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Phaser Heralds

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“Phaser Heralds” appears in Birdy Magazine #112, April 2023:

When the moons align, they slip between worlds. He is constantly comparing calendars, weighing energies, choosing which star to pray to, which gate to enter. They pass through hot savannahs, dusty shantytowns, shining crystal wastelands. Finally they reach a red desert where stacks of distant columns climb the featureless sky. Their arcane robes and filigreed plate have phased into peculiar and unflattering space suits with prominent shoulders and enormous bulbous helmets.

Jon was hopeful. Any tech’s a good sign. We may be able to find an AI within the sim. If we can do that, we’ll effectively be talking with the Evreware AI itself.

Because the AI inside the sim is the same as the AI running the sim.

Exactly. It’s like, either you’re talking to God, or you’re not.

Phaser Heralds by Joel Tagert

The Earth Witness (Victory Over Mara)

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I’ve always been very moved by the story of how, when the Buddha was sitting under the bodhi tree, he was assailed by the forces of Mara, delusion or self-doubt; and in response, he simply reached out and touched the earth. Then the earth goddess rose up, calling forth the waves of understanding and washing away the forces of delusion. Deeply unsure of himself, uncertain whether he was doing the right thing, whether he was on the right path, unsure even of what was real or unreal, the Buddha reached out and touched the earth, and instantly found his doubts dispelled, replaced by an unshakable certainty and joy. We too can touch the earth, at any time, just by opening ourselves to the boundless world: to the sound of the chickadees, the grain of the wood deck, the scent of the morning air, and also to everything else, including the many complexities of our lives. To be completely open is to be completely connected, and when we live like this we find our doubts are simply insignificant in the face of the grandeur of existence. Just touch the earth.

The Beast Awakens!

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Six years after publishing my first novel, Inference, I’m thrilled to finally announce the release of my second book, A Bonfire in the Belly of the Beast, which brings together twenty-nine short science fiction and fantasy stories to make you bug your eyes and burst your heart. Most were originally featured in Denver’s Birdy Magazine, where I’ve been a monthly contributor for the last four or five years, with many inspired by artworks selected by Birdy’s editors, moving the stories in directions unexpected even to me. Ninja witches, Chinese fables, Lovecraftian mysteries, telepathic aliens, post-apocalyptic space stations, trash-picking goblins, demonic matchmaking, comedy, tragedy, romance and revenge: A Bonfire in the Belly of the Beast careens to the limits of the imagination and then leaps cackling off the edge.

Stories include “Filthy Animals”, “Scrimshaw”, “Prism and Prison”, “The Mouse Told the Wolves”, “Jang! Sang the Kangaroo” and the never-before-published “Neith, Queen of Murkfen.” Buy it today!

For those in Denver, I will also be hosting a book release (and going-away party) Friday, April 7, so keep an eye on your inbox for an invitation.

New Vistas

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I’m thrilled to announce that beginning in mid-April, I will be serving as resident manager at Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center near Ward, Colorado. I’ve loved this place and this community from the first, and the opportunity to live and work there is a dream come true.

This move also reflects a growing understanding that individual realization and its expression in the world is sharply bounded by cultural, social and political contexts. If, after all, we truly understand our intimate connection with all beings, then we can likewise see that our circle of concern must extend beyond our immediate social groups and personal concerns to include the entirety of the earth’s living ecosystems, upon which all the rest depends. Otherwise we may end up living hollow lives, ignoring the looming consequences of our ultimately unsustainable lifestyles, whistling past the dark. Conversely, to seek social change without a clear sense of connection (and without a clear understanding of the self and its limitations) is to act from a position of separation that all too often results in division and deepening strife. Author and writer David Loy calls this the “ecosattva path,” the understanding that the bodhisattva’s vow to liberate all beings from suffering really must include “all beings”—down to the microbes in the soil and the grass under our feet.

From RMERC’s website:

Since the natural world, including its innumerable species and processes as well as the most vulnerable human members of our planetary ecosystem, is unable to protect itself from our formidable systems and technologies, the ultimate question is how we can realize our non-duality with it, to love it and be loved by it, and in that way come to embrace responsibility for the wellbeing of the whole biosphere. Our intention is that in working for the healing of the earth, we are empowered, healed, and awakened.

“Why Ecodharma“

The Sleeper

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“The Sleeper” appears in Birdy #108… and as it appears the text isn’t available on Birdy’s site, I’m pleased to share the complete story here! This was one of my very favorite stories for the magazine, and a killer layout to boot, inspired by art by Graham Franciose.

The Sleeper

By Joel Tagert

At other Arctic villages the Felix and its crew had been variously greeted with astonishment, alarm or hostility, to be expected in places where the inhabitants had never seen Europeans, much less a schooner. But when Captain John Ross and five other men disembarked from the jolly boat at that unnamed hamlet in Lancaster Sound—so far as anyone knew, the northernmost settlement in the world—they were greeted only by a delegation of four village elders, who through gestures and Felix’s translator, Minik, indicated they would prefer that their visitors be on their way.

Continue reading →

The Writhing

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The Writhing by Joel Tagert | Art by Flooko
“The Writhing” appears in Birdy #107, November 2022, with art by @flooko. It’s a follow-up to “Filthy Animals” and finds Joira and Gedim getting squirmy:

You sure you want to do this?

The ship’s down here, Gedim.

I believe you. But is it wise to go spelunking around an alien cave system when just yesterday we both nearly died after getting sucked into a pit of black goo?

The Widows’ Pilgrimage

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The Widow’s Pilgrimage by Joel Tagert | Art by Ali Hoff

“The Widows’ Pilgrimage” appears in Birdy 105, September 2022, with art by Ali Hoff. The Bears of Umbre battle a Niroan Legion for control of the elemental Widows. Blood and gold!

Bears of Umbre! Soon you’ll step foot on the Red Shore. Why “red”? Blood and gold, that’s why! Look at those Widows. Eight of ’em, each dripping with treasure, ripe for the taking. The fortune of a lifetime, and all that stands between us and them are some Niroan cunts. So gnash your teeth! Bite and claw! Tear out their throats, hack off their balls, spit in their eyes! Umbre, fuel my rage! Maka, lend me your thirst! Ogin, whet my axe! Blood and gold! Blood and gold! Blood and gold!

Surf’s Up at Apocalypse Beach

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Surf’s Up At Apocalypse Beach by Joel Tagert | Art by Caitlyn Grabenstein

“Surf’s Up at Apocalypse Beach” appears in Birdy #104, Aug. 2022, with art by Caitlyn Grabenstein. Don’t let the end of the world ruin your day, dude.

Something wet slaps onto the windshield. “Shit,” I cough, since I got a hit in me, then cough a lot more, til I wonder if I’m hallucinating.

It looks like a frog. A freaky, slimy, gray-green frog the size of a mandarin orange, except it must be some kind of mutant cause it’s got a membrane between its arms and legs, like a flying squirrel. It’s not even dead. It hops away.

Then another hits the windshield. And another. It’s raining frogs.

“What was in that joint, dude?”