disinformation | death equinox 1999

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death equinox 1999
by Nick Mamatas (nillo@agoron.com) - July 28, 2002

Let me know when it's done so I can look and scream in terror.
~~ Jasmine Sailing (referring to this dossier)

Most people who run literary/arts/science fiction/whatever conventions deserve to be tortured in front of the attendees. Only one con has done it though, Death Equinox. Started in 1997 by Jasmine Sailing, editor of the magazine 'Cyber-Psychos AOD' (AOD is "and other diversities"), writer and masochist, 'Death Equinox' is a celebration of fringe culture, autumn, and the giant jellyfish from space who will one day return and elevate the masses.

Previous years' DE conventions have already seen writers Don Webb and John Shirley debate Right vs. Left Hand Paths of magic; Chair Tyrant Jasmine Sailing being jabbed with heated needles, flogged and tied to a rack while doing a dramatic reading; a Church of the Subgenius Devival and the yearly award ceremony of the Cyber-Psychos subculture: The Idiot Savant. Now doesn't that sound a lot more fun than listening to aging science fiction fans drone on about warp engines versus wormholes, or meeting your writer hero's paunch ten seconds before you get to see the rest of him? At Death Equinox, you might just get to check out your favorite author's genital piercing instead.

Death Equinox avoids the bi-coastal 'fringe' of million dollar record deals and 'underground' films showing five times a day at the local Googolplex, by planting itself right in Denver, Colorado. Instead of fans marching from dealer's halls to conference rooms to hear the Gospel According To Some Nerd With Every Episode Of Babylon 5 On Tape, any member of the con can apply to be part of the programming, suggest panels and make their mark as something other than a dull-witted spectator. Unfortunately, there will be no Torture Reading this year (1999), but there will be robots trying to kill one another. Leave your Chewbacca costume at home, fanboy, and jump on in!

Late Update:

"I actually AM doing a torture reading. There was a big vote and everyone but me voted yes. Oh well. And I'd thought I was getting boring . . ."
~~ Jasmine Sailing, 26 August 1999

The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.

Our Blasted Lady Of The Jellyfish: First Church Of Cnidaria
Cnidaria is a church. Its members worship jellyfish. Well, giant jellyfish. From outer space. Stop staring at me!

Little Fyodor's Home Page
Musical genius, KGNU disk jockey and Death Equinox staple. This page is mostly links of reviews, articles, playlists from his radio show, and ordering information for his music. Also provides a link to his radio station.

Automatism Press
Home of the excellent 'zine 'Morbid Curiosity' and a few books, publisher Loren Rhoads is another DE staple. The latest issue of 'Morbid Curiosity' also has an article by Jasmine Sailing, an excerpt of which is available off of this page.

The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence At Home
So, the SETI program is outsourcing to screensavers all over the country. Be the first to make contact with the giant space jellyfish! Report your findings to the proper authorities! Be dragged out of your bed in the middle of the night, bundled into a car, shot in the head and left in the desert to feed the vultures! 'Team Cnidaria' needs members. Download the software here!

Death Equinox '98 From Hour Of Slack
In the mid-1970s, an anonymous nobody by the name of Ivan Stang found himself embraced by the Stark Fist Of Removal and came face-to-face with the Messiah, J. R. "Bob" Dobbs Jr. Until the holy influence of a piece of clip art, Reverend Ivan Stang founded the 'Church Of The Subgenius'. He was a Guest of Honor at 'Death Equinox' 1998, and provides a trip report, pics of spiders crawling over naked women and even a few home movies from the event.

Lance Olsen
A lit professor from Idaho by way of New Jersey, a Cyber Psycho, a novelist, a theorist of the 'avant pop' movement, and he even teaches a course in science fiction. Why weren't my professors this cool?

The Mad Dreaming
Not just another idiot who put his novel up on a web page. Jeffrey A. Stadt's 'The Mad Dreaming' is a sequel to Stigma: After World, a crazy novella put out by 'Cyber Psychos AOD'. Online because commercial publishers are morons. Unfortunately, they are incredibly wealthy and powerful morons who are malevolent enough to make sure that small presses can't get proper distribution or inexpensive printing runs. The end result: a tactical retreat to cyberspace. Hopefully, this book will see the upside of a dead tree one day!

Death Equinox '99
The official Death Equinox Web site, featuring the official back of the official Chair Tyrant with unofficially heated official needles embedded within, leaving some official scarring. Also, membership information, guest lists, special events, and other stuff.

Cyber-Psychos AOD
The Magazine Of Mental Aberrations brought to you by Jasmine Sailing and the usual suspects, including Michael Hemmingson, Don Webb, Jeffrey A. Stadt and other people who aren't as famous as they should be. Get it.

Don Webb's Letters To The Fringe
Author and magician Don Webb, taking time out to write letters full of suggested readings, personal recommendations, and bits of his daily life, to people just like you! Check out Letter 104, which has a sizeable amount about Death Equinox, then quit your job and read the rest of the letters, until you run out of food and die right in front of your computer. It changed my life.

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