Tears in Rain - the blog

“Is it possible that some of the ‘places’ I routinely visit in my dreams are, in some way, actual locations? Sometimes I experience an overwhelming nostalgia for places I’ve never been. Not all of these places seem entirely Earth-like; nevertheless they can seem suffocatingly familiar. On one hand, these bizarre locales could be electrochemically derived; on the other, they could represent something beyond our ability to properly define. Nodes on some cosmic Internet?”

 – Mac Tonnies, 2004, found here

Photo: Mac Tonnies, 2008

Paul Kimball is blogging again, and has posted some great "Macthoughts" on his latest blog Tears in Rain. The one above reminded me of a conversation Mac and I had about dream locations, and one I had forgotten about. So, thanks for reminding me, Paul!

Meanwhile, he's also just posted a great "Macthought" regarding technology and dug up a Kraftwerk tune you'd might like to hear again. The tune was written just over 30 years ago, but it may as well have been written today.

Triptych #15 - Update

Apparently, I spoke too soon...

Sigh.

Never underestimate the prowess of the "evil spammers".

Triptych #15

I payed a visit to Triptych #15 the other day, expecting to see, perhaps, no more than an increase in number of the "sucker vines of spam", but was pleasantly surprised. Apparently, due to whatever tweaking Google has recently employed regarding blog comments, it seems that the spammers have been in some way confounded and temporarily, at least, are leaving Posthuman Blues alone. I am strangely relieved by this. Finding spam on Mac's last post was comparable to finding dog shit on a loved one's burial plot.

Speaking of which, I also stopped by Pink Tentacle to see if Mac's favorite cephalopod resurfaced. The news is bad. The comment section of the Tentacle's last post is distressingly familiar... but, unlike the case of Triptych #15, no one is coming forward to clarify the issue. I really hope someone does soon...

In other news, Mike Clelland - no, I didn't forget you, Mike - has recently created a new site devoted to those "Tubular Belles" Mac was so fond of (see this PMB post). He has a nice dedication page, found here.

Lastly, the image above - Tech Totem #8 - is a creation by my good pal, and loyal follower of PMB, the art shaman himself, Bob Dodson. It can be found here. His latest creation - a work in progress - is just the coolest little robot ever! Thanks, Bob!

Ah, and what do you know, it's May Day! A most blessed Beltane to you.

Till next time,
Dia

Snow Circles

David Peeples sent me this amazing link today which I was compelled to post here despite my vows to abstain from this type of blogging on PMB. 

Of course, crop circles come to mind... but, rest assured, there's nothing inherently paranormal in the snow circles' creation...(but, then again, define paranormal!) They were, in fact, created by one man wearing snowshoes! No BS. The man's name is Simon Beck, and he and his work can be found here.

Thanks, David!

Sarah Multiverse Returns...

... with some fascinating news regarding Mac and that NY Times article from last year.

If interested, go to this Macbots page...

Yes, my decision regarding Post Mac Blues still stands, but I will post any news directly related to his legacy as soon as I'm aware of it.

Best,

Dia

Adieu... and Greetings!

"I'm a Kansas City, Missouri-based author and essayist. I blog daily at Posthuman Blues and tweet religiously. My latest book is After the Martian Apocalypse (Paraview Pocket Books, 2004), a speculative and generally well-received examination of extraterrestrial intelligence on the Red Planet. I'm presently at work on a new non-fiction book titled The Cryptoterrestrials: Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us, excerpts of which I've posted on my blog. If you're in the mood for a multiplex Fortean anthology, my essay "The Ancients Are Watching" is included in 2008's Darklore Vol. II. (My first book, Illumined Black, is a collection of naively "Blade Runner"-ish science fiction short-stories. It can still be found in used-book stores and on Amazon.com.)

I've been a guest panelist at ConQuest, Kansas City's premiere science fiction convention. More recently, I've lectured in the United States and Canada on subjects ranging from exoarchaeology to transhumanism and have appeared on programs such as Coast to Coast AM, Strange Days . . . Indeed, 21st Century Radio, The Paracast, Binnall of America, and Radio Misterioso. My first play, produced and directed by Paul Kimball, debuted in Halifax, Nova Scotia in late 2007. In early 2009 I appeared as the "investigator" in an episode of "Supernatural Investigator," a Canadian program covering fringe beliefs and esoteric science. I also make an appearance in "Best Evidence," an award-winning UFO documentary.

