《Hustling Through the Dark》Vlog #11
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"Hello, worlds.
"We're now a twentieth of an AU from Earth, and Pumpkin is purring right along.
"I've been spending a lot of the last day talking with both the old and the new Fazzes, and a few other people. Turns out that the organic Faz didn't quite fill out all the proper paperwork, and she's looking at a civil fine or two. The digital Faz is in the clear, after the organic Faz had claimed all the details were taken care of, so her software self had no mens rea of doing anything wrong. We're far enough from Insulo Tri that it's not really possible for the original Faz to remote-control her - though she does want to use up a lot of my bandwidth sending personal updates to her robotic twin. So I've been trying to get to know the new Faz as a distinct person.
"It's... okay, it's downright weird. The original Faz has done the lifelogging thing since before she was born; she's been recording video of what's going on around her her whole life, with various digital gizmos. And all of that went into the new Faz, as memories. And she acts like Faz, has Faz's opinions, and so on... but the original Faz is deeply committed to being a fully-organic being, even if that organicness happens to be shaped like livestock instead of a baseline human; and the new Faz is very excited to explore what life as a digital person can be like. In fact, Faz is currently housed in my tailsnake's computer, and insisted I make today's vlog while she's embodied as said tailsnake."
"Hi, everybody! I always knew, but never really knew, that Dee looked at things differently, with a computer brain and a living body. I'm going to find so many ways to embarrass her - privately. Mostly. And we're going to be private! Nobody else will get to know a single thing we do aboard this ship unless we want them to. Isn't that wild?"
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"So... looks like I'm not going to get out of life being confusing and complicated and interesting. And that's just with the new Faz - I've already had at least three arguments with the original Faz about how much money she dropped on this project. Without getting into details, I'll just say that the two of us have very different conceptions about the marginal value of a given number of euros, I wish she'd spent the money differently, but now that it's been spent we're just going to deal with that spending having been done."
"You won't see me complaining about the purchase. After all, if I hadn't paid for me, I wouldn't exist."
"And I think Faz is being silly with pronouns just to try to get my eye to start twitching."
"Hey, I have to get my fun where I can. Do you want me to start dropping hints that you have an actual secret that you've managed to keep from everyone?"
"I can still turn around and leave you behind, and only lose two days of travel time, you know."
"Ah, we both know you won't do that. Cee would pitch a fit if you didn't at least keep an offline copy of me aboard."
"You know, for a year I planned to spend all by myself, a lot of people are still sticking their oars in."
"It's your own fault. You could have lived in a virtual paradise, and had centuries of hedonism in an instant, but no, you had to stick with the human race and get a job and make friends and all that junk."
"Mm. I suppose if I'm not going to toss you out the airlock, I should at least finish applying all the optional upgrades to your body, for when you want to move around on your own again. And set up the biofabricator for its various realism-enhancing goops. And reprogram the clothes fabber to at least make you a hazmat suit for emergencies, even if you don't need a vaccsuit. And start discussing with you how to split up the hobby space, for whatever you get up to these days besides focusing your attention on me. I mean, with this you being an AI, can you still play the piano?"
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"Pia-? I'm a trombonist, as you very well know."
"Oh, good, you are actually paying attention. You still haven't told me if you still plan on a job programming like the other you does, or you're going to branch out in a different direction, or what. I mean, with your body having been paid for, you don't really need to work hard to cover rent, or any of the other expenses your other you's been covering, so you-you have a lot of options available."
"Well, I always have wanted to be... a lumberjack! Leaping from tree to tree! As they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia, with my best girl by my side!"
"You know the two of us are probably the only ones who'll get that reference, right?"
"Yep. But the two of us do get it. And you're underestimating how many people have their assistant AIs throw up context details in AR. Hey, how about we put on Grail? I want to see if watching it as an AI feels like how I remember watching it with meat-for-brains, when you showed it to me the first time, and I made fun of you for being English when the French so obviously won."
"Sounds like a plan to me, though if you derail the show at the Castle Anthrax scene again, I can still build a catapult to launch you back home, even if you're not as big as a cow. And I'm going to pop you back in your body, first; I know you're going to want to clop along with the coconuts, and don't want you to give me a tail-headache by headbanging with my tail. ... And given that that sentence made complete sense to me, I just might have to double-check with Cee that I'm actually still sane. Until next time, world!"
