So, here you are, standing at a Cosmic crossroads. You have schredded and screamed through gnarl for the past two centuries to get here, consumed an inordinate amount of mediocre coffee, and pondered the meaning of life without coming to any substantial, satiating conclusions. Trailed and trampled daily by those high-octane/radium-powered orbs piloted by radioactive kneebiters seeking salvation in the privacy of their own space cars, you’ve been forced to pitch a line through some seriously distorted ion trails around the off-camber section of Orion. Left feeling like you’ve been pedaling squares through thick layers of interstellar dust particles bigger than the bearings in that grunt bike your cousin rides, and frustrated by being constantly compelled to take the long way home through the Virgo Cluster to avoid the rush hour, you have arrived at an intersection of warp trails, with a very nice coffee shop.
Now, you have a choice to make: you can continue rambling through and around the flocks of flying cars crowding your beloved Cosmos, perhaps even try to stop the squeezing out of cycle-pilots minding their own business. Or, you could keep pedaling, out into the wild, wondrous, exciting and possibly excruciating “Zone of Avoidance” that lies beyond the Milky Way. Whatever you decide—and, certainly there’s always something in-between—the AI-SAG, a catalogue of useful tools and tales for the Interstellar, Trip-Taking, Java-Sipping Velocipedist, is here to help you on your daily or never-ending commute.
Hello, Pedaling People!
In May of this year, Elly Blue edited and published, through her amazing company, Microcosm Publishing (co-created, managed and beautifully blossoming alongside her partner, Joe Biel), Bikes, the Universe, and Everything: Feminist Fantastical Tales of Bikes and Books. And, the essay, “AI-SAG” by yours truly (brief snippet above), is included among the short stories, poetic prose and one comic in this latest edition of the wondrous and whimsical Bikes in Space collection.
Check it out here. And, while you’re visiting, take some time to peruse the multitude of “books and zines about DIY skills, food, bicycling, gender, self-care, and social justice” that Microcosm has been publishing for almost thirty years!
Pedal on, my friends!