20081029

Mati & Babi

A teenager dashes past him, skin the shade of vellum and long black cape billowing like midnight clouds athwart the moon. The lad spins, shows fangs in a broad smile, and says, "Hi, Damien!" A banshee shriek cuts through the air, and a black-clad figure tackles the boy. Damien gets a glimpse of long blond hair, fingernails like claws, and whimsical cat-whiskers painted across paperwhite skin, then the couple tumbles away from him. The girl Babi, affecting her best feline mannerisms, looks up and shows her own fangs. "Hi, Damien."

Mateni Gerat and Babari Aparejo ("Mati & Babi") are two of the Maris Institute's resident vampires, victims of a 2032 gene-splicing porphyria virus whose perpetrators are still unidentified. While severe anemia and aversion to sunlight are the major symptoms, none of the vampires actually drink blood.



copyright (c) 2008, Don Sakers

Find out more in Dance for the Ivory Madonna

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20081023

The Sebhra

The Sebhra were a Scattered Worlds race who called themselves "The Splendid People." The keynotes for the Sebhra are the two words "fat: and "lazy." Being Hchevidiire-derived, they are massive: each masses about a thousand kilos. They are hexapeds; the middle two limbs have migrated to center and lengthened, supplying seven-fingered "hands." They have a subsidiary ganglion in the center of these hands to help co-ordinate.

Sebhra can regenerate to a limited degree, and can reproduce either sexually or asexually, by budding.

The Sebhra evolved on a planet with a very slow rotational period and hardly any axial titlt. Being large and primarily herbirvorous, they did not develop any instinct for urgency or swift movement. Heavily armored except on the soft underbelly, it befitted the Sebhra to stay put and tuck in when attacked. Later social development, for agriculture and protection from the great predators, led to intelligence.

The most unfortunate trait of the Sebhra was their dietary dependence on the meat of a tiny furred mammaloid called the kelf. Kelf supplied the Sebhra with a vital trace amino acid -- only kelf and Sebhra remained of the thousand-or-so species that used this acid. Kelf manufactured it in their tissues; Sebhra ate kelf to get it. After the Sebhra became civilized, kelf-herding became a dominant activity. Before civilization, all Sebhra hunted kelf.

This dependence on kelf was very unfortunate, for kelf resemble the major Scattered Worlds race the Kreen -- and when Kreen first contacted the Sebhra, war could be the only result.

In the 270th century of Kreen civilization, Kreen galactic exploration parties made contach with the Sebhra. Sebhra ships tracked exploration parties, and the Empire of the Miethara was invaded. A period of war with the Sebhra commenced, and does not end until 700 Kreen years later, when a vast Kreen starfleet entered Sebhra space and defeated the Sebhra. The Kreen fleet withdrew with prisoners, depopulating Sebhra space. Sebhra prisoners became a slave caste in Kreen space.



copyright (c) 2008, Don Sakers
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20081016

Unholy Three Concert for Timbuktu

Rolling Stone Online Edition, 2 August 2042 C.E.

Unholy Three
Concert for Timbuktu
143 minutes
Rating: *****
access: columbia/U3/live/20420801
reviewed by Asis Chakaipa, Rolling Stone Staff

In last night’s benefit concert for the survivors of Timbuktu, the Unholy Three once again showed why classic rock-n-roll will always be the king of music, and demonstrated that there are no rockers like Baby Boom rockers.

The band was joined onstage by the voices (and bodies) of actor Gail Danube (wife of keyboardist Mark Silver) and Tzu Emwalt, that foot-rubbin’ mamma whose multiculti vocal harmonies have won her three Grammys so far.

Lead singer Dominik Gruszpka was in perfect voice, dispelling any lingering doubt about the results of his radiation treatments this spring. His powerful, soulful melody on “Approaching Lavender,” coupled with guitarist Rij Kanaly’s oddly Cajun rhythms, brought a tear to the eye of more than one spectator. Halfway through the show, Silver and Kanaly engaged in an impromptu jam session on keyboard and twelve-string, harkening back to their old days with the Thirty Strings. It was a lively free-for-all with all the riveting intensity of a tight soccer match, that went on for an incredible fifteen minutes.

Emwalt and Gruszpka brought the house down with their spirited rendition of Gruszpka’s signature tune, “You Know the P is Silent.” Rumor has it that the two have started work on a joint album to be issued in December; more news as our ferrets dig it out.

Finally, no Unholy Three concert would be complete without the haunting “On the Road.” Danube and Emwalt lent a plaintive, piquant tone to this old favorite; it was a singular tribute to both the fallen and the survivors of Timbuktu.

This concert was among the best that the Unholy Three have ever given; it approaches their Andover Concert of 2026. Grab some friends, a jolt, and log onto this amazing experience tonight. I guarantee you won’t regret it.




copyright (c) 2008, Don Sakers

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20081008

The Hyperspace Jig


    "First you face to the left;
    Give a kick to the right;
    Clap your hands, jump and spin
    At the speed of light
    Then when you face yourself
    You will both flip your wig!
    Let's dance the Hyperspace Jig!
    Let's dance the Hyperspace Jig!"



Every Friday night at the Miranda Maris Institute for Wayward Artists, five hundred assorted artists and creative types kick off a weekend-long celebration by singing and dancing the Hyperspace Jig. Originally from a pre-Millennial musical show, the song now has over a hundred verses and takes an hour to finish. The complete version is done only once a year, in celebration of Miranda Maris' birthday.


copyright (c) 2008, Don Sakers
Find out more in Dance for the Ivory Madonna

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