Robert sees himself as the Marty McFly of his own story. That is cool, the perfect protagonist, and friends with an eccentric scientist. When his employer becomes convinced she can send him into the future, he's prepared to put on a show and go back...
The update schedule of this work is fairly uncertain. This was originally an entry in the Open Novella Contest 2020, but after getting cut early on, I'm going to examine a different style for the work that I think will serve it better. I'm still figuring out what that means for the prose posted here.
This book is going to have a hard of hearing character in it (based on my own hearing loss.) I just want to clear the air about what hard of hearing actually means. Most people are typically hearing. Hard of hearing refers to anything that is not typically hearing but only ever rarely refers to people who interact only with Deaf culture. Most people that are hard of hearing use cochlear implants or hearing aids. These two things are not the same or just different powers. A cochlear implant requires surgery and changes the way the person processes sound. Hearing aids do not need surgery and simply amplify noises. (Some hearing aids can do a little more, but in essence, they amplify.) Percents of deafness will never be used, simply because that only has meaning amongst the hearing community, and is never used by medical professionals. Instead, I'll use mild, moderate, severe, or profound hearing loss. There are variations within each of these categories. Mild hearing loss means the person likely can hear most of a conversation but misses out on large swaths of it. You get a lot of "what" "can you repeat that," but it can go undetected for a long time. Then profound hearing loss on the other end of the spectrum is the most severe; one can't hear anything.
Now, looping all this back to the story you are about to read, Sonnet will have a moderately severe hearing loss. That means she can hear loud noises, but not softer ones like voices. Even though this is futuristic, it'll be largely based on technology existing today.
This novella takes place roughly 200 years in the future. Here's a calendar for your reference if you need it. If you're confused about the date at any time in the future, let me know and I can clarify it for you.
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I'm not going to get too deep into world-building, just know it is a commentary on a possible dystopian society. It assumes that climate change has changed the geography of the world, but has not killed society off completely.
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The map above is a rough idea of the kind of change I'm talking about.
This is the only author's note there will ever be in this book. Any information about rounds or anything of that nature will be posted here.
This story is on hold. This story was an entry in the Open Novella Contest. It got cut from the first round, which absolutely destroyed my will to work on this novella. (I also cried a little bit.) This story will be updated daily until completion. It should be finished by the end of February, baring anything unexpected that keeps me from writing the last few chapters.
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