Raymond Gaynor's Blog, page 61
August 2, 2020
SCI-FU: A MIRROR TO THE WORLD
Perhaps the best way I know to help people decide what actions to take is to provide a “mirror of the future” based on a variety of plausible, possible and/or science-based futures. “Futuring” as such can be a highly effective, low cost method of “testing” future ideas and actions. In addition, sci-fu (scifu or science-based futuring) stimulates curiosity, discovery and the search for meaningful, wise and appropriate action in life.Raymond Gaynor
August 1, 2020
WHY IS SCI-FU IMPORTANT?
Why is sci-fu important? It gives creates science-driven choices. Rational, science-driven choices are of utmost importance in a world where appeals are infrequently factual and reasonable. When everything’s a publicity or marketing event just waiting to be spun, the opportunity to see and mentally engage in a choice that could impact the future is desperately needed.
Savant Books and Publications, the parent company of Aignos Publishing, publishes enduring literary works “with a twist” that enlarge the reader’s world and point-of-view. Sci-Fu of all genres, is eminently suited to do just that. But more, too: Extending the anticipated effects of a new science-driven choice into the logical future gives readers a way to “see its effects” positive and negative. Nothing is perfect, Everything effects everything else in this marble we live on flying lonely across the universe.
Aignos Publishing, an imprint of Savant Books and Publications dedicated to “avant garde, experimental and innovative works that ‘push the leading edge’ of all genres of fiction and non-fiction,” is further the perfect place to introduce this new genre.
Inspired? Check out my new SCI-FU novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor and join the sci-fu foray!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Savant Books and Publications, the parent company of Aignos Publishing, publishes enduring literary works “with a twist” that enlarge the reader’s world and point-of-view. Sci-Fu of all genres, is eminently suited to do just that. But more, too: Extending the anticipated effects of a new science-driven choice into the logical future gives readers a way to “see its effects” positive and negative. Nothing is perfect, Everything effects everything else in this marble we live on flying lonely across the universe.
Aignos Publishing, an imprint of Savant Books and Publications dedicated to “avant garde, experimental and innovative works that ‘push the leading edge’ of all genres of fiction and non-fiction,” is further the perfect place to introduce this new genre.
Inspired? Check out my new SCI-FU novel, THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor and join the sci-fu foray!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
July 31, 2020
SweetSixteenSalsaSex
As promised, the continuation to yesterday’s post on SweetSixteen. Yet another of the many facets of coming-of-age in NewAmerica:
“For modern lovers, SweetSixteenSalsaSex, when it really clicked, especially when virginal and alternative as in the case of Draff and Billie, offered the enactors a further reward: that all-time most sought-after prize of publiczed intimacy, the exceptional, elusive, once-in-a-lifetime “FirstLoveIConsumated” pop emotag, FLIC. While the best in human literature for the last 2,000 years was replete with tales of persistent love, affection and romance—with only occasional consummation, and even rarer ribald sex—it was only during the last decade that transitioning NewAmerica, unquestionably in the throes of the greatest socio-technological changes of any time in history that sex became acknowledged for its own, as both the reason for and outcome of affection and romance. In the process, the public came to know and passionately embrace FLICs as a new interplanetary obsession. The pre-Jacksonian equivalent of a FLIC—unrequited first love—had, for centuries, besotted the written annals of common, everyday romance books with a typically unsavory outcome. Only recently had NewAmericans elevated such stories above romance to an entirely new plane, and, more recently, a new art form. In spite of what people might say in front of one another or in a familiar crowd, it was the opportunity to see and experience a FLIC first hand that drew everyone irresistibly to the various seemingly spontaneous SweetSixteenSalsaSex exhibitions that popped up in the streets, and, as in the case of Draff and Billie, attended by the participants’ entire social group.“
FLIC, anyone? Only one per person; only once in a lifetime; only during SweetSixteen!
From Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
From The Book Depository with international free shipping: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
From Savant Boosktores (Hawaii, Pacific, Midwest or Atlantic):
https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
Next post: SweetSixteenSalsaSexcapade
“For modern lovers, SweetSixteenSalsaSex, when it really clicked, especially when virginal and alternative as in the case of Draff and Billie, offered the enactors a further reward: that all-time most sought-after prize of publiczed intimacy, the exceptional, elusive, once-in-a-lifetime “FirstLoveIConsumated” pop emotag, FLIC. While the best in human literature for the last 2,000 years was replete with tales of persistent love, affection and romance—with only occasional consummation, and even rarer ribald sex—it was only during the last decade that transitioning NewAmerica, unquestionably in the throes of the greatest socio-technological changes of any time in history that sex became acknowledged for its own, as both the reason for and outcome of affection and romance. In the process, the public came to know and passionately embrace FLICs as a new interplanetary obsession. The pre-Jacksonian equivalent of a FLIC—unrequited first love—had, for centuries, besotted the written annals of common, everyday romance books with a typically unsavory outcome. Only recently had NewAmericans elevated such stories above romance to an entirely new plane, and, more recently, a new art form. In spite of what people might say in front of one another or in a familiar crowd, it was the opportunity to see and experience a FLIC first hand that drew everyone irresistibly to the various seemingly spontaneous SweetSixteenSalsaSex exhibitions that popped up in the streets, and, as in the case of Draff and Billie, attended by the participants’ entire social group.“
FLIC, anyone? Only one per person; only once in a lifetime; only during SweetSixteen!
From Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
From The Book Depository with international free shipping: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
From Savant Boosktores (Hawaii, Pacific, Midwest or Atlantic):
https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
Next post: SweetSixteenSalsaSexcapade
July 30, 2020
COMING OUT IN THE FUTURE
In the newly released THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor (search keyword phrase “the edge of madness gaynor”), one topic in particular receives considerable, yet, in my humble opinion, never enough, attention: Coming of Age, or, if you prefer, Coming Out as adult in all its various aspects. In contemporary society, becoming an adult occurs gradually from junior high school (roughly after 13 years of age) up to and even after young adulthood (roughly 21 years of age). This most important period in life, I envision in the future as centered much more narrowly around “Sweet Sixteen.”
“At some point during the pivotal SweetSixteen year, each adolescent turning adult was required to formally record his or her pros on an official government billet list in the local archives. Replacing the now extinct [proms and] debutante balls, this practice became known as ‘playing-D-Ball’. In practical terms, that meant having to choose from available government-approved cons based not only on one’s individual pros and desired con, but based on society’s needs as well. For most, that meant selecting the one available con that best applied, and accepting it’s attending billet from among the few available or the least heavily wait-listed.”
But that’s only the beginning.
“Flicking tail, his thoughts snapped back to his SweetSixteen. He had, with the help of his current custodian, identified his pros, selected a con and billet, declined Body Cellular Memory Cleansing—BCMC—a no-cost erasure by governmental specialists of all noncritical pre- and mid-adolescent body cell memories, thereby resetting body cell age to that of early childhood, theoretically adding another decade to his physical life. The fact was, he didn’t need it, having attained a level of consciousness far in excess of others his physical age. His SweetSixteen “coming out” plan was now officially recorded in the Emory-Shi Public Hall of Records as part of his coming-of-age.”
Flicking his tail????
“Slamming these last few weeks had been so successful, he had saved enough to pay for a private ARS by the best on the planet. Armed with plentiful self-interested advice from his many slamming clients and friends, Draff had booked the clinic and completed the necessary interviews and genotyping. He was ready to walk in next morning a skin-virgin and walk out with a fully working, though admittedly somewhat tender, simian tail.”
From Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
From The Book Depository with international free shipping: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
From Savant Boosktores (Hawaii, Pacific, Midwest or Atlantic): https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
Next post: SweetSixteenSex.
“At some point during the pivotal SweetSixteen year, each adolescent turning adult was required to formally record his or her pros on an official government billet list in the local archives. Replacing the now extinct [proms and] debutante balls, this practice became known as ‘playing-D-Ball’. In practical terms, that meant having to choose from available government-approved cons based not only on one’s individual pros and desired con, but based on society’s needs as well. For most, that meant selecting the one available con that best applied, and accepting it’s attending billet from among the few available or the least heavily wait-listed.”
But that’s only the beginning.
“Flicking tail, his thoughts snapped back to his SweetSixteen. He had, with the help of his current custodian, identified his pros, selected a con and billet, declined Body Cellular Memory Cleansing—BCMC—a no-cost erasure by governmental specialists of all noncritical pre- and mid-adolescent body cell memories, thereby resetting body cell age to that of early childhood, theoretically adding another decade to his physical life. The fact was, he didn’t need it, having attained a level of consciousness far in excess of others his physical age. His SweetSixteen “coming out” plan was now officially recorded in the Emory-Shi Public Hall of Records as part of his coming-of-age.”
Flicking his tail????
“Slamming these last few weeks had been so successful, he had saved enough to pay for a private ARS by the best on the planet. Armed with plentiful self-interested advice from his many slamming clients and friends, Draff had booked the clinic and completed the necessary interviews and genotyping. He was ready to walk in next morning a skin-virgin and walk out with a fully working, though admittedly somewhat tender, simian tail.”
From Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
From The Book Depository with international free shipping: https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
From Savant Boosktores (Hawaii, Pacific, Midwest or Atlantic): https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
Next post: SweetSixteenSex.
July 29, 2020
A NEW GENRE; A NEW DISCUSSION GROUP
I’ve been promoting a new genre of science fiction I call “sci-fu” (science-based futuring) in which author’s intimately familiar with science extend that science into the future. The idea is to provide readers with a plausible vision of the future so they can experience that future and decide if that’s where humanity should go. It means emphasizing various logical outcomes of hard science, rather than fiction-fantasy.
And so I’ve just created a new Goodreads discussion group for readers and authors of sci-fu at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... and invite you to join me in what I hope will be discussions about some of the most provocative works and futures ever imagined.
I’ve begun the discussion with my sci-fu novel THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor: Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
And so I’ve just created a new Goodreads discussion group for readers and authors of sci-fu at https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/... and invite you to join me in what I hope will be discussions about some of the most provocative works and futures ever imagined.
I’ve begun the discussion with my sci-fu novel THE EDGE OF MADNESS by Raymond Gaynor: Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
July 28, 2020
TIRED OF LISTENING? DO SOMETHING!
If you’re tiring a bit of listening to my ranting and raving [mostly about my newly released sci-fu* thriller, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor] and want to do something that will make a difference in the world? How about doing a NetGalley read and review of my book?
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/2689...
*sci-fu (science-based futuring) – a new genre by Aignos Publishing
I’d love to see THE EDGE OF MADNESS in the hands of a few good reviewers and hear what YOU have to say about it.
Here’s what I have to say: Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Here’s what the co-author of TOTAL MELTDOWN, William Maltese had to say about it:
5/5 Stars – SAY … WHAT … ?
Author Raymond Gaynor, in this sequel, to his novel TOTAL MELTDOWN, manages a successful tear in the time-space continuum that provides his readers with an insightful glimpse of society’s future. It’s not always a pleasant picture. In fact, it’s sometimes bordering on the truly shocking. That said … all of his prophetical premises seem to have logical underpinnings based upon historical facts, including what’s obviously at play within our own Twenty-First Century. It’s a fascinating read, experienced through the eyes of three protagonists from birth, through adolescence, and into maturity. Their journey is often difficult and often dangerous. Never, though, is it boring.
From Amazon in printed or eBook format, and available from most Amazon regional sites.
From Savant Bookstores (Honolulu, Pacific, Midwest and Atlantic) in printed format domestically with free shipping at a complimentary 10% off the Suggested Retail Price using ONLINE discount code at checkout. Direct link: https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
From The Book Depository in printed format with free shipping worldwide at https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
https://www.netgalley.com/widget/2689...
*sci-fu (science-based futuring) – a new genre by Aignos Publishing
I’d love to see THE EDGE OF MADNESS in the hands of a few good reviewers and hear what YOU have to say about it.
Here’s what I have to say: Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Here’s what the co-author of TOTAL MELTDOWN, William Maltese had to say about it:
5/5 Stars – SAY … WHAT … ?
Author Raymond Gaynor, in this sequel, to his novel TOTAL MELTDOWN, manages a successful tear in the time-space continuum that provides his readers with an insightful glimpse of society’s future. It’s not always a pleasant picture. In fact, it’s sometimes bordering on the truly shocking. That said … all of his prophetical premises seem to have logical underpinnings based upon historical facts, including what’s obviously at play within our own Twenty-First Century. It’s a fascinating read, experienced through the eyes of three protagonists from birth, through adolescence, and into maturity. Their journey is often difficult and often dangerous. Never, though, is it boring.
From Amazon in printed or eBook format, and available from most Amazon regional sites.
From Savant Bookstores (Honolulu, Pacific, Midwest and Atlantic) in printed format domestically with free shipping at a complimentary 10% off the Suggested Retail Price using ONLINE discount code at checkout. Direct link: https://checkout.square.site/buy/4MI5...
From The Book Depository in printed format with free shipping worldwide at https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
July 27, 2020
LOVE AND ROMANCE
It would be easy to categorize THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) as a thriller or sci-fu (my new genre of science-based futuring). But it is primarily a work about relationships. What they are. How we form them. Whether they really change our life. Why we need them. Where confusion sets in is whether “relationships” are synonymous with love and romance. What I’m saying is that I wrote THE EDGE OF MADNESS to be a love and romance story, but perhaps in an unexpected way.
