CJW: I’m back (but was I ever really gone?). Did you miss me? I know you didn’t. I’m still jetlagged, so I’ll talk some more about my trip at some other point. For now though, let’s get stuck in.
This issue, we’ve got another special guest - Melissa Ferguson, author of The Shining Wall.
If you want, and are able to, you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber and receive bonus letters as well as these ones.
Melissa Ferguson (MF) - Medical research scientist who likes to explore scientific possibilities through fiction. You can connect with her on twitter @melissajferg or at her website http://melissajaneferguson.com/
Corey J. White (CJW) - The VoidWitch Saga. Newsletter facilitator. Naarm/Melbourne.
Marlee Jane Ward (MJW) - Author of The Oprhancorp Trilogy. Host of Catastropod. Your fabulous goth aunt. On Wurundjeri land in Melbourne, Australia. @marleejaneward
Austin Armatys (AA) - Writer/Teacher/Wretched Creeper // Oh Nothing Press // @0hnothing
m1k3y (MKY) - Wallfacer / salvagepunk / ecopoet // Dark Extropian Musings
CJW: A fantastic response from Dan Grace to the last issue:
hey comrogues, excellent newsletter as ever. a good counterpoint to Berne’s piece [Ed: Link] can be found here if you haven’t already read it: Plan, Mood, Battlefield - Reflections on the Green New Deal
i’m currently trying to pass the UK version of the GND through my union branch (and then on up the chain…) and use it as a base to try and organise something, anything - so, you know, i’m not neutral on this.
also i kind of find Bernes et al. (commune, endnotes, etc.) interesting, insightful, intellectually stimulating and all that, but ultimately a bit of a dead end in terms of building practical political projects. which i guess could mean we’re in a dead end, but i’m not quite ready to give up.
I’ve already told Dan I’m stealing “comrogues”… We don’t often get replies, but when we do, they’re super interesting. That article Dan shared is well-worth a look, particularly for anyone looking for potential responses to climate change that go beyond “altering our economy so we can continue our rampant consumption”. It goes into great detail on responses to and flaws in the Green New Deal:
[W]e can begin to identify an emergent set of positions in the debate around the Green New Deal. The right-wing has resorted to classic red-baiting, decrying the nonbinding resolution as a “socialist monster,” a road to the serfdom of state planning, rationing, and compulsory veganism. The vanishing center is clinging tightly to its cozy attachment to a politics of triangulation: the Green New Deal is a childlike dream; serious adults know that the only option is to hew to the path of bipartisanship and incrementalism. The left, of course, knows that in the context of already-unfolding climate crisis, resurgent xenophobia, and the weakening hold on legitimacy of the neoliberal consensus, the real delusions are “market-driven” solutions and nostalgic paeans to American “norms and institutions.”
But on the left, too, there are criticisms, and outright rejections, of the Green New Deal. There is the charge that the Green New Deal, like the old New Deal, amounts to the state, qua executive committee of the bourgeoisie, rescuing capitalism from the planetary crisis it has created. In this rendering, rather than empowering “frontline and vulnerable” communities, as the resolution claims, the policy framework will amount to a corporate welfare windfall of investment opportunities lubricated with tax breaks and subsidies; public-private partnerships; infrastructure outlays that will stimulate real estate development; and, a jobs guarantee that will stimulate consumption—a win-win for the state and capital, but, by leaving the underlying, growth-addicted, model of accumulation untouched, a loss for the planet and the communities most vulnerable to climate crisis and eco-apartheid. There’s another twist. As sometimes the same analyses point out, this win-win-lose-lose scenario is itself based on a false understanding of contemporary capitalism. In a world of secular stagnation—declining profit rates, speculative bubbles, financialization, rentier-like behavior, and accumulation-by-upward-redistribution—the vampire-like quality of capital has never been more apparent. The notion that capital might, with a little inducement, suddenly overcome these tendencies and invest in productive activities is its own nostalgic fantasy.
That’s a hefty quote, and indeed it’s a hefty article, but definitely worth your time.
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CJW: The Last of Its Kind (by and via Ed Yong)
When the last of a species disappears, it usually does so unnoticed, somewhere in the wild. Only later, when repeated searches come up empty, will researchers reluctantly acknowledge that the species must be extinct. But in rare cases like George’s, when people are caring for an animal’s last known representative, extinction—an often abstract concept—becomes painfully concrete. It happens on their watch, in real time. It leaves behind a body. When Sischo rang in the new year, Achatinella apexfulva existed. A day later, it did not. “It is happening right in front of our eyes,” he said.
