Halloween special: The dead don't think
Greetings of the spooky season!
You are surprised to be getting this, because you forget that, in a distant passed legendary age, you signed up for my newsletter. (“Me” in this case being David Chapman, more or less.)
The newsletter is supposed to announce new writing on Meaningness, In the Cells of the Eggplant, and eleventy-nine other websites. Including Buddhism for Vampires. You forgot all about that, because I haven’t published anything new anywhere since February.
But it’s Halloween! So there is a new chapter of my serial, tantric Buddhist vampire romance novel, The Vetali’s Gift.
The new chapter is “The dead don’t think.” I am pleased to announce a unique milestone in publication history: never before has pulp horror fiction interrupted itself to present meditation instructions. You can participate in this epoch-defining event by giving them a try.
In this chapter, our hero also finally understands the full horror of his situation. Or at least, more of the horror of his situation than before. Or… well, the horror of his situation still doesn’t make a lot of sense to him, but he gets somewhat of a clue, and there’s plenty of loathing and corpses and gore and good stuff like that. Plus there’s meditation instructions.
If the full horror of the chapter doesn’t make sense to you either, or if the meditation instructions don’t, I have written a metablog post that may help: “Roaring Silence.” That explains where “The dead don’t think” came from, and something about what it means. And also where The Vetali’s Gift as a whole came from, and something about what it means. And also it suggests a some things to read elsewhere if you’d like to learn more.
One of them is also new as of today! My spouse Charlie Awbery has just published a book of practical meditation instructions in the Dzogchen style. It is Opening Awareness, and it’s free on the web.
That form of meditation is rather different from what you may find elsewhere. It’s vivid, clear, joyful, expansive, and eventually effortless. Perhaps occasionally horrifying as well.
Oh! Also just out: A podcast with Charlie, in dialog with Christopher Lövgren, on no-b.s. meditation and its role in life.
Happy Halloween,
David