Tag: Futurism

Lot Lizards by Ryan Hyatt

One of my favorite creators has a new piece of short fiction in the “comic horror” genre (his words), and it definitely delivers. Lot Lizards starts out with a couple of cops checking out a used car lot where a call has come in from an outside party that some shenanigans have taken place.

Per usual, Mr. Hyatt excels at setting a concise scene without letting it take up valuable real estate for a short work. I’ve found that some authors want to set aside everything to set the stage, but the ones who engage me best, roll that right into the narration like a vignette from Outer Limits.

Lot Lizards delivers and it delivers fast. Things go from a calm oddity to pure mayhem starting on page ten with a very ironic “We are one thirty-eight.” (the pun was definitely not lost on me)

What I love about this kind of fiction — especially the gems that Mr. Hyatt has shared with me over the last couple of years — is that it is exactly the snapshot needed at the time of reading. Sure, Mr. Hyatt plays within the realm of his Terrafide universe, and this story will really pull in more readers curious to know more about the kiaskis that keep getting mentioned.

Regardless, Lot Lizards is a fun story with some serious visceral action. It has the baddies, the big bad, the authorities, and tragic foils, and vigilante heroes all in the span of about fifty-four pages. It was exactly what I needed while scarfing down my sandwich at lunch.

Like I’ve said before, life is too short to not read short fiction. It’s plentiful, and there a lot of really good stuff out there. At the very least, if you didn’t like it, you didn’t waste too much time.

Enhanced: A Hollywood Murder Mystery by Ryan Hyatt

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again right here: folks don’t read enough short fiction. There is something so fulfilling about being able to knock out a great little tidbit in less than a half an hour that has me coming back for more and more. Enhanced: A Hollywood Murder Mystery is just such a gem.

Portrayed from the viewpoint of an AI-powered virtual companion/tour guide in a smartphone, Enhanced is the story of Dave: a guy coming to Hollywood to check out some death.

Honestly, that’s all I’m going to say about the story since every little tidbit counts in this one.

What I will address is the interesting approach to a very realistic future that Mr. Hyatt presents. Set in the not too near future of 2034, Enhanced gives us a very good view of the potential uses that AI might have in our normal life. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about Mr. Hyatt’s previous works is the “maybe that could happen” approach to Futurism, and this is probably the most plausible.

The long and the very short of it is: read this novelette and enjoy it. Hell, read it twice.