Lha Bab Duchen

AKA "Tachyon Bombardment" Wow, today was an important "holy day" in the Tibetan Buddhist world. A day we are to remain mostly silent or doing good deeds, in honor of the historic Buddha's "return to Earth." Doesn't that raise an eyebrow? Return? Where had he been? This is straight from a Buddhist text:

Buddha had been teaching celestial beings, including his mother, in one of the god realms. A disciple begged him to return to the human world, and so Shakyamuni descended from the god realm on three ladders made of gold and gems.

The god realm, really? Or as Ancient Alien theorists would say, maybe a spaceship? From the first time I saw the beautiful Thangka shrine art I zereo'd in on the blue beings. Why so many otherworldly entities in the Tibetan art? Imagine my amazement when I heard about the "Celestial visitations." JUST LIKE MY OWN??

I won't go into the whole Celestial story here (parts of it are in AKS and more to come when I release the Cosmic Revelations in 2012), but yesterday, I was dipping in and out of the recently-released abridged Exegesis of Philip K. Dick, and of course there it all was again: Phil's experiences with the pink beams, celestial visions, and his "tachyon bombardment." The latter his term for the sensation of being beamed insights. While some of this may seem odd or weird to you, it's the stuff I've been dealing with for years -- before, during and now after the writing of my novel. And with the blur of Tibetan lore, VALIS, Ancient Aliens, and my own Transmissions, I guess there is no escaping the fact I will continue to be immersed in these concepts throughout 2012 and Beyond (whatever that might mean.) Crazy? Me or Phil? This surely feels like DeJa Vu all over again ;) Click the book for a podcast about the Exegesis, including a comment I left there. WARNING: the Exegesis can result in severe brain alteration if you spend too much time with it!

Think PKD is passe?

well, think again! Philip K. Dick (PKD as the Dickheads call him) is getting even MORE popular this fall! Every week we see a new book release about him, or even BY him -- even though he's been dead for nearly thirty years. This November fans will finally see the infamous Exegesis of PKD. Infamous, I say, because there has always been a swirl of controversy around Phil's private life. The Exegesis (in full) is said to be nearly ten thousand pages of raw, journal-like scribblings-- some typed, some hand-written. Much of it centers around Phil's personal speculations on the cause of his strange encounters in early 1974, the "pink beam" phase, as some of us lovingly call it. Other Dick fans hated these final years of Phil's life claiming he had a series of "pin strokes" (TIA is the proper medical term) beginning eight years before he died and that all of his visions and "religious" experiences can be tied to brain maladies. Phil died of a stroke, followed by heart attack, March 2, 1982.

Paul Williams, who was the first Literary Executor for PKD's papers and unpublished works, was adamantly opposed to publication of the Exegesis. He called it "incoherent and repetitive." Of course Paul has his own brain malady now (early dementia from a bicycle accident) so he's in no position to argue with the Trust (Phil's offspring.) Moot point, since Volume One of the material is set for November 7, 2011 publication. All of this was discussed in the last issue of PKD Otaku-- one of the only remaining PKD 'zines. (Interview about my novel, followed by my interview with Phil's widow Tessa and other AKS/PKD matters begin on page 8. Google doc loads fast, check it out!)

The Los Angeles public library is sponsoring a panel discussion about PKD and his Exegesis in November.

That's not all! As I said, every week something new comes out. Just today I received this pre-publication blurb. You can imagine how my heart lept when I saw that subtitle: Do Androids have Kindred Spirits!! On Amazon, however, I discovered the title appears to have been changed to Philip K. Dick and Philosophy: Who Adjusts the Adjustment Bureau? That one is due out October 11.

Postings have never been more frequent or furious than they are now on the "Secret PKD Society," a private Facebook group. Seventy-five Phil fans post every new sighting. Word of the Global eBook Award for my novel, A Kindred Spirit, received fifty comments. But, this my friends, takes the cake. PKD TV!! It wouldn't be hard to fill up an internet channel with the movies, documentaries, video clips and fan ravings about our man, PKD. There's talk of a Bladerunner remake (godforbid) and Radio Free Albemuth (a posthumously published PKD novel/now film) is currently seeking a distributor. The RFA film trailer looks dark and weird, just the way ole Phil liked things. There's plenty more Phil facts over on the Official Philip K. Dick Site to keep fans up-to-date on everything coming down the pike! (pun intended ;)

True Self Webinar

Really enjoyed MSIA (pronounced Messiah)'s webinar tonight. Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, that's the full name. I have been luke warm about this group, which some call a cult. However, I like some of their concepts, which are an odd blend of Buddhist philosophy, Taoism and what I call some Gnostic pre-Constantine Christianity (they don't say that, I do.) MSIA emphasizes Christ Consciousness and something they call Soul Transcendence, which they define as the process of becoming aware of yourself as a soul and as one with God.

