I’m working on new chapters now slowly churning away in front of the screen and beyond doing all that thinking and scrambling around one does prior to writing another chapter—you know, the hard work. Those chapters are forthcoming—eventually. I’ll post little intermissions occasionally in between with history and influence and playlists and acknowledgements, inspirations, etc.
History & Influences & Acknowledgements: This story started percolating as early as 2001 after several adventures on mushrooms that I classify life-changing events. In 2011, that narrative began to foment and congeal into an actual shape in 2013. Over the years, I’ve consistently fed it by incorporating anything and everything I found fascinating around me and ongoing into it, tweaking details occasionally because of insensitivity or my own ignorance—but not too much as that would negate the evolution and one of the many themes of the story. I like to include a list of the things that fed/inspired stories I write as I feel it is most helpful to those that read and interpret and make judgments. Here’s the first list. Intermissions will include future lists. Playlist is forthcoming.
- Revolution (TV) – The Mirror Series is basically Revolution fanfiction. I love me some Kripke. (More about this show and other shows in an upcoming All Things TV: My Favorite Ships Series.)
- How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan (Book) – After several early 2000’s adventures on mushrooms, I knew I had to write a scifi/specfic novel about them so I began my research, which wasn’t much that I could easily and inexpensively get my hands on at the time—until this and the Stamets’ book came out. (Apparently, Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman had the same adventures. 😎 I finally watched Star Trek Discovery summer of 2020; it’s fantastic and highly recommended.)
- Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets (Book) – I had to read The Selfish Gene three times and vaguely understand it—maybe; I’m still thinking about it🤔. This book is a dense scientific read and, like usual, a lot of the science went way over my head. I plan to read it again to update and tweak my story. I definitely recommend it to those that have a penchant for the science of all things.
- The Skypirate (Coalition Rebellion #2) by Justine Davis (Book) – It wasn’t science fiction that made me wanna write science fiction; it wasn’t Asimov or Heinlein or Lovecraft or even L’Engle—it was romance; specifically two; this is one.
- Warrior’s Woman by Johanna Lindsey (Book) – Here’s the other. I haven’t read them in decades so I dunno how cringe-level and problematic they are and don’t really care because that’s not the point. These were the books that made me wanna write science/speculative fiction—and the Star Wars movies. All things considered, give credit where credit is due, and read anything and everything cuz you don’t know where inspiration and ideas are gonna originate. Read not because you may (or may not) ‘like’ it, but because it’s in front of your face and available. There are lots of people that don’t have any books to read or can read period, and I always—always think about that when I begin to read a new story or essay; I remember that time long ago when I didn’t have anything to read; that is an empty bottomless terrifyingly numb feeling you never ever get over; kind of like being hungry.
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