#mike mikey walters | main mike walters

[ieattaperecorders]

I need this fandom to blow up just so I can see the overly complicated ao3 character tags.

Describing some of the Woe.Begone storylines is like writing that one buffalos buffalos buffalos sentence.

Like, I can't believe that Mike Walters, even after learning what Mike Walters did to Mike Walters, Mike Walters and Mike Walters, still teamed up with Mike Walters and Mike Walters (who was still shaky from consolidating with Mike Walters) to go after Mike Walters together.

[thatcakelovingwitch]

Mikey and his stand Put-Me-Down

Stand and design explanation under the cut

Put-Me-Down is at first glance just a punching based stand. However, if the stand user is dying due to fatal injuries, the stand can access an alternate version of the stand user and replace/ heal the injured one.

I tried incorporating some bear characteristics like the jaw and the bear paw. The rope in Mikey's clothing is because he gets kidnapped a lot.

[a-being-of-pure-vitriol]

Mike Walters saying quote "I'm baby" endquote is not something I was expecting to hear today though I feel I should have been

[felixcosm]

Tried to listen to woe.begone but the premise is giving too much sword art online for me to take it seriously.

Please would you sell me on it?

Happily! I never got around to watching/reading Sword Art Online so I took a quick look at the plot and I think I know what you mean.

WOE.BEGONE the game is just the first step into the world of WOE.BEGONE the podcast. While it will always play a role of introducing Mikey to the world of time travel, it will not always be in the forefront of the podcast.

Dylan, the creator, is extremely good in shaking up the status quo from season to season. Season 2 is different than Season 1 and by the time you reach Season 5 and beyond, it's like you're in a whole other story (but it makes sense how the characters ended up where they did).

Although WOE.BEGONE the game does return to the story from time to time, Season 4, 7 and 10 have major callbacks to Season 1.

What sold me on the first season was Mikey, to be honest. I'm not big on life or death games, but having a protagonist who is such a fucked up little guy who schemes and lies and kills (while whining and simultaneously bragging about it) really charmed me.

I don't think WOE.BEGONE would've worked the same way if Mikey were a good person who had morals and standards or tried to be a hero in the story.

If you want to know what you have to look forward to in the podcast, here's a list of some of my favorite things about WOE.BEGONE

it becomes more and more about cowboys. It goes from random cowboy mention to "was this show ever NOT about cowboys??"

it's a show about power. Which Mikey goes on and on about in Season 1 yeah but it really becomes more prominent as the show progresses. Characters who seem reasonable and sensible are driven to make extreme choices for their own benefits and it inevitabley affects Mike in different ways

there's this villain (not the antagonist of season 1) who ends up becoming the Main Villain of the series. He's a complex character who can both be silly and terrifying, happily make puns mid-torture and risking the timeline to save someone in the next. He's extremely gay. And British. I hate him, he's caused me so much grief <3

There will be other Mikes. It's a time travel podcast, of course you will meet other Mike Walters who are not Mikey. While at times these lead to silly and chaotic shenanigans, the relationship the main Mikes have to each other is my favorite thing in any podcast ever. Found family, but it's you, your older self, your older cowboy self, yourself at the same age but he's also a cowboy, yourself at the same age but he's chill, your older cowboy self but he's got a Giant Horse and your mysterious younger self who gets bullied by everyone else.

Plus with time travel duplicates of Mike, the topic of what it means to be yourself comes up a lot. Are you still you when you are in a different body from your own? It's fascinating and I don't think time travel stories talk about it enough.

The world of WOE.BEGONE is so much bigger than the characters in Season 1. It expands outwards until you have this crazy story about time travelers, assassins, fucked up twinks, government weapons, unethical science, bears, cowboys, and in the middle of it all is Mike Walters, a guy who found an ARG on Reddit and decided to play it on a whim.

[thermodynamic-comedian]

hi. mod of the jonah blog in question. im deeply curious please could you elaborate

DHFKFKGKR OK SO woe.begone is another fiction podcast, mostly about time travel, and (mild spoilers) the main character, mike walters, has several different versions of himself (referred to as either mikey, mike, michael, or another nickname, depending on age and trauma level) and they all interact with each other and develop brotherly bonds with each other and fight with each other and all that.

woe.begone is very fun, i highly recommend it if you have the time (it's more than 8 seasons long)

[falloutcoys]

michael WOE>BEGONE 2, 9, 15, 25

Michael my beloveddd

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

So there are. ten million. but if I had to name one, I'd say that he's a sheepdog. Both that I love that he calls himself that, because like to recognize yourself as doing that??!!!, but also the traits that caused him to identify himself like that. The protective urge for your younger self, the sacrifices he makes. SO GOOD

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Absolutely. I'd happily move to Latvia to do so lmaooo

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

Do not crucify me for this but Mike/Michael to the end

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

So, this is kind of hard to answer because like so much of the first impression was just the first impression of iterations? But, I thought he was a bit of a dick like all Mikes are. The cowboy bit was goofy at first and I thought it was funny that he would tease Mikey so incessantly by doing it

Now I have a deep appreciation for what being a cowboy begun to mean to him. I think he is one of the strongest characters in the show, both as in he is emotionally strong and that his characterization is super solid. He is probably my favorite 'main' iteration of Mike Walters

character ask game

[raccoon-eyed-rebel]

Hi! I love all your stuff very much. Especially the Mikey stories. My favourite is taking cues.

I wanted to know if you are working on anything like that, maybe even a sequel or so?

That would be awesome...

Hi lovely anon!

