Radio Free Burrito Presents: The Tree of Life by CL Moore

Today, I recorded a story from Weird Tales, first published in 1936.

I loved it. It’s supernatural in a way that reminded me of Hyperion, with just enough science fiction elements to ground it in some kid of a reality.

It’s longer than what I usually record, coming in at about 75 minutes, but I hope you’ll find the time to listen to it. It’s a really neat story.

And while I have your attention, can we just look at this from a different perspective that I can’t define? Like, let’s pull back a little bit on the timeline, and take a longer view than we normally would right now.

This story was written by a woman, in 1936. CL Moore is one of the first women to be published as a science fiction and fantasy writer. I can’t even imagine what a challenge it was to get her work, which is brilliant, past the editors in those days. I know she used initials and wrote under male pseudonyms, and while I hate that she had to do that, I’m so grateful that she did.

That this work exists at all is a wonderful testament to her talent and the editors who refused to be as sexist as the world generally was then (and still is, in modern ways, today).

I’m sure, in her incredible, gifted, magnificent imagination, she never even considered for a second that, almost 100 years into her future, someone whose parents weren’t yet born would take her work, bring it to life in a unique way, and then distribute that new work to anyone who wants it, in the world, without even getting out of my desk chair.

What amazing thing is sitting just over our horizon? What amazing thing is waiting for our grandchildren that we can’t even imagine right now? Why aren’t we doing more to protect our planet and each other, so our grandchildren don’t have to live in some apocalyptic nightmare?

The world is so dark right now. Fascism is on the rise all over the world, and has been taking root in America for some time. People are getting sick and dying for no good reason, while selfish people refuse to make sacrifices to prevent those deaths from happening. People are scared and struggling, and selfish, venal men refuse to lift a finger to help them, because offering that help now, when our lives and homes and careers are at risk, would prove that it really is possible in America to support our population in a way that is similar to the social democracies across Europe.

It’s such a terrible time, and I need to remember to keep looking for the helpers, or I’ll despair so much I may never come back from it.

So one way to maintain perspective, a different perspective, is to look at this recording and recognize what its existence says about the human spirit, what we’ve gotten through in the past as a collective and as individuals, and that there is hope for our future. Maybe there is someone whose parents aren’t yet born who will take my interpretation of CL Moore’s Tree of Life and do something with it 100 years from now.

It is unlikely that my work will outlive me, or even endure as long as I manage to stay alive. It would take something truly remarkable for this thing I recorded today to find a new life in 2120, but the possibility is so enticing, so inspiring, so much like the ideas that powered the fantastic, weird fiction I love so much from the 20th Century, I’m going to go ahead and allow it.

https://soundcloud.com/wil-wheaton-1/radio-free-burrito-presents-the-tree-of-life-by-cl-moore

www.gutenberg.org/files/32850/32850-h/32850-h.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Smith
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._L._Moore
www.pgdp.net/c/

What a Tragedy.

America had come together, setting aside all of our own wants and needs, to engage in the single greatest act of human kindness in history. We all stayed home, at great expense and inconvenience, so the most vulnerable among us wouldn’t die a preventable death.

I want you to think about this for a moment, before I continue: there is someone you love, who is at risk of serious infection and death,right now. I am staying home for that person, so you don’t lose someone you love. I am not the only person doing this. You’re doing this. Your family and your neighbors are doing this. We are, all of us, doing this, together, even though it is hard, it is scary, it is frustrating.

But we are doing it, together, because we care about our fellow humans.

A strong, moral, ethical, worthy leader will look at this tremendous sacrifice and ask themselves how they can honor it, how can they keep this going as long as possible, so the sacrifices we’ve made for a few weeks can be extended into months. We are doing this so people do not die.

That bears repeating: we are doing this so people we love do not die a preventable death.

America has the resources to ensure that staying home does not financially ruin anyone who is making this incredible, unprecedented, unselfish sacrifice right now. What America does not have, is the leadership to use those resources.

What America has is a vicious, selfish, incompetent, cruel, abusive, autocratic, impeached president who looked at all this sacrifice, who looked at Americans of all demographics and political beliefs, and saw an entire country setting aside its differences to work together so innocent people — people we love — do not die.

This man looked at that, and saw that it was a threat to his ambitions. Forget for a moment that it is entirely his fault that thousands of preventable deaths have occurred, and just reflect that his impulse is NOT to encourage and comfort millions of people who are scared and stressed out, but to hurt us, to abuse us, to risk our lives and the lives of our loved ones, because that man has no empathy, no compassion, no morality of any kind.

Thirty-three thousand humans have died in America since this pandemic hit our shores. According to scientists, 90% NINETY PERCENT of those deaths would not have happened, if only Trump had listened to experts and taken this seriously. If only Trump was a real leader, with compassion, empathy, and competence, tens of thousands of families would not be mourning the loss of a loved one.

America had come together to fight this. We mustered ourselves quickly and we were ready for a leader to help us take this commitment to join together and focus it, so we could get through this crisis as quickly as possible, with minimal disruption.

But the impeached president and his allies failed us. As they have done all along, they have put their narrow self interests ahead of the interests of the country, and ahead of the value of your life.

He is, right now, celebrating a fake “protest” that was organized and paid for by a right-wing organization controlled by the DeVos family. Right now, he is taking people’s fears and anxieties, and instead of using both the bully pulpit and a working relationship with congress to reassure and help them, he’s pouring gasoline on a fire.

And he is doing it because it’s all he knows how to do. This man doesn’t know how to be a leader. He doesn’t know how to be a human being who cares about others. He looked at an entire country coming together, and his impulse was to tear it apart.

