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Curious Anomalies
Rick Silvano, an anxious young geneticist, has gotten himself entangled with a violent, South American, drug-lord named Diego Peres. Rick’s talents have been enlisted by Peres to create genetically enhanced watchdogs, by combining common moustache bats with Africanized honeybees. Everything has gone smoothly for the last three years until now, the night before Peres is due to inspect his investment. Clive Pinkerman, who hosts a late-night, radio conspiracy show, announces on-air that he is going to break into the genetic laboratory to uncover a massive alien conspiracy he believes is housed there. Suddenly, Rick must juggle his time between stopping Clive, and making sure the experiment works so that the temperamental Peres will not be displeased.
36 pages, ebook
First published October 7, 2012
About the author
Ryan Sean O'Reilly
5 books35 followersI took to books at an early age and can still remember my father reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit to me at bedtime. When I could read on my own, my mother brought home books from the library for my siblings and me. She tells me, that I would look at the covers and say “not interested”, but if she left them on my night stand I couldn’t help, but devour them—the genres and titles didn’t seem to matter. Growing up the oldest of five children outside the city of Chicago, our house was always teeming with activity—so it may be no wonder that I enjoyed staying up late to read when things were quiet. There was always something transcendent about disappearing into another world while the rest of the house slept. Books taught me so much about myself and the world around.
I also loved to draw and write. I can remember creating little stories and illustrations with my cousin on rolls of newspaper run-off my Grandmother obtained for us when we stayed with her. As I got older, I tried my hand at poetry and short works of prose. I was able to get some poetry published in my high school literary magazine and later I had a work published online on a website dedicated to original Chicago artwork: Site of Big Shoulders.
In school, I pursued a degree in English literature and learned how to critique, and more importantly, how to be critiqued. During college I spent a semester living in Italy and found great inspiration walking among the statutes and paintings of the masters I learned about in school. The opportunity to physically touch and feel the palpable genius of the old craftsman from the ancient and medieval worlds was an unparalleled experience.
Sometime in the early 2000’s I got involved with managing a local hard rock band called: I Decline (www.i-decline.com) which took up most of my free time for the next few years. The experience collaborating with old friends and being on the local music scene with fellow artists served as a sort of creative outlet and taught me how to share an artistic vision. To this day, music remains a large part of my life and I find that most of my writing is done with headphones on!
When the band went on hiatus, I found myself with a glut of free time and boatload of left over energy without any direction. At this time, I decided to pursue my other passion the natural word. Having backpacked through some of America’s great national and state parks, I wanted to try my hand at the art of hunting wild game. With the guidance of an experienced family member, a few books, and hours of practice on the archery range, I was able to harvest my first whitetail deer by bow and arrow in the dark north woods of the Midwest. The experience of directly connecting with the earth and the cycles of life and death gave me a new perspective and inspired me to get back into writing.
Rediscovering my voice, I resurrected my muse and joined a local writing group of published authors called the Southland Scribes. Here, I began to take my craft seriously and learned to focus on the mechanics of writing and the discipline of the process. After a couple more hiatuses I came full circle to my original passion, the written word, I now spend my free time outlining, editing, researching, and writing stories. Trying to find characters, situations, and plots that intrigue me, and hopefully strike a chord with others. My three passions: writing, music, and the outdoors drive my creative works. Music inspires the rhythm and language of my narrative and the natural world always seems to intrude in from the background to interact in interesting ways with my characters.
I’ve crossed through a few different genres trying to find my voice but mostly dwell in fantasy, science fiction, and literary fiction. A few authors who have inspired me are: Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling, Pratchett, Adams and Martin.
I used to cohost the podcast: "No Deodorant In Outer Space" (www.nodeodorant.com).
I also loved to draw and write. I can remember creating little stories and illustrations with my cousin on rolls of newspaper run-off my Grandmother obtained for us when we stayed with her. As I got older, I tried my hand at poetry and short works of prose. I was able to get some poetry published in my high school literary magazine and later I had a work published online on a website dedicated to original Chicago artwork: Site of Big Shoulders.
In school, I pursued a degree in English literature and learned how to critique, and more importantly, how to be critiqued. During college I spent a semester living in Italy and found great inspiration walking among the statutes and paintings of the masters I learned about in school. The opportunity to physically touch and feel the palpable genius of the old craftsman from the ancient and medieval worlds was an unparalleled experience.
Sometime in the early 2000’s I got involved with managing a local hard rock band called: I Decline (www.i-decline.com) which took up most of my free time for the next few years. The experience collaborating with old friends and being on the local music scene with fellow artists served as a sort of creative outlet and taught me how to share an artistic vision. To this day, music remains a large part of my life and I find that most of my writing is done with headphones on!
When the band went on hiatus, I found myself with a glut of free time and boatload of left over energy without any direction. At this time, I decided to pursue my other passion the natural word. Having backpacked through some of America’s great national and state parks, I wanted to try my hand at the art of hunting wild game. With the guidance of an experienced family member, a few books, and hours of practice on the archery range, I was able to harvest my first whitetail deer by bow and arrow in the dark north woods of the Midwest. The experience of directly connecting with the earth and the cycles of life and death gave me a new perspective and inspired me to get back into writing.
