{"id":425,"date":"2007-07-21T09:57:54","date_gmt":"2007-07-21T17:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/2007\/07\/21\/hylozoic-in-killeville\/"},"modified":"2007-07-23T11:31:42","modified_gmt":"2007-07-23T19:31:42","slug":"hylozoic-in-killeville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/2007\/07\/21\/hylozoic-in-killeville\/","title":{"rendered":"Hylozoic<\/em> in Killeville"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

[Window view reflected in dining table.]<\/p>\n

On the literary front, I\u2019ve been pushing forward on my somewhat cyberpunk SF novel-in-progress Hylozoic <\/em>, a sequel to Postsingular<\/a><\/em>, which will be out in October. My first draft of Hylozoic <\/em>is nearly half done; and once I finish writing the current Chapter Four (working title \u201cComa Nurse\u201d\u009d), I get to jump my characters back in time to hang out with Heironymus Bosch.<\/p>\n

Today I thought I\u2019d paste in a passage that I wrote this week. The situation is as follows:<\/p>\n

Jayjay and Thuy are newlyweds in a world where everyone has teleporation and telepathy and every object is conscious. Jayjay has unwittingly become a runemaster, able to reprogram the quantum computations around him. A distant planetary god called Panpenga has taken control of Jayjay via subdimensional telepathy, and she\u2019s using Jayjay to \u201ccast runes,\u201d\u009d thereby reprogramming large volumes of Earth\u2019s atoms into \u201cPeng ranches.\u201d\u009d In a Peng ranch, the atoms work in concert to generate matter wave holograms of ugly big birds called Peng—hailing from the planet of Pangpenga. It\u2019s a new way of doing an alien invasion. (Ah, the joys of non-mundane SF<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

Panpenga wanted Jayjay to put in thousands of Peng ranches, all across Earth, but he balked. So Panpenga threw Jayjay into a coma, and now a pair of traitorous human realtors called Chick and Duckie are acompanying Jayjay and Thuy on a development road trip. Thuy is cooperating, as she fears Panpenga will kill Jayjay. For support, she\u2019s brought her old girlfriend Kittie along.<\/p>\n

To kick off the trip, the Peng-employed realtors head for Killeville, Virginia! Who’d be likelier to support a dehumanizing alien invasion than a fundamentalist church!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[Window at the DeYoung Museum, looking wonderfully interesting after viewing a somewhat dull show of photos by Hiroshi Sugimoto. I like the reflections of the fluorescent tubes.]<\/p>\n

[Begin Hylozoic Excerpt.]<\/b><\/p>\n

Before setting out, Thuy teeked a wheelchair for Jayjay. And then she, Kittie, Jayjay, Chick and Duckie hopped to the parking lot of the Candler Road Church in Killeville, Virginia, leaving the Peng behind.<\/p>\n

It was a hot hazy Sunday morning; the lot was full. Odd as it seemed, many people down South still drove their SUVs, albeit retrofitted ones with solar cells and electric motors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could really get some car-art gigs here,\u201d\u009d said Kittie, looking around. \u201cI could paint a Good Ole Jesus gutting an eight-point deer. And the Rapture, with Christians flying away and sinners screaming in fire-cracks. And the repentant Mary Magdalene in Mother Mary\u2019s tender, womanly embrace.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[Monhegan island painting by Rockwell Kent.]<\/p>\n

Jayjay tossed his head back like an epileptic having a fit; his mouth flew open in a moan as showers of goose bumps marched across his skin. His wheelchair braced itself against the strain.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we go again,\u201d\u009d said Thuy with a sigh.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d\u009d asked Chick, alarmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s channeling Panpenga,\u201d\u009d said Thuy. \u201cHe\u2019s making Killeville into a Peng ranch.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere,\u201d\u009d suggested Duckie, offering Thuy a lace-trimmed hankie. \u201cHold Jayjay\u2019s tongue so he doesn\u2019t bite it.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll be okay,\u201d\u009d said Thuy. \u201cAct like it\u2019s not a big deal. I don\u2019t want everyone staring at us.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

