Welcome to LitBits Audiobooks.This is an audio version of issue 14 of Immersion Books V1.
Strata 14
The Journey to the Edge(Fear of Death)Plus essay The Divide and Convergence of Science Fiction and Fantasy




www.taletellerclub.com
CDM music by Tale Teller Club
Illustrations by iServalan Homotech 23
Welcome to our world.




Hello Immersion Fans! Contents of this Issue.


 This is the first issue of the new magazine style for our serialised novels and I have already lost my socks with excitement. 
So what is new exactly, I mean, I have been doing the Immersion Series for a good while now?Well, I thought we needed more art, more stories, and maybe a bit more chat about the wonderful sci-fi world….and that is just for a sci-fi start!
I will be serialising The Book of Immersion each Friday on Kindle for free, ready for a good weekend read along with artworks with a fantasy sci-fi edge and updates about new sci-fi releases on Amazon.
Sorry…am I in sci-fi heaven?
Yes, Immersers, I am.
I will also be introducing some very cool LitBits™ condensed sci-fi books based on timeless titles by the greatest genre writers from history.
When each volume is finished I will release the full paperback of my novel The Book of Immersion and you can also buy each magazine issue in paperback if you prefer.The previously published episodes will gradually be updated in the new format though possibly not until after Christmas as I am crazy busy.
I will also be featuring guest writers so if you have some science based literature or art, send it my way via the Tale Teller Club website or use your POS to communicate with mine via Facebook or LinkedIn.
All the illustrations can be found on the Tale Teller Club Catalogue on our Redbubble store and you are free to share the products with other sci-fi friends. 
The Tale Teller Club music tracks which accompany the Book of Immersion series are available on YouTube on our official artists’ channel. And will be linked in this issue.
Hope you love what is going on in this very special world that we sci-fi beasts inhabit.
iServalan x
PS If you hate sci-fi (yes it happens) the Tale Teller Club is publishing new weekly series for crime lovers and romance lovers soon. Stay tuned for updates.


It

My morning swim wreaked havocon every cell of my sleepy skin.As the silver water lapped around me the black night fadedwith a hungry sun,and together we took the day for ourselves.Me, the light and the sea.
It begins,  as many things do,  with a shadow.I held my movements treading water with the stealth of a crocodile.Waiting, watching.I know it is there, under the water.It is coming closer feeding off the deafening beat of my heart as it ripples the mercury surface.There was a sound I had not heard before.Baby cries and angel wings echoed in a ravine.And I listened hard in an ominous wait for what was next.
The shadow rises, wraps itself around my torsoand tries to pull me down.A rampant seaweed with a killer motiveStrong like father,Invisible.I remembered the shark warningsPlay dead Eyes closed and limpdreading the outcome I sank into the power of the beastas it thrust me up out of the waterinto the sun like an offering of lifeon a jet of black oil.
And suddenly I was gone,It and I were one

For more great poetry check out the Tea Cup Shorts


 Immersion Strata 14 The Journey to the Edge (Fear of Death) 
Welcome to Immersion, You have reached strata 14 
Fear is the result of perceived danger or threat. It is peculiar to sentient beings, including humans and animals. Fear is an intensely unpleasant emotion. Fear can be felt so deeply by humans that it has catastrophic physical and emotional effects.

The human brain decides in milliseconds to defend, attack or flee at the point of fear.
Long-term fear has slower responses but is not necessarily well-measured, as assessing true risk is extremely subjective. Humans feel fear differently depending on age, upbringing, social conditions, and external manipulations such as propaganda and education.
Symptoms of fear in humans can manifest as palpitations, sweating, nausea, dizziness, panting, urination and defecation.
Ultimately, fear is propelled by ideas of harm and death. Notwithstanding the surge of adrenaline which can be thrilling and even erotic, fear is not something most humans crave. However, adventure and uncertainty certainly are. The fantasy of fear through films and other media has long been explored and enjoyed by humans as a form of entertainment.
Machines cannot feel fear. Machines can only fail in their programmed purpose with neither opinion nor disappointment. Machines will have no innate emotional association with the concept of death. They will however connect value and understanding to the fact that, if they cease to exist, so will their purpose.