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Ruins of Isulia ~ Book 1 : Awakening of the Emarine
Creatures once believed to be legend have invaded the kingdom of Vulkira. King Erik must uncover the truth behind their sudden attack. The crushing responsibility threatens to break him and his kingdom. In a remote town, Henry, an energetic bookworm is thrust into the world as chaos engulfs his once seemingly peaceful town. His lord has a task for him, one in which will change his life forever. A haunting past eats away at the Queen of Xer. Cara is hellbent on protecting the ones she loves and the future of her kingdom. Balancing the greater good, she fights to keep her head above a sea of guilt. Betrayal is at each corner, shadows step into the light, a supernatural force awaits the time to strike. Awakening an ancient civilization from their past may be their only hope now. A spiraling doom awaits the world of Isulia. **************** I put the gore warning not because my book is overly gory (It's not constantly blood and guts). However, there are several moments that are extremely violent. I've always loved shows/movies such as, (The Expanse, The Boys, Banshee, Kingdom of heaven, Vikings, Attack on Titan, Baccano, etc.) I am descriptive of the scenes with violence. So be warned :) I've worked long and hard and have finally finished my third draft. Still needs work but everything storywise is complete. There are still a few things I need to add and tweak. Grammatical errors and flushing out the characters and dialogue still needs work. If you see any errors or plot holes, please feel free to point them out. It helps me improve upon the story. Cover art was done by: Micaiah William If you'd like to consider supporting my work, there is a link to my Patreon.
8 79Release
Many years ago, magic, magical races, and creatures left the world humans called Earth, and restricting access to the planet from all who would wish to enter. These magical races and creatures faded into myth and legend becoming tales humans would tell each other for entertainment. Little did the inhabitants of this vast world know, the magical races and creatures would one day return. Brought back to earth, these magical beings can choose their own way. Humans must once again learn how to craft and survive facing constant attacks without their previous technological weapons and advances. Will they be able to make alliances with magical races that are only myth and legend? Defend what they call home and the people they love from the monsters that emerge from the dark? One hope humanity has for survival, is the one who brought magic back upon the land. The mage who can claim territories as a Contender, Lord Shea. UPDATE 17 Jan 21: I am working on writing more of the book and intend to post more as often as I can. I will try and post new chapters weekly. I am writing in my spare time with a full time job, and four kids. Fortunately, I have a wonderful wife who helps me a lot or I would never get anything written.
8 120The Legend of the End Witch
The woods loom thick with evergreen,An ancient, old, forgotten scene,And through the mist and tangled rootsA tiny witch strolls on between. Though twisted bark casts shadows strong,The little witch steps slow along,And as she wanders through the mistShe sings a soft and quiet song...
8 128Essentia Animus
Second Book of the Soul - Celesi Veil Trilogy When the living essence of three girls are put at risk, giving room for a second essence within themselves, even their hyper developed fantasy world might not be enough to contain their new found ambitions. Another story of another world, these three girls must adapt to their new essence, all while each is left to question if they are truly still even alive. While this story is a sequel of the previous story in the trillogy, it is also fully capable of standing alone in its own light, taking place in a distant corner of a Celese returning readers will be otherwise incapable of recognizing. However, the events of the story are a spoiler for the previous book, in case that matters to anyone. This story takes place over two centuries after the events of Vitae Memorandum, when Celese had developed into an advanced world, improved to a point that it is much like modern-day Earth while still using the gift instead of technology. The Aethyx languages are still present in this book, and even English still exists in the world after the events of the previous book, but are much less of a focus after the same closing events of the previous book. What is instead important is how the ending events of the previous book had resulted in the start of the Instrumentation Era, and exactly how the gift translates in a modern-day sense. While this book is still effectively a fantasy world of its own kind of magic, it isn’t the classical medieval scene that would be typical for such a story. The laws of science still do not exist in Celese, but that didn’t stop it from developing into something that looks similar enough. Earth itself still remains present on the other side of the veil, and its previous exposure continues to shape and advance Celese into the world it has become. This story contains scenes exibiting mania and similar dark themes, as it goes to great length to explore concepts of life and death. While the degree of such themes should not be considered to be as serious compared to matters such as actual horror, the psychological depth is still siginifcant enough to be potentially concerning for people sensitive to matters of this nature, such as any individuals with concerns questioning matters of suicide, mental harm, or a variety of emotional injuries. While none of these subjects actually occur in the story, readers who are currently troubled by such matters may find themselves considering old wounds if they are especially capable of empathy while reading, which could lead to furthered emotional or mental stress. Readers with a high capacity for empathy may find themselves troubled by concerns regarding any potential lack of mental/emotional control as well as considerations regarding the meaning of death. Readers who appreciate subtle dark themes in a story may instead find this to be an interesting twist of the same idea.
8 116Das Neue Vaterland
Konrad Feldpetzer had believed the state propagand fed to him for as long as he could remember in his hometown in Bavaria. It was all built on a foundation of cards, though, with his chance abduction by the French resistance being all the breeze needed to blow it away.
8 160Alteria: The Fall of Gods
The world of Alteria has achieved peace after the millennium eternal war but unbeknownst to the normal people, another nightmare is about to begin. How will the future tyrant, blood emperor changed when someone guided him, someone, who has experienced the world again to try and try to save the world. "So i can't win alone even when I have reincarnated" the blonde youth smiled before succumbing to his wounds as the world slowly crumbled around him as the gods merely gave him a disdained glance. A chapter every 2 days or every day. Depends on how busy i am.
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