The coolness that is Austin

Austin, Texas, has been a very cool place for science fiction fans and weirdo nerds for a long time. There was a colony of hot SF writers associated with the place such as Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner. For many years, my favorite SF writers were Sterling and Kim Stanley Robinson; Sterling published a fanzine of literary commentary for awhile, and for many years, Robinson refused to read anything Sterling wrote because he resented some of the criticism in that commentary. Everything connects.

Long before I started a blog devoted to Robert Anton Wilson, my wife, then my girlfriend, had an early clue that she was involved with a weirdo when we journeyed to Austin, Texas, to attend a Dec. 31, 2000, New Year's Eve party at Bruce Sterling's house. At the time, Sterling published an email list, the Viridian list, which aimed to make "going green" a cool fashion statement, and he invited everyone on the list to attend his party. I could not resist entering 2001 at a party given by a cool SF writer, so we drove to Austin from Texas. It was a little awkward when people who actually knew Sterling would ask me, "So, how do you know Bruce?"

My favorite catalog in all of the world came from FringeWare Review; I wish I could buy more of their phony "Area 51" windshield stickers, the ones that would supposedly get you "waved right through" the gate of the government's secret base.

Anyway, this is all by way of explaining how excited I was when I recently learned about an interview with Robert Anton Wilson that took place in Austin, Texas. It's not available on rawilsonfans.com, and I believe I am the first person to reprint it on the Internet. It starts tomorrow.