Dan F. Beast

#WIPSnips

The two major organizations in FIRST LIGHT's universe, the Sidereal Cadres and the UNCA, have few points of agreement. One is to outlaw 'unbraked' AIs, keeping their intelligence to human-adjacent, and thus manageable, levels.

History must not repeat itself.

#WriteSky #WritingCommunity

"Writers should know their characters' favourite in every category" witch please, I just spent 15 minutes staring out a window wondering what my favourite anything was 😅

a Google Images search result for a "starter pack of twenty female robots" showing EVE from Wall-E, another female robot, and Showa era MechaGodzilla

I knew it! I've been saying for years that MechaGodzilla has bad bitch written all over

Incidentally, I've been rewriting a lot of my robot character's dialogue to include the most heinous canned PR responses imaginable. Thank you for the reminder--and for your attention to this matter!

Personally, I like to think of it more as a threat.

They also say reading should challenge you!

Cover reveal! I hear that minimalism is all the rage these days.

I am somehow on both sides of this picture, it's uncanny!

Thanks! It's something I have felt a few times, it was kind of cathartic to put it on paper. It's so tempting to romanticize hard times once enough time has passed.

Trazem-me sempre de volta a casa, os teus snips. O diálogo aqui não é só natural; é nostálgico. É tão fácil esquecer como se falava nos meus anos formativos, agora que sou chato e adulto.

Claro, estou a ser melodramático, mas toda a boa arte causa um pouco de melodrama na alma! Uma saudade, talvez?

Thanks! I'll do my best.

That's so sweet!

Oh, don't I know it!

You're too kind! That's something unplanned that emerged as I wrote, and by now I think it's a pretty widespread motif in the novella. Not bad for an accident.

Many thanks!

The old vessel had been quick to work its strange magic on her. From the moment she stepped through the umbilical, a whole new world had welcomed her. A world of history—not the almost desperate remembrances of the Habitat’s Bellerophons and Devapalas and Anansis, not the things that were easy or empowering to remember, but real history, immediate history, written itself in dents and plasma burns and long sinuous scars in the fuselage. It reminded Yana of something she hadn’t seen in a long time—something she’d escaped, but had come to find herself missing, as if some part of her had craved the simplicity of hardship. There was no Ada here to keep her company. The smiles she did encounter on her way came with effort, yet were all the more honest for it. And more than that, this Radiant, this old and tired piece of metal full of old and tired people, wore its wounds openly.

This one's an old scene. I love how it reads, but I'll probably need to adapt it slightly so it fits better with the rest of the WIP.

Yana steps into the NEV Radiant for the first time--a much different place from the Habitat she lives in. From FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

The old vessel had been quick to work its strange magic on her. From the moment she stepped through the umbilical, a whole new world had welcomed her. A world of history—not the almost desperate remembrances of the Habitat’s Bellerophons and Devapalas and Anansis, not the things that were easy or empowering to remember, but real history, immediate history, written itself in dents and plasma burns and long sinuous scars in the fuselage. It reminded Yana of something she hadn’t seen in a long time—something she’d escaped, but had come to find herself missing, as if some part of her had craved the simplicity of hardship. There was no Ada here to keep her company. The smiles she did encounter on her way came with effort, yet were all the more honest for it. And more than that, this Radiant, this old and tired piece of metal full of old and tired people, wore its wounds openly.

This one's an old scene. I love how it reads, but I'll probably need to adapt it slightly so it fits better with the rest of the WIP.

Yana steps into the NEV Radiant for the first time--a much different place from the Habitat she lives in. From FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

“That’s great! I am Andromeda Solutions’ Artificial Locutive/Reactive Intelligence™, S&M Model, serial number 0721B-06. I respond to Six, and I’m here to help. And you are… Adrian Rook of Veter IV, and Yana N/A of Vara IX. I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.” “Skip the pleasantries, please.” Yana said. “I am registering some impatience,” Six said, her tone unchanged. Every sentence came out the same, an even staccato of quickly-delivered words and prerecorded phrases. “For your satisfaction, I will get to the point. Your assigned vessel is being stored in Layer 3. Would you like to go collect it now?”

