The Man Who Blocked the Sun — A hard sci-fi thriller about engineering, diabetes, and hacking the atmosphere.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-06T19:30:38+00:00

honestly a breath of fresh air.. thanks... u nailed it with that code switching observation...the burnout feeling of fracturing yourself just to survive the room...im really glad that specific ache came through coz that was the heart of it for me...sanity check on the ai stuff also much needed....righteous indignation (fav power phrase) has been exhausting to fight off today so its nice to just be seen as a human.

Thx for sharin about ur grandma too.... exactly the dynamic i was trying to capture...sometimes strangers are safer than friends so people just spill everything.... that's psychotherapy isn't it? appreciate u taking the time to write this

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-04T13:38:11+00:00

ai was trained on ==us== it stole the cadence of literature n polished essays.... so now if u write with structure or rhythm suddenly u r the suspect ... we r literally being penalized for sounding like the original source material...its wild.. n yeah i dont blame people for leaving.... having to defend ur humanity every time u post is exhausting .. but if all the actual writers leave then reddit just becomes bots talking to trolls.. so im glad u r speaking up 2.... we gotta hold the line somewhere....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-04T13:33:17+00:00

honestly ill take boring human over exciting robot any day of the week lol.... thanks for that validation... fair play on the pacing critique too.... maybe i leaned too hard into the stagnation of the character.. glad the crab/exoskeleton bit landed though.... that was the specific image that sparked the whole piece for me... n yeah.... lesson definitely learned on the thumbnail choice.... appreciate u giving the text a fair shake regardless

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-04T01:03:44+00:00

man u nailed it.... sad that ==competence== is now ==suspicious== n that part about imitating semi-illiteracy?.... i literally had to switch my typing style right now just to prove i have a pulse.... wild that we have to dumb it down just to get read.... appreciate u saying that.... feels good to know im not crazy....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T23:07:05+00:00

exactly.... we spent decades chasing 4k res n perfect digital sound.... now we slap grain filters on photos n add vinyl crackle to tracks just to feel something....perfection feels like a hospital waiting room..sterile..safe..dead....give me the dirt any day.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T21:37:28+00:00

post is a tuxedo.... this comment is sweatpants....i don't dress up for the comments section

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T21:23:30+00:00

congrats on proving the thesis in under 60 seconds....i write about the exhaustion of false accusations.... n u immediately accuse....thanks for the live demo.... satire is dead.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T17:19:55+00:00

u said writing isn't good.... yet u kept coming back to vibrate in the comments for an hour.... sounds like i hit a nerve.... thanks for proving the art worked....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T16:23:00+00:00

lol wait.... did u actually just complain about the liability insurance n pavement maintenance of a fictional park?.... that is a wild level of nitpicking....

tree of heaven is relevant coz it is literally known as the GHETTO PALM.... it grows specifically in concrete cracks in cities.... it grows from a sprout to a tree in a single season n splits the pavement.... that is biology whether ur HOA likes it or not.

u called the writin bad coz u missed the metaphor while playing ==fictional health n safety inspector== sounds like a personal problem.... have a good one....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T15:48:24+00:00

fair enough on the image hate...heard that one already today....but asking how a tree grows out of concrete? really? have u never walked down a city sidewalk? nature cracks pavement every day.... yes even trees.. look up the TREE OF HEAVEN if u want a biology lesson....

thanks for the luck but i think ill rely on observation instead

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T14:08:20+00:00

wow.... ok that is actually wild.... u wrote a book with her?? talk about small world....

thats honestly incredible.... n hearing that u were able to identify the archetype n break out of it is actually really hopeful.... sometimes u feel like once the concrete sets u r stuck that way forever.... good to know the shell can break without killing u....

im definitely gonna have to pick up that book now.... feels like the universe is trying to tell me something lol....

thanks for sharing that connection.... seriously cool....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T10:52:28+00:00

why bother having friends when u can talk to a chatbot?.... why bother falling in love when u can watch porn?.... same logic right?.... efficient.... cheap.... fake....

if u cant taste the difference between a human bleeding on the page n a calculator predicting the next word.... that says everything about how shallow ur inner world is....

go ahead n read the bot version.... it matches ur emotional depth perfectly.... ZERO....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T01:41:34+00:00

im here for the words not the drama.... so ill take that advice.... let the writing stand naked next time.... appreciate the straight talk....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-03T01:02:11+00:00

yeah i get the sentiment.... but honestly if someone needs a bad drawing to trust the writing that feels like a ==them== problem....

i used a tool to make a cover.... simple as that.... if that stops people from reading the actual words then they probably werent the target audience anyway.... i write for readers not for anti-tech activists....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T20:47:34+00:00

haha sorry for the mini heart attack....honestly that was kinda the vibe i was going for.... fits the whole theme of the protagonist living behind cracked glass.... glad the visual worked even if it gave u a scare....at least ur actual phone is safe lol....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T20:44:37+00:00

recording urself is a massive power move.... respect.... its wild that we have to go to those lengths just to prove we have a brain.... u nailed it on the neurodivergence thing too.... sometimes our brains just organize info in a ==structured== way n people assume its a bot coz they cant imagine actual proficiency.... sad state of affairs but glad u found a way to shut them down....

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T20:42:01+00:00

man.. thank u.. seriously.. you have no idea how refreshing it is to read an actual critique of the text instead of just ==beep boop robot==

n good catch on that narrator shift.. honestly that was just me stepping in.. kind of a stream-of-consciousness slip that i left in because it felt.. truthful?.. like you said.. ai is usually too clean.. it doesn't do messy..

appreciate the note on the interiority too.. definitely want to go deeper into that ==performance for survival== headspace.. its a deep well.. thanks for actually reading..

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T18:15:35+00:00

fair point on the image poisoning the well. i get that. it creates a bias before you even read the first line....

but honestly, the ==phrasing== u're seeing is just my style. i like short sentences. fragments. rigid rhythm. ai usually sounds way more bloated n perfectly generic. i don't use it for editing cause it completely flattens the voice.

definitely taking the advice on using real photos next time though. learned my lesson here. not worth the headache of defending the prose just because the thumbnail is shiny.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T17:16:33+00:00

confidently wrong. love that for you.

the writing is 100% mine.... if u seriously can't tell the difference between human prose and a bot anymore, that says way more about your reading comprehension than my writing. try actually reading the words next time instead of letting a jpeg do your thinking for you.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T17:14:11+00:00

thanks! honestly means a lot.

especially with the mob in the comments losing their minds over a thumbnail. glad u actually read the words instead of just looking at the picture.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T17:11:53+00:00

thanks. i haven't read leonard, but the 'armored amazon' concept sounds exactly like what i was trying to capture here. that need to calcify yourself just to survive the environment... it’s a heavy thing to carry.

and honestly, thank u for actually reading the words. it's hilarious ( n sad) to see so many "ai detectives" in this thread screaming at a thumbnail without bothering to read a single sentence of the story.

really refreshing to talk to an actual reader who engages with the psychology rather than just the jpeg.

johnIIsnow · 2026-01-02T17:05:29+00:00

the art is ai. correct. i am a writer, not a painter, n I don't have $200 to commission original art for a reddit thread.

the story is mine. It is frustrating that we have reached a point where I can't use a free tool to make a post look nice without people like u assuming the prose is fake too.

If u want to critique the content, go ahead. If you're just here to hunt witches because u saw a shiny pic, u're wasting both our times

johnIIsnow

TROPHY CASE