I just finished writing about similar concepts for my forthcoming book Vision: Seeing Clearly.

The Gnostic Christians, early followers of Jesus, claimed that any of us could be Christed. It meant receiving the Christ Consciousness. When we become one with God, and the Holy Ghost, we are knowers or seers -- gnostics. The "good news" according to the original Gnostic Gospels was that no intermediaries are required. Everyone can experience God. To me, this is exactly what Buddhists call Enlightenment.

Anyway, tonight's online tele-workshop, as they call it, wasn't about anything "religious," it was about self awareness. How to deal with anxiety, fear, judgment, anger... that type of stuff. How to use simple techniques to overcome old habits, or as they say to reveal your True Self. The techniques are great -- the terminology might be off-putting for some. But, that's my job.

I am determined to express the essence of some of these excellent tools -- whether it's Buddhist mindfulness practice, heretical Gnostic wisdom (read that tongue in cheek because I certainly don't consider Gnosticism heretical), or Science of Mind methods in the non-fiction book I am writing.

I'm enjoying dabbling in a lot of spiritual traditions, including my ancient aliens and Sumerian Shamans, to present a mind blowing perspective on what's really real (as PKD would say.)

Speaking of PKD and AKS, hop on over to the AKS Book Blog and read all about the award and what's next in the ongoing AKS adventures ;) I've got to get back to writing!

AKS is an eBook!

Need I say more? for just a few bucks, you can own the hot, new eBook! or get a sample!! If you don't have a Kindle, no problem. You can get the FREE Kindle app for your PC, phone, iPad, whatever... then get a lengthy FREE sample of A Kindred Spirit!
(prologue, ALL of chapter 1, including art of PKD in his chair, and a bit of Chapter 2, too!!) Just do it! Thank you!! Oh, and please post what you think of the eBook!

an End Point...

Everything needs an end point. A period. A way to indicate this thought has ended, and a new sentence, thought, or phase is beginning. For me, the novel-writing and editing phase of AKS had to end. It was done, over due. Yes, I could have tweaked for another week, but I had a feeling that seven days later I would still feel as unfinished as my story of Unfinished Business. I would feel worse, missing yet another deadline -- another unmet Equinox release.

I wanted the book to be done in the Spring, released on March 20. The disclaimer says Vernal, not Autumnal, Equinox. I left it as a reminder of time passing. I hope to have a final book in my hand come 9:09 pm, September 22. If a batch is printed early this coming week, it's still possible. If I had waited, kept tweaking, another milestone would have passed.

Oh, I can hear those critics now. "But isn't it more important for it to be right?" NO, actually it's more important to finish something. How many people are walking around with books in their head that will NEVER see the page? How many people say "some day" I'm going to write that novel, take that trip, stop smoking, quit drinking, whatever. I am here to tell you perfectionism and procrastination are worse than a few missing punctuation marks. I truly believe that. If there are too many remaining errors in the book, I'll quietly upload a text revision in six weeks, and few people will know or realize it even happened. If I had waited, missed another major milestone, my spirit would have been crushed. That is not so easily repaired.

So on this emergency 911 date, nine years have passed since the terror attack that continues to haunt everyone. My work, on A Kindred Spirit, began on a September day a few years before that. I will not be haunted. I am letting go, moving on. The TIME IS NOW for me to release this book. It's a point in time. What I was able to say and write at this point. Hopefully in the future I can write a better book. This one, however, is done.

Make it Stopppppppp...

My god, really, look at that Errata List. It's a mile long... and no time to even explain or evaluate right now. Just edit, fix, post, review. It's goes on and on. No holiday weekend here. WORK!!! Last chance to make this book the best it can be.

Don't Panic over FDO!

PLEASE don't judge the AKS book by it's FDO. In other words, I know the early release sucks. It's riddled with errors. PLEASE trust that I have many people who are very detailed editors, proof-readers, grammarians, fact-checkers, Dick-heads and all the gross mistakes will be fixed. Many already have been in my working copy.

