Tag Archives: Roadside Picnic

We Are Away

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And so it begins.  Yesterday I finished writing the notes for my novel, A Collection of Shards.  I mapped out the basic plot, main characters and setting in those notes.  I am impressed with how the idea for the novel is coming together.  The novel will have a tight plot with lots of action.  I plan on putting a lot of attention to details.  The story will feel visceral at times, dreamy at others.  I based my characters on real people, should they should feel alive.  On top of that I plan on narrating the story in a weaving manner, to make it feel layered.  And thanks to the real locations and technology, I can attempt to write a story based on an “altered reality”, similar to that of Strugatsky’s The Roadside Picnic.

With the novel already well planned, I’ve started writing the first chapter.  I changed the beginning to a totally new scene that I’ve not worked with before.  Still I’m excited about writing this novel.  It make turn out as the next science fiction epic.

An Empty Day

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I’ve been waiting for one of these days for a long time. This is the kind of day, where you ask. “So what should I do?”  And the world answers, “Whatever you’d like.”  I plan on calling such days “empty days”.

An empty day is not really empty.  Rather these days act just like the “empty” objects in Strugatsky’s book, the Roadside Picnic. An empty in the book simply consisted of two metallic cones stuck by their bases.  But their bases weren’t actually connected. Rather an empty bit of space remained inbetween. No matter what was done to an empty, you couldn’t separate the cones or push them together. The book starts when the protagonist takes a scientist to retrieve a “full empty”.  An empty with something inbetween the two cones.

So today is much like an empty. Yesterday and tomorrow firmly cling to today. But since no activity defines or guides my actions today, today is empty. And I plan on making it a full day. I plan on doing this mostly by picking at little tasks here and there. Improving my lot in life, progressing forward. That sort of stuff. I wonder if more of my days could be like this. Or they all like this, and I just notice this once in a while. Hmm…

Let the Mad Scribblings

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It took me some time. But now I am ready. I caught up with most of backlog of work, and now I can finally sit down and work on something productive. After much debate, and internal conflict I brought myself to writing a novel. Its a new idea that spawned in my brain, early this year. A kind of spiritual off-spring of Strugtasky’s “Roadside Picnic”. The excitement of writing the piece is almost too much.

I am also looking for work. So if anyone needs an enlightened programmer, technical writer or world dictator, I await your proposal. In the meantime, I plan on writing and working on my existing projects. That I way I look and feel like a working, productive citizen.

Anyways, let the mad scribblings begin.