Thank you so much for this message! I was having a really rough morning and you definitely cheered me up! 🥰🥰🥰

Am I working on anything like taking cues? Hmm... If by that you mean: Absolute filth? Yes. Always. We're horny on main 24/7/365...

If you mean "Are you working on anything Mikey"? Then: ALSO YES!

My current (active) WIPs include:

Surfer!Mikey (Will this be a swoony, deep-sigh-inducing, substitute flashback to your eighteen year old self, on vacation in Hawaii, where you meet a gorgeous surfer who teaches you a thing or two about love? Yes.)

Photographer!Mikey (I started writing this *months* ago, it's nowhere near being finished. It requires a very specific mood. I'm not going to say much about it, but it's a little eccentric...)

A oneshot that is pure filth. (Warnings will include but may not be limited to: FFM threesome, handcuffs, pegging, sub!Mike. I don't know how this thing came into existence but it's happening. I was in a mood this weekend, alright.)

There is currently an ask from @geralts-yenn in my inbox about a road trip that I'm planning on turning into something

And a sequel to the baby brother!Mikey vs. big brother!Walter AU thing that I still need to finish...

I'm not writing (or planning on writing) a sequel to Taking Cues. I just don't have more to say about that Mikey!

Again, thank you so much for this sweet message! 🥰

And always feel free to send a request, if you have one. I can't promise I'll get to it immediately.

[flurry-bace]

Blog information!

don't forget your daily clicks!

boy who kisses boys (among others)

my name's Pluto, but you can also call me Lemonhead, Venom, or Citrus! mutuals can call me Demon or Monster too!

my sideblogs are @incorrectquoteslobby, @twins-of-disaster, and @creektail

if i suddenly stop replying while we're dm-ing/having a conversation, it's not out of malice or boredom! i go online and offline very sporadically! <3

my Spotify , my Pinterest , my Pronouns Page , my AO3

Main fandoms:

-> Lego Monkie Kid

-> Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

-> Warrior Cats

-> Sonic the Hedgehog

-> Don't Hug Me I'm Scared

-> Grishaverse

-> Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul

-> Five Nights at Freddy's

-> Stardew Valley

-> The Amazing Digital Circus

-> Life is Strange

-> Vinland Saga

-> Deadendia / Dead End: Paranormal Park

-> The Stanley Parable

-> Lookouts

Post tags:

#oof brainrot = fandom-related original posts

#pluto is my planet = any original posts

#pluto's pencil = my art

#orbiting ask = my asks

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#pluto plus = reblogs / additions

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Reblog tags:

#moot's art , #moot's writing , #mecore , #fave , #save , #tip save , #image save , #video save , #audio save , #reference save , #recipe save , #reaction save , #raccoonposting

Character / ship tags:

#macaque my boy , #lmk shadowpeach , #lmk spicynoodles , #lmk freenoodles

#future leo my love , #donichi , #shellshocked , #rottmnt donnie , #rottmnt raph , #rottmnt leo , #rottmnt mikey , #rottmnt april , #rottmnt frida #rottmnt brains and brawn , #rottmnt disaster twins , #rottmnt smarts and crafts , #rottmnt buff and bluff , #rottmnt sunset duo , #rottmnt tidepod duo , #turtle tots

#2012 raph , #2012 leo , #2012 donnie , #2012 mikey

#hawkash

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#jesse pinkman , #skyler white , #flynn white , #walter white , #gus fring , #lalo salamanca , #mike erhmantraut

#alex mullner <3

#deadpool

[thedowntown500]

The term CyberPunk came from the imagination and heart of this man, below you will find the original Cyberpunk story, from whence all others followed.

Enjoy

Cyberpunk a short storyby Bruce Bethke

Foreword (written in 1997)

And you can bet any body part you'd care to name that, had I had even the slightest least inkling of a clue that I would still be answering questions about this word nearly 18 years later, I would have bloody well trademarked the damned thing!

Nonetheless, I didn't, and as you're probably aware, the c-word has gone on to have a fascinating career all its own. At this late date I am not trying to claim unwarranted credit or tarnish anyone else's glory. (Frankly, I'd much rather people were paying attention to what I'm writing now --e.g., my Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel, Headcrash, Orbit Books, �5.99 in paperback.) But for those folks who are obsessed with history, here, in tightly encapsulated form, is the story behind the story.

The invention of the c-word was a conscious and deliberate act of creation on my part. I wrote the story in the early spring of 1980, and from the very first draft, it was titled "Cyberpunk." In calling it that, I was actively trying to invent a new term that grokked the juxtaposition of punk attitudes and high technology. My reasons for doing so were purely selfish and market-driven: I wanted to give my story a snappy, one-word title that editors would remember.

Offhand, I'd say I succeeded.

How did I actually create the word? The way any new word comes into being, I guess: through synthesis. I took a handful of roots --cyber, techno, et al-- mixed them up with a bunch of terms for socially misdirected youth, and tried out the various combinations until one just plain sounded right.

IMPORTANT POINT! I never claimed to have invented cyberpunk fiction! That honor belongs primarily to William Gibson, whose 1984 novel, Neuromancer, was the real defining work of "The Movement." (At the time, Mike Swanwick argued that the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly Imitation Neuromancer.)

Then again, Gibson shouldn't get sole credit either. Pat Cadigan ("Pretty Boy Crossover"), Rudy Rucker (Software), W.T. Quick (Dreams of Flesh and Sand), Greg Bear (Blood Music), Walter Jon Williams (Hardwired), Michael Swanwick (Vacuum Flowers)...the list of early '80s writers who made important contributions towards defining the trope defies my ability to remember their names. Nor was it an immaculate conception: John Brunner (Shockwave Rider), Anthony Burgess (A Clockwork Orange), and perhaps even Alfred Bester (The Stars My Destination) all were important antecedents of the thing that became known as cyberpunk fiction.

