Our Fiction Friday serialized novel, The Killswitch Review, is a futuristic murder mystery with killer sociopolitical commentary (and some of the best sex scenes we’ve ever read!). Written by bestselling sci-fi author Steven-Elliot Altman (with Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse), it offers a terrifying postmodern vision in the tradition of Blade Runner and Brave New World…
By the year 2156, stem cell therapy has triumphed over aging and disease, extending the human lifespan indefinitely. But only for those who have achieved Conscientious Citizen Status. To combat overpopulation, the U.S. has sealed its borders, instituted compulsory contraception and a strict one child per couple policy for those who are permitted to breed, and made technology-assisted suicide readily available. But in a world where the old can remain vital forever, America’s youth have little hope of prosperity.
Jason Haggerty is an investigator for Black Buttons Inc, the government agency responsible for dispensing personal handheld Kevorkian devices, which afford the only legal form of suicide. An armed “Killswitch” monitors and records a citizen’s final moments — up to the point where they press a button and peacefully die. Post-press review agents — “button collectors” — are dispatched to review and judge these final recordings to rule out foul play.
When three teens stage an illegal public suicide, Haggerty suspects their deaths may have been murders. Now his race is on to uncover proof and prevent a nationwide epidemic of copycat suicides. Trouble is, for the first time in history, an entire generation might just decide they’re better off dead.
(Catch up with the previous installments of Killswitch – see links below – then read the finale after the jump…)
“It’s like being a kid in the playground…There’s a reason why people become actors.”
– Tim Roth
The great thing about Tim Roth is that he immediately puts you at ease by seeming like he doesn’t give a shit what questions you ask him. Other journalists at the Dark Water press event were lobbing some of the dumbest crap I ever heard at him and even though there 25 people in the room he answered them as though each one was the only person in the room. In Dark Water, Roth plays a lawyer who is helping Jennifer Connelly through a tough divorce and then tries to help her with this strange situation that is happening in her apartment building.
This Sunday, June 10th at 10 PM PST, SuicideGirls Radio host Nicole Powers and co-host Moxi Suicide will be joined in studio by Jessie Nicole, Michelle, and Vanessa from LA’s Sex Workers Outreach Project for a panel discussion about the unique issues their clients face.
Sex Workers Outreach Project is a social justice network dedicated to ending violence and stigma against sex workers through education and advocacy. SWOP works to create a strong community of sex workers and allies to support each other and educate the public on the institutional harms committed against sex workers.
Sex workers are seldom afforded protection or recourse from violence because of the precarious relationship between sex work and law enforcement. Violence against sex workers is tolerated because of the stigma and myths that surround the sex industry. Only when those falsehoods are corrected and sex workers are legitimized will we be able to effectively prevent and minimize the harsh challenges of sex work.
When not preoccupied by his pocket watch, the Mad Hatter strummed a guitar, as attendees indulged in sweet treats worthy of the Queen of Hearts herself while elegantly perched on picnic blankets beneath trees in a shaded grove near Belvedere Castle. Though, had the fowl-mouthed monarch from the Lewis Carroll tale been in attendance, she’d likely have disapproved of the fact that her beloved game of croquet was being played with mallets rather than livestock.
International Lolita Day is a curiosity that pays homage to a fashion that emerged out of Japan, which is heavily influenced by clothing from the Victorian era and art in the Rococo style. The idea for the biannual celebration, which occurs on the first Saturdays of June and December so that both Summer and Winter fashions can be displayed, was first floated by the EGL Community on LiveJournal, and is now celebrated in numerous cities around the world.
Suicide Girls are more than just pretty faces. When they’re not taking their clothes off and posing for pictures, they’re taking their clothes off and making videos.
In our Best of June compilation, put together by Shotgun Suicide, our ladies display their mad singing, dancing, joke-telling, and meowing (?) skillz. Tune in next month for more SG sexyness – and silliness!
“Ray Bradbury is somebody who [could] write a short story which actually felt like it was a part of me. There are Bradbury stories imprinted on my DNA.”
– Neil Gaiman, 2003, From The SG Archives