Let me explain again, to attend the PKD Festival I had to rush a proof copy, basically an advanced reader copy, as the FDO Limited Edition. This was guaranteed to have errors. This is why I either gave them away or sold them cheap. Relax! The book is under extreme scrutiny.

I also knew someone would come out swinging about use of PKD or someone in the book. It's FICTION! I have a legal advisor and Editor. We have good advice on what we can and can't do. Fictional characters are just that -- products of my imagination. I may have been inspired by real people, but no one in the book is REAL! As my Editor says, "No one. Not even Phil." After all, my version of Phil is in the afterlife.

PLEASE check the Errata Sheet and send in any corrections, mistakes, typos, or anything confusing you find as you read the pre-release Dick-head copy (the FDO version.) Know that I am working long hours, as are my army of readers and editors, to make this a great final product. DON'T PANIC!

Live Blogging @ the PKD Fest

Now includes Day II: Well, here I am at the Festival in REAL time. No, that's not me. That's Patrick Clark, the FDO Guest of Honor -- an early, original PKD fan. I'm behind the camera snapping pics and writing. Events didn't begin until closer to noon and we're several speakers behind schedule. Frank Hollander has been talking for 90 minutes and sorry, but even Dickheads don't have this level of attention span for fan collection minutiae. But he does have the "holy grail" item that I won't reveal until I hunt down and buy. (See pics on FDO in the AKSbook FBook area.) Perry Kinman came all the way from Japan(amazing!) Finally we got to listen to Patrick Clark and Erik Davis and David Gill, and other speakers. There's a very small group here today, but I had a fabulous time at lunch with John Fairchild (who helped Paul Williams in the mid 80's with the PKD Society newsletters) and also edited some of the "Selected Letters" and Patrick Clark, who still publishes a Phil 'zine called PKD Otaku. He said his old 'zines are online, so here's a sample Issue #11. I would love to have this PKD Critical Interpretations by Sam Umland, who is here, but look at the price! Even $100 for Kindle version!

Sat Morning Update from icy cold van: I stayed in the lot at Roy's on 119. Great, but no elec or heat (now in the am.) Can't run the propane for frig or heat because I'm at such an angle the frig won't work. I feel drunk walking around, the van is at such an angle. (van? see pics below) Anyway, I'm running the generator for power (to email and make coffee) I'll be heading to the Gilpin Library around Noon or 1 pm for the afternoon program. It promises to be great. And as I thought, Patrick Clarck was wonderful Friday. Brought tears to my eyes -- his description of his long-time relationship with Phil. Erick and Gill talked Exegesis... that needs an entire blog post. I'll do that after today's presentations.
Finally, BOOKS, you ask. How are book sales? Meager. With less than 30 folks here you can imagine. sigh... but it's a great group and I know it will generate a lot of buzz. All these guys have active roles in the PKD Universe. and guess what, so far they like it!!

In fact, notice that Erik Davis (author of Techgnosis, Visionary State, and a consultant on Linklater's adaptation of A Scanner Darkly) has MY book, my novel lying on the table and referred to me during his remarks! I will post more on FBook later today. I have limited "juice" here in my make-shift camp zone. More soon! Sun, 8 am 8-15-2010

Gearing Up for PKD Fest

Gearing up literally! Just got off the eBike, making sure it's ready to go and I can ride up those Colorado inclines. That's why one needs peddle assist-- at the Canyon last fall and for mountain riding, sorry, but I need help! This will come in handy when the van is parked a few miles from the main festivities.
See that new back window! (sure, click the photo, it will enlarge some) Lookeee at it and the URL on the window and above on the van. AKSbook.com It's almost ready. For now, just a splash page, but within a few days a book promotion site, complete with book blog, FDO forum (other discussions, too) and by the end of the month, places to BUY THE BOOK. So for now, I'm getting ready for the trip and celebrating this weekend with my friends, then it's OFF to the Phil Fest with those Limited Edition FDO copies. It's really real and happening now!

