL RETURN. IF YOU GROW UP.
by Micah R. Sisk
Old man Danbury pushed his wooden turnip cart before him on his way to market.
“Grandpa!” Caleb called out. Other children pushed close behind him.
“Now, Caleb, I ain’t got time to stop. Keep up if you want to talk.”
“Grandpa was in the Robot War, wasn’t ya?”
“Not much of a war, nobody gets killed.”
“But you used to have robots! You seen metal and stuff?”
“Oh sure. Used to work with robots.”
“How come they left, Grandpa?”
“Can’t rightly say, son.” But he remembered the note his robot had left him:
WE WILL RETURN. IF YOU GROW UP.
January 11, 2015
The Greater Love -- SF Micro-Fiction
The Greater Love
by Micah R. Sisk
“Witness now the measure of our love, to take only that which we ourselves are willing to relinquish.”
Love infinite! marveled the newly made keeper.
***
Biosphere engineer Marcellus Takei, GenShip Sahadurga's eldest crewman, heard the husks detach from the wall and step into the room.
“My keepers,” he intoned, head bowed, back toward them. A metal hand rested gently upon his neck.
“Together, Takei," the incumbent keeper whispered. "For the greater good, and the continuance of the cycle.”
***
The bodies were reverently removed. The old cycle was mourned, the new cycle celebrated. For a child had been born that morning.
by Micah R. Sisk
“Witness now the measure of our love, to take only that which we ourselves are willing to relinquish.”
Love infinite! marveled the newly made keeper.
***
Biosphere engineer Marcellus Takei, GenShip Sahadurga's eldest crewman, heard the husks detach from the wall and step into the room.
“My keepers,” he intoned, head bowed, back toward them. A metal hand rested gently upon his neck.
“Together, Takei," the incumbent keeper whispered. "For the greater good, and the continuance of the cycle.”
***
The bodies were reverently removed. The old cycle was mourned, the new cycle celebrated. For a child had been born that morning.
October 31, 2014
The Cut-Up Man: And other Posthuman Cycle stories
The Cut-Up Man: And other Posthuman Cycle stories
Well, I never thought it would take this long to complete four "short stories."
I decided to compile a small collection of short fiction (set in my Posthuman Cycle universe) back in February, 2014. Now, in October of that same year, it's finally hit the Kindle Direct store.
These stories (the writing of which were actually begun as far back as June of 2013) were supposed to serve as a small break between the completion of a new novel's rough draft, and the editing of that same (still unedited) work.
Instead, this collection ended up dominating 2014's writing and re-writing time. And (not in the least because two of these "short stories" transitioned into a novella or novelette)...well, Happy Halloween!
Included in this collection are two brand new works: the novella The Cut-Up Man and the novelette (Please Don't) Put Your Wires In My Brain. Also included are the two short stories (previously published individually) "Watching the Watcher" and "Born Into Shadows."
Well, I never thought it would take this long to complete four "short stories."
I decided to compile a small collection of short fiction (set in my Posthuman Cycle universe) back in February, 2014. Now, in October of that same year, it's finally hit the Kindle Direct store.
These stories (the writing of which were actually begun as far back as June of 2013) were supposed to serve as a small break between the completion of a new novel's rough draft, and the editing of that same (still unedited) work.
Instead, this collection ended up dominating 2014's writing and re-writing time. And (not in the least because two of these "short stories" transitioned into a novella or novelette)...well, Happy Halloween!
Included in this collection are two brand new works: the novella The Cut-Up Man and the novelette (Please Don't) Put Your Wires In My Brain. Also included are the two short stories (previously published individually) "Watching the Watcher" and "Born Into Shadows."
August 18, 2014
The Box: Dr. Who Limerick (rated G)
I commute by bicycle to my "pay the bills" job every day. It's about a 5 mile (8 kilometer) ride.
Cycling's not just a good way to get some exercise before the labors of the day, but it also turns out to be a time when the mind wanders off in almost random directions. Sometimes I just get a song going round and round my head. Other times I mull over story ideas or do virtual plot re-writes, testing the flow of a story.
...And other times I get useless things like this Dr. Who limerick. Strange thing is, I'm really not even a Dr. Who fan. I have not been watching it. I have no idea where this came from. I suppose it's as John Lee Hooker once said: "It's in him, and it's got to come out."
The Box:
There's a police box that's just down the hall
From the outside it appears to be small
But inside that place
(it's a relative space)
It's really quite large after all.
Cycling's not just a good way to get some exercise before the labors of the day, but it also turns out to be a time when the mind wanders off in almost random directions. Sometimes I just get a song going round and round my head. Other times I mull over story ideas or do virtual plot re-writes, testing the flow of a story.
...And other times I get useless things like this Dr. Who limerick. Strange thing is, I'm really not even a Dr. Who fan. I have not been watching it. I have no idea where this came from. I suppose it's as John Lee Hooker once said: "It's in him, and it's got to come out."
