New fiction

I just posted my latest work of fiction, the first one in a while. It’s called Ripped to Pieces by a Mob of Adoring Fans, and it’s a story i wrote last year to submit to the second Machine of Death anthology, edited by Ryan NorthMatthew Bennardo, and David Malki !, (the first one is excellent, and is available here).

Machine of Death stories all have one thing in common: they tell of people who know the means of their demise, thanks to a wonderful, horrible invention of the possibly-near future.

Anyway, i wrote it super quickly in about two or three hours, and submitted it with minutes to go by the end of the deadline for submissions. It is not too good, but it’s about the only fiction i’ve written in a while, so i posted it here.

They say “write what you know,” so i wrote about underemployment and music. And, naturally, death. But really it’s about selling out, and fame, and self-sabotage, and the creative motivation. Above all, though, it’s murky, hard to read, self-indulgent, and disappointingly uninteresting.

Ripped to Pieces by a Mob of Adoring Fans

I Am Not Kurt Vonnegut But Sometimes I Pretend To Be, or, This Is The Entire Thing So Enjoy It

I’m writing a book about a civilization so advanced that they no longer have disputes. However, they’ve also realized the need for warfare and now get to it every dozen or so years, for no other reason than that it’s jolly good exercise and allows for technological progress.

In the end, they realize that all of their scientific passions were in pursuit of destruction & devastation and the eradication of life, just seconds before blowing up the entire universe.

It’s going to be called either Oblivion Operations Protocol System or Automotivated Warfare: Syndicated Hostility Initiative Tokenization, with the title written out so you see the hidden message that reveals humanity’s final observation.

videos, etc.

Video: I love this terrific, mind-bending sci-fi short story. I mean, really love it. It’s one of the reasons why i’m proud to be alive on this planet Earth and why i’m so lucky to be around at this time in history. Now, there’s a short film: Terry Bisson’s “They’re Made Out of Meat”

Video: Star Wars/Lord of the Rings mashup: Starlords

Etc.: Jane Siberry‘s got it right! This is how the music business should work… and the best part about it is that her business model actually does.

stories

It was also a fact that, in the night, under a pale but dim goose-neck lamp (a veteran of war, of sorts), he would write his life the way he had always wanted it to be…