Contraband | Sci-fi Short Audiobook
Vložit
- čas přidán 14. 02. 2024
- “Wounds that cut us deep leave big scars.”
Thanks to Isaac Arthur and the SFIA team for another great topic!
Video: • Smart Cities
Written toward the topic: “Smart Cities”
If you prefer to read rather than listen or would like to read along, full text of this and all my Sci-Fi Weeklies are available through my Substack: perowe.substack.com
perowe.substack.com/p/contraband
Misfits Season 1 Complete Audiobook: • The Misfits, by P.E. R...
Rowe’s Bookstore: www.amazon.com/author/p.e.rowe
Support (greatly appreciated): www.rowelit.com/support
Sci-Fi Collections: www.rowelit.com/collections-s...
Now on Twitter: / scifirowe
More on this project: www.rowelit.com/sci-fi-weeklies
For the serious writers out there: Mechanics of Fiction Writing Series
/ @mechanicsoffiction
About Rowe Writes: • Introducing: Rowe Writ...
About this project: I am writing a weekly sci-fi story to the theme of Isaac Arthur’s SFIA videos. It’s a crazy challenging timeframe to create a good short story in, and to do so publicly is even more daunting. I’m just hoping some good stories come out of this, I have fun writing them, and most importantly, the audience enjoys!
Thanks for stopping by!
Outro music "Lazy Afternoon" by softy x Lucid Green courtesy of Lofi Records:
softy x Lucid Green - Lazy Afternoon
- Provided by Lofi Records
- Watch: • softy x Lucid Green - ...
• softy x Lucid Green
- Download/Stream: fanlink.to/OvernightEP
To vote for the next Audience-Selected story topic, check out this month’s poll!
www.youtube.com/@RoweLit/community
i just saw something interesting in real science, a newly discovered thing in our bodies. Its called an obelisk, and it is something kind of between a virus and a viroid. Its not understood what it is doing other than invading different bacteria we have in us. I guess a story with a new obelisk in our bodies to hurt us or help us would be good.
Thank you for continuing to make these. You are a great writer and narrator.
Cheers, Herbie! Thank you for being here still to enjoy them 🙏😃 and for all your supportive comments!
Mark CEN CA no method to my madness 😂
Touching story echoing 1984, Snowden, and the terrible general surveillance we are all dealing with today. Well written read as always.
Thanks, MrIzzy! 🙏😃
Love your writing p e, am promoting you to everyone I know. Ive been reading sci fi fr 50 years and youre as god as anyone!. Thanks from Australia!
Cheers, Mike 😃 Very much appreciate the help spreading the word! 🙏 Stick around to the end of this week's outro, as I've got a thank you to the sharers and promoters. Very grateful for the help 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀
You've done a fantastic job taking the Greek city-states and expanding those same human mechanics up to galactic empires. Then taking a small, limited and emotional human view of the same to structure your narrative. Every story is wonderful.
Cheers, GreyGhost! So grateful to hear you're appreciating these stories. 🙏😃 Thanks for so many thoughtful, supportive comments!
The human toll of maintaining a power system is usually ignored. Instead of the victories and loses are what history remembers.
The battle of Stalingard is not known for how hundreds of thousands of civilians died or miraculously survived. The true horrors of war I believe are not on the front lines. But it is found in homes and regular people who shoulder the burden so the powerful can be more powerful. The rich can become more rich. And the sleazebags who usually no act of sacrifice or bravery profiteer off the misery.
Thank PE another masterpiece!
Thanks, Todd! Glad you appreciated this one 🙏
Probably one of the scariest stories you’ve written. The way our devices already listen to us… The idea of living with Ketch feels all too plausible someday.
Cheers, MJ! We all love and support our Etteran compatriots. Like, a lot 😉
Siri and Alexa
Happy to give this video its first like. Keep up the good work.
Cheers, Jim! Very much appreciate it, and fully intend to keep the stories coming 🚀😃
I am in awe at your gift for breathing life into stories and people.
Thanks, Karl! It's a gift to be able to share my work with everyone 🙏
Thank you for another captivating story. I do look forward to Thursday's more than any day of the week
Thank you again.
Thanks, Dan 🙏 Glad to hear it 😃 Thursdays rock!
This story.... I'm listening again right away, as there are many complex aspects requiring contemplation. You write as though sharing parables
With each listening, more is revealed of our shared human experience. Tragedy, loss, hope, trust and bitter betrayal by those with power to destroy or protect our lives .
The vast influences, so impersonal, that change the most intimate aspects of our relationships. You capture the broken, poignant and enduring spirit of your characters with tenderness that is so moving, both heartbreaking and healing .