Donald Trump looked at the single greatest act of human kindness in the history of our species, and he felt threatened by it. So he is doing everything he can to destroy it, to destroy us.

And for what? To consolidate his own money and his own power.

Rick Wilson says “everything Trump touches dies”. For tens of thousands of innocent Americans, he’s right.

A leader looks at the best impulses of their people in a crisis, and they celebrate, encourage, and support those impulses. A president cares about protecting their citizens above all else.

Trump is neither of those things. Trump is an abusive despot, out of his depth, incompetent and unqualified.

May history record that, when millions of Americans came together, unselfishly, in the greatest act of human kindness in history, Trump saw a threat to be destroyed.

We are nowhere near the end of this. We are probably not even at the end of the beginning of this. Trump, his fearful supporters, and his angry cultists, are going to make things so much worse than they would have been, because it’s all they know how to do.

What a tragedy.

When public health becomes a casualty of the right-wing culture war, innocent people will die.

As we watch right-wing agitators, Fascists, media personalities, and the impeached president howl about ending Stay at Home before the public health experts say we should, remember that, as a SPECIES, we are only as safe as the least-protected person among us.

I am so grateful to live in a city, county, and state that has leadership that understands that. I can practice responsible social distancing, I can stay at home, and I can be a responsible and compassionate member of society, knowing that I’m supported by my local and state government.

I am terrified that right wing state governments will end Stay At Home before the public health experts say it’s safe to do so, and even places like Los Angeles, which are sort of politically insulated from the worst impulses of the Fascists in the federal and various state governments, will be right back to where we were when this all started, and all this Stay at Home we’ve all been responsibly doing, because we care about our neighbors and loved ones, will be for nothing. I can’t even imagine how terrifying it must be to live in a place like Michigan, where we see the profoundly ignorant, following the profoundly evil, hearing the call to turn public health — the very life and death of our fellow humans — into just another part of the culture war.

It is deeply irresponsible, sociopathic behavior, and it is sadly predictable.

The only thing Republicans care about is their own wealth and power, and if people have to die so they can accumulate even more, they are entirely okay with that. If the right people die (according to their racist, xenophobic worldview), that’s a bonus. It’s sickening.

I mean, can you even imagine believing that “only” 1.28 MILLION CHILDREN DYING is entirely acceptable, so shareholders can get a little more money this quarter. That’s a true thing that happened. That snake oil grifter Dr. Oz said that. He’s totally fine with 1.93 children dying, and he doesn’t even have the self-awareness or compassion to realize what a ghoulish, reprehensible, indefensible statement that is.

But if your children, your parents, your neighbors, YOU, have to die so Trump can infect us with his brand of Fascism for another four years, if someone you love has to die so a billionaire can shove a little more money into their pocket, that’s entirely acceptable.

So hey, here’s an idea for Trump cultists: if you’re cool with “only” some percentage of people dying preventable deaths, you go first. It’s worth it, because the Dear Leader says so. Infect yourself to own the Libs!

See how fucking insane that sounds? How callous, how selfish, how just fucking horrible that is? Good. Your revulsion to that statement proves that you’re a good person. I’m glad you’re here. There are more of us than there are of them, and we who are lucky enough to live in a city, town, county, and/or state that has responsible, public-health-minded officials leading us have to do what we can to help protect our brothers and sisters who don’t.

These right-wing agitators are going to create civil unrest, and they are going to get innocent people killed, because they are the Useful Idiots for people like Trump and his transnational crime syndicate, masquerading as a government.

Don’t let these people hurt you and your loved ones. Stay safe, everyone. Stay home. Stay healthy.

New York Times Number One Best Selling Audiobook Narrator Releases Free Audiobooks During Stay At Home

It occurs to me that, if I were better at marketing myself, I’d be writing and sending out press releases titled, “New York Times Number One Best Selling Audiobook Narrator Releases Free Audiobooks During Stay At Home” because I’m having so much fun reading and recording these things (today, the dogs really joined in), and I want them to find as wide an audience as possible. I don’t know anyone else in my line of work who is doing this sort of thing, and I think that it’s kind of a cool thing to do. I suppose I should have a conversation with my team.

Today’s story is from 1956, and it feels like one of those 90s anthology shows, like Outer Limits or Perversions of Science. It’s a whole lot of fun.

If I may: are you listening to these things? I’m unclear on the size and enthusiasm of the audience, and I’m curious.

Gamers vs. COVID-19

My upcoming eSports competition show, Gamemaster, has been delayed like everything else, but the people involved wanted to use the resources they had already mustered for production to do some good at a moment in time when it’s so desperately needed.

So we’re organizing to 3D print what we can for our frontline healthcare workers!

“As the spread of COVID-19 continues to impact us all, GAMEMASTER takes solace in friends, family and the indomitable spirit of our players, cast, crew and brand partners. When Reagan Stewart, web developer and an overall tech guru for GAMEMASTER, brought the idea of our team helping to make, distribute and organize PPE for medical professionals as they experience shortages, we immediately saw a way that we could help. Thanks to our amazing and generous brand partners, we have not only been able to set up a 3D print operation in Atlanta, but, we have also developed a network for healthcare providers and first responders across the country to connect with makers in their community to get the specific PPE that they need, quickly and without cost. Thank you all!:”

I’m so proud, and so honored, to be part of this show. I’m so excited to share our first effort to join the fight against COVID-19. If you’d like to get into the fight with us, and add your resources to ours, we have a sign-up page, here.