Paddy > Recent Status Updates

For several reasons far too long-winded to go into here, I’ve been unable to focus on the written word for the last few years. Not having the ability to simply dive on in to a new novel was very much missed. It became an exercise in frustration, and far from the relaxing, immersive feeling I once enjoyed.

Alexi has - for now at least - changed that, and I am truly grateful to be able to read what he has to say.

Well, so far it’s certainly nailed the vibe - and considering Blade-Runner has consistently remained in my Top 3 favourite films of all time for over 40 years, that’s no feint praise.

I’m not as convinced with regards the characters however, as they [currently at least] seem to be little more than an afterthought to the detailed World-Building, and both are vital for this to really work.

Onwards…

Death stalks the streets of Philadelphia. Cold, detached…remorseless. But these days, a lifeless body means more than the end of a person’s story. It comes with a question. One that’s my responsibility to answer.”

HE STOLE WHAT WAS YOURS AND GAVE IT TO YOUR ENEMY.

FOLLOW ME.

I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT
DEATH LOOKS LIKE.

“Look what they give you.
Just so they can take it away.”

Yup. Rick’s still a total dick…

“What to do? Step on it? Stop its flailing underfoot? Make a show of strength?”

Having been diagnosed with both m.e. and ptsd over the last 3 years, reading has sadly become increasingly difficult due to various factors - the most obvious ones being focus (or rather, lack of it) and “brain fog”.

So I find myself dipping in and out of books seeing if something sticks, and have found some respite in Graphic Novels and Biographies. This one has me hooked - so I’ll take that as a win!

“Even though we’re living in Science Fiction, let’s try and make the Science work as best as we possibly can.” ~Gary Hutzel (VFX Lead)

“Skull diameter scales to total mass. Mandible length scales to EM transparency at one angstrom. One hundred thirteen facial dimensions, each presenting a different variable. Principle-component combinations present as multi-feature aspect ratios.”

Can confirm, this book is indeed #HardSciFi

”Their marriage decayed with the exponential determinism of a radioactive isotope.”

When they said it was "Hard Sci-Fi", they really weren't frakking kidding.

“What became of the Black People of Sumer?” the traveller asked the old man, “for ancient records show that the people of Sumer were Black. What happened to them?” “Ah,” the old man sighed. “They lost their history, so they died.” ~The Destruction of Black Civilization [Opening Quote]

“We talk in order to impose limits, to contain the world in a narrow frame. Yet every textbook on language proceeds upon an assumption of communication, concerning itself with structure and grammar, with meaningful exchange, with the possibility of analysis.”

It has become increasingly hard for me to ravenously devour books like I used to due to my condition which often makes concentrating on something for a period of time particularly difficult - not to mention frustrating.

I have so many wonderful books begging for my attention, so I appreciate the magic they weave now more than ever when one pulls me in.

Fifty pages in a day? That’s a big deal.
I’ll take it.

“Isn’t it a noble thing all the same, loneliness? There’s dignity in it, at least. You can’t make a show of yourself when you’re on your own. You can’t sound stupid opposite nobody. People are better inside in your head. When you’re longing for them, they’re perfect.”

“All he could do was think about how some lives are full to bursting with people, work, sport, children and fun and his own was all empty spaces where those things ought rightly be, were he the kind of man that could close his fist around opportunity and keep a tight howlt of it rather than shrinking from it and hiding in his parents house nearly too scared to even peep out for fear of failure and ridicule...”

“May is always lovely, no matter what... May was Daddy’s Mother’s name. She was a famous beauty. She could make the stones laugh, too. May was Daddy’s favourite month. Was that because it was the month his Mother was named? Maybe it was because it was a month of grace and beauty and smells that could make your heart feel like it was going to burst.”

“How could a man’s life just be made up of sadness over his dead Father, worry over his shrinking Mother and fear over his childhood enemy jumping out at him from behind the stupid IRA memorial every evening? Mother was shrinking too. She’d gone from fully upright two years ago to a small bit stooped over just after Daddy died to a little hunched-over thing, like a question mark wrapped in sorrow and silence”

“You say I murdered those men back there. But I say to you that I saved the lives of so many unknowable others. Those who would murder you—strip you away from all your family and friends—and remember nothing of it. They cannot live, not without some fear, some specter, and if murder is what you must name it, then I gladly accept the claim.”

"They brought me back before the ordinary man, all roped and trussed. I did not even look at him. They blindfolded me and tossed me into the back of another wagon, and, after a short ride, tossed me into the same pit from which my ordeal began..."

"I looked up into the starry cloudless night, and judging by the half-moon’s journey across the sky, I knew that it was somewhere close to midnight. The fire roared high, beating back the December chill, and before I knew it, everyone was in the Street dancing. I slowly backed away until I had a view of everything. There were dozens of us down there. It was an entire nation in movement."