we are pattern-forming critters

I have had a lovely peaceful relaxing day in which I have done very little.

I am also very much enjoying Halting State by Charles Stross.

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In the Neomythic Age

(Written as a Foreword to Suppressed Transmission 2, by Ken Hite.)

In the Pretabloidal Era, when the steam that blew up Thera
Started Solon on a tale of Once Upon,
Plato first, and Donnelly too, then Mr Churchward with his Mu
Blew it up again into Atlantis Gone

Now, there's never been a story that somebody couldn't quarry
For a wagonload of iron-pyrite ore
There's a lizard in the loch! There's a Bigfoot down the block!
And each time they're bigger than the time before

We are pattern-forming critters; dangling ends give us the jitters
And the truth is that it happens pretty often
There's a stunning declaration of a shocking revelation
In the recipe for Strudel mit Kartoffeln

Yellowed papers flake off hints and faded photos offer glints
Of a doppelganger world behind the fog
But clues are where you find 'em, and the chap who walks behind 'em
May spot giant footnotes on the Holmesward bog

What frightens you? What's groovy? Shouldn't life be like a movie?
Will Paul be dead if you reverse the song?
It's the thrill of exploration, and the shining exaltation
Of knowing everyone but you is wrong.

Grab your therapeutic magnets and your psychic Aunty Agnes
As seen on television of the night
Here's a second thrilling season of the dreams of sleeping reason
And every single one of them is Hite.

-- John M Ford