Romance is often defined as a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, accompanied by a feeling of remoteness from everyday ho-hum life. Love on the other hand can be defined as an intense feeling of deep affection, generating interest and pleasure, often involving sexual attachment. By these definitions, THE EDGE OF MADNESS is indeed a love and romance story set in the future, affording the convenience of reflecting on love and romance as they exist in contemporary society. Is love and romance subject to time and cultural change? I think, yes, and this is why I like to call THE EDGE OF MADNESS a relationship rather than a love and romance novel. Still, it is exactly that, perhaps in a way that is infinitely more profound than any contemporary novel of either existing genre.
Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Indeed, by far the most profound and dangerous challenges are those surrounding the nature of relationships aka love, romance, erotica, sex of these three “firebrands” in the future. And explore, they do, often holographically, begging the question of what, if anything, in the future world will be “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray, open a copy of THE EDGE OF MADNESS and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Romance is often defined as a feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love, accompanied by a feeling of remoteness from everyday ho-hum life. Love on the other hand can be defined as an intense feeling of deep affection, generating interest and pleasure, often involving sexual attachment. By these definitions, THE EDGE OF MADNESS is indeed a love and romance story set in the future, affording the convenience of reflecting on love and romance as they exist in contemporary society. Is love and romance subject to time and cultural change? I think, yes, and this is why I like to call THE EDGE OF MADNESS a relationship rather than a love and romance novel. Still, it is exactly that, perhaps in a way that is infinitely more profound than any contemporary novel of either existing genre.
Taking up where TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese left off, NewAmerica, a shadow of its former United States of America, provides a challenging and dangerous future place for three young firebrands to live.
Indeed, by far the most profound and dangerous challenges are those surrounding the nature of relationships aka love, romance, erotica, sex of these three “firebrands” in the future. And explore, they do, often holographically, begging the question of what, if anything, in the future world will be “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray, open a copy of THE EDGE OF MADNESS and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
July 26, 2020
FUTURE LGBT?
A sci-fu (science fiction futuring) work wouldn’t be complete if it didn’t touch on the friendship, romance, love, and sexual morays of the future, including LGBT attitudes and practices, and THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) doesn’t shy away from tackling them in en masse. On its surface, a sci-fu-thriller portraying a leaner, stronger, perhaps meaner NewAmerica — a shadow of its former United States of America — where three young firebrands are challenged to find themselves and form meaningful relationships in a challenging future world. Romantic? Definitely. Love to lust? Of course. Erotic? Very, sometimes. LGBT? What life could be really complete without some exploration?
It is my pleasure to present the long awaited sequel to my and William Maltese’s pop sexual-political-thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009), entitled THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020). NewAmerica, once again commanding wealth and power thanks to a series of sociopolitical advances and technical innovations like Eugitors, ShimmerSuits, ContraSpray, T-rips, CandyShades and CandyCable, proves a challenging and dangerous place for three young firebrands to live.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores in depth the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with an Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a plausible, possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them is: Can sanity and true love be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students interact holographically in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.The Edge of Madness
It is my pleasure to present the long awaited sequel to my and William Maltese’s pop sexual-political-thriller TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2009), entitled THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020). NewAmerica, once again commanding wealth and power thanks to a series of sociopolitical advances and technical innovations like Eugitors, ShimmerSuits, ContraSpray, T-rips, CandyShades and CandyCable, proves a challenging and dangerous place for three young firebrands to live.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS explores in depth the evolving relationships between three friends, all of whom know little to nothing about their past and even less about their futures. What they do know is that each is unusually gifted: Rob, an uber-conscious male with an enhanced sense of smell; Frann, an ostentatious gay male with an Olympian physique; and Andry, a brilliant moon-child and professional acronymeur with a taste for Wicca…and her two male friends.
THE EDGE OF MADNESS is an exploration of a plausible, possible future, where every hedonistic pleasure is available — if one can afford it. People work in order to purchase the newest technologies promising ultimate pleasure. But as in Aldous Huxley’s BRAVE NEW WORLD and George Orwell’s 1984, citizens are watched carefully by emotionless “Enforcers” who show up anytime unusual events occur.
Like Huxley and Orwell’s works, THE EDGE OF MADNESS has something to say about almost everything present and future. But it’s also a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths in a future where anything and everything goes. The ultimate question for them is: Can sanity and true love be found in such a world?
