Another beautifully-written story. I chuckled at your inclusion of wellness podcasters, as well as at the themes of corporate criticism that run through a number of your stories. Agree with Mr Reese's comment that your voice is very strong.
Wellness podcasters are multiplying like the plague. Thank you so much for the kind words, Sanja. I try really hard to write well, so thanks. And thanks for your ongoing support.
This was a pretty interesting read. I can see Adams all over here. And a hatred for corporate terms and culture. The city of Melbourne acting as a backdrop. Satirical takes on our current culture and the internet. Shots fired at LinkedIn. Corporate insidiousness trying to repackage itself as sincerity.
What I'm trying to get at is that it's soooo you. Like, if I read this without knowing the author, I'd think, "Huh, this sounds like something Luke would write." I think that's pretty cool. It means your stories are beginning to take a distinct identity of their own, if that makes any sense.
Thanks for sharing this man. I really liked reading this one a lot.
Random tidbits:
>Loved the take on how UBI and the AI revolution took a different turn from what people were expecting.
>"They wore sweater vests and were programmed to fear accountability the way a human might a shark." I dunno why, but this line gets me the most, lol.
>The paragraphs about the beetle crawling on Ligma's toes and about distances being crossed were nice. Too often people go all in on satire and after a while it just becomes senseless, at least to me. You gotta ground it with something real.
Mate, that’s such a nice comment for me to read! Thank you. I think most writers is looking to find a unique voice and to hear I’m on the right path is warming. Thanks.
The sweater vest joke reminds me a bit of The Onion. ‘Man loses twenty year battle with gorilla.’ Its a familiar structure, applied in the wrong context. I’m glad you like it. That was my favourite line too.
This one was awesome. The story did a lot of world building, but it was about one bloke. I imagine it was difficult to balance the character/ story with the development and presentation of future Melbourne. I liked how that was done with small details here and there. I think that was a good way to pace it.
Like how many animals evolve into crabs as if it's inevitable, everybody eventually getting into pornography or podcasting feels deeply troubling. In my mind, this story was about my nephew Rory for some reason - not sure why.
Notes:
• 2nd Paragraph introduces 'Ligma' - My guard is up! (Edit. 12th paragraph: there it is!)
• Love the little details that implies a whole world - Huberman tower, Tattooed Robots, Insect Vindaloo.
• Enjoyed the idea that wellness podcasting was classless relative to pornography production.
• 'Childless HR reps' are the worst people on Earth.
• "once more he was confronted in the vindaloo air by his own nakedness" felt autobiographical.
• AI Trains running behind schedule to make Melbourne people feel comfortable is great haha.
• The passage about the robot workforce was strange in the sense that you were just descirbing 2024, but used the word 'robot' to make it science fiction. As in, the only exegeration was that our society would eventually be automated - not what actually occurs. I liked that
• Somehow the ending was more tragic than I anticipated
Side note on the graphic for this story - I was reading the Lemmings Wikipedia 3 days ago. Spooky.
What a great comment. Thanks Bill. Balancing the character/plot with the world was my challenge for this piece. I allowed myself to riff a bit more than usual about the culture, history, and backstory. I really enjoyed that freedom—as many details as there are in it, there are 3x I excluded. My way of trying to make the extra detail work was to strategically place action. I tried to build up some intrigue/will to read on before dropping the detail. And I tried to end each run of exposition/detail by tying it back to character and place. My hope was it would be more natural then.
I like that you picked up on the robot future just being 2024 but with robots aspect. One of the luxuries of sci-fi is the ability to imagine an exaggerated future. I think it’s rather scary to imagine it is basically the same but we don’t participate. I’m sure Neil deGrasse Tyson will figure it out though. Don’t believe me? Just ask him.
And the trains being late: I like those kind of gags. As for the vindaloo bit, I have no idea what you mean. I eat butter chicken, clothed.
My favourite to date. Not a word felt wasted.
“Parental market gap” got me 😆.
Ahhh thanks, Chris! Not a word wasted is a beautiful comment. Now that I’m back I look forward to writing more. Cheers.
