A treat for readers for this episode. Since this is the first freshly written (from scratch) material from this year, I have decided to post the entire 56 (paperback) page episode directly here in the website for a limited time.
(If you want to see earlier episodes/chapters, refer to the substack links in the other episode posts, or else go directly to paywall site https://chroniclesofxeowoolfe.substack.com/ )
This is the most mature of the writing of the series with part II (only) being completely new material. Although Part II is brand new material, it is also the second half of an episode started in 2017 (that's part I) which I 70% rewrote and polished earlier this month, and so it is anchored in an initial plotline and story arc that was developed while my head was buried in a PhD about the philosophy of information.
In the second half of the episode I aimed to be as surprising and off-the-wall as it is possible to be after so many decades of brilliant writers producing so many amazing science fiction stories and so much good comedy writing for screen.
Readers will notice that the story arcs and threads are really starting to multiple by Part II, and the overarching story arc of the entire mis en scene is beginning to hazily materialise. Of course this is postmodern informationist comedy, and so while I am seeking to satisfy science fiction audiences and future movie fans, the overarching arc happens differently due to the postmodern and episodic nature of the text. Metanarratives, or grand narratives, do not really postmodern tales make. The compromise I shot for, which I hope became the mother of entertaining invention, involves a very hazy and ambiguous overarching arc that is pregnant with intertextual references and tropes from science fiction noir, space opera, and cyberpunk genres.
I hope that you enjoy both Part I and Part II of Episode 5 of The Chronicles of Xeo Woolfe: Signification Blues.