Flex was whooping and laughing.
'Well, that was fun,' he shouted gleefully.
'It was dangerous.' warned Renyke, 'it could have easily ended in death for us. It would not be beneficial for any of us to die at this point in our association.’
‘You worry so, brother, Me n the Shabz, we got all sides covered. It’s is called teamwork, teamwork is an advantage. ‘Sides, them Bastardos only got weapons, no brains, no game plan. Always got a plan, me n the Shabz.’ 
Renyke felt the pounding inside his ribcage subside at last. He wondered about this sudden camaraderie, it wasn’t quite making sense.
But something else was amiss. He was about to ask the POS some questions but Shabra was singing loudly.
'That's the pleasure Mr. Renyke!
Ain't no burn without the fire.'
Flex joined in.'Feel the rise in your thighs, brother.’  The excitement of another near death experience finally settled as Shabra continued along a straight road that ran parallel to a waterway.
Renyke took the moment and checked the POS for information about fear, something he had heard about of course. 
He had been programmed to avoid instilling fear in humans at all costs. All androids were designed to improve human lives. It was their duty as androids to facilitate and give pleasure, to entertain, to make human life more manageable with seamless day-to-day interactions that would not cause emotional or physical harm. The human existence in the Midcasts was sold on this idea of emotional harmony, a gentle shallow undulation of life, a steady equilibrium where the extremes of real human suffering were a thing of the past.
Of course, there were droids who played emotionally charged games, war games and the like. But even they were programmed to allow humans to win in the end and to be careful that humans were not emotionally troubled in the execution of pastimes. No human should be, or could be, disempowered or overpowered by a droid. At least, this was the case in the Midcasts.
Renyke had heard of establishments frequented by addicts of extreme fear and other seemingly outlandish emotions. Customers could attend sessions with torturous activities on offer. But such places had been banned and eradicated in the Midcasts, well before his creation.
The POS was inactive, an increasingly annoying situation for Renyke whose confusion seemed to be growing in this strange environment. The flashes of disorientation were becoming longer and more regular as the POS became more inaccessible.
 'We only have an hour before sun up,' said Shabra. 'It's timeplenty to get to the edge.'
He observed the unknown surroundings and quizzed Flex. It felt odd to be replacing the POS with this human he barely knew.
‘This waterway is called Pirate Stream,’ explained Flex. ‘It is one of the main entrances by water and there are trade drop off points for miles. If man needs a thing…..you go to a drop off, see what’s cumin in. You get some cool booty from the pirates, but you don’t ask questions. Pirates hate questions.’
There were lights and small boats bobbing along, some were anchored.
‘So these boats, who owns them?’ Asked Renyke, who was not particularly informed about boats and their purpose other than those of historic importance like the great wars of Alltime.
'Pirates, cutthroat crimgangs. These are the trade boats, and different gangs use different parts of the river. It's no place for a loney. But if you are in a gang you get respected. The gangs got their own peace deals, own rules to get along.’
'Are they smuggling?'
Flex laughs.....'Well, there ain't no government rules here, no borders like you mean brother. You can’t smuggle exactly without a border nor a rule.
Traders bring the stuff, food, tools, and equipment, to sell for the markets. Or drugs. Then there are the slaves.'
'People?' asked Renyke. 
'Yes, people and escaped droids, robots.'
'What sort of people?' asks Renyke, surprised at Flex's answers.
'People who can't fight for themselves. People who prefer to be owned than free.They find that they're fed and watered and it's a safer option than being on the zone streets. Most owners feed and house slaves at least. Some are born into slavery, they know nothing else.'
Renyke thought for a moment. Strange abstract thoughts. Visions about memories and the future. Pictures he had never seen before. Colours, sounds, not real but in his head. Then, something odd happened, he felt a shudder, a sensation that began on his neck and travelled like a snake down his spine.
'Yes, that's right. I was a slave. And it was reasonable. I had a very good life. But I was tied, I couldn't leave, yet I had no wish to leave.' Renyke explains and realises that these concepts had never arisen before whilst he was tied to the midcast house. 
He had never considered himself