Author: Richard Parry

Your Hidden Superpowers

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We’ve all got ’em. Before we get stuck in, I want to share this outstanding video from Will Smith. I’m tired. Mostly, I’m tired about trying to understand what I should be angry about these days. There’s someone, somewhere, right now, who wants me to be angry about a particular thing. Friends, I’m just about done. There’s only so much rage my heart can hold, and it passed the safe levels a year or more ago. Now we’ve set the tone … One of the things that grinds my gears is the concept of absolutes. Red vs. blue. East vs. west. Left vs. right, cats vs. dogs, whatever. The way I see it? There’s far more things we have in common than not, but the current skein of the media, your Facebook feed, or even dinner party conversations is about taking sides. Read More …

Delilah: Part Two

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If you haven’t seen Delilah yet, start at the beginning. “What you’re trying to work out,” said Delilah, “is whether whatever file you have on me is accurate. It’ll say some shit about how I’m deep insurgency load out from Metatech. It might talk about how I can shoot laser beams from my eyes. No? Well that was on the spec sheet for the last job some fools wanted me for. Seriously, who has that tech? The power drain alone makes it unfeasible. You want to know the extent of my training. Can I walk into a situation out gunned, a simple sidearm at my hip, and walk out with the cash bonus.” “We haven’t agreed on a cash bonus,” said Scott. “Scott?” said Delilah. “If you draw down on me, and there is not cash on the table as an Read More …

The New Chic

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If I may, I’d like to skip some of my usual flavor to showcase some other people. I know. Weird for you? Weird for me too. These particular humans were of a smaller size than what I’m used to. I had the great honor and privilege of being asked by Maungaraki School to speak to a room of their junior writers. When I was a kid, I was one of the lippy ones. I spent too much time being kicked out of math class for taking the wrong line of inquiry, if you get me. I was curious, but in a narrow lane. I met these people yesterday, full to the brim with questions about everything. Some of the ideas for stories they had? They’ll blow your mind. Kids who are spies. A new take on epic fantasy that would make Read More …

Tyche’s Chosen

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The second Tyche Origins story, Tyche’s Chosen, is out today! Much excite. The smell of charred circuitry wasn’t a perfume Elspeth Roussel liked to wear. Helm of the Empire destroyer Nostradamus, El is the best at what she does. No one flies the big ships like she can. But Empire starships are dying in the hard black, the upstart Republic hammering them apart through sheer force of numbers. When the Nostradamus is sent on a suicide mission to destroy Republic shipyards, El’s courage under fire is tested. She needs to come up with a plan to save her ship, despite her captain’s desire to go down in a blaze of glory. If she manages victory, they might live to see another day. If she doesn’t, the Republic will climb closer to victory on the corpses of the Nostradamus’ crew. Tyche’s Chosen is Read More …

Five Cyberpunk Shows to Die For

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A little extreme? We’ll see. Back when I was trying to work out what spun my wheels in fiction, I discovered this little book called Neuromancer. It was by this William Gibson dude, who I had never heard of, and my library’s copy has such a worn cover it screamed to be read. Gibson, I was told at the time, had no tech background. He’d made this whole storybook universe that was plausible because he wasn’t shackled to the beliefs us tech junkies held. And, here we are many years on, coming up with [A|V]R virtualities. Who would have known? Dunno if the story is true, but it’s a neat one, so feel free to spread it around. The genre was this thing called cyberpunk. Never heard of it before, but I was hooked: a high tech future but with our same Read More …

Something Wicked

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I’ve started work on Tyche’s Demons, the first of the Tyche’s Progeny series. Here’s a real, real, like fucking real rough start. First draft, usual caveats apply: this is brain to page, and the brain is based on a fifty-million year old design. Be kind. Something Wicked Five minutes. That’s all it took from we’re having a good time to we’re going to die, horribly. El entered the bridge, swagger dialed up to eleven, and gave her second a practiced glare. “Price. Report.” “Captain on the bridge.” Price, for his part no stranger to the Captain of the Skyguard wanting a little bridge time, stood from the command couch and slipped sideways into Tactical. “Captain Roussel, sir. We’re about to jump into Paloma. Still nothing on scan.” Not that nothing on scan was a surprise. The Troy floated in the hard black, somewhere Read More …

Tyche’s First

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Tyche’s First is out today! This was Big Huge Fun™ to write. I hope you dig it. Nathan Chevell has four hours to stop the fall of an empire. As Captain of the Emperor’s Black, it’s Nate’s job to protect the Ruler of all Humanity. But the discovery of an assassin close to the throne means Intelligencers, new agents who can read and control minds, are deemed better for the Emperor’s safety. With the Black ordered to stand down, terrorists strike the Palace. Nate still believes his job is to protect the Emperor, even if it means dying. He must discover the threat against the Emperor before it’s too late. If he doesn’t, the Empire will crumble. Tyche’s First is the beginning novella in Richard Parry’s gripping Tyche Origins pentalogy. If you like page-turning space opera with great dialogue and Read More …

We’re Almost There

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In my quest to bring a few popular Facebook posts back from the brink of being locked-in, this one is replicated below. via GIPHY We’re right on the edge of something particularly awesome. I know this is probably the view of anyone at any given time in history – you know, that guy who’s sitting around the first human-made fire. Screw collecting burning trees struck by lightning and trying to keep ’em burning: this dude’s rubbed some sticks together or whatever, he’s got fire on demand, he’s getting warm, and that dude’s saying, “Man, being a human is awesome, and we’re right on the fucking pinnacle of achievement here.” The more specific awesome thing I’m talking about here is equality, but we’re not quite there yet. I think we all have a part to play, through our own personal platforms. Read More …

Delilah: Part One

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Delilah didn’t like this one bit. It wasn’t the bar itself. Tarmac Bourbon was typical of its kind: a place that served overpriced cocktails to sararimen wanting to make a statement about their expense limits. It had the mood lighting. It had the plush might-just-be-real-leather seats, couches and chairs and privacy booths arrayed around the interior. Her link was still up, overlay on just fine. No one had dropped an EMP on the place to shut people like her down, although that would have been extreme for an interview. It wasn’t even the doorman, a big guy who packed enough metal under his skin to be closer to an industrial loader than a person. Her overlay picked out his mods, enhanced strength, sub-dermal armor, EM shielding, the works. It might seem a lot for a bar in the central business Read More …

Delilah

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Folks on my list enjoyed the serialized cyberpunk story Delilah. I’ve replicated the story here, almost. The tenth part (the finale!) was exclusive to a) mailing list members or b) people who cross my palm with silver (…not a lot of silver, if we’re honest with each other). You can still read all nine parts (without the ending) below. If you want to pick up the whole story, you can buy it here. Samson will pay. Delilah Griffiths is ex-Metatech. She’s got the best covert ops bionics money can buy. None of that helped brother Ollie when the link virus crippled him. Smart money says the terrorist hacker Samson is behind it, using his link-jacking skills to destroy lives. Reed Interactive’s bounty on Samson’s head is Delilah’s dream job. When Delilah puts the muzzle of her weapon to Samson’s head, Read More …