Me? I've been told that my main contribution was inventing the stereotype of the punk hacker with a mohawk. That, and I named the beast, of course.

[Note: If you want to find out more about the etymology of cyberpunk -- and quite a few other things, too -- take a look at Bruce's web page. Alternatively, why not just scroll down and read the story itself?]Cyberpunk

The snoozer went off at seven and I was out of my sleepsack, powered up, and on-line in nanos. That's as far as I got. Soon's I booted and got--CRACKERS/BUDDYBOO/8ER

--on the tube I shut down fast. Damn! Rayno had been on line before me, like always, and that message meant somebody else had gotten into our Net-- and that meant trouble by the busload! I couldn't do anything more on term, so I zipped into my jumper, combed my hair, and went downstairs.

Mom and Dad were at breakfast when I slid into the kitchen. "Good Morning, Mikey!" said Mom with a smile. "You were up so late last night I thought I wouldn't see you before you caught your bus."

"Had a tough program to crack," I said.

"Well," she said, "now you can sit down and have a decent breakfast." She turned around to pull some Sara Lees out of the microwave and plunk them down on the table.

"If you'd do your schoolwork when you're supposed to you wouldn't have to stay up all night," growled Dad from behind his caffix and faxsheet. I sloshed some juice in a glass and poured it down, stuffed a Sara Lee into my mouth, and stood to go.

"What?" asked Mom. "That's all the breakfast you're going to have?"

"Haven't got time," I said. "I gotta get to school early to see if the program checks." Dad growled something more and Mom spoke to quiet him, but I didn't hear much 'cause I was out the door.

I caught the transys for school, just in case they were watching. Two blocks down the line I got off and transferred going back the other way, and a coupla transfers later I wound up whipping into Buddy's All-Night Burgers. Rayno was in our booth, glaring into his caffix. It was 7:55 and I'd beat Georgie and Lisa there.

"What's on line?" I asked as I dropped into my seat, across from Rayno. He just looked up at me through his eyebrows and I knew better than to ask again.

At eight Lisa came in. Lisa is Rayno's girl, or at least she hopes she is. I can see why: Rayno's seventeen--two years older than the rest of us--he wears flash plastic and his hair in The Wedge (Dad blew a chip when I said I wanted my hair cut like that) and he's so cool he won't even touch her, even when she's begging for it. She plunked down in her seat next to Rayno and he didn't blink.

Georgie still wasn't there at 8:05. Rayno checked his watch again, then finally looked up from his caffix. "The compiler's been cracked," he said. Lisa and I both swore. We'd worked up our own little code to keep our Net private. I mean, our Olders would just blow boards if they ever found out what we were really up to. And now somebody'd broken our code.

"Georgie's old man?" I asked.

"Looks that way." I swore again. Georgie and I started the Net by linking our smartterms with some stuff we stored in his old man's home business system. Now my Dad wouldn't know an opsys if he crashed on one, but Georgie's old man--he's a greentooth. A tech-type. He'd found one of ours once before and tried to take it apart to see what it did. We'd just skinned out that time.

"Any idea how far in he got?" Lisa asked. Rayno looked through her, at the front door. Georgie'd just come in.

"We're gonna find out," Rayno said.

Georgie was coming in smiling, but when he saw that look in Rayno's eyes he sat down next to me like the seat was booby-trapped.

"Good morning Georgie," said Rayno, smiling like a shark.

"I didn't glitch!" Georgie whined. "I didn't tell him a thing!"

"Then how the Hell did he do it?"

"You know how he is, he's weird! He likes puzzles!" Georgie looked to me for backup. "That's how come I was late. He was trying to weasel me, but I didn't tell him a thing! I think he only got it partway open. He didn't ask about the Net!"

Rayno actually sat back, pointed at us all, and smiled. "You kids just don't know how lucky you are. I was in the Net last night and flagged somebody who didn't know the secures was poking Georgie's compiler. I made some changes. By the time your old man figures them out, well..."

I sighed relief. See what I mean about being cool? Rayno had us outlooped all the time!

Rayno slammed his fist down on the table. "But Dammit Georgie, you gotta keep a closer watch on him!"

Then Rayno smiled and bought us all drinks and pie all the way around. Lisa had a cherry Coke, and Georgie and I had caffix just like Rayno. God, that stuff tastes awful! The cups were cleared away, and Rayno unzipped his jumper and reached inside.

"Now kids," he said quietly, "it's time for some serious fun." He whipped out his microterm. "School's off!"

I still drop a bit when I see that microterm--Geez, it's a beauty! It's a Zeilemann Nova 300, but we've spent so much time reworking it, it's practically custom from the motherboard up. Hi-baud, rammed, rammed, ported, with the wafer display folds down to about the size of a vid casette; I'd give an ear to have one like it. We'd used Georgie's old man's chipburner to tuck some special tricks in ROM and there wasn't a system in CityNet it couldn't talk to.

Rayno ordered up a smartcab and we piled out of Buddy's. No more riding the transys for us, we were going in style! We charged the smartcab off to some law company and cruised all over Eastside.

Riding the boulevards got stale after awhile, so we rerouted to the library. We do a lot of our fun at the library, 'cause nobody ever bothers us there. Nobody ever goes there. We sent the smartcab, still on the law company account, off to Westside. Getting past the guards and the librarians was just a matter of flashing some ID and then we zipped off into the stacks.