A small story about scientists working with Hawaiian snails that face extinction. This line here is one example of why Ed is one of the best science writers working right now:
When animals die out, the last survivor is called an endling. It is a word of soft beauty, heartbreaking solitude, and chilling finality.
Honestly, Endling is the perfect title for a contemplative piece of flash fiction about the last of a species.
By the time a species is down to its endling, it is functionally extinct. Caring for an endling can nonetheless serve as a final act of defiance, or perhaps contrition. Small wonder that the custodians of endlings often get very attached to them.
Read this piece if you want to tear up about a frog.
MKY: ~ENDLING FEELS~
MF: Endling is such a beautifully sad word.
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MKY: If a climate apocalypse is imminent, should we bother paying our debts?
If Earth really is about to stop being habitable, why pay your debts at all? If we’re literally talking about human extinction being inevitable in the next decade or so — and more on that in a minute — we’re free, and there’s no point in doing anything that doesn’t give us raw, hedonistic pleasure. I should add, though (and please don’t take this the wrong way) that were that the case, I wouldn’t be writing this right now.
It’s a shame he gets the whole ‘we have 12 years to save the planet’ argument wrong (so I posted that Hothouse Earth diagram again - followed by my shadow self’s take), but otherwise this is great and a vibe we’ll only see more of, I’m certain.
MF:
So even if you do choose to believe in the apocalypse, rather than the much likelier outcome — a world that sucks a lot more than it does now, but one in which humans still exist — the world, and debt collectors, will still be around to harangue you at least a few more decades.
I think part of that sucky world that might come will, unfortunately, include debt collectors roaming the wastelands.
CJW: I might want to write that book, but there are already so many to write!
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MF: The Most Controversial Tree in the World
This story about the first GMO tree to come close to being approved for release starts with the question: ‘Is the genetically engineered chestnut tree an act of ecological restoration or a threat to wild forests?’
While GMOs have the potential for corporate exploitation and environmental devastation, I also believe they could help humans adapt to coming challenges. This article is an exploration of both sides of the debate.
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CJW: The New Wilderness (via Sentiers)
Writing in the New York Times last month, Google CEO Sundar Pichai argued that it is “vital for companies to give people clear, individual choices around how their data is used.” Like all Times opinion pieces, his editorial included multiple Google tracking scripts served without the reader’s knowledge or consent. Had he wanted to, Mr. Pichai could have learned down to the second when a particular reader had read his assurance that Google “stayed focused on the products and features that make privacy a reality.”
[…]
The large tech companies point to our willing use of their services as proof that people don’t really care about their privacy. But this is like arguing that inmates are happy to be in jail because they use the prison library. Confronted with the reality of a monitored world, people make the rational decision to make the best of it.
That is not consent.
An interesting look at the current state of online privacy (and the lack thereof), which also draws parallels to environmental policy making over the past century or so. The only thing the author stops short of mentioning is that the sort of worldwide agreement that put an end to ozone depleting refrigerants is exactly the sort of agreement we need today if we want to do something about the amount of carbon we’re releasing into the atmosphere. I’m all for online privacy (just look at the number of script blocking plugins I have installed in my browser), but I’m also fond of breathable air.
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MKY: Where is Chinese sci-fi heading after The Wandering Earth?
“I call [English science fiction] an invasive species, because it’s exported very heavily, but we don’t import a whole lot. And that’s not a good balance.”
Preach! I can’t get enough of that coming chinese scifi golden age goodness.
Something worth pointing back to add to that story is Lawrence Lek’s ace documentary, Sinofuturism. I can’t look fwd enough to seeing Wolf Warrior IV beat out Marvel’verse XC at the box office. Or just not having to trek across the city to catch the limited screening of something like A Wandering Earth [which is now on Netflix, but not Netflix Australia yet -sad face-]. And I’ve lost the link, but word is that the success of A Wandering Earth has the same team taking on a tv adaptation of The Three Body Problem (again!) and you can prolly hear me squeeing around the globe at the idea of that – whilst also praying they don’t fuck it up (again).
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MKY: Footprints on the Moon and cemeteries on Mars
The first living things have already died on the Moon. The recent experiment in the rover deployed by China had little seeds inside that sprouted and then died.
Death is already “off Earth”, and we can expect more deaths in the future.