I spend an inordinately large portion of my time pursuing unpopular ideas and esoteric theories with what I sincerely hope is balanced skepticism. I'm a member of the Society for Planetary SETI Research, a group that seeks to use scientific methodology to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial artifacts in our solar system. I read voraciously; preoccupations include cosmology, nonhuman intelligence, UFOs, consciousness studies, and futurism. Writers I admire include William Gibson, Philip K. Dick and William S. Burroughs.

I tend to think in the future-tense. I'm a skeptic, agnostic and existentialist; I perceive reality as a kind of consensual hallucination that forces us to define our sense of identity without recourse to faith or superstition. I have a deep affinity for 80s pop music; some of my favorite bands are The Cure, R.E.M., Portishead, Talking Heads, and The Smiths. Favorite film-makers include David Cronenberg and David Lynch. I can regularly be found haunting the Country Club Plaza, taking pictures, reading cyberpunk novels, and marinating my synapses in espresso. And I'm a voracious doodler; I've put some representative (if dated) drawings in my Sketch Gallery. (For artwork and graphics sent to me by colleagues and friends, please see the Art Gallery.) For more information (including links to archived radio appearances), see the Mac FAQ. For photos, refer to my Flickr stream."

- Mac Tonnies, via the MacTonnies.com bio page

***

And so runs Mac's bio page on his website. (Wikipedia editors take note. In the last analysis, Mac's Wiki entry pretty much, well, bites... too invasive, incomplete, and, to some degree, inaccurate. For instance, at one point, Posthuman Blues was getting hundreds of hits per day - hardly a "small" following by the standards of its time.)

But then, I'm not here to discuss internet politics today (technically Veterans Day); I'm here to finally put up the last post that was slated to go up November 1st, and would have, had I not - and the entire Connecticut town in which I live - been plunged into a 5 day black-out after a freak snowstorm. I've pretty much just gotten into recovery mode... "damage control" took about another 5 days. And so it goes.

Anyway, no, I didn't intend to cut y'all off so abruptly in my previous post. My decision to end this blog wasn't a superficial whim. The fact is, I am no longer able to maintain it. It isn't that there isn't more to be said... one could easily find material for numerous posts by referring to Posthuman Blues. Try searching a topic there - any old topic... the word "aliens" for instance, and you'll find a wealth of material covering numerous pages, with videos, images, story fragments, and essays. I really don't know how Mac did it.

He did do it, of course... but there is no longer a purpose for PMB than to bring Mac's work to attention. And this is something interested readers can do for themselves without my input. I hope this blog has helped somewhat. I have recently revised and updated the sidebar to map out Mac's various online contributions (and some of my contributions to PHB). More can be found within the body of this blog, but even this is an undertaking more suited to a dedicated website than it is a blog.

Originally, Post-Mac Blues was a place to mourn Mac's passing - it was never meant to be a replacement for Posthuman Blues - but I think the time of public mourning has come to a close, and therefore, to continue a mere personal blog - apparently the best-kept secret on the web (Re:, G.B. in a recent Radio Misterioso Mac tribute: "What's the name of that site Dia Sobin does now?") is rather pointless and redundant, and doesn't do justice to either Mac or myself.

That being said, there are still blogs and sites in which you might find Mac mentioned... Mike Clelland's Hidden Experience, Greg Bishop's Radio Misterioso, Nick Redfern's and G.B.'s musings on UFO Mystic, Paul Kimball's remembrances on Philosopher King and The Other Side of the Truth, Capn Marrrrk's Twitter page, Mac's publisher, Patrick Huyghe's Anomalist news page, Rita J. King's and Joshua Fout's Imagination Age, Macbots - a community Mac Tonnies tribute site - and, lastly, at Triptych #15.

As for me, I will still continue blogging at Trans-D. And if you have an comments or queries (or links or information to share) my email address is: araqinta@att.net.

The photo above is one Mac shot the winter before his death. It always struck me as rather sad but, ironic... and fitting for the last post on this blog.

Adieu, then... to all of my previous visitors and supporters...

Greetings, to those travelers who have just recently stopped by. This blog is now an archive, but your comments and queries are still welcome here.

(Note: I am no longer moderating comments, but all spam will be promptly deleted.)

Seasons Greetings!

Sutton Hoo artifact found here

"To the Celts, time was circular rather than linear. This is reflected in their commencing each day, and each festival, at dusk rather than dawn, a custom comparable with that of the Jewish Sabbath. It is also reflected in their year beginning with the festival of Samhain on 31 October, when nature appears to be dying down. Tellingly, the first month of the Celtic year is Samonios, ‘Seed Fall’: in other words, from death and darkness springs life and light.


