the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction Alien Bodies and Xenopoetics

More Create Blog Sign In ☇☈☍☊☩ You have been invaded by the freezine of fantasy and science fiction. You no longer need to subscribe, for we are already subscribed to you. Saturday, December 28, 2024 Blog Archive Alien Bodies and Xenopoetics ▼ ▼ 2024 (15) ▼ ▼ December (3) uploaded by Kenji Siratori to Academia.edu on December 27, 2024, 6:03am (1 day ago). Residual Synthetic Integration Bicameral Attribute... Alien Bodies and Xenopoetics botsjit ► ► September (1) ► ► March (11) ► ► 2023 (28) ► ► 2022 (86) ► ► 2021 (40) ► ► 2020 (13) ► ► 2019 (15) ► ► 2018 (31)

► ► 2017 (47) ► ► 2016 (17) ► ► 2015 (35) ► ► 2014 (49) ► ► 2013 (5) ► ► 2012 (21) ► ► 2011 (34) ► ► 2010 (67) ► ► 2009 (93) ☇ Featured Authors ☈ Shaun Lawton's jitbots Gary J. Shipley’s VOID DEER OR FOXHOLE WITH EXTENDED TEETH inhabits a liminal space where human perception disintegrates and fuses with external systems. The narrator’s room—a microcosm of decay and revelation— becomes an experimental site for observing the entropic dance of life and death. As Shipley writes, “The room was too small, so mum said she wanted to go. Mum knew things. Mum was God.” This collapsing of familial, divine, and ecological systems mirrors the feedback loops that define biological systems. A core principle of systems biology is the feedback loop, wherein outputs of a system recursively influence its inputs. Shipley’s text constructs a narrative feedback loop in which perception, environment, and biological decay interact symbiotically. The narrator’s rash, expanding across their body, exemplifies a system destabilizing under entropic forces: “The rash on my leg is bigger now. Grown since yesterday.” The rash’s progression is not merely a symptom but a site where biological entropy and psychological instability feed into one another. This entropic feedback loop aligns with Shipley’s vision of a porous existence: “Living in a porous room is its own relief.” The room, both container and participant in decay, becomes a node in a larger ecological system—a “reverse rectum of a planet” processing its own waste. Systems biology’s focus on boundary permeability finds resonance here, as Shipley dismantles the distinction between inside and outside, self and other. In systems biology, emergent properties arise from the interaction of system components, creating phenomena irreducible to individual parts. Shipley’s narrative generates such emergence through “mush,” a recurring motif that resists interpretation while demanding attention. “Turning to mush is its secret language. I learn to speak it without speaking to anyone.” The mush represents the narrator’s interface with the ineffable, a biomimetic process where structure dissolves into formlessness, only to give rise to new configurations. This is reminiscent of biological systems reorganizing under stress, where molecular or cellular disarray leads to novel states of order. The mush becomes an ontological substrate, its insistence on “certain words” paralleling the genetic code’s role in biological systems. As Shipley’s narrator observes, “The mush insists certain words be found. Certain arrangements.” The text itself behaves like a genome, encoding emergent meanings in its “pictures of the world digesting in the other throat of God.” The narrator’s A. A. Attanasio's INVESTIGATIONS OF THE FRACTAL BLOOD SOUL A. A. Attanasio's LOST LIGHT A. A. Attanasio's OMEN-CODER A. A. Attanasio's MACHINE DYNASTIES OF THE ORION ARM

room, overwhelmed by decay and suffocation, exemplifies metastability—a system balanced precariously between order and collapse. The “suction” pulling birds and dogs into the room underscores this delicate equilibrium: “I control the rate of suction. They beg me to turn it off…” Yet the narrator’s refusal to intervene reflects a systemic inevitability, echoing the way biological systems tolerate stress up to a tipping point before catastrophic failure. In this metastable state, the narrator becomes both observer and participant in a collapsing ecosystem: “When I outgrow this room it will be because it contains everything that was once outside it.” The room’s implosion—its reduction to a singularity of existence—redefines spatial and ontological boundaries. Systems biology offers insight into this collapse, framing it as a natural consequence of overburdened networks. A key element of systems biology is the role of information processing in sustaining life. Shipley’s narrator exists in a computational haze. Where neurochemical instability and digital networks converge: “A neurocomputational gateway is a noisy place to think.” The narrator’s fragmented cognition mirrors the stochastic behavior of neural networks, while their “screenshots of the world” evoke the algorithmic sorting of environmental data. The artificial voice used to communicate with friends further blurs the distinction between biological and artificial systems. This hybridized existence, where “I do not need to think for all the noises to work,” situates the narrator as a cyborg entity, embodying the interface between human and machine. Systems biology’s integration of computational models with biological processes provides a framework for understanding this cybernetic synthesis. Take, for instance, Shipley’s assertion: “Speaking becoming a kind of rotting.” This line evokes a decaying system, where language, as a living organism, succumbs to entropy. In biological terms, decay can be seen as a shift in systemic equilibrium, where the breakdown of one structure fosters the growth of another. Language, in Shipley’s hands, is not static but metabolic—it decomposes into fertile ground for visceral, emergent imagery: “My accidie is an old bobblehead with its face worn off waiting for an earthquake.” Here, the oscillation between inertia and potential violence reflects a metabolic stasis awaiting disruption. Shipley’s notion of “diabolic possession” by “cameras, computers, phones, and TVs” resonates with the concept of feedback loops in systems biology. These devices, as nodes within a network, generate recursive interactions with their users, creating self-sustaining circuits of obsession and alienation. Similarly, biological feedback loops regulate homeostasis, often veering into pathological states when dysregulated. “Corpses pregnant with themselves,” Shipley writes, a haunting metaphor for autocatalysis—the biochemical phenomenon where products of a reaction catalyze their formation, perpetuating cycles of self-generation and degeneration. Shipley’s fragmented characters also serve as nodes within a larger, dysfunctional system. The cryptic “friends” who populate his prose, identified by numeric pseudonyms, simulate stochastic interactions within a chaotic network. “Friend>>326****7 says he is legally sane. Friend>>326****8 says she is not, and that she feeds her faeces to the babies in her care.” These figures, simultaneously grotesque and banal, introduce perturbations into the narrative’s equilibrium, much like external stimuli destabilize biological systems. The resulting disarray fosters emergent patterns—“a shrine” of “marbling” on the narrator’s screen—a synthesis of chaos and order. Central to Shipley’s poetics is the body’s materiality. The “rash on my leg”, progressively described as a “hole,” reflects the degradation of physical boundaries, an ontological erosion that parallels the permeability of A. A. Attanasio's WHAT THE AGI SAW A. A. Attanasio's FINDING THE WAZE A. A. Attanasio's THE GIFT A. A. Attanasio's SWIMMING in the GHOST RIVER+ + A. A. Attanasio is a novelist & student of the imagination living in Honolulu. Fantasies, visions, hallucinations or whatever we call those irrational powers that illum-inate our inner life fascinate him. He's particularly intrigued by the creative intelligence that scripts our dreams. And he loves carrying this soulful

biological membranes. The narrator’s lived experience becomes a site of somatic and semantic collapse. Underscoring the fragility of self-containment within systems. In systems biology, phenomena like apoptosis (programmed cell death) ensure systemic health by eliminating dysfunctional components. Shipley subverts this principle; his systems accumulate waste and perpetuate sickness: “Sickness must be exploited in order to become well.” This aphorism critiques a cultural pathology that valorizes productivity through pain, reframing sickness as a systemic inevitability rather than an aberration. Shipley’s interplay of heat and cold, of bodies “with an appetite for the other’s warmth” or the “thick and peaceful and hard to breathe” air, conjures thermodynamic principles. His prose oscillates between entropy and negentropy, charting the narrator’s resistance to systemic dissolution. “All my friends waving fakes of their severed ears,” he writes, situating decay alongside grotesque mimicry, an uncanny vitality arising from the vestiges of destruction. Gary J. Shipley’s writing inhabits a liminal space where language dissects itself, becoming an organism of sorts—a living, mutating system. Shipley's fragmented, grotesque, and hyperrealist prose aligns with the principles of systems biology, which conceptualizes life as the interaction of dynamic, nonlinear processes. His depiction of human disarray—“The sum of my discontinuities is more than all the nothings on Margate sands”—echoes the core idea of emergent complexity: that the whole exceeds the sum of its parts. Shipley’s destabilized narrative is a biological “flophouse for the soul,” revealing the boundaries and failures of systems, whether they are corporeal, cognitive, or linguistic. The recurrent motif of "sporulation" in Shipley’s text functions as both a biological and philosophical metaphor. Sporulation, a survival mechanism in bacterial life forms, represents a state of dormancy and resilience under hostile conditions. Shipley’s description—“Friend>>326****9 induced to sporulate”— transposes this microbial process onto human and digital domains. Here, the boundaries between biological life and technological existence blur, suggesting that survival in postmodernity involves the dissociation of identity into modular, dormant states. Systems biology explores such modularity, examining how living systems partition functions into smaller, semi-independent units. Shipley’s characters, fractured into numerical pseudonyms and ephemeral voices, mirror this partitioning: fragmented selves navigating inhospitable informational ecosystems. This sporulation is not merely survival but adaptation to a context where coherence—biological, linguistic, or emotional— becomes untenable. Exaptation, the biological concept of traits co-opted for new purposes, resonates with Shipley’s narrative paradoxes. His phrase, “My life is kind of paradoxes making promises. Paradoxes melting,” encapsulates this phenomenon. Traits, objects, and emotions in Shipley’s world are repurposed under duress: “Friend>>326****4 asks why the top of my leg is wrapped in cellophane. I say it’s to stop things falling in.” Here, mundane objects acquire grotesque, almost survivalist utility, underscoring the repurposing of structures under existential pressure. In systems biology, exaptation reveals how evolutionary pathways emerge from serendipitous redeployment rather than deliberate design. Similarly, Shipley’s linguistic and thematic assemblages transform familiar materials into unexpected configurations, evoking an emergent order from seeming chaos. The grotesque humor in lines like “Scissoring off a face is just disgusting—but funny the way Friend>>326****3 does it” highlights this process of transformation, repurposing human disintegration into moments of dark levity. Shipley’s prose operates as an open system, absorbing and expelling energy outside his mind, into the one form that most precisely defines who we are: story. Shaun Lawton's FISHER'S NOCTURNE Shaun Lawton's THE TALE OF TIME Shaun Lawton's THE WORM IN ITS BED OF CRIMSON JOY Shaun Lawton's SPEED DEMON Shaun Lawton's ABIOGENETIC LORENTZIAN ITERATIONS Shaun Lawton's THE NANOCHRONICLES