This is going to have to change how we feel about space. When we look at those planets in the sky and think there are cemeteries there; perhaps there are human bodies being incorporated into the lunar regolith or into the red Martian dust.
How does that make these places feel to us if they become cemeteries?
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CJW: Is This Man the Elon Musk of E-Waste? (via Ospare)
Ignore the groan-worthy headline (and fuck Elon Musk!), but this is a really interesting interview with a man who is serving prison time due to his dedication to e-waste recycling and the right-to-repair.
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Cutting Room Floor:
Mental illness is complex – yet patients are often left to manage their own brain
Why Youtubers See Ghosts: Beauty vloggers’ paranormal storytimes as neogothic genre
Soon, satellites will be able to watch you everywhere all the time
MF: The Writer’s Book of Doubt
I found a lot of comfort and inspiration in this collection of essays about the process of writing, writing communities, and the doubts and challenges all writers face. I backed this kickstarter and the book actually exceeded my expectations. (Aidan is a friend but I’d still recommend this book even if he wasn’t!).
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MJW: Here’s a little interview with our guest, Melissa Ferguson, and her book The Shining Wall:
Please tell us a bit about your background, because you have a really interesting career path to being a writer.
I was a big reader and writer (especially of fantasy) when I was a child, but I put aside writing to pursue a career in science. I have a BSc in biological science as well as an honours year and a grad certificate in human nutrition. I’ve worked in cord blood transplantation and blood cancer laboratories, as well as infectious disease laboratories and brain tumour research.
About fourteen years ago I took some time off to have my first child and while in the midst of struggling to adjust to parenthood I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which meant four months of chemotherapy and a re-evaluation of my life. As a result I took an evening course in creative writing at CAE in Melbourne.
The first things I wrote were short misery and motherhood memoir/realistic fiction pieces. After I got all that out of my system, I wrote a fantasy novel with witches, selkies, dragons, man-eating trees, fighting bears and all sorts of fun fantastical stuff. I was very influenced by Margo Lanagan at the time!
Then I found Octavia Butler and decided science fiction was for me. Currently I explore scientific ideas that interest me through fiction.
The Shining Wall is an amazing melange of science and imagination - where did you get your inspiration for this mix?
The inspiration first came from Harvard Geneticist George Church. In an article in Der Spiegel Magazine (2013), Church claimed it could soon be possible to clone Neandertals. I became fascinated with the idea of an extinct species of human walking around and interacting with us. Once I’d researched Neandertals I thought about why we might clone them and how we would employ and treat them. The scientific and ethical considerations of bringing back an extinct species, especially one so close to human, led me to a futuristic dystopia.
For the world of the story it was easy to imagine an increasing gap between rich and poor, erosion of food security, reduced access to healthcare, lack of job security, and environmental devastation. These ideas are not unique to my work, are easy to extrapolate from the world in which we live, and already exist for some.
I also researched advances in science and technology and examined the predictions of futurists. I became very confused, caught up on insignificant details, and lost down innumerable rabbit holes, and finally decided this was the point where I should use my imagination - scientific accuracy be damned.
I originally created this world for a novel called Day of the Neandertals (aka Barely Human). A minor character, who lived in the slums around the main city, captured my attention. I was curious to find out how her story had unfolded. This was Alida and her story became The Shining Wall.
What’s your writing process like?
I wish I knew!
I’ve written three novels and one novella in the last eleven or so years and the process has been completely different for each one. I’ve plotted, I’ve pantsed, and I’ve plantsed.
Things I can say for sure are:
Having some kind of outline or end goal significantly speeds up my process.
During the first and second drafts (when I’m telling/finding the story and then fleshing it out) I’m only productive for one to two hours per day maximum.
Once it comes to editing I can move quickly and work for longer stretches.
I never really know what a story is about until I’m finished the first draft. Often the themes I set out to explore fall away and I find myself somewhere else.
Ultimately my characters are in control and have been known to derail my plots and reject all the love interests I offer them.
Who are your influences?
Some of my favourite writers include Octavia Butler, Meg Elison, Margaret Atwood, Margo Lanagan, and Nnedi Okorafor.
Some books that have influenced me a lot include The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, Into the Forest by Jean Hegland, Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, The Power by Naomi Alderman, and Wetlands by Charlotte Roche.
The character of Alida was influenced by some of my favourite female characters in fiction including, Mirii from Marlee’s Orphancorp books, Devi Morris from Rachel Bach’s Paradox series, and Temple from The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell.