Thank you once again for a splendid gift!
Wow, Cecile, thank you 🙏 My aim is always that I'm writing something human that qualifies as art each time I'm at the keyboard, but I don't get to be the judge of how effective I am. Thoughtful comments like yours help me to know I'm on the right track! Humbled 🙏😃
War is the scar that bleeds all who see it😢
I'm happy that we got to visit with Carsten. So many great characters in this universe.
Thanks, Brian! I suspect it won't be the last time we visit a new place with Airee 😃
Great story within a story. Once again you show how everyone loses in war.
Also, the value of privacy over convenience is timely.
Cheers, LaVera! 😃 I can't say too much, though. Ketch is listening 😉 Of course, we all love Etterus!
Well done. Moving. Another fantastic Thursday edition.
Thanks, Dave 🙏
Mr. Rowe, your story telling/writing prowess is captivating. Pulled me in as and as hard as L.E. Modisett Jr and Robert Jordan could ever do. Please keep them coming. I can't wait for Thursdays to arrive.
Thanks, Eric! Grinding through tomorrow's audio as we speak 😃🚀🎆
That was an amazing story! I did not know if I would like a story post war. But it was incredible.
Cheers, Mediabot! Glad you enjoyed it 🙏😃
Thank you for another superior tale that entrances the reader and transports them directly to the scene.
Thanks, Noah! It was quite a week on Etterus.
@@RoweLit Oh boy ! Now I know how to spell Etterus.
You are such a great writer. Your narratives are filled with such wonder and humanity. You have a gift of making the future feel so familiar. Thank you for these weekly stories.
Thank you, Andrew. It's a privilege to share them!
One of the best things about this story is that we can understand much of the context, the founding of Athos, the Schism, the war, Lena. The story stands on its own, but you've woven a rich tapestry behind it.
I absolutely love the voices, too. It's a great concept, but your execution is on point. Your consistency is amazing, how you get the voices of each character right, across each episode.
Thanks, Tyotypic! The tapestry feeling is definitely aided by the growing body of other stories. There's a story in the cards to this one "The Light in Heavy Basin" which was the first mention of this war. It's strange now for me to think back to that version of myself who saw only the very tip of that iceberg! Reading has been a learning curve and is still in progress. I'm grateful for the positive feedback 😃
You have 2 subscribers from my recommendations to friends. Thanks
This was an amazing story, exactly why I tell my friends about these stories.
Thanks, 2Kittys 🙏 So grateful you do and glad you're enjoying!
Great juxtaposition of journalism and heartfelt rememberances. Thanks P. E. Rowe. Salud
Cheers, Casard! Glad you enjoyed it 😃
I knew this story resonated with me. Was thinking about asking about asking about a story about what you touch on here. Then I realized that you had. Another thank you for your insights.
I love these stories. Thank you.
Thanks, Kitka! I appreciate all your supportive comments 🙏😃
Most excellent!!!
Thanks, KennyJoe! Glad you liked it😃
Thanks!
Cheers, Unomi!
That was absolutely fantastic. It resounds like the journals of anne frank.
Wow, Ronnie! Thank you. That's some humbling praise 🙏
@RoweLit honestly your skills as a voice actor(?) Are pretty spectacular too. You are just as good as heath miller from audiable.
YEA! I want to listen to this right now, but I have work to do :( I hope to complete it tonight before I hit the sack! Thank You!
Cheers, Keith! Enjoy 😃
What a great story. Thank you PE Rowe. ❤
Thanks, Nicki! 🙏😃
Great stuff Sir. Than you.
Cheers, Steve! 😃
Too many years of war, a sparsely populated city and families destroyed whilst also suffering under the paranoia of control freaks. Yes, truly an all too horrific and familiar situation whatever the era in human ‘civilisation’. There are a couple of sci-fi CGI shorts on CZcams that pursue another scenario: that the weapons that survived the fall of the populations, on both sides, continue to blindly fight on until they can’t. Thought provoking writing as ever Mr. Rowe! I wonder if the historian will meet the commodore…
Cheers, Richard! I have a sense that'll be to intriguing a contact for Airee to pass up 😃
Perfectly weaved in into the whole story❤
Cheers, Saulius 🙏😃
Really excellent story. Thanks.
Thanks, Lady Ponfarr 🙏
I have to give you another hats down for your impeccable depiction of “digital Stasi, UDBA/OZNA, KGB” or western equivalent. Have you studied the psychology of people living under totalitarian regimes? Or did you interviewed some of the “survivors”? Because in some (okay most) eastern bloc countries the live was the war post the war and the feeling of the story describes the struggle of the wrong people in the wrong place. The records were kept, some still are. The records of you, your family, friends, your family, the families of your friends and so on. Oh but there was practically no crime (except the state ones). I’m not paranoid but it’s still there.
