Thank you very much! I am glad you like it. Its funny--now that I have already established the Bounty Hunter, it feels harder to write about him! The first draft of this story wanted me to provide more backstory for him, but it felt like that made him less scary.
I hope to write more in this world so thank you for the kind words!
I just tried it on here and on someone elses and you can! There should be a three-dot menu, edit comment will appear! I used phone browser but it was there!
This isn't a criticism so much as an observation, but you have a tendency to switch between past and present tense seemingly at random, and I'm not sure if it's intentional or accidental.
It is 100% accidental. When the intensity dials up, I default to present tense because it's easier to shorten sentences and make things seem faster paced. If you look for it, you'll see that I go present tense when "things" are happening.
I really need to tighten up my tenses. I released this with zero quality control, but I was done and as usual just ready to send it out into the world.
I have in the back of my mind an idea for an editing checklist that I run through before I publish. Definitely need to put some effort into that!
I love questions like this that are purely speculative! Do robots dream of electric sheep? Does a robot feel fear? Does it feel pain? There’s literally no wrong answer here because we have nothing to base our answer on. No Baseline to work with. We really only have our current understanding of “artificial intelligence,” and so far, we’re really not that impressed (with artificial intelligence, that is).
Wow, Scoot! I love this one. You struck a really nice balance with the robotic thought process. I think a lot of times writers make sentient AI over-fraught or over-stoic, and you've found a thought-provoking in-between. That ending too, real good stuff.
Thank you! I am glad you liked it! This was fun to write--I am working on my scary-skillset and this was sufficiently unsettling! I have some interesting ideas for droids but need to do some work to develop them more. More to come on this front!
Well done! I think I actually like this one better than your first bounty hunter story. It's short and sweet.
Thank you very much! I am glad you like it. Its funny--now that I have already established the Bounty Hunter, it feels harder to write about him! The first draft of this story wanted me to provide more backstory for him, but it felt like that made him less scary.
I hope to write more in this world so thank you for the kind words!
I actually thought he was creeiper this time around.
Excellent. I love that--im going to have to find a way to tell more about him without making him an MC
I wish Substack let you edit comments.
It does! Just not on your phone? I thought
Apparently not.
I just tried it on here and on someone elses and you can! There should be a three-dot menu, edit comment will appear! I used phone browser but it was there!
Great job, I really enjoy robot stories.
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks, Scott!
Oh, my heart. That poor robot. He just wanted to be left alone.
That's a suboptimal attribute for a construction robot!
Aw, gee; poor little guy. Didn't even get to make his warning statue.
LT404 - Statue Not Found
This isn't a criticism so much as an observation, but you have a tendency to switch between past and present tense seemingly at random, and I'm not sure if it's intentional or accidental.
It is 100% accidental. When the intensity dials up, I default to present tense because it's easier to shorten sentences and make things seem faster paced. If you look for it, you'll see that I go present tense when "things" are happening.
I really need to tighten up my tenses. I released this with zero quality control, but I was done and as usual just ready to send it out into the world.
I have in the back of my mind an idea for an editing checklist that I run through before I publish. Definitely need to put some effort into that!
Damn, I wish my stories were this good with "zero quality control."
Your stories are better than your self-critic allows you to believe!
This was great! Shame 404 never got to chill in the forest with his statues. The Bounty Hunter was scary, bravo!
I appreciate the empathy for the droid and the fact that you found the bounty hunter scary! Mission accomplished!!
I love questions like this that are purely speculative! Do robots dream of electric sheep? Does a robot feel fear? Does it feel pain? There’s literally no wrong answer here because we have nothing to base our answer on. No Baseline to work with. We really only have our current understanding of “artificial intelligence,” and so far, we’re really not that impressed (with artificial intelligence, that is).
Wow, Scoot! I love this one. You struck a really nice balance with the robotic thought process. I think a lot of times writers make sentient AI over-fraught or over-stoic, and you've found a thought-provoking in-between. That ending too, real good stuff.
Thank you! I am glad you liked it! This was fun to write--I am working on my scary-skillset and this was sufficiently unsettling! I have some interesting ideas for droids but need to do some work to develop them more. More to come on this front!