The gang meets the robot for the first time, and first impressions aren't great.

From, say it with me, FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

“That’s great! I am Andromeda Solutions’ Artificial Locutive/Reactive Intelligence™, S&M Model, serial number 0721B-06. I respond to Six, and I’m here to help. And you are… Adrian Rook of Veter IV, and Yana N/A of Vara IX. I hope this is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship.” “Skip the pleasantries, please.” Yana said. “I am registering some impatience,” Six said, her tone unchanged. Every sentence came out the same, an even staccato of quickly-delivered words and prerecorded phrases. “For your satisfaction, I will get to the point. Your assigned vessel is being stored in Layer 3. Would you like to go collect it now?”

The gang meets the robot for the first time, and first impressions aren't great.

From, say it with me, FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Before the Forefathers, there was Wild. They descended from the heavens in clouds of steel and ash, lightning in their wake, fire in their hands, and this, the Wild allowed. They wove mountains into yurts and dug palaces deep into the earth, and this, too, the Wild allowed. They turned to the land and set to taming it, and this, the Wild did not allow. It summoned Sky, Sea, and Soil, and it told them: “The Stars let loose a Thing Another; upon my flesh it claims domain. Fall upon it, lay it low.” “I shall crack the earth beneath,” said elder daughter Soil, “and feed their homes to the hollows.” And its roots-claws-fingers it stretched, and tore the land asunder. “I shall wash across the plains,” said Sea, the middle child, “and turn red and boiling with fury.” And it flowed into every river, and rained down from every cloud, setting all it touched aflame. Youngest son Sky said nothing, but its great wings it did beat, and breathed foul poison into the winds. The Forefathers looked upon the ruins of their infant empire and wondered what could be done. They fell at Wild’s feet and begged to be spared, for the Stars did refuse them and there was no way home. “Over my flesh you claimed domain, Thing Another,” said the Wild. “Now yours is forfeit to me.” With a great gesture it welcomed the wisest Forefathers, and the strongest, and the most skilled, and let them become of it in blood and bone. To the others it said: “Go and wither behind your hardwater and smoothstone, dregs of the Stars! Never to be forgiven by Sky, Sea, or Soil, forever to be hunted by your once-brothers. Gather for me your tribute, whisper for me your prayers, and always remember that which all predates.” And so did the Forefathers retreat to their domes and burrows, to weave from their tribulations the cradle of our people.

We all have @jundlife.bsky.social to thank for this one.

From Regrillian oral history.

Regrilles III, an old mining colony, remained isolated since its collapse in 2082. Its culture emphasizes subjugation to the planet's hostile environment and flora/fauna.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Before the Forefathers, there was Wild. They descended from the heavens in clouds of steel and ash, lightning in their wake, fire in their hands, and this, the Wild allowed. They wove mountains into yurts and dug palaces deep into the earth, and this, too, the Wild allowed. They turned to the land and set to taming it, and this, the Wild did not allow. It summoned Sky, Sea, and Soil, and it told them: “The Stars let loose a Thing Another; upon my flesh it claims domain. Fall upon it, lay it low.” “I shall crack the earth beneath,” said elder daughter Soil, “and feed their homes to the hollows.” And its roots-claws-fingers it stretched, and tore the land asunder. “I shall wash across the plains,” said Sea, the middle child, “and turn red and boiling with fury.” And it flowed into every river, and rained down from every cloud, setting all it touched aflame. Youngest son Sky said nothing, but its great wings it did beat, and breathed foul poison into the winds. The Forefathers looked upon the ruins of their infant empire and wondered what could be done. They fell at Wild’s feet and begged to be spared, for the Stars did refuse them and there was no way home. “Over my flesh you claimed domain, Thing Another,” said the Wild. “Now yours is forfeit to me.” With a great gesture it welcomed the wisest Forefathers, and the strongest, and the most skilled, and let them become of it in blood and bone. To the others it said: “Go and wither behind your hardwater and smoothstone, dregs of the Stars! Never to be forgiven by Sky, Sea, or Soil, forever to be hunted by your once-brothers. Gather for me your tribute, whisper for me your prayers, and always remember that which all predates.” And so did the Forefathers retreat to their domes and burrows, to weave from their tribulations the cradle of our people.

