Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

“I hope this does not disturb you.” Goqowy preferred to keep his eye tentacles withdrawn when they were thinking, only extending them from their central mass and taking in visual information when they had a question or were ready to make a statement. “I’ve been told that some do not know where to look when I have withdrawn my eyes. I personally suggest looking at my center of mass, but I make no judgments if you choose to look elsewhere. After all, how would I know?”

“It’s less a question of where to look than it is a question of what to do, Dr. Goqowy,” Célia said. “I hope you understand that these ethical charges are very serious.”

“And I hope you understand the value of the work we are doing here,” Goqowy replied. “Myopic focus on research and development is the only way to progress understanding. All other considerations are secondary. I can also function as a convenient scapegoat, if you like. Blame me for any ethical oversights, and I will not be perturbed in the least.”

“But this is the sort of thing that gets people up in arms,” said Célia. “Vivisection of sentient beings? Lack of informed consent? Pressure testing, and-”

“Very well, I see that you are going to insist on being tiresome.” Goqowy extended his tentacles, displaying both his color eyes and his light/dark eyes. “If your people are not interested in my research, I have an offer on file from Rigel IX. They have offered me a lab with full equipment and leave to continue any research. Only inertia and the bother of moving have kept me here. If you like, I can take them up on this offer, which includes my staff and in-progress data.”

Célia, flabbergasted, could only stutter “B-but…!”

“I learned long ago that the ignorant are constantly interested in betraying the best interests of science and learning,” Goqowy continued. “I never start a new position without a firm offer for another in reserve. It’s hoe I came to be here. Now, if there’s nothing else, I have to dissect someone in an hour.”

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Iabu IV was a world uniquely suited to colonization by both the human and ob’Thu peoples, with conditions very favorable to one at the terminator and very favorable to the other at both poles, though both could exist with some discomfort elsewhere. A strategic world in the rivalry between the two great powers in the Local Cluster, it was also the unlikely birthplace of a third, the iphigenids, which would eventually come to dominate the sector for a time despite a population that never exceeded 100,000.

The ob’Thu colony leader on Iabu IV sought to gain an advantage through a Trojan horse of sorts; using the very mature ob’Thu bioengineering infrastructure, it created a being that had the external appearance of a human but with an ob-Thu anatomy, with a consciousness and environmental tolerances that could easily exist in both spheres. This being, Iphigenia, was offered as an ambassador to bridge the gap between the two colonies.

In reality, she was a powerful telepath and intended as a tool for espionage.

Iphigenia proved to be far more resourceful than the ob’Thu had intended, however, and engineered a coup that placed the entire world in her hands. Positioning herself as the high priestess of a new caeseropapist order, Iphigenia then created “children” using the same basic template; these children were different in that they were capable of reproduction and bred true. They were also capable of mating with humans and exchanging quasiplasmids like ob’Thu. The resultant offspring possessed the unique bioengineered combined consciousness but otherwise resembled “full-blooded” members of either species, albeit with total sterility.

In this way, the iphigenids were able to infiltrate, topple, and control a third of the colonial governments in the Local Group in less than a generation. Both human and ob’Thu regarded them as an existential threat but failed to unify against them, and it was not until the Demicide Wars that their sectors were captured, though rumors persist even today of iphigenids in hiding.

Their rule left a mixed legacy. Other than the requirement to offer allegiance, moderate taxes, and religious primacy, the iphigenids asked little of their subjects and did much to improve infrastructure and reduce infighting. However, their attempts to integrate humans and ob’Thu into a single society was an abject failure, and intense sustained violence between the two–followed by brutal reprisals from the iphigenids–marred their legacy for many. There is also no dispute that they saw themselves as innately superior to those under their rule, and had very condescending attitudes toward human and ob’Thu alike.

They also tightly controlled their own reproduction and ruthlessly killed all but the fittest of their children, leaving them highly vulnerable to population bottlenecking and forfeiting any chance of ever out-competing the more fecund humans and ob’Thu. But their claim of superiority resonated with many, and to this day they are still worshiped by some–in fact, the worship of iphigenids is still the largest faith among the ob’Thu, who did not have any native spirituality to speak of.

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He could feel it coming. Like a shadow stalking behind every wall, a portent in every darkness. He could see through the Veil, through fate, and knew that his beloved great-uncle was doomed even as the old man heartily chopped wood.

But it wasn’t until that dreadful phone call, crackling in his ear during a thunderstorm, that he could put words to what he had felt in his soul. It had haunted every waking hour, and here it was again.

We are all of us mortal, but his great-uncle was more mortal than most. The doodles of grim portents in the margins of all those failed engineering papers were tea leaves, and this was the final, fatal, reading.

I am sorry I did so poorly in school this semester, and for the previous seven semesters. My great-uncle just died and we were really close. Please readmit me, I have no further great-uncles to lose.

