David R. Michael

By which I mean, was there ever a dance called “The Crocodile Rock?” Like the twist. The mashed potato. The watusi. The dinosaur.

And if there was such a dance, did it involve lurking around the edges of the dance floor, waiting for another dancer to move into range, then leaping forward and snatching them with your claws and your jaws, rolling rapidly to snap their necks, then pushing their still-twitching corpse into a dark corner of the disco to properly marinate in the sounds and heat and sweat of the dance floor?

Or was it, as so many boring people seem to insist, just a euphemism for sex?

-David

I thought I read this book long ago. Like, early 90s. But the more I read, the less familiar the whole thing felt. So … did I imagine reading it? Did I just think I had read it?

I wonder if this is one of those things where the book is so much a part of the zeitgeist that I … absorbed? … the major parts of the story to an extent that I thought I had read it.

Or maybe it’s just that “early 90s” is now 30+ years ago and I’ve read a lot of books, both before and since.

I may never know.

I was working on a story that took a cyberpunk-ish turn, and I decided to re-read some classics of the genre. I read some short stories. Requested Neuromancer from the library. Ultimately, I shelved my story, but the book arrived from the library (via Libby), so I read it. Again? Maybe?

It was a fun, fast read. Raw, with a lot of exposed edges to scrape against (and maybe get infected).

One of the “tics” of the story (and this isn’t criticism) is that everything is referred to by its brand name. For example, there were no “beds” per se. Or even just a “mattress.” They were always “the black Temperfoam mattress” or similar. The “Hosaka.” I’m pretty sure this was intentional, since this is a story about corporations pretty much taking over every aspect of life. It was very 80s, very tech nerd.

Anyway, now I’m reading Bobiverse Book #5, Not Till We Are Lost, which is … kinda cyberpunk? nerdy? Definitely nerdy. I’ve enjoyed the Bobiverse books, but I don’t think anyone is in any danger of cutting themselves accidentally on the stories or prose. 😉

Is “cozy cyberpunk” a thing?

-David

First a bit of backstory.

When I re-started this blog, my plan was simply to post whatever I would post if I were the type of person who hadn’t abandoned just about every other form of social media.

So it won’t be a writing blog, a photography blog, a business blog, or an attempt to be an influencer (I have an immediate mistrust of any business plan based on me being popular). So it’ll be a bit of everything, I suppose.

I’m also not promising any kind of schedule. Feel free to use the “Entries feed” (RSS) to get notified when I post something.

And also also, this blog is separate from my newsletter. The newsletter will be new ebook releases and other real news, not just me being chatty, nerdy, or grumpy. You can sign up for that here.

Backstory done, I’ll continue with what was promised in the title.

What I’m working on right now:

• I’ve started writing Heidi Sees #4. I spent a week or so building the story outline and now I’m writing the actual words. I’m about 1200 words into the first chapter.
• I’m closing out my garden. Mostly. I’ll let the tomatoes and peppers get in some late season fruit, but everything else must go!
• I’m drawing a new sequence of Bauxy panels. I have the sequence planned, and I’ve inked the first panel, but I still have a number of panels to sketch out.
• I’m looking for a job. I had been working at the Veterans Administration as a sub-contractor for 8 years before certain [redacted/censored/withheld for sensitive readers] Who Shall Remain Nameless took office. So I’ve been looking for a new job since May. Hopefully this will be resolved soon.
• Edited to add: Nothing. I also find myself doing nothing for stretches of time. Which the recent stretch of unseasonably cool weather has made possible on my back porch.

More news and/or whatever as it happens and/or occurs to me. =)

-David

It’s been 9 days since I learned she died.

Just over a week ago, I thought of her and looked her up and discovered she had died 4 years ago.

I found her memorial page. At first I thought it had to be someone else (it had to be someone else, just a coincidence of names), but there was the unusual spelling of her first name, her middle name (a family name, usually only an initial in her signature), her birthday (one week before mine), and there was her photo. Her smile.

We met the first week of college, two freshmen stuck in a mandatory class. I remember commenting on her handwriting (it really did remind me of my father’s, the extended scrawl of ink across the page). I think she came in late that first day of class and sat next to me because I was near the back and near the aisle. I could have that backward.