Now, you've got to ID away your life to get on the libsys terms--which isn't worth half a scare when your ID is all fudged like ours is--and they watch real careful. But they move their terms around a lot, so they've got ports on line all over the building. We found an unused port, and me and Georgie kept watch while Rayno plugged in his microterm and got on line.

"Get me into the Net," he said, handing me the term. We don't have a stored opsys yet for Netting, so Rayno gives me the fast and tricky jobs.

Through the dataphones I got us out of the libsys and into CityNet. Now, Olders will never understand. They still think a computer has got to be a brain in a single box. I can get the same results with opsys stored in a hundred places, once I tie them together. Nearly every computer has got a dataphone port, CityNet is a great linking system, and Rayno's microterm has the smarts to do the job clean and fast so nobody flags on us. I pulled the compiler out of Georgie's old man's computer and got into our Net. Then I handed the term back to Rayno.

"Well, let's do some fun. Any requests?" Georgie wanted something to get even with his old man, and I had a new routine cooking, but Lisa's eyes lit up 'cause Rayno handed the term to her, first.

"I wanna burn Lewis," she said.

"Oh fritz!" Georgie complained. "You did that last week!"

"Well, he gave me another F on a theme."

"I never get F's. If you'd read books once in a--"

"Georgie," Rayno said softly, "Lisa's on line." That settled that. Lisa's eyes were absolutely glowing.

Lisa got back into CityNet and charged a couple hundred overdue books to Lewis's libsys account. Then she ordered a complete fax sheet of Encyclopedia Britannica printed out at his office. I got next turn.

Georgie and Lisa kept watch while I accessed. Rayno was looking over my shoulder. "Something new this week?"

"Airline reservations. I was with my Dad two weeks ago when he set up a business trip, and I flagged on maybe getting some fun. I scanned the ticket clerk real careful and picked up the access code."

"Okay, show me what you can do."

Accessing was so easy that I just wiped a couple of reservations first, to see if there were any bells and whistles.

None. No checks, no lockwords, no confirm codes. I erased a couple dozen people without crashing down or locking up. "Geez," I said, "There's no deep secures at all!"

"I been telling you. Olders are even dumber than they look. Georgie? Lisa? C'mon over here and see what we're running!"

Georgie was real curious and asked a lot of questions, but Lisa just looked bored and snapped her gum and tried to stand closer to Rayno. Then Rayno said, "Time to get off Sesame Street. Purge a flight."

I did. It was simple as a save. I punched a few keys, entered, and an entire plane disappeared from all the reservation files. Boy, they'd be surprised when they showed up at the airport. I started purging down the line, but Rayno interrupted.

"Maybe there's no bells and whistles, but wipe out a whole block of flights and it'll stand out. Watch this." He took the term from me and cooked up a routine in RAM to do a global and wipe out every flight that departed at an :07 for the next year. "Now that's how you do these things without waving a flag."

"That's sharp," Georgie chipped in, to me. "Mike, you're a genius! Where do you get these ideas?" Rayno got a real funny look in his eyes.

"My turn," Rayno said, exiting the airline system.

"What's next in the stack?" Lisa asked him.

"Yeah, I mean, after garbaging the airlines . . ." Georgie didn't realize he was supposed to shut up.

"Georgie! Mike!" Rayno hissed. "Keep watch!" Soft, he added, "It's time for The Big One."

"You sure?" I asked. "Rayno, I don't think we're ready."

"We're ready."

Georgie got whiney. "We're gonna get in big trouble--"

"Wimp," spat Rayno. Georgie shut up.

We'd been working on The Big One for over two months, but I still didn't feel real solid about it. It almost made a clean if/then/else; if The Big One worked/then we'd be rich/else . . . it was the else I didn't have down.

Georgie and me scanned while Rayno got down to business. He got back into CityNet, called the cracker opsys out of OurNet, and poked it into Merchant's Bank & Trust. I'd gotten into them the hard way, but never messed with their accounts; just did it to see if I could do it. My data'd been sitting in their system for about three weeks now and nobody'd noticed. Rayno thought it would be really funny to use one bank computer to crack the secures on other bank computers.

While he was peeking and poking I heard walking nearby and took a closer look. It was just some old waster looking for a quiet place to sleep. Rayno was finished linking by the time I got back. "Okay kids," he said, "this is it." He looked around to make sure we were all watching him, then held up the term and stabbed the RETURN key. That was it. I stared hard at the display, waiting to see what else was gonna be. Rayno figured it'd take about ninety seconds.

The Big One, y'see, was Rayno's idea. He'd heard about some kids in Sherman Oaks who almost got away with a five million dollar electronic fund transfer; they hadn't hit a hangup moving the five mil around until they tried to dump it into a personal savings account with a $40 balance. That's when all the flags went up.

Rayno's cool; Rayno's smart. We weren't going to be greedy, we were just going to EFT fifty K. And it wasn't going to look real strange, 'cause it got strained through some legitimate accounts before we used it to open twenty dummies.

If it worked.

The display blanked, flickered, and showed:TRANSACTION COMPLETED. HAVE A NICE DAY.

I started to shout, but remembered I was in a library. Georgie looked less terrified. Lisa looked like she was going to attack Rayno.

Rayno just cracked his little half smile, and started exiting. "Funtime's over, kids."

"I didn't get a turn," Georgie mumbled.

Rayno was out of all the nets and powering down. He turned, slow, and looked at Georgie through those eyebrows of his. "You are still on The List."

Georgie swallowed it 'cause there was nothing else he could do. Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.

