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Ashim Shanker
“The fact is that we lack the terms to define [the Null Rhythm], and there are too many hypothetical notions upon which our assumptions are stacked that it would be silly for us to explore it. All the same, there are layers of absence between waves of static, perforations in the surface of the latent aural wall that descend to pits of ecstatic dread, eschewing the crystallized intelligence and industry of all manifestation with its own form of anti-intelligent, retro-manifestation–not the undoing upon ‘the done’ so much as the unbeing upon the ‘will have been’ (which can be stretched to include both the ‘have been’ as well as the invariable ‘to be’). The Anti-Rhythm rises from the perforations, from those pits, only to remind itself of the sheer inadequacies and of the abomination of existence, which is not to say that it confronts or beckons to all or any who exist. Rather, like a listless predator who has lost the thrill of pursuit, it observes without interest, without appetite even, this objective reality that has prevailed only in meeting the standards of its bitter contempt, for all braided within its fabric languishes in mere folly, and all therefore remains too intertwined with the scraps and muck and detritus and moreover with the flaws in this tapestry of being to intuit its desultory artifice. There is no unbeing of the ‘will have been’ aligned with a destined course. The destined destination is simply a byproduct of aim-befuddled movement.

[Excerpt from "Why Yes Always But Also Why Always Yes Never" by Ashim Shanker]”
Ashim Shanker

Ashim Shanker
“He paused as his eyes went Elsewhere. His mouth hung open uncharacteristically in an odd moment of hesitation.

But then he spoke: “I dreamt one night that I stood before the Conjurer of All. I do not know if this Conjurer was God, per se , but let us entertain the possibility that there exists, at least encoded in the patterned mechanisms of the human mind, a necessary and indelible embodiment therein that is simultaneously the Creator of the Universe and the Forger of All Things Within It The Knower of All there is to Know, to say the least. I stood uncomfortably before such an entity and this Conjurer spoke thus, ‘Seeker of Truth!’ His words were oppressive, yet assuring, ‘Now it can all be told! Now you may have all the answers you seek. All the answers of the Universe!’ This proclamation only satisfied me briefly, for I almost immediately found myself responding, ‘Dear Conjurer, I do not wish to sound ungrateful, but instead of all the answers, may I not have more
questions? An endless supply even? For all else would seem insufficient. I could never face a world that lacked mystery.’ The Maker laughed as though I had told the only joke in the Universe in which he could find humor. I awoke immediately, out of breath, for I, too, had been laughing.”
Ashim Shanker, Inward and Toward

Ashim Shanker
“The will to inflict pain arises often out of a misplaced desire for empathy and so represents a rather pure gesture of affection.”
Ashim Shanker, Inward and Toward

Ashim Shanker
“Look out the window of the train: you’re moving, but you can’t remember leaving. Jagged brown crater dwellings run across the landscape, pipes with thick black smoke pouring out. Smoke overflowing, as the buildings themselves are caked with a sort of black tar.
Evening sun peeks over the horizon through rusted steel water towers and other ancient skeletons. Their frames stand fixed, albeit hunched forward, anchored in by the ankles in scrap iron dunes that stretch for miles with frigid desert rats scurrying through as giant shivering Scarabs hover in the sky: wired-in and vigilant, murmuring ancient mantras, overshadowing newer, but desperately cruel partisan inscriptions of code in the soot-stained brick facade.

Look at your superimposed reflection in the window across from your seat and envision subatomic particles acquiring sentience in the vacuum of an Accelerator. All wondering how it is they got there, who it is they presume to be.

Always wondering. Spiraling...really! Always spiraling at breakneck speeds through the vacuum—eternally in doubt. You are suddenly reminded of the words of that great Algorithmist painter, Carlotta Wakefield, 'Mediocre painters portray that which they understand. Fabulous painters: that which they Surmise...'

You wonder if that, too, applies to our constructions of reality, ersatz or otherwise.

(From the short story "Leapfrog")”
Ashim Shanker, trenches parallax leapfrog

Ashim Shanker
“Ask me any question–preferably one with no simple answer. Or one with no answer at all–even better. Just ask, and await no answer. Let the question take on a life of its own.”
Ashim Shanker

47325 PoMo and Surreal Fiction Book Club — 145 members — last activity Oct 29, 2014 10:35AM
This book club is dedicated to people who enjoy surreal and post-modern fiction and would like to explore and read a new title monthly or bi-monthly. ...more
25x33 Surreal Fiction — 37 members — last activity Aug 29, 2014 04:04PM
For anyone who writes or reads surreal fiction.
25x33 Indian English Authors — 635 members — last activity Dec 10, 2025 02:48AM
This is about the Indian Authors and their writings. How has English writting in India reached the heights no one ever imagined.
28367 Steampunk, New Weird, Bizarro, Scifi, Fantasy Book Group — 1918 members — last activity Oct 02, 2022 08:34PM
This Group is for a wide range of readers. Those who are already into Fantasy, Scifi, Steampunk, New Weird and Bizzaro. Or those that are just branchi ...more
3057 Bizarro Fiction — 1104 members — last activity Nov 22, 2025 02:00PM
This is a group devoted to lovers of bizarro fiction. Whether you write it or read it, you are welcome here. Come join us in our love of the weird and ...more
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