Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Bird-a-thon, 2039 AD


https://coffinbell.com/bird-a-thon-2039-ad/

  This story started as my indignant reaction to modern birding tech. With all these bird picture/song ID apps (now even integrated into new Swaro optics…) and info-sharing apps, this is where birding is going. Technology is turning us into useless blank-eyed fleshbags who wander between waypoints, jabbing at buttons. I ended the story off with a boilerplate sci-fi twist. Maybe one day I’ll be able to read something I've written without cringing.

  It’s clear I need to think of new names for characters – when I find a name I like, I use it repeatedly without noticing 
– I think this is the third time I've used the name 'Mairin.'

  Hope everyone is managing to keep a modicum of sanity on this endless Sunday morning.

(PS Spot the typo!)


(To read my other published birding tales, click on this handy clickety-click and scroll down:
http://snowyowllost.blogspot.ca/search/label/Writing%20stuff-published%20stories)

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

The Busan Drunk Bird Flu

  
  Observe if you will…a tale about a sinister flu that starts in East Asia, and spreads from animals to humans. I wrote it in…OCTOBER! Neer-neer-neer-neer, neer-neer-neer-neer…(Twilight Zone riff)


(To read my other published birding tales, click on this handy clickety-click and scroll down:
http://snowyowllost.blogspot.ca/search/label/Writing%20stuff-published%20stories)