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Fig. 32 – Human Gelatin Coating
One other product that can be rendered from the biomass is a very simple gelatin powder, made from collagen and to a lesser extent bones and skins. Harvested raw materials can be prepared by curing, acid, and alkali processes to extract dried collagen hydrolysate. Note: these processes may take several weeks, and minor variations in said processes can have significant effects on the properties of the final gelatin products.

Specifically, the manufacturing processes of gelatin consists of several main stages:

1. Pre-treatments to make the raw collagen ready for the main extraction step. This will remove impurities that may have negative effects on properties of the final gelatin product.

2. Hydrolysis of collagen into human gelatin.

3. Extraction of the human gelatin from the hydrolysis mixture. This can be done with hot water or dilutes acid solutions as a multistage process.

4. A variety of refining and recovering treatments are possible. They include: filtration, clarification, evaporation, sterilization, drying, rutting, grinding, and sifting to remove the water from the human gelatin solution, to blend the human gelatin extracted, and to obtain dried, blended, and ground final product.

Once the gelatin is prepared, its most typical use is in the creation of medication capsules. The human gelatin coating is particularly useful in large or oddly-shaped capsules, as it is naturally accepted and lubricated by the body. See Fig. 31 and Fig. 33 for further details.

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“Ah, Captain Sundapur,” said Governor Cray as the elevator opened. “I’m glad I ran into you. You were at the interview, yes?”

“You can call me Manisha, Governor. We’ve worked together for long enough, wouldn’t you say?”

“Ah, right. Of course.” Cray, ruddy at the best of times, was visibly scarlet. “This is an official matter, though. You were at the interview, yes?”

“You mean with Kyhee? Yes, I was there. What of it?”

Cray shrugged. “I’ve nothing against Xulfie like her, but I’ve never trusted them.” He looked over, clearly feeling he might have gone too far, and quickly added: “It’s nothing to do with them, of course. I understand their abilities from an evolutionary standpoint, it just makes me nervous to hire her. Once I’ve unleashed Kyhee, who’s to say I won’t see her in place of my secretary, one of my aides, or even my wife? That’s the sort of intelligence that would be disastrous in he wrong hands if she were to be lured away from us.”

“Your wife? Really? That would be unusual dedication to a role, surely.”

“Oh, you know my wife,” Cray harrumphed. “The Xulfie woud have her own bedroom.”

“And don’t you think that kind of premeditated betrayal would make her, and just about any Xulfie, unemployable after the second or third mercenary backstabbing? That’s the thing about betrayal: you can only do it once before everyone starts to suspect you.”

Cray nodded. “I suppose you’re right. She wouldn’t have come to the interview at all, showed us her true form, if this Kyhee didn’t expect at least a little reciprocal trust.” The Governor tapped his temple thoughtfully. “What do you think of Kyhee the Xulfie, Captain Sundapur?

Sundapur smiled. “I am Kyhee the Xulfie, Governor. Shall we consider the interview over and discuss terms?”

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HOST: And welcome back to our second panel of the program, where we will discuss the enduring cultural presence and popularity of zombies. Joining me today are Dr. Thomas Urrrggghhh, chair of Undead Studies at the Manchester Underversity, Lydia Crowflame, a licensed resurrectionist with the American Zombie Association (AZA), and The Fleshsipper, and eldritch horror so far beyond mortal understanding that its very name is a whisper of madness on the tongues of the damned.

DR. URRRGGGHHH: Thank you, happy to be here.

MS. CROWFLAME: A pleasure.

THE FLESHSIPPER: Delightful as always.

HOST: First question, and this one is for you, Dr. Urrrggghhh. Do you think that representation of zombies in media, motion pictures especially, has improved from the days when the depiction of undead was forbidden by the Hays Code unless they were clearly evil and roundly destroyed as punishment?

DR. URRRGGGHHH: Well, we have and we haven’t. On the one hand, there are more positive depictions of zombies in films, and the entire genre of the zom-com. On the other hand, you have constant livewashing – can you name a single film featuring a speaking role for zombies that has cast an actual zombie actor?

MS. CROWFLAME: I’m reminded of a panel at Stardance about zombie films. Five living white guys up there onstage, because “no one could find a zombie filmmaker.” Until you have more undead filmmakers, more undead actors in lead roles, and more undead executives, this will keep happening. Less of a greenlight, more of a deadlight, you know?

THE FLESHSIPPER: The problem that keeps reoccurring is that zombies are seen as monolithic, with each one representing the whole, while the living are allowed to be individuals. The only true monolith is the enormity of a universe of beings that care only for universal entropy.

DR. URRRGGGHHH: I think you might find that eldritch beings are less monolithic than you think.

MS. CROWFLAME: That’s beside the point; eldritch beings that–if they ever lived–were made of no ordinary matter known to mortal ken are in a position of power and influence. So too are the living, vampires, and to a lesser extent wights and ghasts. Zombies are the other, the powerless other, in all of this.

