INTERVIEWING ONE’S CULTURAL HEROES IS one of the greatest thrills of a career in journalism — even of amateur journalism. Such was the position in which I found myself while working for Obscure Research Labs in the early-to-mid-1990s. It gave me an insider’s excuse to pester thinker and novelist Robert Anton Wilson, and granted equal access to Church of the SubGenius co-founder Ivan Stang. Herewith this interview, conducted through the mail and slightly edited for clarity and length, which first appeared in Far Corner v1n7, c. 1993. Kick back, slack off and enjoy this longest-by-far of The Metaphorager’s 800+ posts. Continue reading “ORL Interview: Ivan Stang”
Tag: PR
Hortatory self-aggrandizement.
Left Side of Darkness
VISITORS TO THE METAPHORAGER MAY notice that it’s formatted in two columns — the wide right-hand one with posts, the narrow left one with other stuff. In the spirit of “obnoxious self-aggrandizement,” here’s a quick top-down guide to the “other stuff”:
– SEARCH: Cast a virtual net for your favorite in-blog keyword(s); simply type it/them in the provided space and hit “Enter.”
– RECEIVE: Input your email address and click “Subscribe” to spice your inbox with our Monday and Thursday publishings (as well as occasional off-schedule goodies like the one you’re reading now). Continue reading “Left Side of Darkness”
Metaphoraging Roundup: 2018
IF A GOOD FRIEND HADN’T died this year and cured me of a years-long writer’s block, I wouldn’t be posting this.
But he did, so I am, proffering 2018’s Top 10 Viewed Pages and Posts at this writing:
1. Home page / Archives: (683 views) marks people who have happened by from seeing my URL posted in various places (including email .sigs, business cards, our local radio station and Facebook), and/or those exploring more than the seven posts visible on each “page.”
2. Fie on Death, and the Pale Horse He Rode In On (180) is John Wheeler’s cyber-eulogy, its link posted in numerous online fora where his friends could see it. Continue reading “Metaphoraging Roundup: 2018”
Across The Rimless Sea: Folk
FOLLOWING ON THE INFORMATION REVEALED in “Who Is This Prosatio Silban, And What Does he Want?” here is a chart listing the Exilic Lands’ inhabitants. It’s meant as a quick reference rather than a last word.
Attentive readers will recognize some of what’s named herein but may or may not have light shed thereby, so: the Xao, Xai and Xax are, like the Aydnzmri and Mazei, descended from the “Antecedents” whose millennia-ago war broke the Exilic Lands (and first gave them that name); but unlike their more refined counterparts, reverted to barbarism. Continue reading “Across The Rimless Sea: Folk”
Who Is This Guy?
THIS GENTLEMAN, WHO SPEAKS WORLDS while twiddling his moustache, is “Metaphoragin’ Jones”, our mascot here at The Metaphorager. He epitomizes our outlook and mission: bemused, slightly rumpled and willing to talk all day about everything in the world if necessary/desired. You may read about the origin of Metaphoragin’ Jones’ (and the blog’s) name in the post “Wrapping Round,” which signal also explains a bit about metaphoraging in general. Happy Reading!
“Starbase 33 Minyan”
According to the Official Couch Potato Handbook, each official Couch Potato Viewing Lodge must have its own name. Ours is the “Starbase 33 Minyan,” mostly due to a love of science fiction in general (and Star Trek in particular). The photo at left illustrates our motto, an SFnal riff on the Lubavitcher Hasid motto “Bring Moshiach (the Messiah) Now!” (Could I have ‘shopped a combadge, I’d’a done.) Sometimes, a blog is just a good place to download your brain.
“Self-Deleting Jews”
(Feel free to skip if you’re not hot for ethnoapologetics.)
THERE’S AN UGLY MEME IN the Jewish community that may or may not have analogs among other minority groups: the so-called “self-hating Jew.”
This term, most often used in online Jewish fora (the Forward, Tablet, Jewschool, et al) when someone Jewish posts a critically outre comment about Israel, is more generally used to describe one who turns his or her back on “the tribe” and spends some significant time publicly railing thereupon. (Peter Beinart and Adrienne Rich come most prominently to this writer’s mind, but someone once used it to describe me when I naively asked in one forum, “Is there such a thing as ‘too Jewish?'” I don’t think so, but some apparently do.) Continue reading ““Self-Deleting Jews””
Metaphorager Hope’d
(Tip o’ th’ Metaphorager Topper to obamaicon.me!)
PR Haiku
OUR NEW MOTTO IS:
“All That’s News To Me, I Print.”
(New York Times-inspired.)
Bromantic Disclaimer
ASTUTE READERS OF THE METAPHORAGER may have noted the default use of the masculine gender (e.g. he, him, his, man, etc.). This is due neither to a slight against the better-looking sex nor a political statement, but the love of such phrases as “MAN ON MOON” or “essential love of mankind” or “There are some things Man was not meant to know,” and as an XY kind of guy it just sort of comes natural to me.
My point is, if you’re hung up on a phrase, you’re missing the point.
New Feature: Metaphorager Via Email
AS PART OF OUR CONTINUING effort to serve You, The Reader, we at The Metaphorager are now offering an up-to-the-minute email subscription. Just input your e-dress to the box on the left to receive each post as it happens. (We won’t share your information with anyone else.) Thank you!
Who Is This Prosatio Silban, And What Does He Want?
The most addicting D&D element for me has always been “worldbuilding” – establishing an ecology of people, monsters and treasure within a self-consistent storytelling framework. It’s an excellent outlet for structured creativity, and one day, while at my day-job as an offset printer, I grabbed a pad, scrawled a coastline and bay, added some mountains and a river basin, and began describing those who lived there.
Some years later I had compiled several notebooks and folders full of maps and diagrams, charts and lists, races and religions, legends and monsters, mostly written in two-to-60 minute slices during and between offset jobs. It was a lot of fun. But it was also pretty lonely; at that point, I didn’t play D&D anymore, and I felt a bit … unrequited. And, to be honest, somewhat silly.
So in 2005, I decided to tell stories to answer the question, “What would it be like to actually make a living in one of these invented worlds?” After all, somebody has to clean up all those slain dragons (and, probably, buy groceries and pay rent). Thus was born Prosatio Silban, self-defrocked holyman and mercenary cook.
Worldbuilding and its fruits have brought me great joy (and occasional comfort) during the past several decades. I hope you have found some joy in it too.