Electronic Brain: Lust & Grief

These are two aspects of our inner worlds that we all experience yet are reluctant to discuss openly, even though we may experience them simultaneously. Do we avoid these subjects out of shame or merely the difficulty of speaking about them out loud? Is part of the reason America's puritanical background? Electronic Brain aims for open and honest communication about difficult subjects and to plumb the depths of the human experience, no matter how uncomfortable. Our relationships with sex and death are a necessary part of being alive, yet we often stifle honest communication in fear of repercussion or out of shame. This is inherently unhealthy and can prevent an individual from processing grief in such a way as to come out the other end stronger and unscathed.

Art and literature are, of course, two healthy ways in which we express our complicated relationships with our feelings of lust and grief. Some of the greatest artworks ever created deal with these subjects, such as Bach's Chaconne. This piece of music is one of the most beautiful expressions of grief ever set down to paper. And while our expression of these subjects might be deeply private, this does not preclude that we can transmute such difficulties into works of incredible beauty. Desire and sadness often hold hands, and at times they may exalt each other, forming rapturous founts of emotional expression.

Not every work in this issue expresses these subjects blatantly, nor need they. Some of the works contained herein may not, for you, fit squarely into any category - and that is okay, for Electronic Brain's mission is to cross thresholds, to openly delve into all aspects of human culture and its wide variety of possible expressions. In keeping with our mission, you will find: plays, comics, musical scores, fiction, interviews, and works which are not easily defined. For fans of speculative fiction, many of these works will not appear to be a part of the genre at first. But sexual fantasy is, after all, still fantasy. And history that was planned for, but didn't occur, is alt-history. What does it say about us when material of this nature makes us uncomfortable? And when art makes us uncomfortable, should we look away, or ask ourselves why our discomfort has arisen? What can we learn about ourselves by looking? I don't have an answer to that question for you, but I do wholeheartedly believe that you should ask yourself before looking away.

Featuring:

Pablo Ramirez & Jenna Hanchey

Sappho

RedBlueBlackSilver

Michael Gallowglas

Jardine Libaire

A A Ron Sheppard

Walker Mettling

Jean-Paul L. Garnier

F.J. Bergmann

Michael Alan Alien

The House of Automata

Morgan Lee

Peter Schutes

Zara Kand