Flurb #8 is now live.
Flurb is a free online Webzine of Astonishing Tales, edited and published by Rudy twice a year. The previous issue of Flurb has gleaned sixty thousand unique visits so far.
Check us out at flurb.rudyrucker.com!
And return here to comment.
Many thanks to the wonderful writers who are helping to make Flurb possible.
September 8th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
This is great! Enjoyed the story, and enjoyed seeing you in print even more. Rock on with your bad self!
September 8th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
On Emily C. Skaftun’s story… Sadness, ache, and wonder. A strong story indeed. I look forward to more. Congratulations!
September 9th, 2009 at 6:16 am
I really enjoyed “My Only Sunshine.” Poor Lief, he just wasn’t meant to live in Sunlight!
September 9th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Thanks for the cool story!
September 9th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Charlie Anders’s story is the most amazing thing I have read in a long time. It is good on so many levels. It’s a metaphor, it’s science fiction, it’s coming-of-age, it’s got feminist undertones or overtones or tones anyway — WOW.
September 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Wow thanks Jessy! That means a lot, especially coming from you!
September 10th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
I really enjoyed Charlie Anders contribution! This tale is what I wish the manga/movie “Saikano: The Last Love Song on This Little Planet” could have been.
September 11th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Rudy, I read yours first – great stuff!
September 12th, 2009 at 4:11 am
Re: Carter Scholz’s ‘Bad Pennies’ – This isn’t science fiction but it’s by far the best literary work I’ve read on one of the greatest of institutionalized farces in America. The man shows such a finessed rhythm for the spoken sentence; I spent a certain amount of free time trying to imagine the responses of the senator: I’m glad Scholz left these interstices free of static for me to insert myself – the piece begs for interaction. I can somehow imagine a one-person, one-act play based on this story essayed by a practiced thespian.
I’m looking forward to reading more of Scholz’s work.
September 12th, 2009 at 4:38 am
Apropos Howard Hendrix’s ‘Interrogations in a Holographic Observatory’ – Jorge Luis Borges might have been flattered.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:25 am
Irrelevant to FLURB:
http://www.popsci.com/gear-amp-gadgets/article/2009-07/tour-de-france-time-trialers-sleeker-more-aerodynamic-helmet
click that ! “the RUDY PROJECT”
alien headgear. “what’s that, a squid on yr head?”
maybe the wind-tunnel bicycling was done at the Games Division..
September 13th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Loved Rudy’s arm wrestler. I envisioned a world of arms snaking down streets, hiding in the gutter from dumb bodies….well, not so different from Brisvegas then.
September 19th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
I knew it all before you wrote it, Brian.
September 21st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Re: Bad Ideas
Nils Mundal is not a very typical Finnish name and iirc its quite hard not to go to school in Finland – or, when in school, not to learn English. So if I was writings such a story, I’d go somewhat like this:
His Somalian father did not learn to ski, but for him his mother did not allow such flabbiness. So, from the first schoolyear on, her mother (from whom he had inherited his friendly mustache) told him to ignore the school bus and put on the skis, all those eight miles to the school in the morning and then back again in the evening. On the seventh year he almost started to like it. Strange enough, he did not hate his mother for it, considering her as a genius loci, if not force majeure, but his father for not saving him from such a fate – or for migrating to Finland in first palce. Ok, that’s just a detail that came to mind…
As I see it, the story says that by giving up your hatred you become vulnerable to consumerism. And to get rid of consumerism you have to give up your eyes and hands, ie your ability to see the world as it is and your ability to do any work (even to change the world).
The second part seems kind of Rousseauish, but the first part is interesting. Come to think about – you are right. I have quite many things I hate: girls like Bea Malo, leaders like Chavez, animal rights enthusiasts and so on. And that (?) makes me quite immune to consumerism. I work – translating science fiction – just as little as is needed to survive.
So, maybe not a very good story, but with an interesting message at least 🙂
September 21st, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Thanks, Burzmali. Actually, Nils Mundal is in fact supposed to be Norwegian, I should have stuck with that and not said he was Finnish! Maybe in the second edition I’ll change that.
September 25th, 2009 at 4:11 am
As I see it, the story says that by giving up your hatred you become vulnerable to consumerism. And to get rid of consumerism you have to give up your eyes and hands, ie your ability to see the world as it is and your ability to do any work.
October 3rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I totally appreciate all Flurb issues, every single one is the greatest. This issue is top-notch. I enjoyed every single story and a couple of them are real favorites. Charles Anders story was great fun as was Peter Hagelslag’s story. I thank you for brining us this fun!
David
October 11th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
the story of the mutant semen was scary and sick, seriously i will have nightmares tonight
October 11th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Hi, I know this may sound crazy, but I’m a little worried about what just happened. You mentioned parallel realities. Are you being truthful, or not really? The reason I ask is something strange seems to be going on. Might you cecall the site, “uTube, Broadcast Yourself?” Today I noticed that uTube was spelled “YouTube.” I’ve been spelling it uTube for years. I know I had the spelling right because once my older daughter once told me I was writing it wrong because I was writing, UTube, and she said the U should be lower case like this, “u.” Anyway now the word is spelled “YouTube?” How can this be possible? I had a bright idea to check my web history, but everything has been erased since last Wednesday, October 7, 2009. I looked at a map of New York. The city New York and Albany is the same, but other names look unfamiliar. I’m not from NY though, so maybe I’m just infamiliar with the names of small towns in NY. I’ll have to look again once more to check. Has spelling changes ever happened to either of you?
October 18th, 2009 at 8:45 am
This is a great story- creative- imaginative- can hear the music- see it lift from the stars and through the electronics. lifted my day. Janice
October 20th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Just read the piece by Martin Hayes. Fantastic. I love this concept. The last line was so simple yet so deliciously descriptive.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:51 am
Francis, ever read “For A Foggy Night” by Larry Niven? Has it been foggy lately where you live?
Uh-oh. Down the rabbit hole again . . .
December 14th, 2009 at 5:36 am
very engaging reading–a lot of what Robert Bly calls “leaping” going on here–many happy returns—brj
December 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Mentions of Flurb that I saw lately—
The “Elephant Forgets” blog lists some favorite stories in issues #7 and #8
http://ecbatan.livejournal.com/89030.html
Warren Ellis deems Flurb his “favourite SF magaine”:
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=7476
February 21st, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Holy rotting godbody washed like a dead-whale onto the beach of my brain!
“There Is No Comte de St. Germaine For I Am He” is the best damn story I’ve read in many years.* Brendan Byrne is the real deal, folks.
Thank you for publishing it, Mr. Rucker.
And thank you for writing it, Mr. Byrne.
*And both “The Loa & The Gaping Jaw” and “Donald Asshole…” are close contenders. Fantasmatical!
March 8th, 2010 at 10:08 am
Do you have contact information–email fine–for Tamara Vining?
May 18th, 2010 at 8:02 am
I just read “My Only Sunshine”–what a gorgeous story! A great concept, beautifully written. Everything ties together at the end. I’ll have to look up Emily Skaftun and follow her writing. Thanks for sharing such a great piece!
July 26th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Re: Bad Pennies. Achingly horrifyingly funny. Superb satire.
December 6th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Your story…Henry’s Penis… was great and creative. I laughed a lot too cuz my name is Rachel and my boyfriend’s name is Henry.