Date: November 17 2016 1:00 PM Title: Part III
Sorta depends on how much Machiavellian foresight you want to attribute to the Alliance. They didn't bother assigning a long-term mole to personally mind the researchers, but now Naomi has control of a revolutionary weapons system, and the most basic psych profile would have revealed her sociopathy. I really expected Ethan to step outta line and get smeared. I wonder if the Alliance rigged up Naomi with remotely-triggered charges like Kurt Russell in Escape From New York. Otherwise, there's gonna be some changes made back on Earth...
Author's Response:
I wasn't planning on a sequel, although the idea of Naomi turning the shrinking tech against her bosses is wonderfully evil...
[Report This]Date: November 15 2016 8:46 AM Title: Part I
Fantastic work! Loved the scenario and the depiction of this goddess.
Author's Response:
Thanks! I'm very glad that you enjoyed it. :)
Date: November 14 2016 6:55 PM Title: Part III
As with all gripping horror stories, the pacing is everything. Ava's hope has to degrade at just the right speed, and each betrayal has to stand alone.
In any other genre, Ava would possess some unique knowledge or skill that would allow her to destroy the device and/or the station before Naomi's support arrived, but that's not this universe. Just infinite orders of cruel magnitude.
I was no less fascinated than Ava by the death of Naomi's first victim. The sounds always get to me.
Author's Response:
I can't have the tiny people win at the end, can I now? ;) I'm joking. This is a story of betrayals...Liam and Ethan betraying the station, Naomi betraying Liam, Ethan considering the betrayal of Naomi, the Alliance betraying its own citizens. Of course, it makes one wonder if Naomi and Ethan will be betrayed eventually by their employers...
[Report This]Date: November 14 2016 1:08 AM Title: Part III
what a wonderful read! as it opened, I couldn't help but think of the universes created by neal asher, for instance, or presented in "alien" -- where humanity has become rather detached from its humanity in spreading out to the stars. it's a lovely backdrop for what happens here, and makes the action and ending very believable.
the sex and violence here was lurid in the best way. what vivid scenes. and some of the smallest details were some of the biggest for me -- threads as big as one's finger. the way you write scale, and the experience of being smaller than someone else, or bigger than someone else, powerfully stirs the imagination. and I very much appreciate how the mental states of the characters is constantly oscillating: their trust, and fears, and lust. ethan's thoughts on his latent sadism, and even the idea of seizing power from naomi, especially.
as always, you've created a story that has my own imagination careening off along different paths as I imagine what might happen next. or even what might have happened at certain points, such as ethan rushing for the device from the shower. (well, naomi probably would have kicked his ass rather handily, but still!) like the best stories, the stories that grip me most, I have to be very careful when I read your endings. my eyes have a habit of skipping ahead, but I never quite know how you're going to end one of your tales, and I exhibit a rare amount of control over my scrollbar, for me. as I neared the end, I read every single word as you've laid it down, in order... what a rollercoaster this one was. and in true Nyx fashion, the ride doesn't really end, but instead spirals off into a beautiful void.
thank you for a very satisfying and enjoyable read!
Author's Response:
I have to admit that I was influenced by "Alien" when I wrote this story. Being stranded in the middle of nowhere, hunted by something that wants to destroy you...that's something that I've considered a lot. And you know me, I'm fascinated by size. I could write endlessly about how big a strand of hair would be to a colony of microscopic people ;)
I usually leave my endings open because 1) I'm admittedly a lazy writer, and 2) because I like readers to imagine their own endings. I'm surprised at how often people imagine happier endings. As for me, the endings that I imagine for these characters are always so much worse than what I hinted at.
As always, thank you for the kind words, my friend. :)