Caesar confirms this and offers an explanation (Conquest of Gaul, VI.18):
The Gauls claim all to be descended from Father Dis [a god of death, darkness and the underworld], declaring that this is the tradition preserved by the Druids. For this reason they measure periods of time not by days but by nights; and in celebrating birthdays, the first of the month, and new year’s day, they go on the principle that
the day begins at night.


The Celtic year began with Samhain. Celebrated around 31 October, it was a time of deliberate misrule and contrariness, rather like the Roman Saturnalia. It was also a time when the veil between this world and the Otherworld was thought to be so thin that the dead could return to warm themselves at the hearths of the living, and some of the living - especially poets - were able to enter the Otherworld through the doorways of the sidhe, such as that at the Hill of Tara in Ireland.


Our modern Hallowe’en stems from Samhain, and one explanation of the traditional pumpkin lanterns is that the Celts once placed the skulls of ancestors outside their doors at this time. The Christians took over the Celtic festival and turned it into All Saints Day. Even the modern English celebration of Guy Fawkes Day has echoes of the ancient fire festival."


- via this Living Myths page

Raven - digital image - Bogdan Zwir

"Who owns the whole rainy, stony earth?    Death.

Who owns all of space?    Death.

Who is stronger than hope?    Death.

Who is stronger than the will?    Death.

Stronger than love?    Death.

Stronger than life?    Death.

But who is stronger than Death?

Me, evidently.

Pass, Crow."

- Ted Hughes, excerpt:  "Examination at the Womb-Door"
from Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow


***

What goes around comes around, as they say, and October 31 will mark the second turn of the Celtic wheel for Post-Mac Blues. No cause for celebration, by and of itself, but fitting that it was couched within the ancient mythological framework of the Celtic year, beginning and ending with Samhain ((pronounced SOW-in, SAH-vin, or SAM-hayne).

Post-Mac Blues is then a two-year "time capsule", set free in cyberspace, and set into its fabric till cyberspace's end. But, as for that "tall young man in the black fedora", he belongs to eternity.

So, adios, cats and kitties; it's been real. Best wishes to you all, and, most especially, enjoy a happy and healthy Celtic New Year!

Dia

The Solar Ship

"In recent times there's been a resurgence of interest in airships for military and commercial uses as evidenced by Lockheed Martin's High Altitude Long Endurance-Demonstrator (HALE-D) and Hybrid Air Vehicles heavy-lift variant of Northrop Grumman's Long-Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV). Like HAV's design, this concept from Canadian company Solar Ship is a hybrid airship that relies on aerodynamics to help provide lift, and like the HALE-D, it would have its top surface area covered in solar cells to provide energy and minimize its carbon footprint."

I think Ufology has more of a problem on its hands than ever before. It appears that increasingly the "unidentified flying objects" some of us see are now far more than likely to be "ours".  More can be found on this Gizmag page.

SOINN - Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network

"This robot can think, learn and act by itself using artificial intelligence. It is being developed by the Hasegawa Group at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.Using a technology called a self-replicating neural network, or SOINN(Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network), it can think as humans do when taking on tasks that it has never done before. It can make educated guesses and decisions based on it's past experiences and knowledge."

Well, I guess this baby is, more or less, in response to Michio Kaku in the video I posted the other day. It can be found, along with a number of other interesting "gadgets" at Diginfo TV.

Illumined Black - a midnight journey

"This is a slim volume of short stories I wrote in high school, the first and last of which are better than the others. Looking back, I think "IB" has some nice, atmospheric moments and some fairly candid self-commentary... the magazine "Science Fiction Universe" described this tendency as "naively self-indulgent," a criticism I don't particularly object to. If "IB" seems fragmentary it's because it is the product of many months of revision and editing. Some of the stories I liked were dropped in favor of others that may or may not be more "commercially viable." The final story, "Between Worlds" (written my first year in college and more mature than the others), stands up to my own self-criticism. I like to think of my first book as a competent first attempt and a unique glimpse into the workings of the small press in fiction/genre writing. I hope you enjoy it."


- "Reflections on Illumined Black" by Mac Tonnies


***

"Illumined Black" by Mac Tonnies is a collection of short stories that explore the future from inspired and compellingly skewed perspectives. The stories are strange, stylized and topical, with a prose style that suggests cyberpunk underpinnings as well as "Golden Age" genre tropes. Ultimately, "Illumined Black" is a chilling reflection on inner and outer space. As Bruce Sterling writes on the back cover, "I like it when young guys with attitude tear right into the genre without asking anybody's permission."

- W. G. Eatock

"Compared to other sci-fi authors, Mac Tonnies ranks with P.K. Dick, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, and Bruce Sterling. He is thought-pivotingly original. If you wallow in science fiction like I do, you'll eat this book up.In this short 133-page book, Tonnies' ethereal ideas strikingly contribute to the advance of science fiction.