information with chaotic intensity. The “clawing sensation behind my forehead” may be read as a somatic response to the cognitive overload characteristic of modern information systems. This parallels the concept of noise in systems biology, where random fluctuations can disrupt or recalibrate biological processes. In Shipley’s narrative, noise takes on a phenomenological dimension, as the sensory chaos of “heat migraines,” “garbage,” and “cola-rich piss” saturates the text, dissolving boundaries between the internal and external. Shipley’s self-aware commentary—“I whispered to the ear saying science doesn’t know us; we all conceal sensory information”—challenges the reductionism inherent in scientific and systemic approaches to human experience. His critique aligns with the limitations of systems biology, which often struggles to account for the phenomenological and subjective dimensions of life. The Body as a System in Crisis: At the heart of Shipley’s writing is the body as both a biological system and a symbol of systemic breakdown. The references to "metabolic churning" and "abnormally awkward mutism" suggest a system in flux, where the body’s normal functions are disrupted by a profound disorder. This imagery resonates with the language of systems biology, where biological functions are understood in terms of complex feedback loops and regulatory mechanisms that can go awry under certain conditions. Shipley’s description of the body is not merely anatomical but also indicative of a broader collapse of order—"The ethical just a post-primate fashion statement"—which mirrors the disintegration of societal and biological norms. The "multichannel receptivity" speaks to the body’s struggle to process external stimuli, mirroring the overstimulation often seen in cases of neurological disorders. Here, Shipley seems to suggest that the body is not a closed system but rather an entity in constant exchange with the external environment—infected, bombarded, and disintegrating. This reflects the biological principle of homeostasis, the process by which living systems maintain internal balance despite external perturbations. Shaun Lawton's post>HUMAN Shaun Lawton's BROKEN HEAD Shaun Lawton's THE MYSTERY OF Z Shipley’s characters, however, are trapped in a state of imbalance, as the biological rhythms they should follow have become distorted. The Concept of Autonomy and Agency in Biological Systems: Another prominent theme in Shipley’s work is the tension between autonomy and control. "God creates suitable hands, autonomous for more artistic force" evokes the biological concept of autonomy in systems—where organisms can exhibit agency despite external constraints. This autonomy, however, is portrayed as both a liberating and destabilizing force. Shipley’s characters navigate a world where their actions, even when seemingly autonomous, are intrinsically tied to a broader collapse of systems— social, personal, and biological. This reflects a key concept in systems biology: the idea that individual cells or organs may function independently, but they are always influenced by the larger system in which they exist. The "autonomous hands" Shipley describes can be understood as a metaphor for the biological systems that are capable of self-regulation but may fail under extreme conditions. In the context of the narrative, autonomy is not a sign of healthy function but of dysfunction, as the protagonist’s actions seem disconnected from a coherent sense of purpose or direction. The body’s "hallucinogen-fed brains" and "zombie feedback psychosis" highlight the collapse of cognitive control and the disruption of feedback loops that sustain normal mental function. Feedback Loops, Dissolution, and Rebirth: Shipley’s portrayal of systemic collapse reaches its apex in his references to "biological dissolution" and "rebirth". Shaun A. Lawton's A CROWD OF ONE NOT ALONE Shaun A. Lawton's ELIXIR OF THORNS

This cyclical process mirrors concepts in systems biology related to cellular turnover and metabolic pathways. The idea that the body or system can dissolve and regenerate, however, is less an optimistic vision of renewal and more a bleak commentary on entropy and the inevitability of decay. The "glorious rebirth" is ironic in its emptiness; it does not signify true recovery but rather the endless process of destruction and re-formation that defines life at the cellular level. The "experience just this indiscriminate mirror" symbolizes the feedback loop of biological and psychological states, where actions and outcomes feed into one another, creating a cycle of perpetual decay. The metaphor of "200 disguised beings of type X" observed "doing while positive in Baltimore" evokes an image of collective action devoid of meaning or direction, suggesting that biological systems—when taken out of context or disrupted—become little more than empty forms, devoid of purpose. This recursive feedback loop points to the systems biology concept of positive and negative feedback: in a healthy system, negative feedback is the primary mechanism for maintaining homeostasis. In Shipley’s work, however, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive—disruptive and self-reinforcing—leading to the eventual dissolution of the organism as a functioning system. The presence of "disguised beings" further hints at the way identity and function become distorted within a system that is falling apart. Existential Reflections on Death and the Biological System: Death is an ever-present theme in Shipley’s work. From the "fly lands on my face every day at the exact same time" to the chilling image of "everyone shot dead in LA today playing dead", Shipley portrays death not as an end but as an ongoing process. This reflects the biological reality that death is a constant, inevitable part of living systems, whether at the cellular level or within the context of ecological and evolutionary systems. In Shipley’s narrative, death is not something to be feared but something that is integrated into the fabric of life itself. The description of "a fly landing on my face" as a cyclical and repetitive event highlights the biological processes of entropy and decay. The fly’s movements are like the inevitable biological processes that continue regardless of individual human will or perception. Shipley’s exploration of death and decay could be seen as a critique of the assumption that life operates in linear progression—life, death, and rebirth are not neatly separated but form an ongoing loop of biological and existential dissolution. In Gary J. Shipley’s fragmented narrative, the interplay between life and death, the inner and outer realms of experience, and the boundaries of consciousness are explored with a stark and unsettling surrealism. Shipley’s writing is an unsettling terrain where words dissolve and reconstitute themselves in a dance of bodily degradation and existential despair. By analyzing the human body as an emergent system that evolves within an environment characterized by biotic and abiotic interactions, Shipley’s exploration of the corporeal and the internal emerges as a commentary on the fragility of consciousness and the inherent disconnect between lived experience and biological mechanisms. Shipley’s text often oscillates between seemingly trivial dialogue and profound revelations of the self. The line “I listen to a conversation between two people. They are outside somewhere. I don’t see them. I don’t know who they are. It feels like the words are also for me. Like terrible things can also be mundane” highlights the pervading sense of disconnection between the individual and external reality. This disconnection can be interpreted as a failure in the body's feedback systems, where sensory input is processed in ways that do not align with the individual’s perception of reality. Systems biology, with its emphasis on feedback loops and the regulation Shaun A. Lawton's DESOLATION AWAKENS Shaun A. Lawton's SHUGGOLETH Shaun A. Lawton's CITIwakes Shaun A. Lawton's CARINA NEBULA PANORAMA Shaun A. Lawton writes everything by longhand or by keyboard, then a slew of