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students interact holographically in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” Put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.The Edge of Madness
July 25, 2020
MIND CANDY
In TOTAL MELTDOWN (Borgo/Wildside 2016) by Raymond Gaynor and William Maltese, the United States, like the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), ends up as NewAmerica, a mere shadow of its former self. THE EDGE OF MADNESS NewAmeria rises again, leaner, stronger, meaner at least partly due to a number of new technologies: Eugitors, ShimmerSuits, FlakSkin, Contraspray, EyeCandy, CandyCable, NICMEDS, QTrans, and a myriad of interactive holographic applications: MindCandy. Yum. These technologies energize and ultimately drive socio-political change until the future, a logical extension of the world we currently live in, evolves into a Brave New World with a New World Order. Into this global community focused on interplanetary space travel, emigration and trade, three young firebrands must find their places.
But position is only one aspect of this new world. Relationships prove equally if not more important, especially those among close friends and mates. Mobs of Nest Mates. And love, sex and trust, the new “real” currency. In such a complex hedonistic world, can anyone find “real” love — a soulmate? Or is nothing “real” at the edge of madness?
“If you’ve ever wondered what the world and relationships will be like in the future,” says Gaynor, “this book is for you. Thought set in the future, it is a totally plausible one. Whether it ends up exciting or horrifying you, get hold of a copy of THE EDGE OF MADNESS, peer over the edge and see if I’m not right.”
Available from Amazon in printed and eBook format at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Available internationally with free shipping from The Book Depository at https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
But position is only one aspect of this new world. Relationships prove equally if not more important, especially those among close friends and mates. Mobs of Nest Mates. And love, sex and trust, the new “real” currency. In such a complex hedonistic world, can anyone find “real” love — a soulmate? Or is nothing “real” at the edge of madness?
“If you’ve ever wondered what the world and relationships will be like in the future,” says Gaynor, “this book is for you. Thought set in the future, it is a totally plausible one. Whether it ends up exciting or horrifying you, get hold of a copy of THE EDGE OF MADNESS, peer over the edge and see if I’m not right.”
Available from Amazon in printed and eBook format at https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
Available internationally with free shipping from The Book Depository at https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Ed...
July 24, 2020
BODY ART
Way back when, body art and modification was reserved for the bold, impulsive and devil-may-care. It was also criminal. The Yukuza, a collection of transnational organized Japanese crime syndicates not dissimilar to the Mafia, were said to be heavily tatooed and practice amputation of the left fifth finger. “Normal” people tended the temple of their body, keeping it pure, without marks or elective modifications. Then, something changed, beginning from my San Francisco perspective with the rising popularity of piercing. At first, held to be self-destructive and a sign of mental illness, mainly childhood trauma. Piercing, however, became a “fad” followed by or contiguous with tattooing, typically done by body modification artists, part of the ritual being “taking a risk” with poor execution or failure, life-threatening infection including HIV and other unhealthy side effects. What the two seem to me to share in common is a semi-permanent public or selectively visible display of what today is more nicely called “individual expression” or “body art.”
In the sci-fu (science-based future) world of THE EDGE OF MADNESS, body art has advanced into common practice and is integrated into the now very public ritual of coming-of-age. Body modification is offered to adolescents to assist them in creating their individual “brand.” In the story, Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] elects to have a prehensile tail to his best male friend’s surprise and his female friend’s aghast. Thinking on it’s possible uses, maybe not entire aghast. In essence, humans are now able to safely obtain functional body extensions, a significant advance though not necessarily the epitome of body art. While a prehensile tail might sound somewhat ludicrous to people living on one-gravity Earth, it might be highly useful in space or other alt-gravity situations. Something to think about in the future world where one major focus of business is on interplanetary emigration. After all, in the future, whoever controls the space lanes of communication will control a vast socioeconomic empire. Whoever doesn’t will be destined to languish. It’s a decided different world where massive change leaves everyone constantly “on the edge of madness.”
In the sci-fu (science-based future) world of THE EDGE OF MADNESS, body art has advanced into common practice and is integrated into the now very public ritual of coming-of-age. Body modification is offered to adolescents to assist them in creating their individual “brand.” In the story, Draff Rob Brie [Septican-Smite] elects to have a prehensile tail to his best male friend’s surprise and his female friend’s aghast. Thinking on it’s possible uses, maybe not entire aghast. In essence, humans are now able to safely obtain functional body extensions, a significant advance though not necessarily the epitome of body art. While a prehensile tail might sound somewhat ludicrous to people living on one-gravity Earth, it might be highly useful in space or other alt-gravity situations. Something to think about in the future world where one major focus of business is on interplanetary emigration. After all, in the future, whoever controls the space lanes of communication will control a vast socioeconomic empire. Whoever doesn’t will be destined to languish. It’s a decided different world where massive change leaves everyone constantly “on the edge of madness.”
