145. Shaine Greenwood | Transfiguration, existentialism, and sci-fi explorations

Arts Calling

Weekly Shoutout: Listen to the latest episode of MyBadPoetry Podcast!

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*Just a heads up: this episode includes strong language at times.

Hi there,

Today I am so excited to be arts calling author and game designer Shaine Greenwood! (shainegreenwood.com)

About our guest:

Shaine Greenwood is a Washington State-based author and game designer. His heart is buried in writing outlandish science fiction, gripping dystopian tales, and the occasional slice of literary fiction. He loves satire and social commentary (who doesn’t?) but believes that the foundational elements of a story shouldn’t be sacrificed to convey a deeper message—any story worth its merit must be entertaining at face value while reaching for complexity. When Shaine isn’t taking in the beautiful Washington landscape on a hike or backpacking trip with his lifelong partner, he can be found designing or playing board games with friends and family or tending to his mushroom cultivation hobby—mostly shiitake, lion’s mane, and portobello. Mycelium are one of the most fascinating and diverse living things on Earth, aside from humans. Aside from this collection of short stories, Shaine has written a collection of existentialist poems titled Fires Under the Great Neural Sky. You can find more information about his works, including his art, on his websites:

•Writing and art: shainegreenwood.com •Board games: https://otherworld.games

Thanks for this wonderful conversation, Shaine! All the best!

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TRANSFIGURATION, now available here: https://books2read.com/u/bp1nnl

An alien from Area 51, a manufactured human, a human infused with the power of the sun, death on the terrifying and beautiful edge of space. These fourteen stories take us to the precipice of change, from the physical, mental, and spiritual to the larger and more nebulous moral and societal changes that transfigure us in myriad ways. The winds of change often arrive unexpectedly and with an unpredictable gusto. Throughout our lives, our bodies, minds, and souls evolve in a variety of ways. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not. Regardless, one certainty about change remains: We can’t control how or when it arrives on our doorstep.

This collection contains stories of people coming to terms with their mortality and the transition to death. Some meet their fates calmly and are pleasantly surprised, as is the case in Zero Percent—where misfortune falls Khana Lewis, leaving her drifting alone in space—and Ride or Die—where an alien rights activist husband and wife embark on a mission to rescue extraterrestrials from Area 51. Others gasp at their last breaths with fear or regret, like in Progeny—where a scientist throws her accomplished career away to illegally manufacture an evolution of humanity.

There are also stories of societal flux and the aftermath of such in Holographic Forefathers—where scientists work to make AI versions of the founding fathers to save the nation—and Patriot—which depicts a hyper-capitalistic globe from the perspectives of those loyal to the almighty dollar and those fighting to overcome it. Others, like Walt Whitman and The Sun and the Shepard, explore the warping of the body and mind into something new and how these changes affect the ever-shifting nature of relationships.

How will these characters be redefined under the weight of change? How will they become transfigured? How might you, if in their shoes?

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Arts Calling is produced by Jaime Alejandro (cruzfolio.com).

HOW TO SUPPORT ARTS CALLING: PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW, OR SHARING THIS EPISODE WITH A FRIEND! YOUR SUPPORT TRULY MAKES A DIFFERENCE, AND I CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO LISTEN.

Much love,

j