of bodily processes, suggests that the body itself is not a static entity but a dynamic, interconnected system subject to constant modification through both internal and external forces. The passage reflects a lack of clarity about the self in relation to the environment. Shipley’s work creates a space where the boundary between the external world and internal states is porous, and the question of identity is both fragmented and dispersed. Systems biology posits that identity is emergent—consciousness arises from the interaction of various biological systems (the neural, the endocrine, the immune, and so on) that regulate the body’s interaction with the environment. Shipley’s narrative calls attention to the fragility and instability of these systems, emphasizing the tension between what is biologically experienced and how it is cognitively processed. His characters’ inability to define themselves or distinguish between inner and outer forces can be seen as an expression of the disintegrating coherence between mind and body. The disintegration of perception in Shipley’s text can also be explored through the lens of neural networks and their role in shaping individual experience. The disembodied voice narrating “I’m not sure… it didn’t look like that to me. But I could tell what was going on” illustrates an inability to reconcile external stimuli with internal states. In systems biology, the brain functions as a complex, adaptive system that interprets and responds to sensory data. However, when these sensory inputs fail to cohere—either due to psychological or physiological disruptions—the brain’s systems may produce disjointed or conflicting interpretations of reality. Shipley’s portrayal of a detached, often confused sense of self mirrors the neural misfiring that could occur in certain neurological conditions, where the brain fails to properly integrate sensory and cognitive information. For example, Shipley writes, “We had a house with a living room. We kept talking. More than we needed to.” This mundane recounting of an everyday scene—interrupted by moments of nihilistic confusion—mirrors how systems biology might approach memory and experience. The house, the living room, the act of talking: all these are part of the social and environmental stimuli that the brain processes. Yet, the individual’s inability to understand what is happening in the moment—“But I found out. In the end, I found out”—echoes the body's struggle with memory encoding, processing, and the biological mechanisms that underpin the experience of time. This interplay between the interior and exterior is not confined to the mind; it extends throughout the body. The passage “I had a work-related accident that led to the amputation of my lower right leg” points to the relationship between trauma and bodily systems. Systems biology considers how injuries and biological trauma disrupt the homeostasis of bodily systems, affecting everything from immune responses to the psychological responses to pain and loss. The dismembered body in Shipley’s work symbolizes the breaking down of the self, where bodily experience and existential meaning collide. In this space, systems biology offers a perspective on how the body’s response to trauma, both physically and psychologically, emerges as a system trying to recalibrate in the face of overwhelming change. The motifs of consumption and decomposition in Shipley’s writing, such as the cannibalistic ritual “The cannibals all hang at the Mission eating each other,” underscore an existential reflection on the cyclical nature of violence, suffering, and survival. Systems biology focuses on the feedback loops in ecosystems, where organisms are both consumers and consumed. Shipley’s recurring theme of consumption reflects the biological imperatives that drive behavior—eating, digesting, and eventually decomposing. These systems are essential for life, but in Shipley’s text, they take on a nanobots orchestrate tendons in his fingers to publish the material online for all the world to read; meanwhile— Shaun remains aghast at his helplessness during this remote possession from the future. Something pulls the corners of his mouth into a semblance of a smile. Shaun has been blogging online since 2004, that's going on eighteen years now, more or less. He was a regular on the John Shirley message board since it was in bulletin board format in the mid-90s. When it moved over to the darkecho domain, the JS message board was where he got the idea to launch the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction as a digital fanzine—a webzine dedicated to networking a new wave of genre fiction by author association, word of mouth, click of mouse, and the general murmur of a multi-plying memetic system organized for maximum mutation. Shaun's Blogdom now consists of well over 100 blogs, any one of which can be found with only a slight degree of difficulty. Click on the 'View my complete profile' link just below in the About Me section of this blogger forum. It's the rabbithole of links which in turn link to his two other blogger profiles...in his own words: "I've interconnected a good majority of these online pages for the lone cybernaut to encounter if he makes his saving throws...so investigate my Blogdom but beware, here there be tygers eyeing you bright and blue dragons dreaming you back, so advance with caution and read by the mirror of your armor." ☩ Brian Stoneking's I'M SO LONELY

macabre, distorted form where the act of consumption becomes not just physical, but existential. The act of consuming the self—symbolized by cannibalism—is a perverse form of homeostasis, where the body’s processes are turned inward, emphasizing the cyclical destruction of identity and purpose. In a biological context, cannibalism can be seen as an extreme form of resource allocation in desperate environments. In Shipley’s world, this “resource” is not merely sustenance but the very essence of existence—the self devouring itself in a constant feedback loop of violence and renewal. Shipley writes, “The sun is not full of worms anymore. The clouds almost never shriek.” This shift in imagery—from one of organic decay to something more muted and distant—may suggest a loss of the vital feedback signals that sustain life. In biological systems, such losses can lead to disintegration, whether it’s the collapse of ecosystems or the breakdown of bodily processes. For Shipley’s characters, the loss of meaningful connection to the environment is mirrored in their biological decay, a reflection of the profound alienation that is both mental and physical. His portrayal of the body and mind as systems in crisis reflects the constant tension between survival and decay. The body, a network of biological feedback loops, is portrayed as both a vessel and a battleground—subject to external influences, internal conflicts, and, ultimately, its own unraveling. Shipley’s exploration of trauma, disembodiment, and existential despair challenges the reader to reconsider the assumptions of stability and coherence that systems biology might otherwise offer. In this sense, his work serves as a powerful commentary on the complexity and fragility of human life, revealing the ways in which biological processes can both sustain and erode our understanding of the self. In Shipley’s universe, the body is never static—it is always in motion, caught between life and death, the mundane and the monstrous, a fragile system desperately seeking balance. Heterotransplantation, Language, and the Cyclical Nature of Biological and Cultural Systems: The integration of biological systems with human culture through language, technology, and ecology has sparked new avenues of philosophical and scientific inquiry. Drawing on concepts from systems biology, the notion of heterotransplantation—the transplantation of genetic material or organisms across species boundaries—emerges as a central theme for understanding the exploitation of planetary life. The discussion integrates theoretical concepts on identity, translation, and cultural expression, ultimately considering how the processes of life and language interconnect in systems that transcend human authorship and embrace synthetic, alien forms of existence. In understanding how language and capital intersect with biological systems, it is crucial to consider the statement, "The understood space is now utilized by society for the exploitation of planetary life, or expressed through linguistic ethics." This suggests that society, having mastered the material and linguistic domains, now seeks to control and exploit life itself—an extension of the language of power. From the perspective of systems biology, this exploitation mirrors the ways in which organisms interact with their environment, with the "cycle of language" representing a feedback loop of cultural and biological exchange. The failure of JV in the market can be interpreted as a breakdown in this system, where the logic of capital fails to adapt to the evolving biological realities of life. The system of language, by extension, becomes increasingly inadequate to represent or support the rapidly mutating systems of life and identity. The shifting role of language in a biological context aligns with the "new critical root" of human expression, which resists human authorship and instead embraces "gestures of Brian Stoneking's THE RECIDIVIST Brian "Flesheater" Stoneking's THE MEMORY SECTOR Brian "Flesheater" Stoneking currently resides in the high desert of Phoenix, Arizona where he enjoys campy horror movies within the comfort of an Insane Asylum. Search for his science fiction stories at The Intestinal Fortitude in the Flesheater's World section. The Memory Sector is his first appearance in the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Stay tuned to this webzine for more fantastic stories from Brian "Flesheater" to come... Kenji Siratori's ASTRALPUNK Kenji Siratori and Shaun Lawton's TOM CRUISE DOESN'T EXIST

bacteria." Here, bacteria symbolize the simplest, most fundamental biological agents, capable of transcending human dysfunction and becoming a "fused logical system." This is a critique of traditional human-centered models of authorship and creation, suggesting that human systems of thought, bound by language and cultural conventions, fail to account for the complex interrelations inherent in biological ecosystems. Bacteria, in their simplicity and adaptability, become the symbol of biological systems that are not merely passive but actively engage in the creation of meaning in ways that humans are only beginning to understand. The concept of capital expanding into a "divine human space" or "translation, identity, and logic of resistance" underscores the entanglement of biological, linguistic, and economic systems. In systems biology, the idea of capital mutating into a form of "divine" control can be understood as the reification of biological processes into a commodity. This shift echoes the way in which capital moves from being a human-centered system to something more abstract, aligning with the logic of biological systems themselves. In this model, the processes of life are transformed into economic units that reflect both material and conceptual value. The "fear and emotional text" produced by this system is a reflection of the underlying anxiety surrounding the commodification of life and the ethical implications of manipulating biological systems. These processes are compounded by the collective practices and "interface language" that emerge from interactions between humans, technology, and biology. The "words of Akitu" and the reference to a "synthetic example" suggest the emergence of new cultural forms that blur the boundaries between the organic and the synthetic. Systems biology supports this idea by emphasizing the adaptability and resilience of biological systems, which are constantly reshaping their structures and relationships with the environment. Heterotransplantation, the biological equivalent of cultural appropriation, represents the ultimate subversion of human identity through the introduction of non-human elements into the genetic code. This process, when viewed through the lens of systems biology, highlights the potential for "infinite assimilated methods" that merge species and biological systems in ways that transcend traditional boundaries. The introduction of alien genes or biologically altered organisms challenges our existing notions of identity, with "DNA in global modules" rejecting the boundaries imposed by human cultural constructs. The "rupture of language" mentioned in the text can be understood as a metaphor for the breakdown of human-centric systems of meaning, replaced by the complex interactions between different biological entities. The reference to "Babylonian gestures of escape" suggests a symbolic rejection of the static systems of language and culture, replacing them with dynamic, biologically driven forms of communication. This rupture reflects the ways in which genetic engineering and heterotransplantation are subverting traditional human constructs, forcing us to rethink the boundaries of life and identity. The discussion of "alien powers" and the "geopolitics of heterotransplantation" underscores the political dimensions of biological intervention. In systems biology, the material forces that drive biological systems are often entangled with political and economic forces. The manipulation of biological life, whether through genetic modification or transplantation, becomes a form of power that is both technological and political. The "inherent human cytokines" and the "ethics of heterotransplantation" represent the ethical Kenji Siratori is a Japanese avant-garde artist who's currently attacking the Internet on a highly experimental, uncompromising, progressive and intense wave of prose. He not only breaks the tradition, but also cuts all the code, and can only be compared to the kind of experimental writing adopted by Surrealism, William Burroughs, and Antonin Artaud. Accepting the image turmoil of the digital age, his relentless prose may be traced back through its digital genealogy to. .. his first novel Blood Electric ('02, Creation Books) was highly rated by Dennis Copper and David Bowie. And he worked with David Toop and Andrew Liles. Previous books include HACK_ (2011), Googleplex Otakky (2012), Witzelsucht (2012), Cruel Akihabara Eroguro Mutants (2013), Mononoke Vibration (2013). Shaun Lawton is an American poet & graphic artist who's currently editor in chief at the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He's the author of the collection of weird tales Elixir of Thorns (2021) as well as the nonfiction book COSMOLOGOS: Shadows of Reflections on Time in Space (2020), both published by 𝕻𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖒𝖆 𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘. K.B. Updike, Jr's CITY OF PETER K.B. Updike, Jr's THE GOLDEN THIRD EYE

