Hylozoic by Rudy Rucker Read Free Book Online

metanovel; I wasfishing. Looks like the move went fine. You still eating? I brought a fresh cuttlefish.” He presented Jayjay with a chicken-sized squidlike creature. “All gutted and ready to grill.”
    â€œI’ll put it on,” said Jayjay, wearily. “We’ve still got a little meat, too.”
    â€œHow’s my metanovel doing?” Thuy asked Darlene. Darlene was a kind of publisher, helping to distribute the data files of metanovels. She’d marketed Thuy’s first effort,
Wheenk
.
    â€œGreat,” said Darlene. “Metanovels are to novels as forty-foot totem poles are to the pocket-sized amulets that Native Americans made before they had steel axes. That’s my new sales slogan.”
    â€œYou could tighten the phrasing,” said Thuy. “But the concept is good. Let me tell you about the sequel I’m working on.”
    â€œDo you like to surf?” Momotaro asked Mabel meanwhile. “I could take you out tomorrow.”
    â€œMaybe,” responded the willowy teen. She regarded Momotaro, considering her options. “Is it easy?” She had a slightly detached demeanor, as if life were a show she was watching.
    â€œSure,” said Momotaro. “The surfboards can think—and the surfers can teleport. It’s a blast. Even little grommets like Bixie can ride the gnarliest spots.”
    â€œWell, okay,” said Mabel. “I guess I’d like it.”
    â€œI might come, too,” put in Thuy, overhearing them. “I could use a day off from thinking about the move.”
    Before Momotaro could answer, Kittie came orbiting into the range of the firelight, disheveled and grinning. “You will not believe who I was just talking to, Thuy!”
    â€œTo Lureen?” said Thuy, not all that interested.
    â€œNo, no,” said Kittie. “To a stranger.”
    â€œIn our woods?” said Jayjay uneasily. “Crap. I hope people aren’t hopping here to harass us.” He didn’t want to get into thepossibility that Kittie might have encountered a flying manta ray.
    â€œIt was Hieronymus Bosch,” said Kittie, a thrill running through her voice. “I know it was really and truly him because he let me teep into his mind. I have so many ideas for my paintings now. I wish he would have stayed longer.”
    Jayjay did a quick, anxious scan of the woods. He wasn’t seeing any strangers out there. Nektar and Lureen were sitting on a patch of moss sharing a bottle of champagne. More than likely Kittie was drunk. He peered into her bloodstream. Yes, definitely.
    â€œCalm down, Kittie,” said Thuy. “You’re talking about—the medieval painter? What you really mean is that you saw, like, some Renaissance Faire type guy wearing a costume, right?”
    â€œIt was Bosch the great painter,” insisted Kittie. “Or the Hibrane version of him. He calls himself Yeroon. I teeped him some of my work. It all happened so fast. And then he said he had to go home. He turned sideways and disappeared. Did I mention that he was thirty feet tall?”
    â€œThat would be a Hibraner, all right,” said Jayjay. Everything was going nuts today. “Did you happen to see any flying manta rays?”
    Kittie didn’t even hear this. She was deep into her recollections of her big encounter with the Hibrane Bosch. “He liked my van painting of the woman and the squid,” she said, smiling. “I teeped it to him. And he showed me how to paint heads running around on two legs. It was like meeting God.”
    â€œAh, there you are,” said Lureen, wobbling into the firelight. “Let’s go, Kittie. Nektar’s onboard. We’re having a sleepover at my place.”
    â€œFine,” said Kittie, not quite so interested in Lureen as before. “Did you see Yeroon Bosch talking to me? A guy in a velvet hat, thirty feet tall?”
    â€œYou can tell us about it in bed.”
    And