But a pair of Candler Road parishioners were already approaching: a rough complexioned young woman with a ponytail, and a loose-eyed youth in a tan cotton suit.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi!\u201d\u009d said the woman, lacing her hands behind her back and pushing out her breasts. \u201cWe\u2019re Steve and Julie. Are you here for the eleven a. m. program? Donnie III does a powerful healing near the end.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cMight could do this fella some good,\u201d\u009d said her partner, Steve, hunkering down to peer under the wheelchair. Thuy flashed that the guy was an in-house security agent checking for weapons. He could have just teeped under there instead of bending over, but the fundamentalist Christians didn\u2019t really approve of using their new mental powers. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[Peaceful Berkeley.]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re glad we\u2019re in time,\u201d\u009d said Chick. \u201cWe came all this way to soak up a sermon.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot from around here?\u201d\u009d said the ponytailed Julie. The skin on her cheeks was raw from scrubbing. \u201cAre you from\u2014from West Virginia?\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cFurther than that,\u201d\u009d said Kittie. \u201cI\u2019m a godless artist from gay CA.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s funny,\u201d\u009d said the man in the tan suit. Thuy noticed that he was clutching a zipped-up leather bible. The bible silp teeped Thuy that it was a pistol case.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Jayjay had stopped moaning. The local gnarl had been successfully repurposed; Thuy could see the change in the clouds and in the motions of the trees. It was just a matter of time until\u2014<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cOh!\u201d\u009d cried Julie. \u201cLook, Steve, look!\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

Strolling across the parking lot towards the church were a hog-fat older man in clerical vestments, an old woman with a sprayed bubble hair-do, and a rangy younger man in vestments as well. They were slightly larger than life size; their complexions were preternaturally clear and smooth. Panpenga had gotten Jayjay to mold these new tulpas into the forms of the deceased first family of the Candler Road church.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Macon!\u201d\u009d exclaimed Duckie. \u201cWith his wife Bonnie and their son, Donnie Macon, Jr.\u201d\u009d Duckie had done her research. And now everything was going according to plan. \u201cI thought\u2014I thought they\u2019d all passed on to their reward,\u201d\u009d she added disingenuously.<\/p>\n

\u201cA miracle,\u201d\u009d breathed Julie.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe so,\u201d\u009d said Steve, nervously running the zipper on his case open and closed.<\/p>\n

Thuy and her party joined the crowd following the three Peng into the Candler Road church. It was a cavernous indoor stadium, with Donnie Macon, III, standing upon a central dais before a robed choir. Donnie, III, was a lean, slit-eyed fellow, and he didn\u2019t look too happy to see his resurrected forbears come swanning in.<\/p>\n

Although Dr. Macon must have weighed well over three hundred pounds, he levitated, moving his body across the cavernous hall as nimbly as a character in a videogame. Fiercely grinning, he alighted upon the stage beside Donnie, III. His wife Bonnie and his son Donnie, Jr., flew to join him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are blessed!\u201d\u009d roared the Peng disguised as Dr. Macon. \u201cWe are blessed to revisit our home!\u201d\u009d The beige-carpeted arena rang with wild applause.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[Detail of my favorite statue in the DeYoung Museum.]<\/p>\n

Thuy, Kittie, Chick and Duckie were standing just inside the entrance, clustered around Jayjay in his wheelchair. Jayjay began humming again, enabling Dr. Macon to turn a bible into a loaf of Wonder bread and a pitcher of water into grape-flavored sports drink. And then he sent a bouquet of plastic roses flying from his fingertips to alight upon Jayjay\u2019s lap.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord has called me from my rest to introduce the Sleeping Savior,\u201d\u009d bayed Dr. Macon. \u201cBring him up here so the folks can see him, Sister Thuy.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

