Bot-Four

This is but a sample of this story.  The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.

I want to go back to sleep. I don’t know what that crash was bit it did wake me up. Shit. Fall back to sleep.

“The time is six-fifteen. Would you like to snooze for five minutes?”

Shit. The alarm clock.

“The time is six-fifteen and thirty seconds. Would you like to snooze for five minutes?”

Fuck it. “No.”

“Good morning, then.” I’m up anyway, might as well get to work early. Maybe get some coffee. Forget the coffee, it makes me too excitable.

“Harold?”

“What dear?” Goddamn crash got her up too.

“Could you get some more milk and cheese on your way home today?” I hate going to the store. I hate buying milk and cheese.

“Of course, sweetheart. Why don’t you go back to sleep?” She’ll be out like a light soon. I better get in the shower.

Damn. The water’s too cold and my work clothes are wrinkled. Just my luck. The robots at the Works will think I’m up to something. That’s just what I need. “Fucking robots…"

“What was that, dear?” Shit. Did I say that out loud?

“Nothing princess. Go back to sleep.” I wish I could sleep in.

The ride to the Works takes too damn long, as usual. Damn conveyer roads. I’ll be early for once though. Maybe I’ll give the foreman a bloody heart attack. It’d serve ‘im right for what he did to Jonesy. Prick. Glad I’m not Jonesy though. Wouldn’t trade him places in a million years.

“Works Building Four.” About fucking time. Better not forget my briefcase. I could only imagine what sort of trouble I’d get in if I left my case on one of the public road cars. Oh. Here’s my door.

“Hello, Engineer Liman.” Fucking robots.

“Hello, Tad.” Tad was short for CETAD. CETAD was an acronym for Cybernetic Employee Threat Analyzation Droid. Everyone calls him Tad. Everyone hates him.

“You are slightly earlier than usual. Working on a special project?” I wish they wouldn’t subject us to Tad before letting us into the Works.

“No. Nothing like that, Tad.” I chuckled. Why did I chuckle? He’s going to think it’s suspicious.

Fuck!

“Your static suit is wrinkled. Was your laundry unit malfunctioning last night, Engineer? Or were you working late?” Bad sign, he never believes the truth anyway.

The complete version is available in my print collection Man Against the Future.  From there, you can order signed copies, or buy it for the Kindle or the Nook.

Complete List

Short Stories and Prose:

• By the Bootstraps
• Battle Drone Six
• The Way It Is
• The Whiskey Doctor
• A Peculiar Constitutional
• Hatchet
• The Colossus
• The Hero and The Horror
• In the Late Morning
• My Cross to Bear
• Water Under the Bridge
• The Hope of Humanity
• The Flights of Angels
• A Simple Country Murder
• An Original
• Bedtime on Tatooine
• No Comfort in the End
• Dallas is Where Hope Goes to Die
  
• A Pistol Full of Silver
  
• Convention Sketches
  
• The Accidental Date
  
• A Cold Summer Morning
  
• A Memory's Echo
  
• The Cruel Kids
  
• The Missed Opportunities of Days Gone By
  
• God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut
  
• So Many Nights Ago
  
• A Simpler Time
• The Girl With Green Eyes
  
• The Shadow of Dream
  
• Confessions of a Not-So-Secret Admirer
  
• Some Wintry Reminiscence
  
• Complicated
  
• An Evening of Chthulhu
  
• Bitter-Sweet Dreams
  
• Flight Delayed
  
• Unfaithful (An unfinished work)
  
• The Night Sky
  
• It Was Over
  
• The Other Man
  
• Cupid Painted Blind
  
• Canceled Date
  
• Old Mr. Fowler
  
• A Confession
• Sleep Deprivation Situation
• That Sting in Your Chest
• Stalker
• One Last Kiss
• The Last Dance
• Fatherhood
• The Rat's Nest
• The Reckless Abandon of Youth
• Dear Mrs. Dearborn
• Six Word Story
• Means to Me
• Friend Indeed
• The Train from Hell to Heaven
• To Be Me
• Bryan and the Mystery of the Disappearing Playboys
• A Badge and a Gun
• All Life's a Game
• Forlorn
• Hungry
• Respiratory Alert
• Late Term Abortion
• Bot Four

