Asher and The Inferior Machine - Prologue (A Dystopian Fiction by @kevinwong)
The strip of neon-lit district was a washed-out parody of a world gone mad. It was raining with contempt. The wet cobblestones were the distorted reflections of cold hard reality. The whirring of distant sky-cars, the muffled hissing of pressured steam, and the subtle echoes from vibrations of remote machines lent themselves to the lullaby of rain crashing on all verticals in the great industrialised world.
The Mercaton complex thrived on its own dog-eat-dog ecology. Sex, drugs, and money. Isn't that always the case? The classic, vicious tricycle that was the hook, line, and sinker for megacorporations. The sprawl was the perfect display of social darwinism - like a sick and twisted experiment, held on fast forward by ferocious capitalists.
Freedom and free-will are the lifeblood of its machinations. Nothing is impossible. Everything is permitted. And that was the mighty district's heart and soul. Black market liver? Sold. Need someone jumped? Hired. Money is king. It is the ley line, the commander of life and death.
A blind beggar on one of the busy streets of St Lucia had been preaching that the answer lies not in improvement, but in destruction. Vices were the lure of the complex, and its victims never looked far from it.
Asher loved the scent of rain and stale, wet cigarette. He was drenched in the dismal shower, only to be comforted by his coat of velvet leather. It was a sombre night, and it was a walk down memory lane. Asher saw no one on the streets. No drug pushers, no cheap whores, no slimy confidence artists. He was all alone, and the dazzling displays of neonlight and hazy particles were getting too heavy for his eyes.
He dropped a stalk of red rose onto the rain battered pavement, walked into the darkness, and walked away from it all. So much for being sane in insane places.
Thanks for reading my first dystopian fiction on Steemit! With this on-going series that I will write from time-to-time, I wish to explore the interesting intersections of capitalism, anarchism, socialism, and all those big-isms, and what it means to be human in a world spinning out of control. What do you like about the dystopian/cyberpunk genre? Please tell me in the comments below!
Update note: I wish to note that I always source images in my posts whenever possible. In this case, the original image is a modified image of another image, in which I've saved in my computer ages ago. I have further distorted this image and made it into a gritty GIF, effectively mashing it up like a music remix, like I do in many of the images I've used with missing links to the original. There has never been any intention to claim any images as part of my own, although I've been manipulating original images to better suit my written content. In such cases, how does one clarify without taking up too much screen space like this? Do you think it's alright not being able to point to the original source, if it's clear that no claims are made on visuals in which are not part of my work, or subject matter? Would appreciate your thoughts on this as well.
I love this kind of Blade Runner style storytelling (it's one of my favourite films). I like that you kept it to a nice small chunk - it makes it a lot less intimidating to people who aren't used to reading much nowadays. I think the appeal is that we all wonder what the future will be like and we tend to concentrate on the negative because of our very human fears and paranoia.
I was also thinking it would be great if someone put some of the sci-fi (or other fiction on Steemit) into an audiobook type form for those who don't have time to sit and read. That way you could download it to your devices and listen/read anywhere. It would be cool to add in radio-play type sound effects too. I'm surprised nobody has tried something like that (unless they have and I've missed it).
Maybe someone could even do a collection based on multiple short form stories from various Steemit authors and sell it for SD and split the profits with the original authors.
Thank you very much for the feedback buddy. Love that idea! Any ideas on great vocal narrators on Steemit?!
Well Winston Wolf on the Steemit talk podcast has a good voice:)
Perfect length for an intro. Great name for a protagonist! Its not inspired by Neal Asher is it? That would be cool. I love this kind of lo-fi sci-fi dystopian malarkey!!
Haha for a short week in Melbourne when I was studying.. someone used to mistaken me as Asher for some reason! Now I'm figuring out if he should be a ninja assassin or straight up frontline cannon.
It has to be a heady combination of the two, mostly ninja with frontline cannon in the rough times!
There's a lot of talk about you @meesterboom on steemit right now.
Haha, yes I have only just now seen. Hehe, awesome haircut and post!
I like the way you think! Maybe i'll include a cameo character inside, a cyberpunk by the name @meesterboom ! lol
This is really good Kevin! I hope you're inspired enough to continue he series :) Good job man!
Thanks @the-alien! I'll continue whenever I get good ideas :D
I read this entire prologue in the voice of Rorschach... it seems fitting :)
Haha.. Asher is actually partly inspired by Rorshach.. good to know that the writing induced that voice!
raining with contempt - great line
Thank you - I try lol.
Love this:
Your writing is very evocative, really brings me to walking thru a city a night
Thanks! I don't have much experience writing fiction, so I tend to do some overloading with adjectives and attempt to amplify the mood. Certainly a work in progress :)
I like it! Hemingway's understated style is old hat!
I'm curious to know more about the blind beggar. This is the prologue? Intrigued.
Yup.. want to keep it short as my first fiction entry :) More will be revealed about the beggar soon ;)