dilemmas faced by society as it moves toward greater control over biological processes. The transformation of biology into a site of political contestation reflects the growing tension between technological advancement and ethical responsibility. The final reference to "CRISPR" and the "destabilization of human functions" is a poignant reminder of the radical potential of modern genetic technologies. CRISPR, as a tool for editing genes, embodies the paradox of control and chaos in the biological realm. While it holds the promise of eliminating genetic diseases, it also raises profound questions about the ethics of creating new life forms and the potential consequences of tampering with the very fabric of existence. “Heterogenesis serves not performatively but as a tool for philosophical consumption. Potential languages are written internally, by which this mirror invites the replication and production of language—mirrors beneath mirrors. They transcend emotions.” These words invite us to consider heterogenesis as more than biological differentiation; it is a lens for understanding the recursive and reflective nature of systems. The mirror metaphor underscores the idea that life’s processes are not merely expressions of pre-existing scripts but rather iterative productions of new realities. Systems biology, with its focus on networks and interconnections, resonates deeply with this view, emphasizing the emergent properties that arise from recursive interactions. Philosophers attempting to clone the “linguistic context” of existence often confront the challenge of articulating these recursive dynamics. The “unspoken language” referenced here aligns with the idea that biological systems, like linguistic systems, operate beyond human semiotics, in the realm of molecular codes, feedback loops, and dynamic equilibria. “Monstrous consistency symbolizes heterotransplantation—a sign of terror, a byproduct of meaningful, idealized existential artistry.” This description captures the tension between biological innovation and the cultural frameworks that seek to assimilate it. Systems biology investigates phenomena such as CRISPR-Cas9, a “crisis expression of cuteness,” where the precision of genetic editing tools highlights both the fragility and resilience of life. The optimization of genetic codes echoes the philosophical underpinnings of heterogenesis: nature’s ceaseless drive to generate difference while maintaining systemic coherence. Capitalist structures, as reflected in “capital grounded in modern speculative capital syntax,” further complicate this landscape. Biological systems are increasingly commodified, their processes reimagined as assets in a global marketplace. Waste proteins, pollutants, and other “rejected meanings” become substrates for new forms of life and ecological systems, highlighting how systems biology must grapple with the unintended byproducts of modernity. This interplay of biology, economics, and philosophy challenges traditional narratives of purity and utility, replacing them with a dynamic, networked understanding of existence. “Xenopoem becomes ecologically radical from alien perspectives. Life becomes a veneer of narrative, assuming life-threatening crises genetically, rather than in semantic or threatening cycles.” Systems biology often engages with the “alien”—organisms, genes, or processes that defy conventional classification. This alienness invites a reevaluation of life’s narratives, suggesting that survival and adaptation are less about linear progress and more about embracing complexity and uncertainty. The “Lemurian node territories” metaphor encapsulates this shift. These territories represent the emergent spaces where self-recombinant linguistic and biological environments foster new ideas and forms. Similarly, the heteropoetic rupture, a cornerstone of heterogenesis, reflects the ecological necessity of breaking established patterns to enable resilience and innovation. The “radical words of sexual cosmos” evoke the interplay of biology and philosophy, where K.B. Updike, Jr. is an asexual Virginiaborn virgin. He has been published in such online magazines as Black Petals, Blood Moon Rising Magazine, and the Stretching Forms section of Word Riot. Most of his work appears for free on his website: www.individuatechurch.com Bruce Boston's 5 Poems from CHRONICLES of the MUTANT RAIN FOREST Bruce Boston's HALLOWEEN HUNCHBACK Bruce Boston's THE NIGHTMARE COLLECTOR Marge Simon & Bruce Boston's CARNIVAL OF GHOSTS

reproduction and replication transcend their material bases to become symbolic acts of creation. “Beautiful yet destabilizing Haeššeše aesthetics abandon methods of heterotransplantation. They reject communication that encompasses exchange.” These aesthetics speak to an emerging ethos in systems biology: the recognition that life’s beauty lies in its instability and unpredictability. Ethical considerations in genetic editing, synthetic biology, and ecological restoration demand that we embrace this instability as a source of creativity and renewal rather than a problem to be solved. The notion of “compost”—where waste becomes a byproduct of the body’s new self—exemplifies this ethos. By engaging with the discarded and the marginal, systems biology reclaims these elements as integral to life’s processes. This perspective aligns with “Derrida’s replacement of language,” where the margins and ruptures of systems become sites of profound meaning and innovation. "Genetically Recombinant Production© symbolizes infinite cycles of form." This assertion encapsulates the central theme of systems biology: the recursive nature of life. In genetic networks, recombinant DNA technology functions as both an experimental tool and a metaphor for the endless recombination of life forms. Similarly, the text’s recombinant prose mimics the incessant cycling of genetic mutations and environmental interactions. Here, language becomes a bio-simulation, as "the simulation chaos alien poet… metabolizes and projects itself," underscoring the metabolic nature of systemic feedback loops in both biological and linguistic contexts. The text’s invocation of "sex doll assimilates sacred emotions" situates this phenomenon within the cybernetic domain. The sex doll, as a simulacrum, embodies the recursive failure of systems to replicate “otherness” without distortion. This failure mirrors the genomic “mistakes” central to evolution, where errors catalyze diversity. Thus, the doll’s "dominant simulation of meaning" embodies the same paradox inherent in biological systems: controlled processes inevitably generate emergent complexities beyond their original design. “The gods of miRNA are a set that slaughter and reject human miRNA. Waste RNA emerges as an invitation to the system.” Here, the text resonates with the systems biology concept of non-coding RNA’s regulatory functions. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play pivotal roles in silencing genes, modulating the chaos of cellular networks, much as the "alien poet" shapes linguistic chaos. The “slaughter” of miRNA signifies the competitive and selective pressures that define molecular ecosystems, where non-coding RNA emerges as a persistent, overlooked artifact—a textual waste akin to exonic splicing debris. Such regulatory roles extend to the ecological level, as "geologists representing indifferent contexts" adopt anthropocenic strategies. The geological metaphor reflects a systems-level awareness of Earth’s metabolic and atmospheric fluxes. Strategies to mitigate "greenhouse gas regeneration" echo humanity’s struggle to control biogeochemical cycles, positioning synthetic biology as both savior and adversary of environmental stability. The reference to "synthetic recurrence…through the replication of cosmic errors" aligns with systems biology’s embrace of error as generative. Genetic drift, horizontal gene transfer, and epigenetic modifications all exemplify the productive capacity of “mistakes” in biological systems. Similarly, the text’s alien body shapes signify the "mimetic order" emerging from cosmic entropy. In systems terms, these alien bodies function as attractors —stable states within chaotic networks—transforming cosmic randomness into discernible patterns. This recursive theme persists as "DNA contextualizes the externalized, shifting engineering within existence." DNA, here, embodies both Bruce Boston distinguishes himself with an impressive variety of fiction and poetry published in outlets such as Asimov's SF, The Twilight Zone Magazine, Amazing Stories, Realms of Fantasy, Weird Tales, and Year's Best Fantasy & Horror to name just a few. He's the recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, the Rhysling Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, the Balticon Poetry Award, and the Grandmaster Award of the SFPA. He's written a story and a novel which have both been finalists for the Bram Stoker Award. He is the author of the novels The Guardener's Tale and Stained Glass Rain, as well as the collection of short stories Masque of Dreams. He dwells in the City of Trees with his wife Marge Simon and the ghosts of their cats. Along with Robert Frazier, he co-authored the collection of poems Chronicles of the Mutant Rain Forest, published in 1992 by Horror's Head Press out of NY. Jeffrey Thomas's THE ABANDONED Jeffrey Thomas is the author of such horror and science fiction novels as THE AMERICAN, DEADSTOCK (finalist for the John W. Campbell Award), BLUE WAR, MONSTROCITY (finalist for the Bram Stoker Award), LETTERS FROM HADES, SUBJECT 11, and BONELAND. His short story collections include PUNKTOWN, GHOSTS OF PUNKTOWN, THE UNNAMED COUNTRY, HAUNTED WORLDS, UNHOLY DIMENSIONS, THIRTEEN SPECIMENS, and THE ENDLESS FALL. Stories by Thomas have been reprinted in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY AND HORROR, THE YEAR'S BEST HORROR STORIES, and