Thanks, Mario! But I have to admit I'm a bit confused. I was just writing about Etterus 😉
✨✨✨✨✨ Super!
Thanks, Vicki! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thank you PE
Cheers, Garfield 🙏😃
Tearjerker at the end
A love story
Thanks, Martin 🙏😃
Here's a one-finger salute to monitoring. So breeds rebellion.
👉😃 Ketch loves us all 🙏 Cheers, Casard!
I've been thinking on ways to approach any comment regarding the intimacy scene since thursday. The more I get to know you, the more I understand why I -somehow- knew that the mind behind Preservation Falls is far from 'just' highly talented. The elaborate version of the male 1980's protagonist kissing the distressed damsel to escape the cops so just "follow my lead". Man... P.E.! Maybe I'll use this one on my next date(playfull approach, so consent will be explicit) by saying she has two choices: turn off your phone or pretend we're making out for both our sakes. If only I could make it sound as smart and considerate as you do. Right now, I know sci-fi is an option; but you can write in ways that will remain forever undefined. This I know.
Thanks Holzman! I'm not sure I'd ever make an attempt to put myself in most of my characters' shoes, especially in a moment like that. I hope I never experience the level of desperation that necessitates it, especially if it drops the people I love into similar peril. But humanity has definitely been there before. Sci-fi, to me, is so rich for this very reason--we can see the familiar in it without the direct emotional charge of the specific places and situations that (rightly) fire us up emotionally past our capacity for reason. We probably need to be able to empathize and reason in somewhat equal parts to make good sense of the universe--at least the best sense we crazy humans can manage. The sci-fi galaxy is limitless on many possible dimensions in ways literary fiction struggles to be.
Great writing, very moving.
TR&SP not Tradp - has this actually been defined yet, did I miss it?
Thanks, Martin. Yes, the forebears of the Protectorate formed their charter toward the end of "Schism." Almost everywhere else, they're referred to as Trasp, as it was easier to write and think of as a single word. Tr&sp is a little clunky 😄
Mark cc third time here as i have stated no method to my madness
The bedroom was the only place that Colossus allowed Dr. Forbin to have privacy, so he used it to conspire with his secretary/ now lover soon to be wife. From the book and movie: "Colossus the Forbin Project"
Thanks, Mark! I had to search for this, as I was unfamiliar, but it looks really interesting! And a few standard deviations ahead of its time as well 😃
The beginning was slow. I like your writing so I kept trying. It gets better and better. Thanks!
Cheers, Yedidyah. It's not for me to say whether the slow is effective here (likely the answer is different reader to reader), but it's definitely slow to a purpose. Glad to hear your patience was rewarded 🙏
What is the history of "battery"? what is the timeline of the events in this story? Is there a page with backstory some where?
Hi, Rajesh! Thanks for your question. There isn't really a single page with backstory, there's hundreds of them now 😂 The history/backstory is all in the other stories. I haven't had a chance to timeline or summarize, because it's pretty tough to add that work onto writing next week's story as well.
The best place to learn about the history are the two playlists "Assorted Tales from the Greater Battery" which has a much longer timeline that this story fits inside, or if you just would like to know about this era, "Tales from the West Battery War" is the place to start. Both are on my playlists page: www.youtube.com/@RoweLit/playlists
Hope this helps 😃
Yeah...I liked the story.
Thanks, Vince! Glad to hear it 😄
Mark CEN CA
Mark CEN CA here and gone your something PE
Thanks, Mark!
For a minute i thought the opening was a contemporary commentary.
Thanks, Dark Entropy. Old Airee can be overly philosophical at times, but I think he sees some common themes across history.
I think you've got an old head on relatively young shoulders. These stories of yours are more affecting than they perhaps mean to be.
Or perhaps that's just me.
Thanks, Paul 🙏 Humbling to hear that. The best I can hope for them to be, though, is meaningful. What forms that may take for readers is waaaay above my pay grade. Fiction is a very interesting art form in that way. The writer never really knows what he's making, because the reader makes the story what it is.
@@RoweLit As it should be, the best songs and stories have something to say to the audience, even if it's coming from within themselves. Job done! ☑️
Wow. That opening sentence is unpleasantly wordy....
Thanks, Max! Four words does seem a bit over the top 😂 Should have gone with the Melville Standard I guess: "Call me Airee."