On March 31, 1999, I staggered drunkenly out of the theatre that sits on the third floor of the Mall of America. This wasn’t the first or last time, but it was the only time I did it without alcohol.

What the hell was that? A bunch of work friends had dragged me to the theatre after a computer malfunction(oh the irony) had cut our day short. We’d all just been paid,so after a food court lunch, the crew had decided to hit the theatre. I was unconvinced. The Matrix. One of the dudes said his roomate had heard about it and it seemed good. I was aiming more towards hitting the game and book stores in the mall.

I didn’t know then how big an event I was witnessing. I say the Matrix was the biggest thing to hit science fiction films since Star Wars, and I stand by it. It had everything. A great soundtrack with Rob Zombie and Junkie XL. The amazing fight choreography of Yuen Woo Ping. And the bullet time effects, which would be abused more in the next few years by action cinema than a Tom Cruise stunt double. It would be a great movie even if it only included those elements.

But it was more than that. It was the first movie I saw that treated reality as an illusion, something I’d only ever seen talked about in philosphy books or Illuminatus by Wilson and Shea. It had a great script , with lines that I can still quote to this day: “Take the blue pill”, “There is no spoon”,and my personal favorite:”There’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path”.

To say that the movie resonated with my conspiracy theory loving soon to be thirty self would be an understatement. I have a Matrix quote on my laptop save screen. I own all the movies(yes, the others exist, and no, I won’t be discussing them today), and have action figures of Morphues in his chair and the tentacled monster(designed by the artist Geoff Darrow). But as I sit here, I think about how much the Matrix symbolizes so much for people today.

Its terminology has been co-opted by extreme people on both ends of the political spectrum. The irony of so many folks using the term “red pill” while being on the trans hating tip, while ignoring the fact that a trans duo created it, is not lost on me. The idea that I, and many others, look at some folks as delusional for the reality they seem to feel is real. I’ve bee na public fan of people who create their own reality(Emperor Joseph Norton, Church of the Sub Genius, etc), but I’m not a fan of people who seemed to think they should impose that reality on others(Evangelicals, the alt-right,White Sox fans, etc.) When teachers like Leary talked about reality tunnels, they didn’t suggest forcing everyone into the same tunnel.

While I was coming up with this, it came across my desk that today is Trans Visibility Day nationwide as well. The Wachowskis are arguably the most succesfull trans people in the movie business, ever. The synchronicity of the anniversary of the Matrix being on the same day is proof that reality is not only stranger than we know, but stranger than we can know.

Full disclosure: I’ve gotten to know Nicole over the last few years. This will not make my review valid in some folk’s eyes, but those folks can think what they like,because I thought she was a good writer before I met her.

Sisters of the Wild Sage:A Weird Western Collection is a new short story collection from her, due out April 25 on Kindle.You can preorder it here: :https://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Wild-Sage-Western-Collection-ebook/dp/B07PBP3S7X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3A9D87QFK81OU&keywords=sisters+of+the+wild+sage&qid=1553043753&s=gateway&sprefix=sisters+of+the+wild+sa%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1

Sisters is presented as weird westerns, and it certainly lives up to the name. These are stories that veer from urban fantasy(Unhinged) to science fiction(The Pluviophile) to straight up horror(Trader) in some cases. But besides her evocative writing style, there are a few underlying themes and ideas that tie all these stories together.

The first one, of course, is the West. I capitalized it on purpose, because these stories are all set somewhere or sometime in the American West. She manages to convey a strong sense of place, in that her stories evoke the wide open places, and the dreams that such places bring to folks, and sometimes crushes those same dreams. I could almost feel the sand in my teeth at times.

The second theme that ties several of these stories together is religion, or rather, how religion is used by some to their own ends. From the Deacon in the opening story, Belly Speaker, to the beliefs that get shattered in Rise, there’s many folks using the holy to do the unholy. But Nicole does present some characters with positive religious ideas, so it’s not bashing, just a theme I found in the collection.

Finally, the third theme I found was of escape. People in this collection are either running away from something(Belly Speaker, Los Luna) or trying to run towards a better future(Oni Soars, Sisters of the WIld Sage)

These stories are entertaining, well written and full of surprises. Other than a few layout quibbles, which should be gone by the time you read it,I enjoyed my time with it.
This is a fun read at a great price. It’s a great introduction to the creative talent and writing of Nicole Kurtz, who if the world made sense, would be known to many more people, because she has talent, a unique voice and can write her ass off.

So go buy this, then go to Amazon or her website, https://mochamemoirspress.com/, and buy her stuff. You won’t regret it.