OCCULTURE 112: Stefan Kiesbye // Ancestral Trauma, White Picket Paranoia & The Black Mirror Cyberpunk Dystopia

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 Berlingeles on IndieBound Berlingeles on Amazon Stefan’s website Stefan on Twitter   DONATE If recurring monthly support via Patreon isn’t your thing, we do accept one time-donations via PayPal, Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple. Every little bit helps. Click here if you’re interested.   MERCH We recently released new merch! Check it out on our website or at our Etsy shop.   SOCIAL Twitter Instagram Facebook Tumblr   MUSIC Vestron Vulture - “I Want to Be a Robot (Tribute to Giorgio Moroder)” Occams Laser - “Martyr Farker (Occulture Edit)”   PRODUCTION & LICENSING This podcast is produced in the Kingdom of Ohio and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International 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.