by Rudy Rucker
Here’s a list of the titles of the paintings that I used here. I put asterisks after the titles of the paintings that were done specifically with The Big Aha in mind. The others are older works that seemed like a good fit. I do tend to think about more or less the same kinds of things year after year.
Cover: Gubs and Wormholes.*
1. Qwet Rat: Loulou and Skungy.*
2. The Coming of the Nurbs: Louisville Artist.*
3. Loofy Picnic: The Lovers.*
4. Oblivious Teep: A Night of Telepathy.*
5. Scene of the Crime: Thirteen Worlds.
6. Loulou in the Oddball: My Parents [Edited].
7. Flying Jellyfish: On My Home Planet.
8. Funhouse: He Sees the Fnoor.
9. Spreading Qwet: God’s Eye.*
10. Weezie’s Party: Fractal Skate Posse.
11. Fairyland: The Two Gods.*
12. Spotted Gub: A Gub On Her Bed.*
13. Churchill Downs: The Mr. Normals vs. The Myoor.*
14. Big Aha: Dawn.
If you want to know more about my paintings, see my paintings website, which has links for my art catalog Better Worlds, available free online and as a paperback.
www.rudyrucker.com/paintings
Coming back to the topic of publication—when you do it yourself, there’s a missing part of the equation . You don’t get a pre-publication cash advance.
I’d heard of people turning to crowd-sourcing, that is, asking the public for support but, again thinking as an older writer, I felt uneasy about this. My son and the young writer Tim Pratt encouraged me to go ahead, so I took the plunge and ran a Kickstarter fundraiser.
And it worked well. I raised an amount of money that, although not huge, was more than any of the publisher’s advances I’ve gotten for my last five or six books. Heartfelt thanks to my supporters!
Here’s a list of their chosen names, alphabetized by the first letters of each name.
@brunoboutot, @NeuroKit, Adam Kreidman, Adam L Crouse, Adam Rajski, Adrian Briggs, Adrian Magni, Adriane Ruzak, Alan Chamberlain, Alan Kurtz, Alex Baxter, Alex McLaren, Alex Schoenfeldt, Amy Denniston, Andi Hechtbauer, Andreas Winterer, Andrew Beirne, Andrew Lindsay, Andy Valencia, Anthony McDonald, Aram Morera-Mesa, Aris Alissandrakis, arjan brussee, Arthur Murphy, Austin Trunick, Baba Z Buehler, Ben Gansky, Ben Jones, Benjamin H. Henry, Benjamin Owen, Benoit Hamelin, bnewbold, Bob, Bob Schoenholtz, Borgel, Brad Omland, Brett Camper, Brett Gurewitz, Brian, Brian Anderson, Bruce Evans, Bruce Yarnall, Bryan Helm, Bryce J. Eastman, Calvin L. Stancil, Carl F Nielsen, Carlos Pascual, Casimir Couvillion, Charlie Lee, chootka, Chris Mihal, Christel e^x Davies, Christopher G. Brown, Chuck Ivy, Chuck Shotton, Cliff Winnig, Clytie Siddall, Cooper Speers, Dan Cohen FCP, Daniel Martin Diaz, Darwin Engwer, Dave Bonner, Dave Bouvier, Dave Gauer, David & Diane Shaw, David Golbitz, David Holets, David Johnston, David Pescovitz, David Rains, David T Kirkpatrick, David Wahl, Davide carnovale, Dennis Donley, Dieter P., Dino Morelli, Dirk Materlik, Don and Harriet, Doug Bissell, Doug Smith, Duncan Stewart, Ed Friese, Eileen Gunn, Emilio Rojas, Emma and Jake, Eric Gorski, Eric Poulsen, Evan Rattner, F. Jerrell Schivers, Fenrar Eterovich, foldl, Fred C. Moulton, Fred Kiesche, Gabe McCann, gamme TAKIGUCH, Gareth Branwyn, Garth Kidd, Gary Lee Denton, Georgia Rucker, Gordon F, Gregg Morris, Guy Marsden, Harry F, hugo truyens, Ian Chung, Ian Mond, Isaac ‘Will It Work’ Dans, Isabel Rucker, J. Kulavis, J. Mark Hamlow, J.D. Dresner, Jacob Gertsch, Jacq Jones, James Grahn, James Green, James Reid II, Jan Brands, Janusz Leidgens, Jas Strong, Jason Norris, Jay Munsterman, Jeff Aldrich, Jeff Mel, Jens Finkhaeuser, Jeremy Alston-Follansbee, Jeremy Goldstein, Jeremy John Wakeman, Jeromy G. Murphy, Jetse de Vries, Jim & Paula Kirk, Jim Anderson, Jim Cavera, Joe daLuz, Joe Sislow, John A, John Alan