Aww, thanks! What have you read recently that’s blown your mind?
I’m currently reading The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley and I’m enjoying it a lot. I’m cautiously optimistic that my mind will be blown by the end.
MF: Leila / Ghoul
I’ve recently watched two dystopian series from Netflix India. Leila is a 6 part drama, based on the 2017 novel by Prayaag Akbar, about a near-future India which is ruled by a fundamentalist religious party and has pressing environmental challenges. Ghoul is in 3 parts and is a horror as well as a dystopia. Ghoul takes place in a claustrophobic detention and interrogation (read torture) centre for those the state deem as terrorists (all Muslim). Both series highlight sectarian issues in India and have apparently been controversial in their home country. In an article about Ghoul for the Hindustan Times Rohan Nahaar states ‘[Ghoul] is not just a critique of modern India; it is a takedown, it is humiliation before 130 million paying subscribers’. Ghoul is also bloody scary. Others may not find this show frightening, (I’m a lightweight when it comes to watching horror). I watched a lot of it through the gaps between my fingers. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in either dystopia or horror. Leila was interesting and highly watchable (directed by Deepa Mehta). In Leila’s India there’s a lot of pollution and water is very scarce. Black goo comes out of the taps and there are ATM type machines for purchasing water. (Not terribly futuristic since Chennai recently ran out of water). There is also a plan in place to build a dome over the walled city to act as a giant air conditioner and purifier. The fundamentalist religious government takes away the children of ‘mixed’ (by religion or caste) couples and imprisons the mothers with the aim of ‘purifying’ them. The story follows a rich woman of a mixed marriage who seems quite happy with the status quo until she is reported for illegally purchasing water for her swimming pool and her mixed marriage is uncovered. The story is very much from the perspective of the rich in society being brought down to the level the poorest have been suffering for generations- this is acknowledged a couple of times throughout but never really examined enough for my satisfaction. The impression I got from both of these shows (being an outsider and by no means an expert on Indian society or politics) is that the makers are very concerned about the effects of religious fundamentalism and increasing sectarianism on the future of India.
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MKY: BLOOD AND TREASURE
This show, in the tradition/vibes of nicecore precursor shows like LEVERAGE and THE LIBRARIANS (in fact, if it felt compelled to bridge those two universes, I wouldn’t object), is only my regular weekly watch rn. A former FBI agent and a Thief team-up to track down a Terrorist funding his attacks with stolen antiquities. Hijinks ensue. Movie references abound! Secret nazi history and esoteria. Transnational crime and secret occult brotherhoods. Terrorists bases inside freeports. It’s not the gritty adaptation of Cyclonopedia we want, and Pazuzu is yet to show up, but it’s entertaining af and worth checking out between netflix binges.
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MKY: Striking Vipers (Black Mirror 5x1)
Five seasons in and they finally made a piece of genuine science fiction? Something that very much resonates with ‘that novel I’m writing’. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the fact that I’ve been playing Mortal Kombat and Tekken nightly with my housemate on a salvaged PS2, and his reaction after watching this with me was ‘we need to get this game bro’… well, we’ll see what happens in ten years, I guess.
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MJW: DROP DEAD GORGEOUS (At the New Yorker)
1999’s Drop Dead Gorgeous is coming to streaming, finally, though it’s on HULU, which I cannot access here in Australia, so I’ll have to settle for my DVD copy instead. (Remember DVDs?) With spot-on performances by Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Kirstie Alley, Alison Janney and Amy Adams in her very first role as an infinitely horny cheerleader, DDG is a hilarious (and somewhat problematic) tale of beauty pageants and white classism in a small Minnesota town. It’s also an alarmingly prescient vision of the future. The parody of gun-toting, me-and-mine, white middle-class evangelical Christianism is a dire warning of the Trump-era to come.
MJW: Who Should Live in Flooded Old New York?
Brooke Bolander, author of the fantastic The Only Harmless Great Thing, has a fiction piece in the NYTimes. It’s an Op-Ed from the future, about a drowned New York.
MKY: “or razor-wired off and forgotten completely, left to nature as you would a Chernobyl or a San Francisco.” Unf. That was great. (Hope ppl get the message.)
MF: Brilliant. This is the first I’ve heard of these Op-Eds of the Future in the NY Times. I’m going to have to read all of them now.
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CJW: Track this (via Ospare)
Feel like ads on the internet know you too well? It’s because they do.
