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  • 20-NOV-2024 | Excerpt from “The Specialist” by Robert Sheckley

20-NOV-2024 | Excerpt from “The Specialist” by Robert Sheckley

Author

Dan Bogachek
November 20, 2024

Excerpt from “The Specialist” by Robert Sheckley

The rest of the inspection went quickly. Thinker was fine, and Eye was ecstatic over the beauty of the storm. There was only one casualty.

Pusher was dead. Bipedal, he didn’t have the stability of the rest of the Crew. The storm had caught him in the middle of a floor, thrown him against a stiffened Wall, and broken several of his important bones. He was beyond Doctor’s skill to repair.

They were silent for a while. It was always serious when a part of the Ship died. The Ship was a cooperative unit, composed entirely of the Crew. The loss of any member was a blow to all the rest.

It was especially serious now. They had just delivered a cargo to a port several thousand lightyears from Galactic Center. There was no telling where they might be. 🏁

  • Pusher’s death is sad yet… pathetically hilarious? “Broken several of his important bones” and “beyond Doctor’s skill to repair” 😂

  • A great example of illustrating emotion through action instead of literal narration. What did the members of the ship do? They were silent.

  • Pay attention to how the end of one paragraph sets up the next paragraph.

  • Doubling down with mild repetition on “serious.”

You glance at your watch.

It’s 6:28. You’ve been at it since 3.
Crap. Your hot date is at 7. Running late. Sink shower it is.
Nowhere close to done editing…

“…at least all the ideas are laid out, so there’s that. Did I miss anything? I don’t think so? Ok, but how do I make it flow? I need to get the final draft to Stacey for design asap, team cutoff is at noon Thursday…”

You’ve spent dinner completely distracted. Your date just took off. You go home exhausted, plod to your desk, and crack open the laptop.

Or… it could go like this:

5:41 — you’re out of the shower and lip-syncing.
6:17 — dressed to the nines and zenned out.
7:03 — the sunset glints off your aviators as you smile hello.
8:36 — it actually feels like you’re hitting it off. Not just hot, funny to boot.
Next morning, 10:27 — polished draft ready in your inbox.
10:31 — Stacey messages back, “thanks, looks good!”

The difference?

You had Copygloss handle it yesterday afternoon.

For help with editing, email Dan:
[email protected].