Simon, John Didion, John Green, John K., Jon Cook, Jon F Nebenfuhr, Jon Lasser, Jon Pruente, Jonathan Baron, Jonathan Rosenberg, Jonathan Thomas, Jörg Kleinpaul, Joshua Gates, Juan Miguel Expósito, justnathan, kall, Karl J., Karl The Good, Karl W. Reinsch, Karl Wieser, Karl-Arthur Arlamovsky, Karl-Heinz, Keith P. Graham, Ken Haase (beingmeta), Kerriann Piccione, Kevin Freeman, Kevin Hogan, Kevin J. Maroney, Kris Verbeeck, Kunal Prakash, Kurt Adam, Kyle "Fiddy" Pinches, Lang Thompson, Laura Starrs, Lawrence Wilkinson, Lee Fisher, Lee Poague, Leon Marvell, Leonard Lin, Libbi Rich, Lindsey Nelsen, Little Aha, M. Starnes, Madeleine Shepherd, Mait Uus, Manuel C. Piñeiro Mourazos, Marc Laidlaw, Marc Majcher, Mark Anderson, Mark Dery, Mark Frauenfelder, Mark Gerrits, Mark Himmelsbach, Mark Hughes, Mark Sherman, Markku Lappalainen, Martin James Ford, Matt Geis, Matt Mets, Matthew Brabbin, Matthew Cox, Mayer Brenner, Michael Beverley, Michael Carychao, Michael Duda, michael strum, Michael Weiss, Micky Shirley, Mike Bonsall, Mike Cornelius, Mike Fuchs, Mike McConnell, Mike Perry, Mike Reid, Mike Rende, Mitchell Yang, Mykel Alvis, Nancy Wu, Nathan Glaesemann, Neil Clarke, Nicholas Hansen, Nina Frey, Noah "bibulb" Ramon, Omar Hakim, Operator99, Owen Rowley, P.F. Smith, P.G. Six, p9000, Paul Cutler, Paul K. Gayno, Paul Leonard, Paul Warren, Peter Goulborn, Peter Young, Phil Binkowski, Phillip J W, Pienaru Adrian, Pope Phil Monty, Rachel Mizsei Ward, Rich Warren, Richard Kadrey, Richard Klibaner, Richard Murray, Richard Stevens, Richard Stokotelny, Richie Bielak, Rik Eberhardt, Rob Eickmann, Rob Messick, Rob Staenke, Robert Stern, Rod Bartlett, Ronan Waide, Roy Berman, Rudy Rucker Jr., Ruth Coy, rwbogy, Ryan Anderson, Ryan Olson, S. Blain, Sandra Schneiderman, Sarah J Brown, Scott Call, Scott Morrison, Scott Steinbrueck, Shannon Ellery Hubbell, Simon Bubb, Simon Travis, skout, Skylar L. Primm, Stefan Schmiedl, Stephen Fenton, Stephen Tavener, Stephen Wolfram, Steve Davies, Steve Gere, Steve Giovannetti, Steve Lord, Steven Hager, Steven Sweeney (sween), Stewart Cauley, Stuart Broz, Susan Sutton, Tedd, Thanks Name, Theron Trowbridge, Thomas, Thomas Gideon, Thomas Hunt, Thomas Klose, Thomas Lockney, Thomas Lynge, Tim Conkling, Tim Pratt, Todd Fincannon, Tom Warin, Tony Tibbs, Troy Whitlock, Walter F. Croft, William Dass, Wojtek Sal, and Yaron Davidson.
And thanks also to those supporters who chose not to be listed. In closing, I’ll remind you of the novel’s website.
www.rudyrucker.com/thebigaha
Yours in the big aha…
Rudy Rucker
Los Gatos, California
November 1, 2013
* * *
Also by Rudy Rucker
SF Novels
Turing & Burroughs
Jim and the Flims
Hylozoic
Postsingular
Mathematicians in Love
Frek and the Elixir
Spaceland
The Hollow Earth
Master of Space and Time
Transreal SF Novels
Saucer Wisdom
The Hacker and the Ants
The Secret of Life
The Sex Sphere
White Light
Spacetime Donuts
The Ware Series
The Ware Tetralogy
Realware
Freeware
Wetware
Software
Historical Novel
As Above, So Below: Peter Bruegel
Memoirs
Nested Scrolls
All The Visions
Collections
Surfing the Gnarl
Complete Stories
Collected Essays
Mad Professor
Gnarl!
Seek!
Transreal!
The Fifty-Seventh Franz Kafka
Nonfiction
The Lifebox, the Seashell, and the Soul
Software Engineering and Computer Games,
Mind Tools
The Fourth Dimension
Infinity and the Mind
Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension
Art Book
Better Worlds
Table of Contents
Title Page
1: Qwet Rat
2: The Coming of the Nurbs
3: Loofy Picnic
4: Oblivious Teep
5: Scene of the Crime
6: Loulou in the Oddball
7: Flying Jellyfish<
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8: Funhouse
9: Spreading Qwet
10: Weezie’s Party
11: Fairyland
12: Spotted Gub
13: Churchill Downs
14: Big Aha
Afterword