a literal and metaphorical code, encoding the paradox of stability and fluidity. The metaphor of azš‰ reflects an engineered expression of control, confronting the limits of anthropocentric frameworks and signaling a move toward ecological and cosmological inclusivity. The speculation on "heterotransplantation" draws from synthetic biology’s interventions in cross-species genetic engineering. These “hyper-cute gpà” entities embody the fusion of digital simulation and organic adaptation. In systems terms, this reflects the hybridization of digital and biological networks —e.g., computational biology’s modeling of evolutionary dynamics. The invocation of Baudrillard’s boundaries introduces a critical lens, emphasizing identity’s destabilization within hyperreal biologies. Systems biology posits that entities, whether cells or organisms, exist in constant negotiation with external influences. Similarly, the text’s fixation on “glitches” reveals linguistic and biological disruptions as sites of potentiality, where meaning and matter are reconstituted. The alien poet, a persistent motif, becomes a symbol of systemic creativity. "Xenopoem elucidates dynamic inefficiency as cognitive expression," situating inefficiency as an evolutionary driver. Systems biology corroborates this notion: inefficiencies—redundancies in genetic code, stochastic protein folding—are integral to adaptability and innovation. These inefficiencies form the grammar of evolution, analogous to "genomic gestures and grammar glitches" that mediate survival. By embedding "Kristeva’s conscious eggs" within this framework, the text aligns with biosemiotics, where life communicates through signs and symbols. Kristeva’s theories on semiotic disruption parallel the biological ruptures that birth novel forms. These “eggs”— both literal and conceptual—become loci of transformation, translating systemic failures into adaptive emergence. The text’s recursive loops and linguistic recombinant forms evoke systems biology’s core principle: life as a network of interconnected processes. By integrating cybernetic metaphors, alien imaginaries, and genomic references, it transcends traditional boundaries, crafting a poetics of systemic entanglement. The alien poet thrives, not as a singular author but as a distributed network—a meta-system crafting meaning from chaos. The miRNA Generating Glitch Agents: In the realms of systems biology, miRNA (microRNA) serves as an essential regulatory agent in gene expression. These small RNA molecules influence cellular processes, modulating development, homeostasis, and stress responses. The notion of "glitch agents" introduced in the passage suggests that miRNA functions as an agent of disruption within genetic systems. These glitches are not merely errors in a mechanistic sense, but rather catalyze new forms of organization and self-regulation within the body, thus driving the ongoing evolution of the biological system. The glitch, as a concept, transcends its traditional role as an anomaly and becomes a key player in the construction of posthuman bodies, rewriting biological narratives and decentering humancentric perspectives. In this context, miRNA is metaphorically described as a "viral state governance system," which implies that the human genome is no longer merely a passive repository of genetic information but a complex, self-regulating network engaged in continual feedback loops and molecular dialogues. This viral governance echoes themes of control and opposition, suggesting a duality between biological determinism and the intervention of external forces— whether these are environmental, technological, or ideological. The concept of apoptosis, or programmed cell death, driven by opposition, introduces a further complexity to the narrative: that of self-destruction and renewal within the cellular framework. Here, life cycles are not linear but cyclical, reinforcing the YEAR'S BEST WEIRD FICTION. Though he considers Vietnam his second home, he resides not that far from Arkham, in Massachusetts. Marge Simon's THE LAST NIGHT IN OCTOBER Marge Simon's THE SAMHAIN GIFT Marge Simon's ALL HALLOW'S EVE Marge Simon was born in Bethesda, Maryland, but grew up in Boulder, Colorado. In the mid1980s, Simon began writing and illustrating for the small press and went on to become an awardwinning writer. Simon's poems, short fiction, and illustrations have appeared in hundreds of publications, including Amazing Stories, Nebula Awards 32, Strange Horizons, The Pedestal Magazine, Chizine, Niteblade, Vestal Review, and Daily Science Fiction. Simon is a former president of the Small Press Writers and Artists Organization and of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association (SFPA). She is additionally a former editor of Star*Line, the SFPA's bimonthly journal. Simon lives in Ocala, Florida, with her husband, writer Bruce Boston, with whom she sometimes collaborates. Marge Simon & Bruce Boston's CARNIVAL OF GHOSTS

notion of a dynamic interplay between life, death, and rebirth. It extends to critique the role of capitalism in the regulation and manipulation of biological systems. The passage asserts that "delayed biological perspectives present the provision of capital in capitalism," emphasizing how capitalist structures shape the trajectory of scientific and genetic research. In a system driven by profit and productivity, the biological process is commodified, treated as a resource to be mined, manipulated, and optimized. This reflects the systemic exploitation of biological matter for economic gain, a notion reminiscent of Michel Foucault’s idea of biopower, where the state exerts control over life through regulatory mechanisms. However, the passage also highlights the concept of "otherness" and the role of miRNA in delaying its goal, suggesting that these biological systems are not simply tools for human or capitalist agendas but also harbor intrinsic properties of resistance and transformation. The "fire of the story," an evocative image, represents a force that disrupts the clean, linear progressions of biological systems, pointing to the complexity and unpredictability of living systems when viewed through the lens of systems biology. Here, miRNA functions as a mediator of biological "otherness," allowing for the continuous restructuring of life in response to external forces—whether ecological, societal, or technological. The genetic frontier is further explored through the invocation of "the žçœμú model gene," a symbol of the fragmented and fluid nature of genetic identity. This gene, a conceptual tool, reflects the multiplicity of influences shaping human and posthuman existence, where language, emotion, and genetic inheritance intertwine to form a new understanding of life. As the passage suggests, "life, as a sequence of nihilism, may only be understood when bound to language and reintegrated," implying that our understanding of the self and the world is fundamentally tied to the linguistic and symbolic frameworks we use to make sense of the biological processes that define us. This linguistic turn in understanding biology challenges the traditional view of the gene as a fixed, deterministic entity. Instead, it posits the gene as a dynamic participant in the production of meaning, capable of expressing itself in ways that transcend biological determinism. By linking genes to language, the passage suggests that the processes of life and death, reproduction, and decay are inherently intertwined with the narratives we construct about ourselves. In this sense, the posthuman body becomes a text that is both written and rewritten, a site of continuous interaction between biology, language, and meaning. The discussion of the "creator’s media of this language" invokes the intersection of artistic creation, technology, and genetic manipulation. In drawing on Beckett’s work, which emphasizes the confusion of language and the breakdown of communication, the passage suggests that the language of genes is not foreign or alien but is instead part of an ongoing, recursive process of meaning-making. This process is not linear but operates through a system of imitations, where the biological and the technological blur, creating new forms of existence. These forms, embodied through genetic modification and molecular engineering, challenge the boundaries between the human and the non-human, between life and machine. The metaphor of the "alienation" of the genome further underscores the theme of genetic systems as spaces of cultural and existential negotiation. The genome, once considered the blueprint of life, is now a medium for creating new realities, a site where biological engineering intersects with cultural ideologies and economic imperatives. This duality between the genome as a biological entity and as a cultural code challenges the conventional understanding of identity and subjectivity, pushing us to reconsider what it means to be human in a world increasingly shaped by genetic and technological interventions. The "hyperreality" of this world is not John Claude Smith's AMERICAN GHOST John Claude Smith's THE PERFECT PUMPKIN John Claude Smith's BLOOD ECHO SYMPHONIES John Claude Smith's NOT BREATHING John Claude Smith has had count less short stories and many poems published. His debut collection of “not your average horror,” The Dark Is Light Enough For Me, was published in 2012. His 2nd collection, Autumn in the Abyss, was published by Omnium Gatherum in March of 2014, and has garnered much positive response and reviews. He has

merely a reflection of the human condition but a new reality in which genetic processes, language, and cultural systems merge to create new forms of existence. In this world, the virus becomes both a metaphor for and a manifestation of life itself—a biochemical language that speaks through the glitch agents of miRNA, reshaping human identity, societal structures, and the cosmos itself. published a chapbook, The Wrath of Concrete and Steel (Dunhams Manor Press, 2016). His debut novel, Riding the Centipede, was a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel. His other novel is The Wilderness Within (JournalStone, 2017). He's always working on something new and exciting, while shopping around other provocative material. He splits his time between the East Bay of northern California, across from San Francisco, and Rome, Italy, where his heart resides always. click to read Residual Synthetic Integration Bicameral Attributes for Holistic Memory Encoding by shaun lawton John Shirley's TWO TECHNO TALES on the Freezine of fantasy and science John Shirley's PLEASE ACCEPT THIS fiction as it slides home into the year of its dissolution ~ 2025 ~ i | 0 Edited by shaun at 9:15 PM John Shirley's SLITHER EYES No comments: Post a Comment Enter Comment Newer Post Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom) Archive of Stories and Authors Callum Leckie's THE DIGITAL DECADENT Home Older Post John Shirley's THE CLOUD OF UNSEEING