We got a smartcab outside the library and went off to someplace Lisa picked for lunch. Georgie got this idea about garbaging up the smartcab's brain so that the next customer would have a real state fair ride, but Rayno wouldn't let him do it. Rayno didn't talk to him during lunch, either.

After lunch I talked them into heading up to Martin's Micros. That's one of my favorite places to hang out. Martin's the only Older I know who can really work a computer without blowing out his headchips, and he never talks down to me, and he never tells me to keep my hands off anything. In fact, Martin's been real happy to see all of us, ever since Rayno bought that $3000 vidgraphics art animation package for Lisa's birthday.

Martin was sitting at his term when we came in. "Oh, hi Mike! Rayno! Lisa! Georgie!" We all nodded. "Nice to see you again. What can I do for you today?"

"Just looking," Rayno said.

"Well, that's free." Martin turned back to his term and punched a few more IN keys. "Damn!" he said to the term.

"What's the problem?" Lisa asked.

"The problem is me," Martin said. "I got this software package I'm supposed to be writing, but it keeps bombing out and I don't know what's wrong."

Rayno asked, "What's it supposed to do?"

"Oh, it's a real estate system. Y'know, the whole future-values-in-current-dollars bit. Depreciation, inflation, amortization, tax credits--"

"Put that in our tang," Rayno said. "What numbers crunch?"

Martin started to explain, and Rayno said to me, "This looks like your kind of work." Martin hauled his three hundred pounds of fat out of the chair, and looked relieved as I dropped down in front of the term. I scanned the parameters, looked over Martin's program, and processed a bit. Martin'd only made a few mistakes. Anybody could have. I dumped Martin's program and started loading the right one in off the top of my head.

"Will you look at that?" Martin said.

I didn't answer 'cause I was thinking in assembly. In ten minutes I had it in, compiled, and running test sets. It worked perfect, of course.

"I just can't believe you kids," Martin said. "You can program easier than I can talk."

"Nothing to it," I said.

"Maybe not for you. I knew a kid grew up speaking Arabic, used to say the same thing." He shook his head, tugged his beard, looked me in the face, and smiled. "Anyhow, thanks loads, Mike. I don't know how to . . ." He snapped his fingers. "Say, I just got something in the other day, I bet you'd be really interested in." He took me over to the display case, pulled it out, and set it on the counter. "The latest word in microterms. The Zeilemann Starfire 600."

I dropped a bit! Then I ballsed up enough to touch it. I flipped up the wafer display, ran my fingers over the touch pads, and I just wanted it so bad! "It's smart," Martin said. "Rammed, rammed, and ported."

Rayno was looking at the specs with that cold look in his eye. "My 300 is still faster," he said.

"It should be," Martin said. "You customized it half to death. But the 600 is nearly as fast, and it's stock, and it lists for $1400. I figure you must have spent nearly 3K upgrading yours."

"Can I try it out?" I asked. Martin plugged me into his system, and I booted and got on line. It worked great! Quiet, accurate; so maybe it wasn't as fast as Rayno's--I couldn't tell the difference. "Rayno, this thing is the max!" I looked at Martin. "Can we work out some kind of. . . ?" Martin looked back to his terminal, where the real estate program was still running tests without a glitch.

"I been thinking about that, Mike. You're a minor, so I can't legally employ you." He tugged on his beard and rolled his tongue around his mouth. "But I'm hitting that real estate client for some pretty heavy bread on consulting fees, and it doesn't seem real fair to me that you . . . Tell you what. Maybe I can't hire you, but I sure can buy software you write. You be my consultant on, oh . . . seven more projects like this, and we'll call it a deal? Sound okay to you?"

Before I could shout yes, Rayno pushed in between me and Martin. "I'll buy it. List." He pulled out a charge card from his jumper pocket. Martin's jaw dropped. "Well, what're you waiting for? My plastic's good."

"List? But I owe Mike one," Martin protested.

"List. You don't owe us nothing."

Martin swallowed. "Okay Rayno." He took the card and ran a credcheck on it. "It's clean," Martin said, surprised. He punched up the sale and started laughing. "I don't know where you kids get this kind of money!"

"We rob banks," Rayno said. Martin laughed, and Rayno laughed, and we all laughed. Rayno picked up the term and walked out of the store. As soon as we got outside he handed it to me.

"Thanks Rayno, but . . . but I coulda made the deal myself."

"Happy Birthday, Mike."

"Rayno, my birthday is in August."

"Let's get one thing straight. You work for me."

It was near school endtime, so we routed back to Buddy's. On the way, in the smartcab, Georgie took my Starfire, gently opened the case, and scanned the boards. "We could double the baud speed real easy."

"Leave it stock," Rayno said.

We split up at Buddy's, and I took the transys home. I was lucky, 'cause Mom and Dad weren't home and I could zip right upstairs and hide the Starfire in my closet. I wish I had cool parents like Rayno does. They never ask him any dumb questions.

Mom came home at her usual time, and asked how school was. I didn't have to say much, 'cause just then the stove said dinner was ready and she started setting the table. Dad came in five minutes later and we started eating.

We got the phone call halfway through dinner. I was the one who jumped up and answered it. It was Georgie's old man, and he wanted to talk to my Dad. I gave him the phone and tried to overhear, but he took it in the next room and talked real quiet. I got unhungry. I never liked tofu, anyway.

Dad didn't stay quiet for long. "He what?! Well thank you for telling me! I'm going to get to the bottom of this right now!" He hung up.

"Who was that, David?" Mom asked.

"That was Mr. Hansen. Georgie's father. Mike and Georgie were hanging around with that punk Rayno again!" He snapped around to look at me. I'd almost made it out the kitchen door. "Michael! Were you in school today?"