We all have @jundlife.bsky.social to thank for this one.

From Regrillian oral history.

Regrilles III, an old mining colony, remained isolated since its collapse in 2082. Its culture emphasizes subjugation to the planet's hostile environment and flora/fauna.

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

Welp, here we go... see you in a few hours!

After the third day, it reached his bones. That's when he chose to stop breathing. It started as a rash where she had kissed him; two red marks on his forehead, meeting at the corners, spreading outwards through his skin. He said it felt right, at first. Warm. He called it a miracle, the divine will of his flesh made manifest, enacting its inherent desire to change. When it reached his eyes, he said the world unfolded around him. "I think," he told me once, as I tended to his bleeding, "I think I see Heaven. It's a place for the meat, once it escapes." "Escapes from what?" I asked him. He looked me in the eyes. His irises spiraled. "From the offal." His situation worsened on the second day. He preached his new gospel to the nurses, the doctors, and the other patients; we learned to ignore him. He told us about the offal: the brain and the heart, the soul, and how they stayed on the slaughterhouse floor, shattered shells of the worldly egg, once the meat broke free and ascended. On the third day, she came to visit him. None of us dared turn her away; her lips were blood-red. She found his room without looking, and when she saw him, standing at the threshold like a snail without a shell, her eyes welled up with tears. "By God," I heard her whisper. "You do see." She placed a kiss on his forehead, as she had done before, and for the first time, he looked afraid. A dogwood tree grew where we buried him. Its branches bend like he did.

#FantasyIndiesSpooktober, day 4.

Another short piece I still really like. Not technically a snippet, but many of these are so brief that I don't think it really matters.

"Infection"

Nothing today I haven't shared already. All well! Excited to see what everyone else has for today.

📣 Help Me Perfect My Novel!

Beta Readers Needed! 📚

✨ Magical Realism
✨ Sweet Romance
✨ Historical Setting

Click the link in my bio to sign up for the first sample!

#MagicalRealism #SweetRomance
#BetaReadersWanted
#BetaReaderCall
#NeurodivergentRepresentation
#AmWriting

What a gorgeous cover! I'm going to have to pick it up.

For #FantasyIndiesSpooktober 3, I want to share this very short #horror piece I made a few years back. I'm still proud of it.

Incidentally, I've been meaning to drop Squarespace for a while. Anyone got a good alternative for keeping my writing portfolio in?

www.danielfbispo.com/cursed-foota...

Execution might play a part, yeah, but this might be a more generalized "me" problem. I also find fight scenes in movies very difficult to care about--even the very well-regarded ones. Doesn't mean they aren't good!

I've since embraced this part of me and now I avoid writing combat altogether.

The sterile hallways welcomed her like a second home; where the promenade was wide and full of life, these were tight, brutalist, silent. Without canned musak to flood her thoughts, she could hear each of her steps echoing and the gentle hum of station machinery behind each surface. She took a left, a right, another left, a path so familiar she could have walked it in her sleep, until she reached the Pathology labs.

Not me smashing my alarm clock like a Looney Tunes character every morning.

Unrelated, from FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity

The sterile hallways welcomed her like a second home; where the promenade was wide and full of life, these were tight, brutalist, silent. Without canned musak to flood her thoughts, she could hear each of her steps echoing and the gentle hum of station machinery behind each surface. She took a left, a right, another left, a path so familiar she could have walked it in her sleep, until she reached the Pathology labs.

Not me smashing my alarm clock like a Looney Tunes character every morning.

Unrelated, from FIRST LIGHT:

#WIPSnips #WriteSky #WritingCommunity