Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly blog hop where participants post eight to ten sentences of their writing. You can find out more about it by clicking on the image.
Continuing the opening from The Long Dark, Anna drives a crawler across the surface of a massive plant hundreds of meters deep.
=====
Through the wraparound windows of the cab, Anna judged the distance to her goal. The marker beacon, standing two hundred meters away, had canted at an angle, and the smooth olive ground nearby had a mottled look confirming the grim picture from the ground radar. The upper layers here had thinned dangerously. She couldn’t risk the crawler any closer to retrieve that beacon, but the town needed to salvage all the working equipment it could for next season’s harvesting operations.
Anna reached for the bank of controls alongside her seat, and the short wave radio hissing and sputtering on top of the ground radar and inertial navigation screens.
“Serendipity Control, this is Charlie Tango seven niner, respond please.”
She scrunched her face and hit the volume button at the blast of static from the radio. She fiddled with the decoding controls, tuning the software that struggled to pluck meaning from the waves of electromagnetic interference bathing the atmosphere.
“Serendipity Control, this is Charlie Tango seven niner. Anyone receiving?”
=====
And (making use of the new rules) this scene continues ...
On the third try, a distorted voice answered. “Go ahead, Charlie Tango seven niner.”
“Got eyeballs on my last beacon for this run. Nearest end of the south-west line, but approach is tricky. Will be off grid for an hour or so.”
=====
Last week, I started creating artwork for the book cover. As the weeks go by, I’ll include some snaps of progress. Here is a snapshot from Monday and Friday ...
Posts
19 comments:
Glad she got hold of someone, but being off grid in dangerous terrain for that long sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Definitely intrigued!
I think this approach could be difficult and dangerous.
Your writing is so visual! Wonderful details but not to the point of being obtrusive of the story.
I always wondered how you do your artwork. Cool!
Seems like a situation that could go bad for the character in so many ways. Tense and intense and I could visualize it so well from your description. Great snippet!
The reader is right in that hot seat with her. And that cover art . . . jaw drop. Gorgeous. Can't wait to see the finished product, Ian!
Jessica, Ed, this whole planet is a dangerous accident waiting to happen!
Teresa, I thought the artwork side might interest people as it progresses.
Veronica, I hope the visuals are coming across OK.
Nancy, there's a long road ahead on the artwork, but my plan is to keep you all posted.
I love the visuals, I feel like I'm in the world with Anna. The cover art is beautiful, you're very talented.
That spotty reception could get her in trouble, or prevent her getting help.
Brittany, thank you.
Aurora, that reception causes big problems for the colonists ... and for Anna!
I loved the walkie-talkie dialogue! It reminded me of a couple of scenes from Die Hard 2!
I enjoyed this teaser. Sounds like the book will be a good.
I can easily picture this scene! Your writing is so detailed and descriptive, Ian. Wonderful job!
Frank, hope it came over as realistic enough!
Nightingale, book expected to be out this summer.
Julie, glad you think so!
Very tense. I expect a lot could go wrong here.
Being off the grid can't be good. Love the walkie-talkie radio lingo.
That does not sound good. If she goes off grid, she might get into trouble. Great snippet.
Elaine, Karen, Diane, on Sponge, a lot could go wrong at any time! Thanks for visiting.
As a longtime amateur radio operator, I can relate to the difficulty of making contact during terrible conditions. Not sure I'd be brave enough to go "off-grid" on an alien planet, though. You've set the scene well for what's shaping up to be an uh-oh event. Well done.
Hi Ian - I'd not like to be on my own out there ... but she has her goal in sight, and then just has to make sure she can collect all the useful material to get back 'home'. Love your art work - talented man! So pleased you're in the groove now ... Hilary
Post a Comment