I wrote the introductory chapter to O’Reilly and Associates’ Essential Blogging, which was published in August 2002. Other contributors were Shelley Powers, J. Scott Johnson, Mena G. Trott, Benjamin Trott and Rael Dornfest.
Swedish translation (Johan Anglemark/Enhörningen Magazine)
Slovak translation (Pavol Hvizdos)
I wrote this while at a summer writer’s workshop in July, 2002, at an arts-center on Toronto Island. Like most of my fiction, this reflects a lot of what’s going on in my life at the moment. In this case, it was my immersion in copyright issues, nerd culture and posthumanism. This is the first SF story Salon ever published, and it made quite a splash — and was nominated for a Nebula Award in 2003.
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Black Gate
NB: This story is available for free online, through the good graces of Fortean Bureau, an excellent webzine. You can read it here.
I got the idea for this story one day while wandering around my local fairground — a good pastime for a theme-park nut. There was an old-timers’ ragtime band there, a clarinet and a set of tubs and a guitar with a little amp and a trombone, and all in matching red jackets, not a one under 60. They swung their way through a bunch of my requests, but it was all cut short when the goddamn airshow started and they got buzzed and buzzed and buzzed by jets. They valiantly struggled through it for a couple numbers, but then gave it up.
I’ve always been obsessed by the apocalype (I grew up in the antiwar movement, three-quarters convinced that I was headed for nuclear doom), and with apocalyptic lit, especially John Wyndham and Nevil Shute. When relatives nag me about not saving up for my old age, I usually smart off with a remark about not needing a retirement plan, just a long pole so I can dig for canned goods in the postapocalyptic rubble.
The title, of course, is from a great old Andrews Sisters number.
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On Spec
Podcast: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
This story appears in my short story collection A Place So Foreign and Eight More and is licensed for downloading under a Creative Commons license. Download it here
This is part of the cycle of stories that started with Shadow of the Mothaship and continued in Home Again, Home Again.
I’ve written usuccessful fiction inspired by my activist past for years, but I think I’ve finally nailed it. I’m sure glad it’s found a home.
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