In the introductory story, "Reflections of a Specimen," Tonnies wow-ed me with a new take on clique leaders. He launches into a seeming takeoff on William Gibson's style yet holds his own by injecting his own provoking vision. The other stories in this book are just as juicy. There's no way you can have a favorite because they're all so invitingly well-developed and original. Absolutely fantastic.

This is a book come before its time."

- Kathleen McKenzie

"How does a man awakened from cryonic sleep react to a genetically-altered species? Can brief, induced nightmares take the place of capital punishment? What does the human brain experience when severed from its body? With growing interest in what life will be like in the future when earth "hangs in the balance," ILLUMINED BLACK & OTHER ADVENTURES by Mac Tonnies reminds us of what can happen if we soon do not alter our ways of thinking about humankind's relationship with Mother Earth. In language beyond his years, Tonnies reveals a startling & imaginative vision of the future, an era on the threshold of the apocalypse with human nature caught in a technological web of its own making. Science-fiction author Rob Chilson says, "Tonnies has a gift for words & a bright, bent vision." Currently a college freshman, Tonnies won several NASA-sponsored essay contests & wrote this brilliant collection of short stories while still in high school. Expect to see many outstanding works from Tonnies in the future. He is an author every science-fiction aficionado & librarian should add to their collection. Available in softcover or as a signed limited edition from the publisher or through Baker & Taylor Distributors."

- Google Books

***

My own adventure with Mac's 1995 publication, "Illumined Black... and Other Adventures" began around midnight of last night, after re-reading through the amazing stories within. It came to me that posting some excerpts from the book might be an inspired idea, till I read the copyright line on the inside of the title page. Lo and behold, Mac, apparently, didn't own the copyright; the publisher did. Upon googling the publisher, Phantom Press Publishers, this page was all that could be found. According to this information, Phantom Press Publishers never published another book after 1996. So, if you've wondered why there are only 8 copies of the book in circulation - currently priced from $30.44 to $260 - herein lies a clue. As to the fate of "Illumined Black", it's not for me to say. Hopefully, there will be another edition... or, at least, a Kindle edition available.

(BTW, my advice for the cover - B/W, like the image I've posted above...)

But, my journey did not end there, because when I clicked the "1995" box on the publisher's page, I learned that Mac Tonnies has a Wikipedia entry! How cool is that?! As thrilled as Mac might have been, I'm afraid the entry is rather brief... and one of the references is a negative review of his "Martian Apocalypse". But I guess it's better than no entry at all.

I also learned another fun tidbit; Mac had an essay published (1996) in a magazine - 'New Phase" - also by Phantom Press Publishers. The title: Bad Poetry and You: A Survival Guide. Hah! That Mac...

The last leg of my journey found me on the Simon and Schuster Mac Tonnies' page. Oddly, it was there I learned that Mac's "Cryptoterrestrials..." made another Top Paranormal Book of 2010 list! Author and cryptozoologist, Loren Coleman, had this to say.

All in all, it was one helluva midnight journey! :-)

Mac Tonnies Radio Tributes

Greg Bishop at Radio Misterioso brought back Walter Bosely, Mike Clelland, A.J. Gulyas,  Paul Kimball, Tony Merrill (who has a written tribute to Mac found here.), and Nick Redfern, to pay tribute to Mac last night, Sunday the 23rd, the anniversary of the day that many of us became cognizant of the fact of Mac's passing. 

The podcast is now available here. Greg also provides links to two shows featuring Mac pulled from the Radio Misterioso archives. Note: The link shown is a "permalink" which, for whatever obscure reason does not contain the featured podcast... Currently, that can only be found on Radio Misterioso's main page at the end of the October 18th post...)

***

"That’s right, this week’s show features a special segment during hour three where the Gralien crew pays tribute to one of the great minds to have come and gone in the field of the esoteric: Mac Tonnies, the late author of The Cryptoterrestrials and After the Martian Apocalypse. He will be missed, but in dedicating a tribute to him on the show, it is my hope that we’ll help ensure that his work will run no risk of being forgotten."

Meanwhile, it has come to my attention that another radio tribute to Mac took place on the 18th of this month. Micah Hanks is joined by Mike Clelland and Dr. Maxim Kammerer - who explores Mac's Cryptoterrestrial hypothesis in this post - in a podcast which can be found here. (Hat-tip to RPJ!)

Michio Kaku: Can We Download Our Brains?

This video was created at Big Think earlier this year and can be found, along with a host of other Kaku goodies here.