Some time ago, I participated in a neurobiology experiment in which they put me inside an FMRI machine to measure my brain activity, and they showed me what they called 'arousing' images. I was looking forward to the 'arousing' images, but they all turned out to be vivid violent imagery. They were testing how normal people and violent inmates react to violent imagery. I was in the normal group, in case you were wondering. The hypothesis, I imagine, was that there was a difference between the two groups.
I enjoy how your writing feels like notes from the apocalypse. Your characters are gritty, but they all have a redeeming quality. This gives them a more three-dimensional existence. Nicely done!
Hahah knowing your writing, I BET you were looking forward to the 'arousing' images - more fool you! That sucks - I couldn't imagine being forced to watch such things. Funny, when I was doing the AI image, I'd keyed in 'in the style of clockwork orange' but the image didn't work very well (it's the animals I wanted).
I was chatting to Mum today as I was pinching some books from her library. They buy books all the time so I steal them from them. Mum often picks up apocalyptic stuff - I think it's where I got it from - and I was telling her how I always write 800 - 1500 word stories about the apocalypse/dystopia/etc but never go as far as a book. Perhaps all I'm meant to write is 'notes from the apocalypse'. Perhaps that's okay. Perhaps I can collate all these Hive stories into a 'notes from' anthology. I just need a good title. That would be one, but there's already 'notes from AN apocalypse', so...
Hehe. I did not find a single image arousing while I stuck inside the machine. They used neutral images of nature and images of violent events, so it was a Kubrickian experiment (I got course credit and picture of my brain for my troubles).
You've got something special here with your fiction, and I think that with your knowledge of nature and outdoor activities, you could have a lot of fun with it. You also have a good sense of people's characters, and that's the key part of the stories.
Writing a full book is difficult, but if you write these short pieces, you can always add more later to fill in any gaps. Too bad the title is somewhat taken, but something catchy like that would work.
I really appreciate your vote of confidence! Encourages me to actually do it, when I'm not distracted by a million other things, such as Chat GTP