100 books

Oh, I wish I could start posting to the new AKSbook.com But for now, stay here with me. This is a post I will never be able to recreate -- the feeling of getting several boxes of books, but all one hundred of them with my name on them. First copies of my novel arrived (actually on July 29)! These are what I affectionately call the FDO Limited Edition (For Dick-heads Only.) I thank David Hyde for use of that term. He was the creator of the original FDO 'zine back in the day. He has blessed, and is now participating in, our new FDO Group on Fbook. (go check it out, even join up!) I have the pleasure of saying that Tessa Dick has joined our group. She is the fifth and final wife of Philip K. Dick, the subject of our group discussion and upcoming festival. Yes, we're all heading to Nederland Valley (wherever the heck that is, a canyon on Highway 119 in Colorado, near Boulder) to participate in two 1/2 days of Phil-phun. We're Phil-fans and we have Phil-phun (Dick-head humor.) I'll be selling as many of these 100 FDOs as possible there... come buy one!

What's Really Real?

My novel is being printed right now! It's the weirdest feeling. I felt sick when the upload was underway. I've calmed down, but only because it's a Limited Edition run. I know I can still fix flaws before it's truly published and placed into the worldwide distribution system. I cannot explain how unnerving this is. It's been mine for so long. My story. Now the world is going to scrutinize it, examine it, judge it. I really understand why Harper Lee and JD Salinger went underground.
I wanted to share this because the feeling was unexpected. I don't hear other writers telling this side of it. Maybe they do. Send me a link in comments if you see blog posts or articles on other authors freaking out. Anyway, a box of FDO (for Dick-heads only) books will arrive by the end of the month. I will stare at the box and say, "Is this really real?" A box of my books? Holy Mushroom, Batman! I could sure use some of that PKD Salvation in a spray can about now ;)

AKS -- when??

Oh, I wish I could give you a solid answer. You can see it's getting close... the cover is done, the inside pages are still being edited. When I resized the book for uploading, it became a formatting nightmare. Art work and sketches flying off the page, my once perfect pages (they way they looked) a disaster. And, the gals (Mo and Kay, my editors) are combing over it with an extra fine-tooth one. That is fabulous, cause they don't miss a lick! Hopefully it will be error free, and sans my sick cliches, when ya'll finally see it.

For now, just gawk at the PKD Festival site and I assure you when I've seen a good galley (PROOF COPY) I'll be shouting from the roof tops! Oh, check out the PKD man in the maze vs. little alien. The cover on the right is final! Now, what font for interior? Does anyone want to suggest a font they like for reading novels? Garamond (12 pt) is receiving mixed reviews. Now is the time, while I'm still formatting. After the Solstice, it will be too late, baby.

Intergalactic Release!

At 7:30 tonight, A Kindred Spirit (my metaphysical novel about Philip K Dick) was discussed on KGNU radio in Colorado! This was the first public announcement about the book. After learning that the first U.S. Philip K Dick Festival would be held in August of this year, I decided that would be the perfect venue for the official release. Luckily, PKD festival organizer Dave Hyde agreed. So, we determined the International -- or Intergalactic Release -- would take place in Nederland, CO (sort of like Neverland, right?) just a few miles from Boulder.

Hyde spent quite a bit of time explaining the premise of the novel, and even used my disclaimer that "Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental." I'm tired from a long day of finishing up the cover art, and talking to the publisher, or I would add more. I taped his comments. For now, I'm just thrilled to have such a perfect way to release the novel. We decided today to create an FDO Limited Edition for the festival. FDO, of course, is For Dickheads Only, in remembrance of Hyde's fun Phil 'zine. yay!

A Real Shocker!

It's Paul Williams' birthday (May 19.) As I always clarify, not the chubby songster, but the rock critic. The guy who was Literary Executor for Philip K Dick's estate and founded Crawdaddy! -- the first U.S. rock magazine.
I want to say happy birthday -- email, call him, but I can't. He's suffering terribly, I'm told, with dementia. This is what I learned Sunday night:

The 1995 bicycle injury (and subsequent brain injury) likely triggered an early onset of Alzheimer’s disease; some symptoms were immediate, while others revealed themselves in tragic slow motion: fading powers of memory, then of comprehension and speech. In 2008, unable to continue caring for Paul while also taking care of their eight year-old son, Cindy began to arrange for Paul to live in managed care outside the home.

Managed Care!! His voice is silenced? His family is pleading for donations since Paul has no insurance. He was always a free lancer -- a FREE man. His 45 year writing career was supported by sales and patrons. When I first learned of this, two nights ago (and after getting over the immediate shock), I thought, "thank god he wrote and published." At least the world has all his amazing insights about music, other writers (like Phil and Theodore Sturgeon), his own thoughts on Eastern philosophy, and the 20th Century's "Greatest Hits." That book was not just about music, but art and everything important, in Paul's eyes. His eyes. Are they cloudy now? Not the bright, intuitive flashing eyes I saw? Would he know me? Probably not. Does he still know his 8 yr old son? I hope so. He had the boy (with Cindy) after I left Encinitas -- sometime in 2001. Here is the famous Moonlight Beach and in the upper right corner, one of those buildings is his house.

