search my blog for \u201cresurgo\u201d\u009d <\/a>to see the other spots where I\u2019ve mentioned it.<\/p>\nI did some good work on my novel-in-progress Jim and the Flims <\/em>today. Here\u2019s a fun passage I wrote today, about a sinister alien plant. [Note that what I’m printing here is only the first draft, and I will in fact be revising it repeatedly on my way to finishing the novel.]<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/resurg9castle.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
In the morning, Durkle woke me with a nudge of his foot. I heard a babble of voices nearby. Sitting up and looking around, I saw something like an umbrella projecting from the ground a short way off.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an offer fan,\u201d\u009d said Durkle. \u201cDid I tell you about them? A mobile plant\u2014see those writhing roots at its base? They can walk, a little bit. It must have teeped us here. Mostly they live in the swamp, a few miles off. Isn\u2019t it cool? I\u2019ve heard you can get anything you want from an offer fan\u2014if you\u2019re quick enough. Watch me.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
All sorts of desirable objects were dancing beneath the offer fan\u2019s greenish umbrella. It seemed that the offer fan could read my mind, for as I stared, it produced some items that I myself might want right about now: a cup of tea, fried eggs on rye, a map of Flimsy, a bag of pot with rolling papers, and a cantaloupe\u2014all marching in giddy circles with the others across the roots beneath the thick umbrella, everything seemingly quite real. Perhaps the odd, alien plant had perfected a kind of direct matter control?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/can_aspens.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It was of course obvious to me that I shouldn\u2019t try grabbing for the goodies, but Durkle was a willing fish for the bait. Having grown up in a land without computers or television, the boy was naive. Manfully he approached the offer fan, skipping to the left and the right as if he hoped to outmaneuver it.<\/p>\n
The fan\u2019s umbrella made continual slight adjustments in its position\u2014the broad cap sat alertly atop a flexible stalk the thickness of a leg. I noticed that the underside of the umbrella was spongy and damp, as on certain unwholesome mushrooms. The thing\u2019s roots were twitching and obviously eager to act. I was guessing that the fan\u2019s kill technique would involve poison spray as well as strangling.<\/p>\n
Durkle seemed oblivious of the risk\u2014his eyes were fixed upon a scuffed-up board identical to Flam\u2019s, a tasseled orange racing cap, a little chessboard, a shiny sword, and a fleshy glob that was forming itself into the body of\u2014a naked woman, but with rounded off arms and legs and a smooth bulb for a head.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop right there, Durkle!\u201d\u009d cried Ginnie, sitting up beside me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know I can beat this thing,\u201d\u009d said Durkle, glancing back at her. \u201cYou want me to get you something too, Ginnie? Make her something, fan! I dare you.\u201d\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/resurg9nest.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Sensitive to our group\u2019s dynamics, the fan extended its offers to include a steaming mug of coffee and a very fashionable pair of sunglasses in wide tortoise-shell frames. Durkle crouched, preparing for his final dash.<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t let this continue. I ran forward and grabbed him around the waist.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenile loser!\u201d\u009d he hollered. \u201cYou\u2019re just jealous that I\u2019m young and fast! Ginnie wants me, not you!\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
Maybe I was old, but I had a jiva inside me. Durkle wasn\u2019t going to break free of my grip. But he did manage to knock me off balance. The two of us fell to the practically into the shadow of the offer fan\u2019s umbrella\u2014a very bad place to be.<\/p>\n
Fast as a whip, the thing had its roots around our wrists and ankles. And now, sure enough, an evil-smelling mist began wafting down from the cap. Most of the offers had disappeared now that the fan was getting down its real business. It\u2019s central stalk tilted over, maneuvering the umbrella so that it could flop down right on top of us. I felt drowsy, and the spray was stinging my skin. As well as being a soporific, the spray was a digestive fluid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/resrurg9pigtails.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Suddenly the umbrella tumbled off to one side. Ginnie\u2019s jiva had cut the stalk! The offer fan let out a telepathic scream that filled my mind with red and yellow jaggies. Ginnie was circling around us, lashing at the carnivorous plant with her jiva tendrils and now\u2014slow as always to defend me\u2014my own jiva, Mijjy, began attacking the offer plant as well.<\/p>\n
Durkle had managed to free one of his wrists and he\u2019d gotten hold of that little sword the plant had made as bait\u2014this desirable item had remained on offer to the end. It was indeed a real and solid blade. The boy slashed away at the roots, freeing our hands and ankles. He crawled a few feet away and tugged me after him. Slowly the fan\u2019s frenzied alarm waves within my head died down\u2014and the mist drifted away. I could think again. In a belated coup de grace, Mijjy set the remains of the offer fan on fire.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/can_fallclose.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cGot any more good deals for us?\u201d\u009d I asked Durkle.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yesterday I was out a favorite spot on Four Mile Beach, north of Santa Cruz. That forest fire they had inland has pretty much died down. I did a little routine that I\u2019ve often done while working on a new novel in recent years\u2014I draw a logarthmic spiral in the sand and I letter the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1548"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1549,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1548\/revisions\/1549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/images2\/resurg9motto.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Basler_Muenster_Bernoulli.jpg\")
<\/p>\n