Stefan Kiesbye is the author of the recently released novel Berlingeles, a dystopian cyberpunk story that conjures up names like William Gibson, Philip K Dick, Franz Kafka and the television series Black Mirror.
Stefan teaches creative writing at Sonoma State University in Northern California and Berlingeles is his sixth novel. It’s set in a future Los Angeles that has been walled in, much like Berlin back in the day, and follows the stories of Gaz, a rising member of the city’s most notorious street gang, and a 96-year-old man known only by the letter K.
Here’s a line from the synopsis of the book: “Seeking a way out of this hellish maze of sweeping slums, waves of violence, and little hope, Gaz might just have found his path to salvation, while the underworld hangs on the prophecies of blind prophet Gerut, and the rest of the lost city still smolders in the ashes of a civil war.”
And a story like that, with themes like this, combined with Stefan’s background, made for quite the chat, so hopefully you take something positive from this. Maybe the following dialogue will help you tear down whatever wall has been built around you.
PATREON EXTENSION
Listen at patreon.com/occulture
More about the virtual & augmented reality
Religion & divination
The future of the little things
Pop culture in the future
Lizard people & labyrinths in LA
Stefan chooses a city to wall himself in & the three books he’d take with him
RESOURCES
Berlingeles on Revelore Press: https://revelore.press/product/berlingeles/
Berlingeles on IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781947544086
Berlingeles on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DwPtYG
Stefan’s website: https://stefankiesbye.com/
Stefan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/skiesbye
DONATE
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MERCH
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MUSIC
Vestron Vulture - “I Want to Be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)”: https://soundcloud.com/thevulturex/2-i-want-to-be-a-robot-tribute
Occams Laser - “Martyr Farker (Occulture Edit)”: https://occamslaser.bandcamp.com/track/martyr-farker
PRODUCTION & LICENSING
This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode
Executive Producers: Mike K., Carter Y., Mauricio G., Alyssa S., Daniel R., Kelly C., Kaleb H., Bruce H., Corey T., David G., Jeremy V., Marcelo T., Christopher B., Leonidas, Timothy W., Caleb C., VH Frater RC’s Hermetic Study Group, Nick F., Michael Q., Jamaica J., Mute Ryan, John W., Paul S., Andy E., James B., Colleen F., Ed O.
REMINDER
Love yourself. Think for yourself. Question authority.