Another beautifully-written story. I chuckled at your inclusion of wellness podcasters, as well as at the themes of corporate criticism that run through a number of your stories. Agree with Mr Reese's comment that your voice is very strong.
Wellness podcasters are multiplying like the plague. Thank you so much for the kind words, Sanja. I try really hard to write well, so thanks. And thanks for your ongoing support.
He finally remembered the Substack password!/s
This was a pretty interesting read. I can see Adams all over here. And a hatred for corporate terms and culture. The city of Melbourne acting as a backdrop. Satirical takes on our current culture and the internet. Shots fired at LinkedIn. Corporate insidiousness trying to repackage itself as sincerity.
What I'm trying to get at is that it's soooo you. Like, if I read this without knowing the author, I'd think, "Huh, this sounds like something Luke would write." I think that's pretty cool. It means your stories are beginning to take a distinct identity of their own, if that makes any sense.
Thanks for sharing this man. I really liked reading this one a lot.
Random tidbits:
>Loved the take on how UBI and the AI revolution took a different turn from what people were expecting.
>"They wore sweater vests and were programmed to fear accountability the way a human might a shark." I dunno why, but this line gets me the most, lol.
>The paragraphs about the beetle crawling on Ligma's toes and about distances being crossed were nice. Too often people go all in on satire and after a while it just becomes senseless, at least to me. You gotta ground it with something real.
Mate, that’s such a nice comment for me to read! Thank you. I think most writers is looking to find a unique voice and to hear I’m on the right path is warming. Thanks.
The sweater vest joke reminds me a bit of The Onion. ‘Man loses twenty year battle with gorilla.’ Its a familiar structure, applied in the wrong context. I’m glad you like it. That was my favourite line too.
Thanks for reading as always, Mr. Reese.
This one was awesome. The story did a lot of world building, but it was about one bloke. I imagine it was difficult to balance the character/ story with the development and presentation of future Melbourne. I liked how that was done with small details here and there. I think that was a good way to pace it.
Like how many animals evolve into crabs as if it's inevitable, everybody eventually getting into pornography or podcasting feels deeply troubling. In my mind, this story was about my nephew Rory for some reason - not sure why.
Notes:
• 2nd Paragraph introduces 'Ligma' - My guard is up! (Edit. 12th paragraph: there it is!)
• Love the little details that implies a whole world - Huberman tower, Tattooed Robots, Insect Vindaloo.
• Enjoyed the idea that wellness podcasting was classless relative to pornography production.
• 'Childless HR reps' are the worst people on Earth.
• "once more he was confronted in the vindaloo air by his own nakedness" felt autobiographical.
• AI Trains running behind schedule to make Melbourne people feel comfortable is great haha.
• The passage about the robot workforce was strange in the sense that you were just descirbing 2024, but used the word 'robot' to make it science fiction. As in, the only exegeration was that our society would eventually be automated - not what actually occurs. I liked that
• Somehow the ending was more tragic than I anticipated
Side note on the graphic for this story - I was reading the Lemmings Wikipedia 3 days ago. Spooky.
What a great comment. Thanks Bill. Balancing the character/plot with the world was my challenge for this piece. I allowed myself to riff a bit more than usual about the culture, history, and backstory. I really enjoyed that freedom—as many details as there are in it, there are 3x I excluded. My way of trying to make the extra detail work was to strategically place action. I tried to build up some intrigue/will to read on before dropping the detail. And I tried to end each run of exposition/detail by tying it back to character and place. My hope was it would be more natural then.
I like that you picked up on the robot future just being 2024 but with robots aspect. One of the luxuries of sci-fi is the ability to imagine an exaggerated future. I think it’s rather scary to imagine it is basically the same but we don’t participate. I’m sure Neil deGrasse Tyson will figure it out though. Don’t believe me? Just ask him.
And the trains being late: I like those kind of gags. As for the vindaloo bit, I have no idea what you mean. I eat butter chicken, clothed.
As always, thanks for reading.