I remember a phone call in 2002. By then I had Izzi (my dog), was engaged, and he just had a son. We laughed and I told him he had a bigger job raising a human. OMG! That was probably the last phone call. He said to call him when I "set the date" for the wedding (of course, I broke the engagement in 2003.) We've had a few emails since then.

He finished one more Dylan book -- "Mind Out of Time" (a play on the Grammy winning "Time Out of Mind" blues-ish CD/album by Dylan.) After coming here (to ABQ) for the July 2000 Dylan concert and seeing all my Madonnas, Paul added the Introduction/Chapter Zero -- "Visions of Madonna." The book was published in 2004. After that he sent a couple of clippings and articles about PKD -- one where he was interviewed again.

I knew he had brain damage, but contrary to what the site says, he did quite a bit of writing after that accident. He wrote the 20th Century's Greatest Hits (which I reviewed on Amazon, and it's still posted there) and the final Dylan book, did an extensive interview for a San Diego newspaper (which he signed and sent to me) and was in continuous contact with international film crews and fans about Phil's movies and books. He was still very productive and writing at least into 2005. So this incredible turn for the worse must have happened in the last couple of years.

I stayed up til 3 am (Monday morning) reading "Pushing Upward" (one of Paul's early books.) It was before he even met Phil (PKD, but he discusses Phil as a writer. Paul not only published about 30 books of his own, and many issues of Crawdaddy! and the PKD Society Newsletter, but he published one of Phil's mainstream novels (Crap Artist) -- a book no one else would publish at the time, and he offered to publish my novel. I just couldn't get it ready for his extreme scrutiny. Now, if this is true (which I'm still in denial) he never will see it, or realize he has.

Live every day like it's your last. And, if you can spare a few dollars, please donate for Paul's health care.

PKD Transmigration Day

It was 27 years ago today that Philip K Dick left this dimension and began an amazing adventure Beyond.

Of all the PKD links, I chose this (top title) because the article discusses how much Phil wanted to be known as a mainstream, literary writer and not just a sci-fi hack.

Today we don't think of sci-fi writers as disparagingly as during the "peeled eyeball" phase that Phil endured. Phil called it that because he said no matter how sophisticated his story, they would create a cover with a peeled eyeball to attract the adolescent males -- the main market for the lurid covers at that time. Sci fi movies have become blockbuster hits for Hollywood, and some of the best in recent years have been made from Philip K Dick stories and novels. As I've said in my own articles, and somewhere in my novel, Phil did become mainstream and made a shitload of money -- posthumously. He certainly has been vindicated.

Last year was the 20th Anniversary of a magazine that honored Phil quite often, Sci-fi Eye

Next year, is 2010... Arthur Clarke released a sequel to his 2001: A Space Odyssey in January of 1982. That book is called 2010: odyssey two Phil probably knew all about it and read it the minute it came out. Clarke was about ten years older than Phil, from England and Phil probably enjoyed his work. Next year PKD would have been 82, 28 years after his death. (28 - 82) That's phildickian and definitely an Omen that Now is the Time to publish AKS!

take me to the River

After 3 1/2 years of cautiously protecting the title of another of my "in progress" writing projects, I can now reveal it. Not because it's finished, or published... oh no, because my lack of focus and inability to finish has resulted in yet another massive disappointment. "Take Me to the River" is indeed published, but by someone else.

I knew the title was too good and that's why I never, ever said it aloud. In hold'em, the River, is the final card. The title is a play on an old song by the Talking Heads. It was a perfect title for my effort to be the the first woman to bust the last bastion of male domination -- to Win the World Series of Poker (WSOP.) In writing (on blogs, my website, and in emails) I always referred to my poker journal as TmttR. Just like I call my Phil book AKS. Putting that stuff "out there" in the aether is too dangerous. The only thing I can say in my defense (on the poker project), is that unless I won (or at least PLAYED) in a WSOP, there was really no purpose to my 100,000 plus words about playing online and trying to get to the real deal. So, F that idea.