Wearing a stiff, embarrassed grin, Thuy wheeled Jayjay up a ramp onto the stage. It was weird to be in the midst of an all-white crowd\u2014like being inside a bag of marshmallows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Savior has manifested Himself in the body of this ordinary, sinful Latino man,\u201d\u009d exclaimed Dr. Macon. \u201cHe\u2019s been a kiqqie, a rebel, an addict, a sensualist. He\u2019s married to a formerly bisexual Vietnamese intellectual. The Almighty works in mysterious ways. He is bringing us into the End Times. You will know salvation soon. Gabriel\u2019s trump will burst through the filmy sky. But until that glorious call, you must help the Sleeping Savior fulfill his mission.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese three are alien invaders!\u201d\u009d interrupted the choirmaster; a charismatic woman with flowing red hair. \u201cThey\u2019re disguised Peng! The bird things we\u2019ve been seeing in the news!\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d do better to call us angels,\u201d\u009d said Donnie, Jr. He was leaner and more charismatic than his father. A huge cheer went up when he spoke. He\u2019d been a popular pastor before his death in a drunken car crash several years before. He leveled a minatory finger at the protesting woman.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A moan arose from Jayjay, and the woman\u2019s clothes were wreathed in fire. She rolled on the ground, screaming and trying to staunch the flames. Jayjay moaned again and she was doused in a gush of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you still doubt us, Sister Vivian?\u201d\u009d said Dr. Donnie\u2019s wife Bonnie, stepping forward to help the disheveled, but unharmed, redhead to her feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cPraise Donnie,\u201d\u009d croaked the choirmaster. \u201cPraise the Sleeping Savior.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Peng ranches are sacred zones,\u201d\u009d said old Bonnie. \u201cThe Peng free us of fussy over-complication. Peng ranch people are more willing to open their stony hearts to the sweet honey of divine love. Peng ranch people don\u2019t intellectualize over every piss-ant little thing.\u201d\u009d Despite her human disguise, there remained something alien and bird-like in the darting motions of her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t swear in the sanctuary,\u201d\u009d reproved Donnie, III.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you to tell your grandmother what to do?\u201d\u009d thundered Dr. Macon, wilting Donnie, III.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

[A rhea modeling as a Peng. I see the Peng on rhea legs with kiwi bodies and ibis beaks. Though maybe that’s gilding the lily. Maybe just looking like rheas is fine. I’ve compared them to their ratite<\/a> cousins: the ostrich, the cassowary, the kiwi, and emu. And our own South American rheas are, IMHO, the most gloriously odd-looking of the bunch. (Note however that the cassowary is the world’s most dangerous bird! They’re savage kickers.) Here’s a cool video <\/a>of a family of rheas feeding on a crop in Brazil.]<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoin this congregation to champion our Sleeping Savior,\u201d\u009d intoned Donnie, Jr., holding up his hands. \u201cI warn you, some will set stones in His pathway. Some will seek to do Him grievous bodily harm. You are His sheep, you are called to see your Shepherd into His pasture.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not only the godless ones you\u2019ll have to watch for,\u201d\u009d added Dr. Macon. \u201cYea, verily, a race of evil devilfish will descend from our skies to threaten the Sleeping Savior. And they shall be known as the Hrull. Seek ye to exterminate them.\u201d\u009d He paused, flashing another of his appalling smiles. \u201cLead us in a hymn, Sister Vivian: \u201d\u02dcOnward Christian Soldiers!\u2019\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

As the congregation raised their voices in muscular song, Thuy took the opportunity to trundle Jayjay down the aisle to rejoin Kittie, Chick, and Duckie.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s bail,\u201d\u009d said Thuy. \u201cThese people creep me out.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n

[End Hylozoic Excerpt.]<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Window view reflected in dining table.] On the literary front, I\u2019ve been pushing forward on my somewhat cyberpunk SF novel-in-progress Hylozoic , a sequel to Postsingular, which will be out in October. My first draft of Hylozoic is nearly half done; and once I finish writing the current Chapter Four (working title \u201cComa Nurse\u201d\u009d), I […]<\/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-425","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\/425","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=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rudyrucker.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}