Comments on: LIFE SENTENCE by Brandon Layng

By: Oppressed1

Oppressed1 — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:14:11 +0000

Very Good. As a former guest at our local D.O.C. I can truly relate to that feeling of hopelessness. Being in a cell with a killer is one thing, but sharing a cell with a zombie… That bar would have probably found MY eyesocket before his…

By: BrandonLayng

BrandonLayng — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:46:29 +0000

Thank you Zombob. I didn’t realize that the actual concept of how it’s read changed that much when everything went digital. Since writing this story, I’ve had the process explained to me several times. But you know what? I still don’t understand it. I get all the technical stuff of how it works. Like the character in the story, I guess the question is really “why does it work?”. It’s a strange kind of magic to me. A Rainbow makes more sense to me for some reason than how a piece of plastic can record sound. I’ve heard that some old pottery has been found to hold a recording of sounds made in the room while it was being molded. I think it’s interesting.

* An update: I’m still working on the first draft of “Life Sentence” the novel as well as a long novella version of another TotZW’s story, “Orphan Mary”. Both are progressing nice, if a little slow. I haven’t given up checking the stories for new comments so, so long as they are here, I’ll keep looking back for any new comments. Plus, I’ve subbed a new zombie tale to this wonderful publication, with another one waiting in the wings, we’ll have to wait and see if they show up.

By: zombob

zombob — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:27:41 +0000

B:
Regarding “I still don’t understand how pits in a piece of round plastic can reproduce a voice or image. It baffles me, even after it’s explained because it shouldn’t logically happen.”

Basically, the information on a CD, DVD, BluRay disk is just written there.

In analog systems ( records or the old fashioned phonographs ) the groves in the plastic (or wax or clay) were cut by a needle vibrating in time to the sound — so, when you played the thing back, it forced the needle into the same vibrations. That made the sound.

Digital systems are more like text in a book actually, it’s easier to think of it like Morris Code. Every time the computer “sees” a specific pattern of “pits”, say … — …, it translates them to “S O S” so we can read it. For music, it translates the patterns into tone and frequency. For pictures, it translates the patterns into the color and position of each pixel in the frame.

It is just like the words on a page, they have to be processed through your mind to make sense of them.

By: stephan

stephan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:35:33 +0000

are u going to finish the story

By: Cherry Darling

Cherry Darling — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:43:32 +0000

Very good, man. Carry on!

By: Harold

Harold — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 23:42:47 +0000

I loved it! Not sure if I should have the swine flu vaccination though now!

By: LauraA

LauraA — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:58:21 +0000

Fantastic start Brandon! Do keep writing, keep excited, finish it and let me know when it’s published! All the best,LA:)…aka MartiniMaiden

By: Ray Gunn

Ray Gunn — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 05:43:05 +0000

I can picture those thick skinned bastards in my head and I swear that sound of ripping fabric will haunt my sleep tonight. I truly do hope you make this tale longer. You know I want to be a first round reader, right?

By: BrandonLayng

BrandonLayng — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:17:12 +0000

Just an update; I will be starting work on “Life Sentence” the novel, within the next two months. Check out the MySpace page for updates and I’ll make sure to post a comment back here as I can.