Epistle

Wednesday 8/23/23

There's a lot and I don't know the best way to send it. I don't know if anyone even reads it. I know that no one out there in the world reads it because I have no way at present to get it to anyone in the world and also have people in the world read it if it was even gotten to them. My sense is I now write hundreds and hundreds of outstanding works which go completely unseen. I am their only reader. People I know--the few people I know--rarely say anything. There are many things yet to be accounted for on the blog. For instance, I have not said anything to anyone about the book I just wrote accidentally. It's not completely done yet, but it's close. I could send a bunch of things for a given book and bundle works that way, but it also probably doesn't matter. And so, I'm just sending this for now.

It's a story called "She ain't gonna dm you." I work on these things for long periods. (I have done this one--which is one of my shortest--at the same time as one of my longest, among dozens of others.) Over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. It's for Become Your Own Superhero: Intrepid Exceptions to Modern Fiction. What do I think this is? Which is me asking me. I think it's the best science fiction story ever written and it's less than 600 words long (557, to be precise).

I'm sure some would not understand it (because it's so different--not because it's unclear; people expect to see what they've already seen, and if they get something new they may not have a clue what they're seeing even if it's the clearest thing to date; this is a strain in society that's more prevalent than at any other time). Some would find it vulgar. Some would be terrified. Some would cry. Some would find it of the rarest beauty. All would be hit hard. It's not classifiable. Is this the end of humanity? What is it the start of? I just said science fiction because it lays out something that definitely could happen and how it would happen. There are many times when I feel like I'll be the only defense that remains against it happening. Or my work will be.

This would be quite the thing to read to a room of people. If they laughed--even if it was nervous laughter, or because of names and comments--near the start, there wouldn't be a sound at the end. There's nothing like it.