THE FLESHSIPPER: I’m not arguing that, Lydia. Rather, I am suggesting that there are unseen and unwritten rules for those in power–like the wriggling tentacles of madness on a dark mind–that are silently and unconsciously obeyed. It may as well be a single organism, the Hollywood system, for all the conformity it enforces. Zombie culture is vibrant and varied, yet is obsessively reduced.

HOST: Do you think we’ll see this change in our lifetimes?

DR. URRRGGGHHH: That very phrase there is part of the problem. “Lifetimes?” What does that even mean to a properly risen undead?

MS. CROWFLAME: I’m going to be generous and assume you meant “existences.” I think…yes. Given what we’ve seen with other marginalized groups, once Hollywood realizes the market, they will tap into it.

THE FLESHSIPPER: Behind every mortal yet alive there are ten ghosts, and that is a powerful, untapped market. Sooner or later, we’ll start to see Hollywood try to appeal to this. The Chinese undead market especially.

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Sanctuary began as a simple crossroads, an abandoned farm that became known as a stop on the Underground Railroad. That all changed with the coming of the Civil War, which led to a major Union force encamping there for much of the conflict. A tent city grew up around the camp as former slaves and refugees crowded into the area, and by war’s end the first permanent buildings had been erected.

Though the immediate postwar years were a boomtown, such that it had a stone courthouse and the county seat by 1870, Sanctuary suffered tremendously after the end of Reconstruction and into the Jim Crow era, as it was known for being friendly and accepting for all races, colors, and creeds. From a post World War I low of less than 500 people, Sanctuary nevertheless saw its fortunes rebound during the New Deal and the immediate postwar era, with a massive influx of new settlers and residents looking for opportunities denied them elsewhere.

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I have loved you for 1,156 days.
From that moment,
You’ve surprised me,
Captivated me,
Challenged me.
I’ve fallen in love with you countless times,
Without reservation.
And today, I get to marry my best friend.
To love is not to possess,
To own or imprison,
Nor to lose one’s self in another.
Love is to join and to separate,
To walk alone and together,
To find freedom and comfort.
Together we will be ,
Who we really are – and always were,
In the very core of our being.
I promise to be true to you,
To uplift and support you,
To frustrate and challenge you,
And share with you all the beautiful moments of life.
Someday, if the stars align,
I might even laugh at your puns.
I know that my love for you will not fade,
That we will find strength in one another,
And we will continue to grow,
Side by side.
I believe in the truth of what we are,
And I will love you always,
With every beat of my heart.

I commit myself to you, filled with the love we shared during every night in spent on the couch, all the pixel-perfect worlds we’ve built together, holding your hand in an empty theater, and all the times we wrote together until our hands hurt. I pledge to love you always, with my whole heart and all my flaws, until the end of our days.

Mary’s shaking hand could barely hold her pen, and every few moments she had to hold a cloth up to catch the bloody residue of her coughs. “Have you ever known someone who was dying? Who knew they were dying and had only the last few bitter drops of wax left to their candle?”

“More than you can ever know,” said Neith. “It’s the one experience that, along with birth, unites everyone from commoners to queens.”

“Last I checked, neither of those situations see people at their best,” said Mary, her laugh rapidly turning into a ragged sputtering. “Screaming and crying on the way in as on the way out.”

“It’s true,” said Neith with a smile.

“Let me ask you something, then,” said Mary. “I’m indifferent to any notion of the hereafter. If it is, it is, and if it isn’t it isn’t. No way to know until you’re on the other side of it.”

“That’s not a question.”

“Ha! I’m getting there,” Mary said. “Fair enough. But the only kind of immortality I’ve seen is memory. You live on if people remember you, or your works. I’ve been told that my books…some of them, the earliest ones, maybe…might stand the test of time. But I’ve seen enough forgotten stories in the garbage to wonder if that’s not true. What do you say, Neith? Can I rely on the stories that angry little girl wrote to keep me around in some form or other?”

Neith thought for a moment, listening to Mary’s labored breathing. Then, softly, she spoke:

“There was once a king—a great king, perhaps the greatest of his age—who once grappled with the same problem. He was wise, he was kind, and he was just, and yet he would die all the same. ‘Why should this be so?’ he asked, and decided to put all his power into a search for immortality. He had many great adventures in doing so, and met and impressed many—even, some say, the gods themselves, if one believes such things.”

“What happened?” Mary said, a flutter of knowing in her voice matched by a clear desire to see Neith tell the story to its conclusion.

“He never found the secret to eternal life, and his story ultimately ended. But in the seeking, he lived a life that made a terrific epic all its own. It is a story that, a thousand generations later, still resonates across time. So much so, in fact, that the king’s name is among the few that are known from those far-off days, and one of the earliest names that yet survives.”

“Gilgamesh,” Mary said with a smile. “I’m not so full of myself to think my writing will last that long.”

“Neither was he,” Neith said quietly. “Neither was he.

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