I tried to talk cool. I think the tofu had my throat all clogged up. "Yeah...yeah, I was."

"Then how come Mr. Hansen saw you coming out of the downtown library?"

I was stuck. "I--I was down there doing some special research."

"For what class? C'mon Michael, what were you studying?"

It was too many inputs. I was locking up.

"David," Mom said, "Aren't you being a bit hasty? I'm sure there's a good explanation."

"Martha, Mr. Hansen found something in his computer that Georgie and Michael put there. He thinks they've been messing with banks."

"Our Mikey? It must be some kind of bad joke."

"You don't know how serious this is! Michael Arthur Harris! What have you been doing sitting up all night with that terminal? What was that system in Hansen's computer? Answer me! What have you been doing?!"

My eyes felt hot. "None of your business! Keep your nose out of things you'll never understand, you obsolete old relic!"

"That does it! I don't know what's wrong with you damn kids, but I know that thing isn't helping!" He stormed up to my room. I tried to get ahead of him all the way up the steps and just got my hands stepped on. Mom came fluttering up behind as he yanked all the plugs on my terminal.

"Now David," Mom said. "Don't you think you're being a bit harsh? He needs that for his homework, don't you, Mikey?"

"You can't make excuses for him this time, Martha! I mean it! This goes in the basement, and tomorrow I'm calling the cable company and getting his line ripped out! If he has anything to do on computer he can damn well use the terminal in the den, where I can watch him!" He stomped out, carrying my smartterm. I slammed the door and locked it. "Go ahead and sulk! It won't do you any good!"

I threw some pillows around 'til I didn't feel like breaking anything anymore, then I hauled the Starfire out of the closet. I'd watched over Dad's shoulders enough to know his account numbers and access codes, so I got on line and got down to business. I was finished in half an hour.

I tied into Dad's terminal. He was using it, like I figured he would be, scanning school records. Fine. He wouldn't find out anything; we'd figured out how to fix school records months ago. I crashed in and gave him a new message on his vid display.

"Dad," it said, "there's going to be some changes around here."

It took a few seconds to sink in. I got up and made sure the door was locked real solid. I still got half a scare when he came pounding up the stairs, though. I didn't know he could be so loud.

"MICHAEL!!" He slammed into the door. "Open this! Now!"

"No."

"If you don't open this door before I count to ten, I'm going to bust it down! One!"

"Before you do that--"

"Two!"

"Better call your bank!"

"Three!"

"B320-5127-OlR." That was his checking account access code. He silenced a couple seconds.

"Young man, I don't know what you think you're trying to pull--"

"I'm not trying anything. I did it already."

Mom came up the stairs and said, "What's going on, David?"

"Shut up, Martha!" He was talking real quiet, now. "What did you do, Michael?"

"Outlooped you. Disappeared you. Buried you."

"You mean, you got into the bank computer and erased my checking account?"

"Savings and mortgage on the condo, too."

"Oh my God . . ."

Mom said, "He's just angry, David. Give him time to cool off. Mikey, you wouldn't really do that, would you?"

"Then I accessed DynaRand," I said. "Wiped your job. Your pension. I got into your plastic, too."

"He couldn't have, David. Could he?"

"Michael!" He hit the door. "I'm going to wring your scrawny neck!"

"Wait!" I shouted back. "I copied all your files before I purged! There's a way to recover!"

He let up hammering on the door, and struggled to talk calm. "Give me the copies right now and I'll just forget that this happened."

"I can't. I mean, I did backups in other computers. And I secured the files and hid them where only I know how to access."

There was quiet. No, in a nano I realised it wasn't quiet, it was Mom and Dad talking real soft. I eared up to the door but all I caught was Mom saying 'why not?' and Dad saying, 'but what if he is telling the truth?'

"Okay Michael," Dad said at last. "What do you want?"

I locked up. It was an embarrasser; what did I want? I hadn't thought that far ahead. Me, caught without a program! I dropped half a laugh, then tried to think. I mean, there was nothing they could get me I couldn't get myself, or with Rayno's help. Rayno! I wanted to get in touch with him, is what I wanted. I'd pulled this whole thing off without Rayno!

I decided then it'd probably be better if my Olders didn't know about the Starfire, so I told Dad first thing I wanted was my smartterm back. It took a long time for him to clump down to the basement and get it. He stopped at his term in the den, first, to scan if I'd really purged him. He was real subdued when he brought my smartterm back up.

I kept processing, but by the time he got back I still hadn't come up with anything more than I wanted them to leave me alone and stop telling me what to do. I got the smartterm into my room without being pulped, locked the door, got on line, and gave Dad his job back. Then I tried to flag Rayno and Georgie, but couldn't, so I left messages for when they booted. I stayed up half the night playing a war, just to make sure Dad didn't try anything.

I booted and scanned first thing the next morning, but Rayno and Georgie still hadn't come on. So I went down and had an utter silent breakfast and sent Mom and Dad off to work. I offed school and spent the whole day finishing the war and working on some tricks and treats programs. We had another utter silent meal when Mom and Dad came home, and after supper I flagged Rayno had been in the Net and left a remark on when to find him.

I finally got him on line around eight, and he said Georgie was getting trashed and probably heading for permanent downtime.

Then I told Rayno all about how I outlooped my old man, but he didn't seem real buzzed about it. He said he had something cooking and couldn't meet me at Buddy's that night to talk about it, either. So we got off line, and I started another war and then went to sleep.

The snoozer said 5:25 when I woke up, and I couldn't logic how come I was awake 'til I started making sense out of my ears. Dad was taking apart the hinges on my door!