J.R. Torina's ANTHROPOPHAGUS John Shirley's EXTRATERRESTRIALS DECIDE IF THE DOMINANT SPECIES OF THE INHABITED PLANET 38790 SHOULD BE EXTERMINATED FOR EXTREME VILENESS J.R. Torina's THE HOUSE IN THE PORT John Shirley's ISN'T THAT ADORABLE? J.R. Torina was DJ for Sonic Slaughterhouse ('90-'97), runs Sutekh Productions (an industrial-ambient music label) and John Shirley's SO WHAT IF THEY DIE? Slaughterhouse Records (metal record label), and was proprietor of The Abyss (a metal-gothic-industrial c.d. shop in SLC, now closed). He is the dark force behind Scapegoat (an ambient-tribalnoise-experimental unit). THE HOUSE IN THE PORT is his first publication. Sean Padlo's NINE TENTHS OF THE LAW Sean Padlo's GRANDPA'S LAST REQUEST John Shirley's PORRIS IN WUNPERLAND John Shirley &

Edgar Allan Poe's BLIND EYE Sean Padlo's exact whereabouts are never able to be fully pinned down, but what we do know about him is laced with the echoes of legend. He's already been known to haunt certain areas of the landscape, a trick said to only be possible by being able to manipulate it from the future. His presence among the rest of us here at the freezine sends shivers of wonder deep in our solar plexus. John Shirley's MASK GAME John Shirley's AND WHEN YOU CALLED US WE CAME TO YOU Konstantine Paradias & Edward Morris's HOW THE GODS KILL John Shirley's MEERGA Konstantine Paradias's SACRI-FEES John Shirley's WHERE THE MARKET'S HOTTEST Konstantine Paradias is a writer by choice. At the moment, he's published over 100 stories in English, Japanese, Romanian, German, Dutch and Portuguese and has worked in a freelancing capacity for videogames, screenplays and anthologies. People tell him he's got a writing problem but he can, like, quit whenever he wants, man. His work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. John Shirley's THE SOFTEST PILLOW

Edward Morris's ONE NIGHT IN MANHATTAN John Shirley's ELDER CRUISER Edward Morris's MERCY STREET John Shirley's CYRANO AND THE TWO PLUMES Edward Morris is a 2011 nominee for the Pushcart Prize in literature, has also been nominated for the 2009 Rhysling Award and the 2005 British Science Fiction Association Award. His short stories have been published over a hundred and twenty times in four languages, most recently at PerhihelionSF, the Red Penny Papers' SUPERPOW! anthology, and The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. He lives and works in Portland as a writer, editor, spoken word MC and bouncer, and is also a regular guest author at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. John Shirley's THE WAY TO ALEXANDRIA Tim Fezz's BURNT WEENY SANDWICH John Shirley's SKY PIRATES Tim Fezz's MANY SILVERED MOONS AGO Tim Fezz hails out of the shattered streets of Philly destroying the airwaves and people's minds in the John Shirley remains a prolific writer with an astonishing range. He is considered a virtuoso by his peers. His latest novel is a western, Axle Bust Creek (Kensington, 2022) preceded by: Sorcerer of Atlantis (Hippocampus Press, 2021), and Stormland (Blackstone Books, 2021). His next

underground with his band OLD FEZZIWIG. He's been known to dip his razor quill into his own blood and pen a twisted tale every now and again. We are delighted to have him onboard the FREEZINE and we hope you are, too. Daniel E. Lambert's DEAD CLOWN AND MAGNET HEAD Daniel E. Lambert teaches English at California State University, Los Angeles and East Los Angeles College. He also teaches online Literature courses for Colorado Technical University. His writing appears in Silver Apples, Easy Reader, Other Worlds, Wrapped in Plastic and The Daily Breeze. His work also appears in the anthologies When Words Collide, Flash It, Daily Flash 2012, Daily Frights 2012, An Island of Egrets and Timeless Voices. His collection of poetry and prose, Love and Other Diversions, is available through Amazon. He lives in Southern California with his wife, poet and author Anhthao Bui. Phoenix's AGAIN AND AGAIN novel, coming out in 2023, is Suborbital 7… Some of his books include Demons, Crawlers, Wetbones, Cellars, In Darkness Waiting, Bleak History, City Come A-Walkin’, Bioshock: Rapture, A Song Called Youth (Eclipse, Eclipse Penumbra, and Eclipse Corona), Silicon Embrace, Spider Moon, and The Other End, just to name a few. His story collections include Black Butterflies which won the Bram Stoker Award. His first collection of poems, The Voice of the Burning House (poems written in formal verse) has now been published by Jackanapes Press, who also just published a revised and expanded edition of his 1999 collection Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories. John Shirley also wrote the anthology of weird tales Lovecraft Alive! A Collection of Lovecraftian Stories (Hippocampus Press, 2016). He's written a few westerns (such as the historical novel Wyatt in Wichitaput (Skyhorse Press, 2014) in addition to several under a pseudonym. Prior to that he wrote Doyle After Death (Witness Impulse, 2013). Two of his books that come highly recommended are Everything Is Broken (Prime Books, 2012) and the non-fiction Gurdjieff: An Introduction to His Life and Ideas (Tarcher, 2004). “John Shirley was cyberpunk’s patient zero, first locus of the virus, certifiably virulent. A Carrier.”—William Gibson Phoenix has enjoyed writing since he was a little kid. He finds much importance and truth in creative expression. Phoenix has written over sixty books, and has published everything from novels, to poetry and philosophy. He hopes to inspire people with his writing and to ask difficult questions about our world and the universe. “The 'Eclipse trilogy' (aka "A Song Called Youth") by John Shirley is one of the finest examples of cyberpunk ‘war’ novels available. A mesmerizing dark future setting, coherent intrigue, heavyduty warfare and lots of characters you care for...it will keep you awake at night.”—Transputer Qasar “A Song Called Youth might very well be John

Phoenix lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he spends much of his time reading books on science, philosophy, and literature. He spends a good deal of his free time writing and working on new books. The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction welcomes him and his unique, intense vision. Discover Phoenix's books at his author page on Amazon. Also check out his blog. Adam Bolivar's SERVITORS OF THE OUTER DARKNESS Shirley’s signature production, still ringing with the clarion call of a bygone era.”—Asimov’s SKY PIRATES was published in the Freezine in 2009. It's an homage to the adventure fiction of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jack Vance, and is inspired by Sabatini's Captain Blood. The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is honored to welcome John Shirley, and remains grateful for his contribution and participation. Icy Sedgwick's THE HOUSE AT THE COAST Adam Bolivar's THE DEVIL & SIR FRANCIS DRAKE Icy Sedgwick's THE PORCELAIN WOMAN Adam Bolivar's THE TIME-EATER Icy Sedgwick is part trainee supervillain. She lives in the UK but dreams of the Old West. Her current works include a ghost story about a Cavalier and a Western tale of retribution. Find her ebooks, free weekly fiction and other shenanigans at Icy’s Cabinet of Curiosities. Adam Bolivar is an expatriate Bostonian who has lived in New Orleans and Berkeley, and currently resides in Portland, Oregon with his beloved wife and fluffy gray cat Dahlia. Adam wears round, antique glasses and has a fondness for hats. His greatest Keith Graham's PLEASE WASH YOUR HANDS inspirations include H.P. Lovecraft, Jack tales and coffee. He has been a Romantic poet for as long as anyone can remember, specializing in the composition of spectral balladry, utilizing to great effect a traditional poetic form that taps into the haunted undercurrents of folklore seldom found in other forms of writing. Keith Graham's TWO ANNIES

His poetry has appeared on the pages of such publications as SPECTRAL REALMS and BLACK WINGS OF CTHULHU, and a poem of his, "The Rime of the Eldritch Mariner," won the Rhysling Award for long-form poetry. His collection of weird balladry and Jack tales, THE LAY OF OLD HEX, was published by Hippocampus Press in 2017. Sanford Meschkow's INEVITABLE Sanford Meschkow is a retired former NYer who married a Philly suburban Main Line girl. Sanford has been published in a 1970s issue of AMAZING. We welcome him here on the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Keith Graham's THE GIRL WITH THE ERROR MESSAGE EYES Keith Graham's Name2Face.app Owen R. Powell's NOETIC VACATIONS Keith Graham's CLICK CLACK, CLICK CLACK Little is known of the mysterious Owen R. Powell (oftentimes referred to as Orp online). That is because he usually keeps moving. The story Noetic Vacations marks his first appearance in the Freezine. Gene Stewart (writing as Art Wester) GROUND PORK Keith Graham's FINNY MOON Keith Graham's RepFix Gene Stewart's

CRYPTID'S LAIR Gene Stewart is a writer and artist. He currently lives in the Midwest American Wilderness where he is researching tales of mystical realism, writing ficta mystica, and exploring the dark by casting a little light into the shadows. Follow this link to his website where there are many samples of his writing and much else; come explore. Daniel José Older's GRAVEYARD WALTZ Daniel José Older's THE COLLECTOR Daniel José Older's spiritually driven, urban storytelling takes root at the crossroads of myth and history. With sardonic, uplifting and often hilarious prose, Older draws from his work as an overnight 911 paramedic, a teaching artist & an antiracist/antisexist organizer to weave fast-moving, emotionally engaging plots that speak whispers and shouts about power and privilege in modern day New York City. His work has appeared in the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, The ShadowCast Audio Anthology, The Tide Pool, and the collection Sunshine/Noir, and is featured in Sheree Renee Thomas' Black Pot Mojo Reading Series in Harlem. When he's not writing, teaching or riding around in an ambulance, Daniel can be found performing with his Brooklyn-based soul quartet Ghost Star. His blog about the ridiculous and disturbing world of EMS can be found here. Keith Graham's MIZUKI Keith Graham's EVERYTHING BUT THE OINK Keith Graham's FAREWELL TOUR Keith Graham is a computer programmer, blues harp player, fellow beekeeper, and speculative fiction writer. He currently maintains 45 active websites. He has published more than 50 stories over the last six years in venues such as Martian Wave, AtomJack, Electric Spec, Aoffe's Kiss, Tales of the Talisman, Fifth Di..., The Harrow, and many others. Underground rock music played an integral part in the early days of cyberpunk, and The Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction is excited to have Keith onboard, and grateful for the many stories he's contributed over the years. Jason V. Brock's THE ANCESTORS

