OPTIMA SCRIPTA – Professional Language Services

Portfolio – Author

Here you’ll find my past works. organized into categories. To return to the main page, please click “Home” in the header.

Literature

Novella

  • Year 2023, Europa Mission (Ano 2023 Missão Europa)
    • First publisher: Editora Salesiana Dom Bosco, Brazil – September, 1982
    • In Portuguese (BR), 113 pages

The novella is a science fiction story about two astronauts who travel to a mining facility on Europa (one of Jupiter’s largest moons) where they must deal with the unexplainable disappearance of part of the ore.

Short Stories

  • Joe, Taxi Driver (Zé Motorista)
    • Anthology: 6 Christmas Stories
      (6 Histórias de Natal)
    • First publisher: Editora Salesiana Dom Bosco, Brazil – November, 1982
    • in Portuguese (BR), 67 pages (book)

I was invited to participate in this anthology and contributed a short story about a struggling taxi driver who despite his condition tracks down a former passenger to return a suitcase full of valuables left behind in his taxi.

The narrative follows the crew of the space tug ‘Belvedere’ as they haul a massive quantity of ice from the asteroid belt toward Mars. They choose to put their mission on temporary hold to investigate a curious metallic mass detected in their vicinity — an object that might not be what it seems…

This piece of fiction consists of four distinct, seemingly disjointed or non-linear stories with a shared cast of characters. It is up to the reader to decide how these narratives connect and how their sequence impacts their mutual meaning.

HE03
  • My World and Nothing Else (Meu Mundo e Nada Mais)

The narrative delves into the recollections of an old man who, as a child, witnessed the aliens’ arrival on Earth. Their explicit goal: to aid us in restoring the planet. But the central question remains: do we truly wish for their help?

  • A Stone in the Works (Uma Pedra no Caminho)

The tale centers on a space experiment that encounters a technical failure just before its return to Earth. What is the link between this malfunction and the strange, terrifying visions being experienced by a girl in her bedroom halfway across the globe?

  • Do it Right the First Time… (Servir Bem para Servir Sempre)

This short story is about a new employee at a lunar spaceship repair dock and how he copes with an arrogant and self-absorbed customer.

Articles

I wrote several articles about science for the magazine “Diário de Bordo”, published by Nova Frota (Largest Brazilian Star Trek Fan Club). One of the contributions is “The Solar System”, spanning the entire magazine – 42 pages!

I contributed to the “Mundo & História” (“Word & History”) news portal, writing articles about astronomy, astronautics and aviation.

Capa_MicroSistemas

My contributions include several articles about software for Micro Sistemas magazine (Main Brazilian computer magazine in the 80s), an article about hardware for ESPECTRO (Portugal), a memoir about my time as a programmer and computer user in the 80s for Jogos 80, and an interview I conducted with the authors of a famous game software of the 80s for Clube MSX.

Software

Mine Finder
  • Mine Finder
    • Platform: MSX 1/2/2+
    • Publisher: Autopublished/MSXdev 2022
    • August 2022
    • Format: Downloadable ROM image

This was my entry in the annual MSXDev competition back in 2022. It’s a game for the MSX platform, kind of like the classic “Mine Sweeper.” I coded it entirely in Z80 assembly language, and compiled it just like a ROM cartridge for the computer. What makes this game special is that it supports mouse use, which makes the playing experience super smooth, though you can also play it with the keyboard or a joystick. It ended up getting 17th place out of 32 submissions. Considering I hadn’t coded for 33 years before the contest and that a lot of entries come from really seasoned coders, I think that’s pretty good!

  • Pronto-DOS
    • Platform: MSX 1
    • Publisher: Plan-Soft (Brazil)
    • November, 1988
    • Format: Cartridge + optional Floppy Disk with plug-ins

Pronto-DOS is an utility that allows the user to easily deal with the files in their floppy disks, providing a graphical interface using windows and icons to format a disk, see floppy contents, selective/block rename, delete or copy and execute files. It is also extensible, loading “plug-ins” from disk to perform additional operations, such as directory sort, conversion from disk to tape format, header file information, etc. The user can bypass the utility loading at boot time and invoke it later, force the system to work with one disk drive when there are two or simulate the presence of two when there is only one installed. Pronto-DOS was developed entirely in Z80 assembly language using Hisoft GEN80 suite (running on CP/M).

  • Slot Machine
    • Platform: MSX 1
    • Publisher: Disprosoft/Tropic (Brazil)
    • October, 1986
    • Format: Cartridge and Cassette

This is a Slot Machine game simulator for MSX. The player starts with an initial amount of “money” and has to reach a target amount to win. There are options for nudging, and betting on sequential doubling of the amount. Developed originally in MSX-BASIC.

  • Sena
    • Platform: MSX 1
    • Publisher: Plan-Soft (Brazil)
    • June, 1988
    • Format: Cassette

This software helped SENA lottery players (before MEGA-SENA) maximize their chances of winning. In practice, you would choose more than 6 lucky numbers, and the program would automatically calculate and print all the simple 6-number betting slips you needed. This way, if the 6 drawn numbers were among those you had chosen initially, the software guaranteed that you would win the grand prize (SENA).