In keeping with the topic of the previous review, here is a short story by Douglas Lain (a 'postmodernist' writer, whatever that is), titled The Last Apollo Mission, and originally published in 2011 in Rudy Rucker's magnificent (and magnificently weird) Flurb Magazine.
What does it deal with, you ask? A failed writer working as a bookseller, hired by Stanley Kubrik to write the script to a film, in a way which was never done before; and ending up on the moon together with her boyfriend. Or is it a stage set in the basement of the collapsed World Trade Centre? I guess, in many way, the story deals with the permeability of reality, to rather startling effect. Ah, just go read it already, ok?
The picture is a photoshop from a moon-landing-denier website, which I shall not link...
Pádraig Ó Méalóid has very kindly been given permission by Alan Moore to post online an essay/article which for various reasons never made it to print: “Fossil Angels was written by Alan Moore in December 2002, and was to appear in KAOS #15. KAOS #15 never actually appeared, and the piece has been without a home since then. I was lucky enough to be given a number of Alan Moore’s scripts by Alan himself a few years ago, and this was amongst them. I asked if I could publish it and, when another publication which it was slated to appear in folded, Alan told me I was free to go ahead. So, I am very proud to be allowed to present this piece on Glycon for its first publication anywhere.”
Most of the cosmic code is Dark Energy and Dark Matter. The stuff we foolishly call ‘reality’ is the cute friendly part with the kid-colored don’t-be-evil Google graphics.
This time it's a short story called, imaginatively, Beyond the Coming Age of Networked Matter, and is written by Bruce Sterling, although the density of hype-words, as well as the overall geeky overdrive in the story made me feel like I was reading a Cory Doctorow story (but no, he has his own entry in the anthology), or maybe something by Lavie Tidhar.
“I read the forbidden book,” said Crawferd. “It’s not Steve Wolfram’s fault that the universe is a computationally equivalent Turing Machine that’s ninety-six percent hideous darkness.
Heady stuff, either way, a head-rush of a story. Very much recommended.
The illustration on the right is, yet again, by Daniel Martin Diaz (click through for the gorgeous larger version)
It plays in the Little Brother/Homeland universe, and is, so is the consensus, set after the latter.
I'm currently trying to remember where I've come across some (only parts) of this before - it must be either something Cory read at some event or convention, or I must have read an extract of this before; but either way memory fails me at the moment.
Never mind my failing recollection, though, I'd suggest you go and read this for yourself.
This is part of an Anthology called An Aura of Familiarity: Visions from the Coming Age of Networked Matter, commissioned by the IFTF as part of/asociated with their Coming Age of Networked Matter research stream.
It also contains stories by Cory Doctorow, Rudy Rucker, Ramez Naam, Bruce Sterling, and Madeline Ashby; with illustrations by Daniel Martin Diaz. Worth checking out, wouldn't you think?
The image on the right is by Diaz, and is called Binary Predator.
No, the thumbnail does not do it justice, click through to see it in a larger version!