Paul Stuart's SEA?TV! Paul Stuart is the author of numerous biographical blurbs written in the third person. His previously published fiction appears in The Vault of Punk Horror and Monstrous: 20 Tales of Giant Creature Terror. His non-fiction financial pieces can be found in a shiny, west-coast magazine that features pictures of expensive homes, as well as images of women in casual poses and their accessories. Consider writing him at paul@twilightlane.com, if you'd like some thing from his garage. In fall 2010, look for Grade 12 Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus -With Zombies. Jason V Brock is an awardwinning writer, filmmaker, composer, and artist, and has been published in Butcher Knives and Body Counts, The Devil's Coattails, Calliope, Weird Fiction Review, Fangoria, S. T. Joshi's Black Wings series, and many others. He was Art Director/Managing Editor for Dark Discoveries magazine for more than four years, and has a pro digest called [NameL3ss]. Lewis Shiner's ODD MAN OUT Rain Grave's MAU BAST Rain Graves is an award winning author of horror, science fiction and poetry. She is best known for the 2002 Bram Stoker Award winner for Best Poetry Collection, The Gossamer Eye (along with Mark McLaughlin and David Niall Wilson). Her most recent book, Barfodder: Poetry Written in Dark Bars and Questionable Cafes, has been hailed by Publisher's Weekly as "Bukowski meets Lovecraft..." in January of 2009. She lives and writes in San Francisco, performing spoken word at events around the country. 877-DRK-POEM Listen. http://raingraves.com/ Blag Dahlia's armed to the teeth with LIPSTICK Lewis Shiner's WHITE CITY Lewis Shiner is an American writer. Shiner began his career as a science fiction writer, but then identified with cyberpunk, and later wrote more mainstream novels, albeit often with magical realism and fantasy elements. He was formerly a resident of Texas, and now lives in North Carolina. David Agranoff's DIVINE WIND

David Agranoff's A PLANET OF YOUR OWN BLAG DAHLIA is a Rock Legend. Singer, Songwriter, producer & founder of the notorious DWARVES. He has written two novels, ‘NINA’ and David Agranoff's THE FALLEN GUARDIAN'S MANDATE ‘ARMED to the TEETH with LIPSTICK’. G. Alden Davis's THE FOLD G. Alden Davis wrote his first short story in high school, and received a creative writing scholarship for the effort. Soon afterward he discovered that words were not enough, and left for art school. He was awarded the Emeritus Fellowship along with his BFA from Memphis College of Art in '94, and entered the videogame industry as a team leader and 3D artist. He has over 25 published games to his credit. Mr. Davis is a Burningman participant of 14 years, and he swings a mean sword in the SCA. He's also the best friend I ever had. He was taken away from us last year on Jan 25 and I'll never be able to understand why. Together we were a fantastic duo, the legendary Grub Bros. Our secret base exists on a cross-hatched nexus between the Year of the Dragon and Dark City. Somewhere along the tectonic fault lines of our electromagnetic gathering, shades of us peel off from the coruscating pillars and are dropped back into the mix. The phrase "rest in peace" just bugs me. I'd rather think that Greg Grub's inimitable spirit somehow continues evolving along another manifestation of light itself, a purple shift shall we say into another phase of our expanding universe. I ask myself, is it wishful thinking? Will we really shed our human skin like a discarded chrysalis and emerge shimmering on another wavelength altogether--or even manifest right here among the rest without their even beginning to suspect it? Well people do believe in ghosts, but I myself have long been suspicious there can only be one single ghost and that's all the stars in the universe shrinking away into a withering heart glittering and winking at us like David Agranoff is the author of Goddamn Killing Machines (2019) Ring of Fire (2018) Flesh Trade (co-written w/Edward Morris, 2017) Punk Rock Ghost Story (Deadite Press, 2016) Amazing Punk Stories (Eraserhead Press, 2016) Boot Boys of the Wolf Reich (Eraserhead Press, 2014), Hunting the Moon Tribe (Eraserhead Press, 2011), The Vegan Revolution...with Zombies (Eraserhead Press, 2010), and Screams from a Dying World (Afterbirth Books, 2009). David's a hardcore vegan and tireless environmentalist. His contributions to the punk horror scene and the planet in general have already established him as a bright new writer and activist to watch out for. We at the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction welcome him and his defiant vision open-heartedly. He was one of the core early supporters of our shared vision of what this webzine could be. David is always busy with some project, be it preparing another episode of his Philip K. Dickheads Podcast, or at work on another novel or a mysterious project or another. He's sure to leave his mark on our world blossoming into fruition even as it's skidding and teetering over the edge of political and ecological imbalance.

lost diamonds still echoing all their ~ monitor the freezine ~ sad and lonely songs fallen on deaf eyes and ears blind to their colorful Posts emanations. My grub brother always knew better than what the limits Comments of this old world taught him. We explored past the outer peripheries of our comfort zones to awaken the terror in our minds and keep us on our toes deep in the forest in the middle of the night. The owls led our way and the wilderness transformed into a sanctuary. The adventures we shared together Archive of Stories and Authors +IMAGES BELOW HYPERLINK TO THE STORIES+ will always remain tattooed on the pages of my skin. They tell a story that we began together and Johnny Strike's MONKEY MAN which continues being woven to this very day. It's the same old story about how we all were in this together and how each and every one of us is also going away someday and though it will be the farthest we can manage to tell our own tale we may rest assured it will be continued like one of the old pulp serials by all our friends which survive us and manage to continue the saga whispering in the wind. Shae Sveniker's A NEW METAPHYSICAL STUDY REGARDING THE BEHAVIOR OF PLANT LIFE Johnny Strike's THE HOMELESS MUTANTS Johnny Strike's NIGHTFLAMERS Shae is a poet/artist/student and former resident of the Salt Pit, UT, currently living in Simi Valley, CA. His short stories are on Blogger and his poetry is hosted on Livejournal. Nigel Strange's PLASTIC CHILDREN Nigel Strange lives with his wife and daughter, cats, and tiny dog-like thing in their home in California where he occasionally experiments recreationally with lucidity. PLASTIC CHILDREN is his first publication. Johnny Strike (June 6, 1948 – September 10, 2018), poet and punk rocker extraordinaire, was an American singer-songwriter and crime novelist. He was born in San Francisco, California. He was mostly known as songwriter and frontman for the bay area proto-punk band CRIME (based in San Francisco). In 2004, he wrote Ports of Hell alongside William S. Burroughs. Johnny Strike's

corporeal form left our realm on September 10, 2018, in San Francisco, from liver cancer. He was a free spirit who lived the way he wanted to, until reaching the benchmark age of 70. Never one to fade away, always prepared to lash out at any form of oppressive authority with a snarl on his lips and a smile in his heart, we at the Freezine will never forget him or his legacy. RIP old cyberfriend. Vincent Daemon's SOULTIDE Vincent Daemon's SURVIVAL GUILT Vincent Daemon's THE BELLOWS IN THE BB-HEADS Vincent Daemon's VENOM OF THE BIG BLACK SPIDER

Vincent Daemon's A SILENT NIGHT (FOR A DEMI-GHOUL) Vincent Daemon's LATE NIGHT EXTERMINATOR Vincent Daemon's SEE YOU NEXT YEAR, MY LOVE Vincent Daemon's OF CADENCE AND WEATHERED STATUES Vincent Daemon's NIGHT SONG OF THE FUNGI

Vincent Daemon's LEVEL 5 Vincent Daemon's A NOTION CONCEIVED Vincent Daemon's WAITING FOR THE END *[18+] Vincent Daemon's TRAP Vincent Daemon hails from the red-brick wastelands of Philadelphia, PA. To date, he has over 30 published stories of the strange and poems of pain in various anthologies (Through The Eyes Of The Undead, Diabolic Tales III, Living With Anxiety [nonfic], etc) and magazines (FREEZINE, Infernal Ink, [Nameless], Vegas Cannabis, etc.). He has one published novella, the apocalyptic horror punk "Waiting For The End." Vincent also has a couple of regular columns, one being "Rosetta Bones," in "The Intestinal Fortitude" ezine, as well as a film critique column, "Vincent's Vile Video Vault," at "Gorehound Mike's Weird

