About my Story from the First Steemfiction Book - Part I

Greetings, friends!

I am starting a short series of posts about my participation in the @steemfiction writing project to produce four books a year with the stories of fiction writers, united by the Steem blockchain. And publish them on Amazon. A project that we believe will help connect audience out there and Steem enthusiasts and supporters in here.

One book already there. You will find the links on the bottom of this post.

Today, I am going to share parts of parts of my Short-lived Concepts story, as well as a details about the creation process. In this post you will find an excerpt of the opening scene with some details removed, making it shorter.

But first, the image that inspired the second version of that opening scene. The original is from the Ngorongoro Crater in Africa and belongs to the Bulgarian photographer Dilian Markov, a colleague of mine with more experience, including work for the Reuters agency. I own a print of it which stands on my mantelpiece although I have not yet removed the nylon cover nor found a proper frame.

Original photo by Dilian Markov
Photographer's Fb page

I say second version without counting the many edits. The first version was based on a double exposure image of mine and it made me think of a person running in the air amidst global chaos and creating steps for herself with the power of her mind. Some of that is still int the story. Here's how it begins...

Nia knows there is no time to take a break. Dawn is almost upon her... The terminator line getting closer and erasing life in its path. Her heart, though...

She pauses at the crater’s summit so she can say her farewells to the world beneath. The auxiliary exoskeleton feels heavier again while she’s not on the move. Her mind takes an instant to further lighten the design. She discards her climbing picks - no need of those anymore...

The girl takes off her helmet in order to widen her field of vision... Her gaze glides along the diving glaciers, then along the trough far below, through the jungle, over the swirling mist and between the crowns of the tallest trees reaching out from it. She then looks beyond the foothills and towards the silvery-grey reflections in the constantly winding waters of New Pangani River. The flat savanna has turned turquoise and green... Herds of huge mammals move slowly, their bodies looking smaller than lice from where Nia stands, despite her extra sharp vision. Other moving objects would be impossible to discern at that distance...

No one has ever climbed so high into the Dead Zone...

And there will be some quotes coming this week.

Now, the books!

The Paperback:

Voices in the Darkness Paperback

And the e-book version:

Our book Voices in the Darkness: Tales from the Steem Blockchain is out! It's alive! It's electronic! It's supernatural!

Stories authored by:

@janenightshade, @improv, @felt.buzz, @jeezzle, @manoldonchev, @stinawog, @giantbear, @blueeyes8960

Huge thanks to everybody involved, to our ninja editor, to the initiator @jeezzle and the @steemfiction, and to everybody else supporting our work!

Thank you for being with us!

Yours,

Manol