The Ishmael Gradsdovic Papers
An Introduction
by Dave Gross
The "slo.punks" (so named not because they frequented lethargic mosh pits, but from a usenet newsgroup they shared when the group had its origins with the cyberpunks of the computer science department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo) are now, like the beatniks of the 1950s or the flappers of the 1920s, more legend than history. The most enigmatic data points on the historical chart of this phenomenon are certainly the writings of Ishmael Gradsdovic, who was there through the glory days of this "pantheon without saints, utopia without a blueprint, commune without a territory, and revolution without revolt" as it was later called.
The writings defy a theme, although it would be incorrect to say that they are unrelated. Fantastic fiction mingles with journalistic fact in a literary pot-luck that also includes letters, erotica, and experimental word art. But taken as a whole, this corpus does what no other verbal lasso during or since has been able to do -- engage the reader in the experience of being present at the "punk generation"'s brightest hour.
The writings included in this collection have been assembled from letters sent and received by Gradsdovic, from email and usenet contributions retrieved from archives, and from a chaotic assortment of scraps of paper and journal excerpts found among the possessions in the care of his friend, Dave Gross.
The order in which these are presented is somewhat arbitrary, although
somewhat chronological. Proper names (except those of well-known
public figures) have been replaced in the text with arbitrary letters so
as to protect the sensibilities of those of Gradsdovic's contemporaries
who are still living and who are not always treated favorably (or even
coherently) in the texts.
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