A possible future in less than 500 words, if plastic wins. This was my entry for the WattPad/National Geographic #PlanetOrPlastic competition back in late 2018. It reached their Top 10 Submissions which, given that there appeared to be well over 5000 entries, was a very pleasant surprise! The competition itself had a limit of 500 words so, for those who keep asking if I intend continuing the story, the answer (for now!) is no - unless I can find a very good reason for adding any more. Many thanks to everyone reading and voting on this story and getting it to number 1 in the #sciencefiction category in May/June 2020! I did try to thank the voters individually on their pages but Wattpad have a daily limit on the number of times I'm allowed to do that and there are now too many of you (not that I'm complaining)! Here's the top 10 submissions page: https://www.wattpad.com/list/738243473-planetorplastic-top-10-submissions If you want to read the story in Polish please head over to https://www.wattpad.com/story/236405960-m%C4%85dro%C5%9B%C4%87-staro%C5%BCytnych-t%C5%82umaczenie-pl where @juliatlumaczy has done a fine job - thank you, Julia! @juliatlumaczy has now sent me a version of the cover she used for her Polish translation - thanks again, Julia! @alex_sokolova has also translated the story into Russian as well. You can read that here: https://www.wattpad.com/976002417-мудрость-древних - many thanks, Alex! We now have a third translation! @AlfonsoLucassen has kindly translated it into Spanish and you can find it here: https://www.wattpad.com/1063634347-la-sabidur%C3%ADa-de-los-antiguos

*HIGHEST RANKINGS: #1 ACTION, THRILLER; #2 FANTASY; #4 MYSTERY; #5 ADVENTURE; #6 SCIENCEFICTION/SCIFI* Something sinister is brewing on planet Karomoz - the central hub and heart of a galaxy with numerous hospitable planets. Rumors abound of experiments for creating the perfect soldiers, excavations for ancient relics, and the hoarding of fuel and supplies - deadly weapons included. Twenty strangers - the Elemorts to-be - from twenty different home planets visit Karomoz, each with their own reasons and motivations, and each armed with a unique elemental power. Once on Karomoz, their fates get intertwined in unlikely ways, and two factions are formed, locked in an ongoing battle for what each side believes in - a battle not of good versus evil but one of gray versus gray. *FEATURED ON WATTPAD SCIENCEFICTION'S "HIDDEN GEMS FROM WATTPAD OUTREACH" READING LIST* *FEATURED ON WATTPAD BEYONDSOL'S "SUNFLOWER SPACE OPERAS" READING LIST* *FIRST PLACE IN SCIENCE FICTION IN THE 2018 TALENT AWARDS* *COVER BY @shelbychdance* If you are reading this story on any platform other than Wattpad, you are very likely to be at risk for a malware attack. If you wish to read this story in its original, safe form, please go to: https://www.wattpad.com/story/111292481-elemorts. Thank you.

"This book speaks to anyone with a neurodivergent brain, that may feel like an alien here on earth. I swear Browning made me laugh and cry and question reality...sometimes all in the same sentence." -JD Todd, author The universe is a very strange place. It will take even stranger heroes to save it. Potto is dim-witted, extremely forgetful and incredibly naïve. He wasn't always this way. Aye-Aye is devilishly shrewd and has boozed his way into a comfortable existence of incompetence and sleaze. How they ended up being two of the most wanted aliens in the galaxy is anyone's guess. Chased down by every oddball bounty hunter in the known universe, and befriended by a libidinous assassin, a fire-breathing reptilian, and a telepathic tree, their misadventures take them past Earth (the mall planet), to a floating sex circus, a planet of killer stuffed animals, an underground spaceship impound lot, and to a planet of reasonably priced bungalows. All while flying around in a ship powered by the brain waves of a psycho killer. A great prophecy proclaims that only "one of light, and one of dark" can save the universe from the dictatorship of The Node. That can't be Potto and Aye...Potto doesn't know what the word prophecy means, and neither know how to spell it. Part sci-fi epic, part absurd dark comedy, I Don't Seem So Bright in a Well-Lit Room is a comment on human behavior, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. But way more fun than that sounds. So, do up your space seatbelts...it's going to be a bumpy ride. Despite the lack of potholes in space. (Sci-fi /Dark Humour/Absurd) *Completed! Enjoy! Highest rankings: #1 Adventure #1 Action #1 Science Fiction/Sci-fi #1 Misadventures #1 Absurd #1 Mindbending And all because of YOU. Thank you. *Now available in paperback from Story Well Publishing anywhere you like to order books! www.storywellpublishing.com Merch available at: www.theseanbrowning.come