Let us open 100 tabs of pure madness to fool trackers into thinking you’re someone else.
I don’t know if the rest of us fit any of these Very Online archetypes (AA as Hypebeast?) (AA note: Lol. I wear shoes until they literally fall apart, and most of my clothes are about a decade old! But I do like music.) but MKY is totally our Doomsday prophet. Want to trick the internet into thinking you’re m1k3y? Use this link.
MKY: DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
I mean, it srsly kills me that this is a tactic we’re supposed to use now in the weakest imaginable fight back against the surveillance marketing state. (Also just use Ghostery browser/plugins and search using duckduckgo ffs.)
But, this is the age we live in (just don’t ask how many trees are killed / carbon is outputted, loading up a bunch of webpages as chaff to cover you trail).
Also butt… fuck yeah BadNews - we DO have the technology / mindhaxx to fortify our minds against dae faek newz and so maybe you’ll be clicking on less outrage economy fuelling linx you feel compelled to back track and erase your footprints leading to afterwards. See: Fake news ‘vaccine’ works: ‘Pre-bunking’ game reduces susceptibility to disinformation
A fun exercise I’ve been doing lately is trying to catch myself every time I go to use Google as a verb. RECLAIM UR MIND LOL.
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AA: Okay, this is “just” a meme, but if there is a more on-brand meme for us out there, I haven’t seen it. What’s your preferred future? And which do you think is most likely to come to pass?
MKY: THE WILD STORM
This just wrapped, and if you’re looking for a 24 issue series that’s the best depiction of what our secret history of the world is prolly like (make the Secret Space Program preQAnon again), or just want a rollicking science fictional ‘origin of the team’ story, check it out.
MKY: Why Space Travel is a Colonial Crisis
Damien Williams, friend and previous guest of the newsletter, and Amy Thomas (source of the above quote) deliver a much needed rebuttal to the billionaire tech bros acting out golden age western scifi fantasies.
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MF: This Podcast Will Kill You
I’m making my way through all the episodes of this disease podcast. The hosts explore science, epidemiology and the current status, as well as history and folklore. My favourites so far being the episodes on prion diseases (S2 Ep 20) and rabies (S2 Ep 14). I’ve used these two to create a disease for my WIP (no it’s not a zombie disease).
MJW: I’ve listened to a few episodes of This Podcast Will Kill You and it’s great. The hosts are fantastic and it’s like a little science class/history lesson. I mean, yes, it’s terrifying. But it’s a really good listen.
CJW: Never pay for Bird Scooters again! (via Ospare)
If this was Boonta Vista, I would tell you that stealing Bird Scooters was your crime pass of the week. But this is not Boonta Vista, so I’m totally not telling you that.
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MKY: The Philosophy of Antifa (2017)
– does what it says on the tin.
AA: I haven’t contributed much to this edition of the newsletter because I’ve been holidaying in secret remote coastal locations, enjoying the company of friends. If you haven’t done that recently, it comes highly recommended!
Here are some photo edits I made while on my travels, I think they think turned out okay, so I thought I’d share them with you.
This is the Wreck Bay Lighthouse in New South Wales, site of a number of brutal deaths (accidental shooting “while skylarking”, kicked to death by a horse, eaten by sharks in front of children and many more!). Easily the most tangibly haunted place I’ve ever visited.
Vision Questing in the Hinterland mist. Blood sacrifices to the leech guardians mandatory. A bog stole one brave soldier’s boots. Beware the bog’s irresistible allure!
Some Interesting Naps Were Undertaken. Liminal Explorations for Weary Travellers.
As a wise friend once said, “Sometimes you’ve got to look deep into the distance to relax those tired eyes.” Find yourself a mountain, climb it and take a minute to let your peepers unwind. You deserve it.
MJW: I’ve got a piece in Meanjin about the struggles of reading with ADHD, and Black Wave by Michelle Tea, which I will never stop talking about.
Also, I’m on the bill for Melbourne Writers Festival! Come see me talk about Chosen Families and my short story in Kindred on YA Day. The links to my panels are here.
CJW: And I’ll be attending MWF with a longsword because THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE.
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CJW: Last issue represented our 1 year anniversary. In the past year I like to think we’ve done some good work in sharing interesting and important articles, building community, and plumbing the weirder depths of the internet to share with you all. Thanks for coming along for the ride - without you, we’d just be sending letters to the void. Here’s to many more issues.