I haven't even played poker for the past few months. The first blow was having some local hag win a seat to this year's WSOP playing on AOL. That was enough to gag a maggot. I thought it was my destiny to 1) be the first ABQ player to win my way to WSOP, and do it on Full Tilt -- a far superior and respectable method, as opposed to idiotic AOL. 2) Once there, I was to make my way deep into the field of nearly 8-thousand players, ideally win of course. I knew winning was as unlikely as hitting Powerball, but that wasn't stopping me. 3) Once I won, or made the final table, or even just "made the money" (cashed), I would finish TmttR and voila, I would be a published writer. Interest in my poker playing experience and the subsequent TV interviews, would be the opportunity to promote my AKS novel, to be published next year (2008.) See how perfect my plan was? See how F'd it is now?

So, I'm pissed but Phil is ecstatic. He never cared for the poker project which has been just another diversion from completing AKS. He is doing everything he can (from Beyond) to pave the way so I will finish HIS book. Think I'm kidding? I could fill this blog with examples of how he has intervened to make AKS a reality.

Just today, YES TODAY, he insinuated himself into my consciousness. How? While I was bitching and muttering under my breath about the poker book fiasco, I went to the library to get a much needed Buddhist manual on anger management ;) As I was walking in the door, I glanced over where the library keeps a box of recycled magazines. There on the very top was a New Yorker magazine. I chuckled and thought, now wouldn't it be "a sign" if that was the one with the article about Phil. It was the August 20 issue. I picked it up, flipped it open, and there on the table of contents was Philip K Dick -- page 79. And, the title? "Blows Against the Empire: the Return of Philip K Dick." See -- he won't take no for an answer. I picked up the mag and brought it home. Now, here he is in full color, smirking at me with his famous furrowed brow, asking, "What will it take to get you to sit down and finish my story." And, heavy sigh, I have no answer.

The Artiste of the Slightly Funny Deal

Phil's in the news again. The New Yorker magazine this time. I like this line, "Dick’s allegiance was not to literature but to writing and to the possibilities of writing as a form of protest and instant social satire. Another twist of fate, or circumstance, and he could have ended up as Rod Serling." The article also says, "Dick’s last big book was a work of cosmic explanation in which lightning bolts of brilliance flash over salty oceans of insanity. Poe’s explanation of everything was called “Eureka.” Dick’s was “VALIS.”

And, William Gibson's tour de force was "Neuromancer." I know I just went off on this topic a few days ago, but I'm not done. (sorry Phil, but I've got Gibson and Cyberspace on the brain right now.) I just blogged about the fact that Gibson coined the phrase cyberspace in 1982, a good ten years before mainstream America was about to step head-long into it. I was tinkering in that virtual realm myself back then (running a BBS from 1983 until I converted to a website in 1994.) I've paid homage to both Gibson, and Neal Stephenson (of SnowCrash fame) as my cyber godfathers. Both clearly visualized worlds where we exist virtually, rather than physically (in meat space, as Gibson called it.) And, yes, Philip K Dick was certainly a visionary, also. He was writing about computers and alternate realities in the 1950's, for gawd sake! But, did you know that on the same page where Gibson first used the now famous word Cyberspace, he also called it the Matrix!!! Here's the groundbreaking line: "He operated on an almost permanent adrenaline high, a by-product of youth and proficiency, jacked into a custom cyberspace deck that projected his disembodied consciousness into the consensual hallucination that was the Matrix."

In fact, our anti-hero Case (the protag of Neuromancer) was a "console cowboy" using a cyberspace deck to jack into the Matrix. So, the Matrix (aka, Metaverse to me and Neal) was the destination. I searched just now (in cyberspace, of course) and found that the directors of Matrix, the Wachowski brothers, credit Gibson, Stephenson and Philip K Dick for their concepts! That's cool. I was always kind of pissed off thinking they plagiarized the stuff.

Anyway, what got me going on all this (again) is the release of Gibson's newest book, "Spook Country." This is the second of his "current time" novels and uses some of the same characters as Pattern Recognition. I'm anxious to LISTEN to it on audiobook CD while traveling in a few days. I purposely didn't put links to a lot of the references to keep you moving forward. But, here, by all means, jack in yourself to the book that started it all and go ahead and veer off to PKD 's latest tribute (of sorts.) Even take a quick click on Johnny Mnemonic, an even earlier Gibson creation

Oh, and as for the title of this entry... that was a line from the first page of Neuromancer where the bartender Ratz refers to Case as "the artiste of the slightly funny deal." PKD, and hell, me, too!