Poetry:

• Love and Loss
  
• Two Poems for Lovers in Spring
  
• The Girl at the Party
  
• Once in a Dream
  
• Always and Never
  
• A Valentines Poem
• The Rogues Poem

Short Film Scripts, Comic Scripts, etc.:

• The Job
  
• The Dollar
  
• The Pirate Club Vs. The Birdwatcher Club
  
• The Fine Print
• The Calm Before
• The Mighty Thor
• Teen Titans Go!
• Christmas Eve
• The Last Days
• The Executive Attendant
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• The Adventures of Chet Chesterfield: Episode 6 - Doctor Monocle's Revenge!
• The Adventures of Chet Chesterfield - Episode 6: The Curse of Cantors Claw

Guest Stories by Jason Young:

• GUEST STORY: The Man in the Box
• GUEST STORY: Prometheus' Bastard Step Son
• GUEST STORY: The Legend
  
• GUEST STORY: The Organism From Unreality
  
• GUEST STORY: The Sky of Fire
  
• GUEST STORY: True Lust
  
• GUEST STORY: The Beast
  
• GUEST STORY: The Note
  
• GUEST STORY: An Interview With God
  
• GUEST STORY: The Ego
• GUEST STORY: To Hell and Back Again: A Jason's Journey

The Scoop

So, I've decided to save the below "About Me" in amber, trapped in time, as it were and sort of start over from scratch since the mission of the site is a little different now.

I'm making a go of earning money for all of my writing. I'm working to convert my body of work here into something that will provide me some means of income that will justify how much time I spend writing in a day. I would really appreciate if you'd consider buying some of my stories and spreading the word.

So, enjoy the slightly outdated bio about myself below, I'll start a new one up in its entirety soon.

03/2010

Me, circa February 2009.

I'm posting short stories up on this blog. At least once a month I'll do so. Sometimes more, sometimes less. I used to write short stories quite often, but my prose petered out after I became a screenwriter. This is my way of relearning prose. If I didn't publish it here I probably wouldn't publish it anywhere. If I didn't publish it anywhere, I probably wouldn't write it.

In a year or so (maybe longer, maybe less) I'm planning on self-publishing a lot of these into a volume with illustrations by professional comic book artists as well as some comic book shorts I've written and others have drawn. (I've been saying this for three years and it always seems a year away...)

In the meantime, I've collected some of the prose into a self-published hardcover. You can get it here. (I did this because I needed a few copies to give as gifts, so I'm still planning on making a bigger, larger version with professional illustrations.) If you want this first edition, though, click here to buy it.

In case anyone wants to know what it is I've written, I'm going to give the writing resume a whack right here. (in case anyone thinks I'm not qualified to bother with something like this)

I've written or co-written 19 and a 1/2 original feature length screenplays, 3 of which have been optioned, one has been made, 2 are hip-pocketed at the two largest talent agencies in the world (CAA and WMA) and an adaptation that Elias Pate and I did of a Graphic Novel (One Plus One, Oni Press, by Neal Shaffer and Daniel Krall) is currently in development with us attached as directors.

Elias has been my screenwriting partner for almost a decade, and we also polish scripts and do story work on the comic book Pirate Club, published quarterly by Slave Labor Graphics and drawn by our friend Derek Hunter. The three of us also collaborated on a short comic called Gamma Rae in Image Comics' Popgun Anthology.

I'm also working with an artist to bring a graphic novel about the Japanese interment during World War II to the public.

I've also co-directed (with Elias) both a feature film and a feature length documentary. I've also made hundreds of short films and produced a kick ass skate video.

In addition to all of my work in film, I'm also (still) in the process of revising a full-length novel I've written for publication.

Elias and I are finishing up a screenplay that we intend to start producing this year.

I also produced a $250k documentary about the American Obesity Epidemic. It's called Killer at Large.

I also blog occasionally at the This Divided State blog. I'm also a contributor to The Huffington Post. The Examiner. And I am one of the editors at Big Shiny Robot!

So. That's the scoop with me. I've written a lot. I write a lot. I plan to continue writing a lot.

If you want to hire me to write something or tell me how bad I suck, email me.

bryan (at) shineboxmp (dot) com

This was updated 8/09.