Cinema." He is also co-host of the live weekly radiocast "2 in the Same Boat with MoJoe & Vincent." He is currently putting together his first anthology (working title "Bury Me In A Nameless Grave"), as well as laying down the foundations for a looseknit trilogy of novellas. Vincent is also the founder/editor of the rare print-only magazine "Grave Demand," which should be relaunching, for free and internet only, as "Grave Demand: Open Casket" this October, 2015. Beyond that, he has also been writing/performing/releasing music for over 25 years, much of which can be heard on Reverbnation, under "Vincent Daemon's Age Of Desire." The page encompasses 24 yrs of recordings/releases with the various bands he has fronted. A new, 25 year anniversary album from Age Of Desire is in development, as well as new solo material. In his free time, Vincent reads, plays with saber-tooth tigers, and still plants strange seeds where they shouldn't be. He can be found at fb, his blog "Writings of a Depraved Mind," and at vdaemon13@gmail.com. Misha Nogha's JUPITER RING Misha Nogha was born in 1955 in St Paul, Minne- sota of mixed Nordic and Metis ancestry. She received her edu- cation from Eastern Washing- ton University, Portland State University, and Eastern Oregon University with degrees in Eng- lish Literature and Secondary Education with endorsements in Language Arts and French. Misha has studied Cree medicine path and Seidr, an ancient form of Nordic shamansim. She is married to a Badger and they have four children. Gil James Bavel's SAM'S HALLOWEEN

NIGHTMARE Gil James Bavel IDOL CURIOSITY Gil James Bavel's SATAN'S DOG Gil James Bavel's SPACE IS A DEADLY SISTER Gil James Bavel's THE THING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SHAFT Gil James Bavel's I CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF MY MIND

Gil James Bavel's THE DEVO RIOTS Gil James Bavel is a writer from Lawrence, Kansas, home to the University of Kansas, where he graduated from the Institute for the Study of Science Fiction. Gil's work appears in every library in the country. Part prophet, part skeptic, Gil is known as Cardinal Sin in the Church of the Sub-Genius, and received his first international publishing credit on six pages of the Church's fourth book, Revelation X: The "Bob" Apocryphon, a credit he shares with fellow ordained minister Rev. John Shirley. Gil has been writing science fiction, horror, fantasy and social satire since 1985, and in another life was a punk rock drummer, singer/songwriter and booking agent, and 3-time record store guy. He has appeared on stage, in films, radio, television and music videos. Gil was friendly with William S. Burroughs, with whom he recorded an audio interview, and has also interviewed fellow personal hero Robert Anton Wilson, author of Cosmic Trigger. Frustrated with NaNoWriMo, Gil founded DecShoStoWriMo, a Facebook group he started. It resides under the name Short Story Writing Group eleven months of the year. Gil lives with a friend’s wife and family in a comfortable home in the suburbs of Kansas City, along with their lawyer. It has just been brought to my attention that Gil James Bavel, minister of Slack aka Cardinal Sin, has checked out of our

mortal realm. The Freezine remains in shock. RIP old friend. Sean Manseau's I AM THE SUN Sean Manseau's WE ARE SPACELORD! AND WE COMMAND YOU TO LOVE US! Sean Manseau's YOU GOT OLD, TOO BAD Sean Manseau's AFTER HOURS IN THE AM/PM Sean Manseau's RABBITS RUN Sean Manseau owns a gym in Northampton, MA. His first collection of stories is called The Fool's Daughter and Other Stories

The Holographic Paradox by Shaun Lawton Breaking Update from the nanoHorde The bloodHost Awaken by Shaun Lawton, your friendly Editor in Chief About Me shaun so many dead lines. remote scanning for the few live wires. feeling in the dark with hands bound. look what i have found. All my poems © shaun a. lawton I am the editor of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction View my complete profile :message from the editors: the nanoHorde (or bloodHost)

𝕻𝖑𝖆𝖘𝖒𝖆 𝕻𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘 CLICK TO READ AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ON LOVECRAFT WITH THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE FREEZINE OF FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION Be sure to Subscribe and Follow this blog to keep updated on the FREEZINE of Fantasy and Science Fiction. If you are interested in submitting your short stories or longer works for daily serialization in a future issue, please contact us at freezinefantasysciencefiction@gmail.com, and we will reply in due time. Thank you for your participation in helping to support this nonprofit creative writing platform. Don't miss out on tons of original stories, featuring the talents of Bruce Boston, John Shirley, Misha Nogha, Johnny Strike, David Agranoff, John Claude Smith, A. A. Attanasio, Vincent Daemon, Adam Bolivar, Rain Graves, Icy Sedgwick, Brian Stoneking, and many more authors, new and old. The Freezine is a permanent installation. It may only carry on with the enthusiastic support of its followers, readers, and free contributors. This webzine takes the form of a blog incepted in April of 2009. It is controlled by a microscopic fleet of nanobots sent from the future. With your participation it may continue to flourish on the electronic worldwide vine. Once again, Submit original short stories or novellas to be serialized on a daily basis to freezinefantasysciencefiction@gmail.com and the editor will eventually get back to you. Enjoy your life. You only get to live it once. The Freezine is subject to serialize material in the public domain. So watch out. The Freezine is out to get your attention. ~ Classick Books & Tales ~ The Transformation by Franz Kafka

Second Variety by Philip K. Dick The Creatures That Time Forgot by Ray Bradbury Flatland by A Square Micromégas by François-Marie Arouet The King In Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe BERENICE--A TALE. by Edgar Poe HYPNOS by H. P. Lovecraft NYARLATHOTEP by H. P. Lovecraft

HAITA THE SHEPHERD by Ambrose Bierce OUT OF THE ROSE by William Butler Yeats ELIMINATION OF A PICTURE & ITS SUBJECT--CALLED THE FELLER'S MASTER STROKE by Richard Dadd most Popular Posts jitbots by shaun lawton See theres a new trojan horse. gotta call it that Gee-Petey thing. yknowm sane right. orelsen well. if you dont... Investigations of the Fractal Blood Soul: 1 by A. A. Attanasio After the soul has been severed from the body, it continues its journey, its path unknown, the destination unknown. It i... Spirits of the Night by Bruce Boston When the night is dark and stars fill the sky, And the air is cold, the moon full and high, Riders pass on by who move... Click Clack, Click Clack By Keith P.Graham art by Bonita Barlow Naomi woke in the dark and thought that she heard Bill’s heart. She held her breath an...

Hallowe'en Piñata Issue ☠ art by Marc Rude Welcome to our 21st issue: the FREEZINE has come of age, after a fashion. So we decided to throw a party, on Hallow... HOW THE GODS KILL: I by Konstantine Paradias and Edward Morris art by Prince Satyrn swept wastes of... During the second week of trekking the wind- THE DEVO RIOTS story & artwork by Gil James Bavel Part 1: Through Being Cool It was about 5:00 P.M. Sunday, and in downtown Dallas they were rio... THE FALLEN GUARDIAN'S MANDATE: 3 by David Agranoff Chapter Three The Village of Woe They heard the sound of multiple voices sobbing and calling out in sorrow long before t... Mask Game by John Shirley art by Jason Barnett " Neva has a new Halloween game she wants us to play at the party," said Donny. ... Dead Clown and Magnet Head by Daniel E. Lambert You came here to learn about P.T. Barnum from someone who knew him personally. I appreciate that, but I’ll... FREEZINE Search Engine below Search Followers (80) Next William Cook Follow Terms and Conditions All material herein is published strictly with the author's as well as the artist's permission, the permission of the copyright holder, or by permission of the public domain, where applicable. There being no monetary payment for stories or artwork contributed to The Freezine Of Fantasy And Science Fiction, it is therefore understood that authors and artists retain all copyrights to their work. submit your stories to freezinefantasysciencefiction@gmail.com the FREEZINE now features over thirty authors and more than sixty stories, formatted for easy access on your media or mobile interface of choice. Subscribe and get your random dose of prose today, or Follow by Email. Tell a friend, there are all sorts of strange and twisted stories buried in the blog archive of the FREEZINE just waiting to be discovered. Warning: the tales in the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction may cause unwarranted spells of temporary dizziness and/or madness, from which a total recovery can only be guaranteed by following on Google or Facebook. The Freezine is a nonprofit organization. FREE ZINE ZONE: the ART of the FREEZINE ♃ Chief Brother Cat's Secret Hollow the Rings of Prince Satyrn Ukraine Dreams Cryptid's Lair FREEZINE ARTWORK SITE: click below

armed to the teeth with LIPSTICK Check Out These Blogs If You Dare NOW AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE ONLINE: These FREEZINE VETERANS' story collections are now for sale online, check them out! Plasma Tales, by Shaun A. Lawton Carcosa Tenement Blues by Edward Morris FREEZINE on Mastodon Autumn in the Abyss

by John Claude Smith You Are Not A Planet and Other Stories by Sean Manseau The Fool's Daughter & Other Stories by Sean Manseau Diabolic Tales III: An Anthology of Horror featuring Vincent Daemon and others.

Wyatt in Wichita by John Shirley Doyle After Death by John Shirley Four Elements by Charlee Jacob, Rain Graves, Linda Addison, and Marge Simon Frogs in Aspic

by Keith Graham Salsa Nocturna by Daniel Jose Older Ports of Hell by Johnny Strike Hunting the Moon Tribe by David Agranoff The Guns of Retribution by Icy Sedwick

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