the erased

Litreactor is currently hosting the Teleport Us sci fi writing challenge for the month of February. I submitted a story the other day, and thought I might share so people wouldn’t have to create a login to read it if they didn’t want. 

The rules were simple: 

• Must be a science-fiction story
• Must explore a utopian/dystopian theme
• Must feature a technology that’s scientifically plausible
• Must feature a non-human character (what is a non-human? you tell us!)
• Must be more than 1,500 words but less than 4,000 words

“A Black Tie Affair” runs close to the 4,000 word mark and exists in the same dystopian world as The Erased. The reviews looked pretty good the last time I checked. Consider rating it if you like it, and be sure to check out the other entrants (especially this guy).

Without further ado…

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Between the sickly sweet smell of coolant and the chemical spray I used on her simulated skin, you might think I’m not accustomed to working with a model like this. You might think the combination of such chemicals inhaled is the reason I think her so beautiful. Or maybe it’s the way the pinkish purple light of the engineering station reflects off her; she resembles a porcelain doll or the sleeping beauty of some long-forgotten fairy tale.

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If you like science fiction stories, especially those about dystopias, or androids, or inexplicable incarceration, this might just be for you. And hey, the price is right.

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My e-book, The Erased, is available for free today 4/18 through Friday 4/20 in the Amazon Kindle store. Remember, I provide the first few chapters for free anyway if you want to check them out (and Amazon previews them as well).

Here’s a review from the Amazon page:

“A great story depicting a not so far fetched future. Told concurrently from multiple perspectives, this novel keeps you on the edge of the page, and demands you to see and understand all sides of the story. The ending leaves you wondering who the antagonists and protagonists really are or who to really root for (or how you wish the future might look)…in other words it was a great story that left me wanting more.”

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“A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails — parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital ‘pocket litter.’ It is, in some measure, the realization of the ‘total information awareness’ program created during the first term of the Bush administration — an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.”