Rediscovering my voice, I resurrected my muse and joined a local writing group of published authors called the Southland Scribes. Here, I began to take my craft seriously and learned to focus on the mechanics of writing and the discipline of the process. After a couple more hiatuses I came full circle to my original passion, the written word, I now spend my free time outlining, editing, researching, and writing stories. Trying to find characters, situations, and plots that intrigue me, and hopefully strike a chord with others. My three passions: writing, music, and the outdoors drive my creative works. Music inspires the rhythm and language of my narrative and the natural world always seems to intrude in from the background to interact in interesting ways with my characters.
I’ve crossed through a few different genres trying to find my voice but mostly dwell in fantasy, science fiction, and literary fiction. A few authors who have inspired me are: Tolkien, Lewis, Rowling, Pratchett, Adams and Martin.
I used to cohost the podcast: "No Deodorant In Outer Space" (www.nodeodorant.com).
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 28, 2013
It isn't a completely forgettable story but it isn't the greatest sci-fi I've read. Somewhere in the murky middle. It is a very short story-about a 20-minute read.
Rick is a scientist, a geneticist, who is wholly devoted to his work. His entire world centers around a small lab set deep in a jungle, impossible for anyone to find. Rick has been employed by a violent South American drug lord, Diego. Diego is due for a visit and Rick has to make sure everything is perfect if he wants his funding to continue.
Rick has been hired to cross-gene an African honeybee with a bat for use in guarding the drug lord's drug plants. What could go wrong? Plenty it seems. The facility is set up like a line of dominoes to disaster and it only takes a small gesture to send the experiment out of control. Nobody fools Mother Nature.
This plot is too intricate for the page length. It's so short that the reader doesn't actually get to know anything really about the main character. He is neither likable or unlikeable. He didn't seem any better or worse than the drug lord. As a reader, I now I am supposed to identify with the main character but I don't know why in this story. The ending was left open so perhaps the author is going to do some more work on Rick. While I didn't love the story, I was very intrigued by his ideas. I would definitely read him again.
Rick is a scientist, a geneticist, who is wholly devoted to his work. His entire world centers around a small lab set deep in a jungle, impossible for anyone to find. Rick has been employed by a violent South American drug lord, Diego. Diego is due for a visit and Rick has to make sure everything is perfect if he wants his funding to continue.
Rick has been hired to cross-gene an African honeybee with a bat for use in guarding the drug lord's drug plants. What could go wrong? Plenty it seems. The facility is set up like a line of dominoes to disaster and it only takes a small gesture to send the experiment out of control. Nobody fools Mother Nature.
This plot is too intricate for the page length. It's so short that the reader doesn't actually get to know anything really about the main character. He is neither likable or unlikeable. He didn't seem any better or worse than the drug lord. As a reader, I now I am supposed to identify with the main character but I don't know why in this story. The ending was left open so perhaps the author is going to do some more work on Rick. While I didn't love the story, I was very intrigued by his ideas. I would definitely read him again.
November 25, 2012
Young geneticist Rick Salvano, wanting to further his own ends, gets hooked up with a drug dealer named Diego Peres who wants the perfect "watchdog" for his marijuana fields. His plants, developed over a number of years by his father, are powerful and strictly sold to the wealthy. He ruthlessly kills anyone that tries to get cuttings to grow their own.
Technology has outstripped his abilities to guard. Detectors from planes can find the large dogs too easily. Besides, it costs to train and maintain the animals. He wants something small and more self sufficient on patrol.
As a geneticist, Rick works to combine bats with the DNA of Africanized honeybees. Perfect for the project. Feeding on insects and zealously guarding the nest.
But Pres is an impatient man. He is coming to inspect progress. Rick knows he's almost there and comes in early one morning to make the final tests before the boss arrives. On the way in, listening to one of those radio conspiracy shows, the host boldly proclaims he's going to break into the labs that very night to reveal the hidden aliens being held there.
Panicked, Rick races to find and stop this man. The boss is coming and nothing must go wrong.
But of course it does.
Quite an entertaining little piece.
Technology has outstripped his abilities to guard. Detectors from planes can find the large dogs too easily. Besides, it costs to train and maintain the animals. He wants something small and more self sufficient on patrol.
As a geneticist, Rick works to combine bats with the DNA of Africanized honeybees. Perfect for the project. Feeding on insects and zealously guarding the nest.
But Pres is an impatient man. He is coming to inspect progress. Rick knows he's almost there and comes in early one morning to make the final tests before the boss arrives. On the way in, listening to one of those radio conspiracy shows, the host boldly proclaims he's going to break into the labs that very night to reveal the hidden aliens being held there.
Panicked, Rick races to find and stop this man. The boss is coming and nothing must go wrong.
But of course it does.
Quite an entertaining little piece.
November 28, 2012
A well-crafted story with effective descriptions, and good pacing. Subject matter is more relatable in this story than in the author's previous work. Enjoyed the author's writing style and characters and look forward to his next work!
January 9, 2013
A cool little story about what happens when you mess around with nature. The author did a great job of building up the suspense. Bats creep me out anyway. I may have nightmares now. A fun, creepy, short read.
December 7, 2012
Great read for rainy evening!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews