I have published several stories on Patreon!

 Please visit my Patreon Website: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheSpeculativeAnarchist. I have published several stories there including "The Playground."

I have also posted- only for paid members- a preview of the first chapter of the first novel of the Tantalus II Trilogy, "Rentkids."

All these stories take place within the Tantalus II universe, in other corners of the Local Group of galaxies- Milky Way, Triangulum, Andromeda. Several of them are "extraplanetary post-apocalyptic." 

The page is currently under review to ensure it meets Patron's guidelines but I am sure this is just a formality, my account was inactive due to non-use for a long time and I have resurrected it like a zombie.

For free, several stories are available, or for only $1 a month you can get all the stories.

In other news, I have recently submitted a short story, "The Education of a Starfarer," to about 8 different publications (that allow simultaneous submissions) and look forward to hearing back about it. This story serves as a window into the universe of my novel series. It follows the struggle of a young woman to survive on a hostile planet after her father is killed on a gun running mission.

The above story will not be available on Patreon at this time, however. 

Update on the Tantalus II Trilogy

 Before the big snowstorm two weeks ago, I submitted all three novels in the Tantalus II trilogy to Roan & Weatherford before going into work Saturday night, sleeping in my office, working a therapy shift Sunday, and sleeping overnight again, finally going home Monday. Both hardcore things. My patients were enheartened by my solidarity. One of them genuinely wanted to know if my camping cot was comfortable enough.

I realized after the first night that I was sleeping in a room I had once been assaulted in. But I think I have dealt with my trauma from that, what trauma I had. A man whose life I was trying to save attacked me and left me with a nasty and painful concussion. I still see him, he still uses our services. But I have resigned to the fact we will  discharge him badly each time and not send him to a higher level of care as I tried to do.

Anyway, I am #3 on the queue for development, so I expect I will be hearing soon from R&W about what changes they want made or what questions they have. It is exciting, feels like a major milestone.

In the meantime, I am working on my next longform piece. I have several candidates- shorter pieces I can expand, as well as one concept which is unwritten as yet but for which I have begun to develop characters. It is a military virtual reality simulation scenario involving characters belonging to different rank structures within the Rigelian Expeditionary Forces, Rigel exerting an influence over Tantalus II in the trilogy. This novel would more thoroughly explore the Rigelian military that used to rule Tantalus II.

#3. Won't be a long wait before I get feedback. I am very good at accepting feedback that is critical in my process and incorporating recommended changes. I think the publisher will find me easy to work with. 

I am still not in love with blogging. I suppose I prefer to speak through my characters, more comfortable with them having contrasting perspectives that I am in offering my own perspective these days, especially when that perspective tends to be a kind of monolithic perpetual outrage.

There's nothing I could say about the fascist regime in charge of this country that hasn't already been said more eloquently by others. Nothing I needs clarification by me, a relatively privileged member of society. I would prefer to let the voices of groups like Palestinians, Trans and Nonbinary persons and Undocumented persons speak for themselves. I am a member of If Not Now, a Jewish anti-occupation group, but if you can tell from my last couple of posts, I am not engaging much with politics online these days. I maintain my anarchist political beliefs but I find online engagement about politics to be valueless and unpractical. As I also find most social media.

I couldn't even tolerate the relentless Karens in r/socialwork (and neither could my clinical supervisor) so don't expect to see me on social media soon. When the book comes out I will do an Amazon Author Central profile page, going by R&W's recommendations.

Space Rock (Music)

 When I was a young kid, my dad was best buddies with Dan Octavius of the Memphis Mobile Radio Show (link). Dan would make me mixtapes with outer space themes, and this was how I learned about bands like ZZ Top, Pink Floyd, the Kicks, the Byrds and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Even today these are songs I enjoy. Dan Octavius always had a spacey element to his persona, he is a true old school hippie and a music buff who spreads joy and good grooves. Check out his website and his podcast.

A couple of the old goldies Dan Octavius left me with: 

Supersonic Rocket Ship (The Kinks)

Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun (Pink Floyd)

Beautiful Zelda (Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band)

Hey Mr. Spaceman (The Byrds)

Planet of Women (ZZ Top)

Space is the Place (Sun Ra)

My PhilCon Schedule

Philadelphia Science Fiction Convention is the oldest convention of its type in the United States. And it is Friday through Sunday. I am a panelist. The following is my schedule:

826
Are We Approaching 451°F?		Plaza 4	Literary	Panel	Fri 7:00 PM	Duration: 00:50
	Description In Ray Bradbury's literary classic "Fahrenheit 451", people had parasocial relationships  with their TV shows, sought constant mind-numbing stimulation from their "shell" earbuds, and they  did. not. read. books. It was meant to be a dystopian future that could never be, and yet... It seems like the only thing he was missing was the internet and that people didn't need books to be burned,  they'd stop reading on their own. When reality imitates fiction so closely, can we learn from that fiction in our efforts to correct course?
	Panelists' Publication Names (Badge Names)	Email addresses		Comments
702
The "You Missed The Point" Starter Pack		Plaza 3	Fandom	Panel	Fri 9:00 PM	Duration: 00:50
	Description Tyler Durden, Homelander, Daenerys Targaryen, Rick Sanchez, The Joker and Harley  Quinn, Ramona Flowers... They're supposed to be the moral at the end of the story that teaches you the dangers of hubris and power imbalance, yet so many people seem to idolize them instead.  What is it about these toxic characters that inspires people to willingly miss the point?
	Panelists' Publication Names (Badge Names)	Email addresses		Comments
		sallena20@yahoo.com
776
Writing Dystopias in a Dystopian World		Plaza 5	Literary	Panel	Sat 1:00 PM	Duration: 00:50
	Description What are the uses of dystopian fiction in today’s world of global plagues and toppling  institutions? When the world seems to be falling apart, do authors feel the need to pull back from the brink?
	Panelists' Publication Names (Badge Names)	Email addresses		Comments
772
Dystopias Then and Now		Plaza 3	Literary	Panel	Sun 12:00 PM	Duration: 00:50
	Description Caste societies. Resource scarcity. State surveillance. Dictatorships. These themes are almost requirements of dystopian stories, yet authors manage to rework them over and over  to create frightening, often prophetic, spins on the worst ways society can develop. How have dystopian tales evolved over time, and what might they look like in the future?
	Panelists' Publication Names (Badge Names)	Email addresses		Comments
671
Voicing Multiple Characters		Plaza 5	Media	Panel	Sun 2:00 PM	Duration: 00:50
	Description When reading a work aloud for an audience, whether it is your own story or if you're  providing narration for someone else's, how can you make the voice of each character distinct not only in tone, but in mannerisms?
	Panelists' Publication Names (Badge Names)	Email addresses		Comments

The Tantalus II Trilogy: I Will Soon Be A Published Author

(Tantalus II, a red, Mars-like world that has been terraformed to support human lifie)

I am roughly halfway through editing a series of three books, a thematic trilogy set on the dystopian  planet Tantalus II in the far-future. I have a contract with a publisher and expect to be published within a year, approximately. I am currently bringing the books up to their standards according to a style guide.

(A southern desert city on Tantalus II)

This is extremely exciting for me. I have been a published author since 2020 when I sold a story to radio but that felt more ephemeral. This is a book deal: a trilogy. They read the first book and they asked if there were others; I said it's a trilogy, and they said "We'll take the trilogy."

(Devna, hero of Book #1, "Rentkids")

I will keep readers of this blog informed of the launch date as it approaches. For now the books are in an editing process.

(Tantalus II is dominated by the mafia)

Watch this spot for news about the Tantalus II Trilogy!

Millennium: Season 1- the best of the three

 

"I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen."

-W. H. Auden

Anyone reading this blog can tell that I am a big fan of The X-Files. Millennium was a sister-show to that seminal piece of television brilliance, intended by creator Chris Carter as an exploration of a "more mature" version of the Mulder character. Enter Lance Henricksen, playing behavioral profiler Frank Black. Black has a gift: the ability to see inside the minds of killers. His work terrifies his wife, Catherine (Megan Gallagher), and the both of them struggle to keep their young daughter, Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) away from Frank's work. At the beginning of the series, Frank, following a nervous breakdown, moves his family back to Seattle to an idyllic yellow house and begins working for the Millennium Group, a consulting agency for law enforcement. Black's contact with the Group comes mostly through Peter Watts (Terry O'Quinn), and in the first season, we learn very little about the Millennium Group's motivations, only that they are more than meets the eye. Frank is called to consult for a number of bizarre, sexual and religious crimes in the first season, and usually Frank's profile subjects are deranged, violent men... but in the first season there are a few excursions into the supernatural, which culminate in the murder of Frank's best friend, Bob Bletcher (Bill Smitrovich), by a demonic entity in Frank's own home. Shortly after his encounter with the demon, who takes the form of an attractive woman, Lucy Butler (Sarah Jane Redmond), Frank begins to perceive events around him differently than others. He becomes aware of cosmic evil, and of a struggle between evil and good that is being played out around him.

Henricksen delivers a strong performance as the quiet, capable, focused Frank Black. Black is not your typical TV hero. He is middle aged, retired, and while quite capable of action, his primary talent is intellectual or spiritual in nature. He sees into the minds of killers, rapists, and other criminals, catching fleeting glimpses of their skewed realities which help him to catch them in the end. Another part of the strength of this show is its frayed, apocalyptic setting. Watching Frank Black solve the mysteries put to him by the Millennium Group, one really gets a sense of society on the edge. The quote for this post, displayed at the beginning of the first episode, says it all: "I smell blood and an era of prominent madmen." Buried in the mythos of Millennium is the nugget of an idea that as the apocalypse approaches, and society degrades and devalues itself, a new generation of killers are rising to prominence.

Bob Bletcher's death at the hands of a supernatural, demonic entity shifts the show in a direction more familiar to X-Files fans: from this point on, Frank becomes aware of great evil, in a way he couldn't have known it before. The second season, which I plan on reviewing separately, takes this evil presence and runs with it, featuring a plethora of demons set loose upon the Earth by powerful forces barely comprehensible to most men. Frank, because of his gift, is able to see these demons (and angels) as they truly are.

Millennium is a noir, nineties detective/supernatural drama featuring top-grade acting and excellent scripts. Some of the episodes, particularly in the first season, can be slow, but when Millennium is on its top game, it really shines.

Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories

 

Lexx is mildly more dramatic than soft core porn. And that's not a bad thing. Spanning thousands of years and featuring a crew of misfits aboard a gigantic insectoid starship, Lexx involves just about every fetish there is. From bondage to cyber-fetishism, Lexx had it all. The series began as four TV movies, which relied heavily on CGI and were released in 1997. In 1998/1999, the series debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel to a ready audience. Think "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" meets "Twin Peaks" with a dose of Skinemax.

Lexx starred Michael McManus, Brian Downey, and Xenia Seaburg, who replaced Eva Haberman as Xev from Series 2 onward. It was a Canadian/German co-production. It featured heavy innuendo and little else, but in terms of setting it was brilliant: human civilization and the Insect Civilization were ancient enemies, the insects having been defeated in the distant past. But one insect survived, and implanted its consciousness inside a human host who ruled as "His Divine Shadow," a cooler title not existing.

His Divine Shadow engineered the Lexx, a massive, planet-destroying insectoid starship which was stolen by Stanley Tweedle, a disgraced freedom fighter and former security guard, Zev/Xev, a Cluster Lizard/Love Slave Hybrid,790, a disembodied robot head, and Kai, Last of the Brunnen-G warriors who defeated the Insects thousands of years ago. Kai is dead: he has no ambitions, no desires, no feelings. He acts out of a renewed sense of honor after having been used, bodily, by His Divine Shadow as an assassin for 2,000 years. Kai does not seek life; his friends seek it for him. He himself believes that "The Dead should not interfere with the Living." Zev/Xev is a formerly ugly woman transformed into a beautiful love slave. During her transformation process, her DNA got mixed up with a vicious Cluster Lizard and she inherits super-strength and vivacity from her Cluster Lizard side, as well as the ability to curl up in a circle and roll at rapid speed. 790 received the brainwashing treatment meant for Zev, and after his body was consumed by a the Cluster Lizard that merged with Zev, he became a robot head and self-appointed love martyr (later in the series, a reprogrammed 790 fixated on Kai). Stanley is the only pure human of the cast, and he is a cowardly, selfish, lustful bastard who happens to inherit the key to the Lexx, enabling him to command its planet-destroying faculties.

If you like B-Movies, you'd probably like Lexx. There's loads of satire, sarcasm, necrophilia, and intentional cheesiness. It's like The Rocky Horror Picture Show: The Series. It's not for everyone though. Lexx can be offputting to those who were raised on morally upright science fiction. It's not a show that takes itself seriously, at least not until the 3rd series, where the crew of the Lexx are literally caught between heaven and hell, in the form of two planets in a parallel universe that function as a real afterlife for the souls our heroes have encountered in the Light Universe. The 4th series relocates the action to a pastiche of modern-day Earth circa 2000 AD, and explores the consequences of the Lexx crew's interference in the afterlife. It turns out that Earth is at the very center of the darkest part of the Dark Zone, the universe of chaos and depravity. But we knew that already: just read my review of Millennium.