Irina Razok, the Virgin Queen of San Lavinia, simply had no notion of morality. Turned vampire as a girl of six, she was famous for her capriciousness, her cruelty and her power of command, which even most other vampires could not resist.
“Aloe Vera” appears in Birdy #113:
Aloe Vera was riding to the rescue, and not for the first time. In a previous life, the truck had been an ambulance, and Manuel saw a connection between the name he’d given her and that history: a healing salve, a balm in Gilead (though the real source of the name was a long-departed girlfriend, who had turned out more acid than aloe.) Vera had carried people to safety before; she would do it again today.
“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.
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 Zoros and the Zeldas” appears in Birdy #111, March 2023, with art by Jack Estenssoro. I had great fun writing this one, a trippy comedic sci-fi dialogue at a fast-food drive-through:
Yeah, I’m good, I’m good. I think. Am I in danger? Is this some kind of experiment?
It’s an experiment to see if you’re too high to go through a drive-through, I guess.
Am I hallucinating?
You tell me, dude.
I’m seeing, like, a small gray alien with giant bug eyes and a tiny mouth. And, and uh, you’re wearing a Bubba’s Burgers hat and T-shirt, and … fuck. I am hallucinating.
Been there. I am an alien though.
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.
Generative AI is going to change everything.
After some initial fiddling to get the hang of the slightly irritating interface via Discord, I’ve started to dig into the capabilities of the generative AI Midjourney. And my mind is reeling.
This technology is revolutionary. It’s the biggest leap forward since the Internet itself.
Continue reading
Currently in Birdy, with art by Ali Hoff. A job’s a job.
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“
Currently in Birdy Magazine at https://www.birdymagazine.com/featured/hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil-by-joel-tagert-art-by-dave-danzara/. Full-sense sims are addictive—and the Three Monkeys will do anything to shut down the neuroport clinics.
I want to get a port.
Absolutely not.
All my friends have them.
What friends?
My friends online.
Those aren’t your friends. You’ve never even met them.
That’s not true, Mom. I know them. You should see the places we go.
Alex, you don’t go anywhere. You hang out in your room all day with your goggles on. You probably don’t even know their real names. Don’t even know what they look like.
Names don’t matter. Bodies don’t matter.
THE FELL AND THE FAE 