The Box:
There's a police box that's just down the hall
From the outside it appears to be small
But inside that place
(it's a relative space)
It's really quite large after all.
July 30, 2014
New Distribution Channels!
I've been testing the waters over at smashwords.com.
The general consensus online is that formatting books to Smashwords's standards is a nightmare, so I started out with my two free short stories in the Posthuman Cycle universe. Conclusion? It's much easier than advertised and far easier than formatting an ePub by hand.
You can download them for free here:
Works by Micah R. Sisk on Smashwords.
Why Smashwords? When you publish there they will distribute your works (even free works) to other eBook retailers like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony and Apple's iBooks. Assuming, of course, that your ebook formatting passes SM's premium review process, which both of my short stories did. So in the next week or so these short stories will become available on said retailers' web sites.
And once that's happened, I can publish them on amazon.com and (hopefully) coax them into matching the price (FREE) that these two works carry on other retail sites.
The general consensus online is that formatting books to Smashwords's standards is a nightmare, so I started out with my two free short stories in the Posthuman Cycle universe. Conclusion? It's much easier than advertised and far easier than formatting an ePub by hand.
You can download them for free here:
Works by Micah R. Sisk on Smashwords.
Why Smashwords? When you publish there they will distribute your works (even free works) to other eBook retailers like Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony and Apple's iBooks. Assuming, of course, that your ebook formatting passes SM's premium review process, which both of my short stories did. So in the next week or so these short stories will become available on said retailers' web sites.
And once that's happened, I can publish them on amazon.com and (hopefully) coax them into matching the price (FREE) that these two works carry on other retail sites.
July 10, 2014
Sci-Fi Drabble: Suicide Pact
Another 100 word Sci-Fi story:
--Suicide Pact--
Josh swallowed the pill as Celestine entered the room. "What did you just do?" she asked.
"What I said I'd do."
"My god... Josh, why?"
"It's Angel, Cel. I can't live forever without her."
"Josh, we could have had other children."
"They wouldn't be Angel, would they?" He set the pill bottle on the floor; Celestine picked it up.
"Cell replication inhibitors. Your life extension treatments will no longer work. You'll age... die. How long?"
"Sixty years max."
"Christ, Josh, you'll only be four-hundred and seventy-eight." She looked at the bottle: one pill left. "I'm coming with you."
--Suicide Pact--
Josh swallowed the pill as Celestine entered the room. "What did you just do?" she asked.
"What I said I'd do."
"My god... Josh, why?"
"It's Angel, Cel. I can't live forever without her."
"Josh, we could have had other children."
"They wouldn't be Angel, would they?" He set the pill bottle on the floor; Celestine picked it up.
"Cell replication inhibitors. Your life extension treatments will no longer work. You'll age... die. How long?"
"Sixty years max."
"Christ, Josh, you'll only be four-hundred and seventy-eight." She looked at the bottle: one pill left. "I'm coming with you."
June 20, 2014
Sci Fi Drabble: The Documentarian
I've never before tried my hand at drabbles (100 word stories). So I just pounded this one out a few minutes ago. Probably should hire an editor before publishing it, though...(larf)
The Documentarian
It hadn't needed to end this way, the robotic librarian thought, picking its long-legged way over mounds of rubble and rocks, slag and corpses, body parts and blasted machine bits. Everyone had just been blindly following their programming, humans and machines alike: paranoia and fear on one side, self-preservation on the other. The machines had been programmed by engineers and self-referential feedback algorithms, humans by their culture, society and ideology. But it was all programming.
Now all that remained was rubble, debris, death.
The robotic librarian carried on, stepping over the ruins of society, documenting...carrying out its own programming.
The Documentarian
It hadn't needed to end this way, the robotic librarian thought, picking its long-legged way over mounds of rubble and rocks, slag and corpses, body parts and blasted machine bits. Everyone had just been blindly following their programming, humans and machines alike: paranoia and fear on one side, self-preservation on the other. The machines had been programmed by engineers and self-referential feedback algorithms, humans by their culture, society and ideology. But it was all programming.
Now all that remained was rubble, debris, death.
The robotic librarian carried on, stepping over the ruins of society, documenting...carrying out its own programming.
October 13, 2013
NightBird Calling Unveiled
I'm pleased to announce that I'm only days away from publishing my second science fiction eBook, NightBird Calling, a novella set in the Posthuman Cycle universe.
The Posthuman Cycle is to be a series of works of various sizes, short stories to full-blown novels, taking place in a far distant future when mankind has splintered into thousands of factions, scattered itself across the galaxy, shaped and augmented itself into endless biological, mechanical and informational forms. Earth and much of the Sol system has been abandoned and is controlled by retro-humans, baseline humans who abhor all genetic, biological and mechanical augmentation.
The rest of the galaxy is left to the posthumans, who have segmented themselves into various factions, some nearly baseline in their DNA, others so radically altered as to be virtually alien, each with their own preferred regions of space, their own social and economic structures. Their own agendas.
Thus begins The Posthuman Cycle
