> login
p?:
Welcome to VICTOR.SYS (c) DYNECORP 777,777
> cd /secret/writing/novels/
> ls
ghostcrime/ gray/ snapback/
> cd ghostcrime/
> nano ghostcrime.txt
extract frozen_assets.zip
Before they put me into cryo-sleep back in 2015 for being too inspiring, I took one last look at the boxes of books I’d gotten printed. Without me peddling them to sidewalk passers-by, could Ghostcrime still make it big, and rocket me to post-cryothumous fame?
It was literally the second thing I checked after they thawed me out. Alas, every last copy had been burned shortly after I’d been put on ice. Doesn’t matter by who. He didn’t make it out of the century. But the fact remains: I spent the last 775,762 years in obscurity.
Characteristically, however, I’d hedged my bets, and produced a datacrystal of the manuscript, cleverly hiding it within a heritage building on the waterfront.
You’ve got to hand it to HALIFAX_1 – they trawled the rubble of that neighbourhood so thoroughly that their painstaking reconstruction featured my datacrystal in exactly the same woodstove I’d hidden it. I snuck in after dark and pilfered it, and was pleased to discover that the data had maintained most of its integrity. There were a few typos, which I attribute to gamma ray corruption.
Now, with my newly-incorporated cyber-business, I’m in the perfect position to re-release.
I’ve had to update some of the jokes and a few of the political references, but the original text is mostly intact. Instead of printing it on mere paper, though, I got it etched on Datasilk, and sprung for a cover with diamond embossing. I’m going to charge out the face for it.
Luckily, my estate camped my old domain this whole time, so you can once again order a copy from there.
It’s time to get this cyber-business off the ground.
- Christian