"Dad! You cut that out or I'll purge you clean! There won't be backups this time!"

"Try it," he growled.

I jumped out of my sleepsack, powered up, booted and--no boot. I tried again. I could get on line in my smartterm, but I couldn't port out. "I cut your cable down in the basement," he said.

I grabbed the Starfire out of my closet and zipped it inside my jumper, but before I could do the window, the door and Dad both fell in. Mom came in right behind, popped open my dresser, and started stuffing socks and underwear in a suitcase.

"Now you're fritzed!" I told Dad. "I'll never give you back your files!" He grabbed my arm.

"Michael, there's something I think you should see." He dragged me down to his den and pulled some bundles of old paper trash out of his desk. "These are receipts. This is what obsolete old relics like me use because we don't trust computer bookkeeping. I checked with work and the bank; everything that goes on in the computer has to be verified with paper. You can't change anything for more than 24 hours."

"Twenty-four hours? " I laughed. "Then you're still fritzed! I can still wipe you out any day, from any term in CityNet'"

"I know."

Mom came into the den, carrying the suitcase and kleenexing her eyes. "Mikey, you've got to understand that we love you, and this is for your own good." They dragged me down to the airport and stuffed me in a private lear with a bunch of old gestapos.

I've had a few weeks now to get used to the Von Schlager Military Academy. They tell me I'm a bright kid and with good behavior, there's really no reason at all why I shouldn't graduate in five years. I am getting tired, though, of all the older cadets telling me how soft I've got it now that they've installed indoor plumbing.

Of course, I'm free to walk out any time I want. It's only three hundred miles to Fort McKenzie, where the road ends.

Sometimes at night, after lights out, I'll pull out my Starfire and run my fingers over the touchpads. That's all I can do, since they turn off power in the barracks at night. I'll lie there in the dark, thinking about Lisa, and Georgie, and Buddy's All-Night Burgers, and all the fun we used to pull off. But mostly I'll think about Rayno, and what great plans he cooks up.

I can't wait to see how he gets me out of this one.

Afterword

After I sold the original story in '82, I continued to work on the story cycle, publishing bits and pieces here and there throughout the 1980's. In '89 I pulled the major chunks together into the rough form of a novel, and to my surprise and delight I sold it, to a publisher who later regained his sanity and decided not to release it.

It took me five years to recover the rights to this book. By the time I finally did, everyone in the publishing industry assured me there was no point in pursuing it further, as the market had spoken with Godlike finality: Cyberpunk was dead. There was, I was told, no possibility that another cyberpunk novel would be commercially successful, and there would never be a successful cyberpunk movie.

The novel, Cyberpunk, is now available as shareware through my website at:

http://stupefyingstories.com/

--Bruce Bethke

� Bruce Bethke 1980, 1997 "Cyberpunk" was first published in Amazing Science Fiction Stories, Volume 57, Number 4, November 1983.

Elsewhere in infinity plus:

fiction - Expendables; The Skanky Soul of Jimmy Twist.

Elsewhere on the web:

Bruce Bethke at Amazon (US) and at the Internet Bookshop (UK).

Bruce's web page��is packed with fun, fiction and more, and includes the full text of Cyberpunk, a novel based on the story which introduced the c-word to the world.

The alt.cyberpunk FAQ list starts out by acknowledging Bruce's coining of the c-word, and is full of background information and links.

Bruce's ISFDB bibliography.

[frontproofmedia]

Top Rank world champions converge in Carson, California

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By Anthony "Stacks" Saldaña

April 20, 2017

CARSON, CALIFORNIA - This Saturday April 22, Bob Arum and Top Rank Boxing bring fight fans a world championship triple header live from the Stubhub Center in Carson, California.

Headlining the event, from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, will be the undefeated WBO Featherweight Champion Oscar Valdez (22-0, 19 KO’s) as he takes on the NABO Featherweight Champion Miguel Marriaga (25-1, 21 KO's) of Arjona, Colombia. Marriaga, whose only loss came by way of decision to former world champion Nicholas Walters in June of 2015, is a solid boxer with devastating power and is looking to upset Valdez, who will be making his second defense of his title.

"We are going to fight for a world title and it is a great joy for me and for all of the Colombian people. It is a great opportunity and we must take advantage of it. We hope that everything is given to us. We are preparing very hard to make sure that title comes back to Colombia."  -- Miguel Marriaga

Valdez secured his first world title on the undercard of the Terence Crawford vs. Viktor Postol bout in July of last year. Nevertheless, Valdez knows he can't take his foot off the gas pedal and has keep winning in order to stay at the top of the featherweight division.

"Marriaga is a tough tough fighter and has a lot of experience in the ring, but that’s why we train hard to win these fights. This is the biggest, most difficult fight of my life. I want to be aggressive and take control, but I need to be intelligent while doing it. I am a world champion, but I am still hungry. I know how special this fight is and I know a win over Marriaga will make me a better champion. I’ve never worked harder for a fight. Marriaga is the real deal and we know it."  -- Oscar Valdez (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

In the co-main event, the WBO super middleweight Champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramírez (34-0, 24 KO’s), from Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, will return to action after a long layoff due to a hand injury to face Max Bursak (33-4-1, 15 KO’s) of Kiev, Ukraine. Ramirez, who won his world title in a shutout decision victory over titleholder Arthur Abraham last year on the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley, Jr. III undercard, will be making the first title defense Saturday.

"I’m ready to get back in the ring and defend my title for the first time. I know there are a lot of fighters looking to fight me and challenge for my title, but right now I’m focused on my fight against Max Bursak. Let’s see what happens after that. I’ll fight anyone. I want the best. It’s an honor to fight at Stubhub Center where there have been so many great fights. I know there will be a lot of fans supporting me."  -- Gilberto Ramirez

Also on the card is undefeated WBO junior featherweight champion Jessie Magdelano (24-0, 17 KO’s) as he also makes his first title defense against WBO latino champion Adeilson Dos Santos (18-2, 14 KO’s) of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Magdelano, who won the title last year with a unanimous decision victory over the veteran Nonito Donaire, recently revealed that Donaire has been in the gym with Dos Santos.

"When you are a world champion, you have a target on your back. Every challenger in my division wants a piece of me -- including Dos Santos. I know he has been training in Las Vegas and I heard Nonito Donaire has been in the gym with him. That will not make any difference for Dos Santos. It's hard to mimic my style. I am keeping the belt."  -- Jessie Magdelano

Lastly is 2016 Olympic silver medalist Shakur Stevenson as he makes his professional debut against Edgar Brito (3-2-1, 2 KO’s) in a scheduled four-round featherweight bout. 

"I’m so excited. I can’t wait for my pro debut. I plan on entertaining the fans."  -- Shakur Stevenson

Stevenson, 19, is the oldest of nine siblings and a Newark native who was born on the day Mike Tyson bit part of Evander Holyfield’s ear off. Stevenson won silver in bantamweight division in Rio after entering the Olympics with a perfect 23-0 international record and became the closest U.S. male boxer to win an Olympic gold medal since Andre Ward in 2004. Stevenson lost in the gold medal match to Cuba’s Robeisy Ramirez.

Promoted by Top Rank, in association with Tecate, All Star Boxing, Zapari Boxing Promotions and Antonio Leonard Productions, the world championship event will take place this Saturday, Aprill 22, at the StubHub Center in Carson, California. It will be produced and distributed live by Top Rank Pay-Per-View. 

Anthony "Stacks" Saldaña is a contributing writer for FrontProofMedia.com. You can follow him on Twitter @StacksRingside 

(Feature photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank)

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[ourskiesaboveus]

it’s the my boy !!

here is another attempt at… some kind of propaganda @doomed-bythe-narrative

vote for mike walters :) come on he already lost one election to a dog, let him at least proceed past round one of an internet poll to soothe his ego

here be spoilers... to some extent? you will be spoiled

he is a silly goofy murderer who never fails to have a very loud crisis before, during, and after a kill. he is a loving boyfriend/husband who is extremely mushy about his boyfriend/husband 24/7, except for when that partner is dead because oh! his partner is actually doomed to die on this one specific date 8 years from now and despite everyone’s best efforts, nothing can be done? and that death is used as a catalyst and justification of an entire story arc, so his husband is doomed to die to… push the narrative along? say it ain’t so.

mike has also been thrown through the metaphorical woodchipper so many times that i’m sure next episode he’ll be put through a real one. i mean he already got mauled by a bear and cut his arm and hands off. i saw propaganda for his various injuries and trauma in a reblog so i'll gloss over it

also i still can’t get over the fact that there were virtually infinite amounts of him that were ALL doomed in a fashion similar to being in a prequel when you aren’t in the main story? except they are in the main story, but not really.

so they were all trapped within a compound being endlessly tortured in unethical experiments, the usual, and one escapes. only one mikey escapes, truly. you can always hold out hope and wait for others to escape, but if they hadn’t appeared within the story outside the compound, they can’t ever escape because time travel. they could and would be in the same time period as mike, himself from five years in the future, and himself from ten years in the future. the fact that they aren’t cements their fate.

in mike’s own words: “It is going to happen no matter what any of us want. We are dolls being posed by gods. Let them play with you and get their rocks off, for God’s sake. Give up on wanting to be a real boy. That was never actually an option.”

i would write another essay but i have run out of words and i have no time :(

have some A LOT OF lyrics from woe.begone songs that fit the mood instead. i have many thoughts about them and how they relate to dooming but you will simply have to commune with the universe in order to get the thoughts my apologies i am about to pass out

“there will be nothing to sacrifice / the light’s already left from both our eyes”

“i must be the loser in some ancient war / every newest struggle i’ve never seen before / there must be someone pulling strings that wants to settle scores / i must be the loser in some ancient war”

“shackled to the future and what it has in store”

“i was marked for removal / before i first set foot through your door”

“i have been to the future / and I don't wanna scare you / but not only were you not there / they never even knew you / they didn't know me either”

“i heard there's a rainstorm coming / i heard they won't try to save me / i heard you've been wondering where I've been / and i heard giving up is enough”

“i don’t have to check the door / to know the other side is burning / who else could that be for?”

“they printed all of the good news / but I can't break it to you / because not only are the words smudged / they never could include you / they can't include me either”

“what if we were both lost and I was never found / and you were / tasked with breaking news and letting down?”

“hoarfrost in the water / surely some must die / freezing over overnight”

“how are you so sure / that i haven't already started decomposing? / how are you so sure?”

“i will try to be kind / if the soil will let me”

“and where i find / i’ve wasted my time, i wonder / if that is dying too”

“there will be no one to witness this / a circumstance where you do not exist”

“merciful, i will / grab you in my jaws to hold you / i will grab you in my jaws to hold you / but blood seeps through my jaws when I hold you”

“if i were a wise and ancient beast / could i lay claim to anything / or be a menace to be slain?”

no i didn’t just re-listen to i have been to the future and have emotions what are you talking about

Doomed by the Narrative: Side B - Round 1