I started writing science fiction during the pandemic, and found a consistent pace in the Stacyverse. A hybrid product of my love of science fiction, experiences with psychedelics, and involvement with NFTs, these stories are an unexpected outcome of my journey as a creative.
Influences
Science fiction has always been my favorite escape both across books and comics, and movies. As cliche as it sounds, Blade Runner (1982) is my favorite movie, and my love for it has increased as I have grown older. It’s not just the visual landscape that Ridley Scott explores, but the narrative and world building he embraces that does it for me. It is amazing that one single movie influenced so much, so early on. What a vibe.
William Gibson’s Sprawl and Bridge trilogies + Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, Quicksilver, and Zodiac all had a huge impact on my thinking, especially as a kid growing up with computers. Frank Herbert’s Dune series continue to be my favorite books in the genre, and influence on the way I approach writing fiction from a technical aspect. An entire generation of us built a culture around their visions in the 90s, to the point that we unquestioningly adopted terms like cyberspace and built industries around them. These are some of the greatest sci-fi writers of our age in my opinion. But these are not where my world building obsessions come from.
While Akira and Ghost in the Shell were immense influences as a kid, and were primers into Anime and sci-fi for me, it was actually in graphic novels and comics that I found my footing with the genre. I was Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud’s (Mœbius/Gir) The Incal that really formed my understanding of the power of world building.
The Incal is more than just a series of comic books - it is an intricate exploration of psychedelic art and outlandish story telling. The story of a fool stumbling through the universe, and the massive forces at work that intertwine in the most ludicrous ways around his life is both hilarious, and somber in many ways. Strongly recommend, 10/10 rating, buy the freaking hardcover!
I have a slew of other influences, but these make up the foundation (crap! Asimov’s Foundation series is also absolutely a massive influence for me) of my approach to what I think is uncanny, yet effective storytelling in the genre.
Staying Focused
What catches my attention with sci-fi, is that there really aren’t any rules. You can do whatever the fuck you want, as long as the reader/viewer can hang on and get to the end. It’s kind of like a weird chemistry experiment, where you have an idea, but it’s uncharted territory and you’re just dumping these weird ideas in your head into a flask hoping the thing doesn’t explode. And if it does, well that’s pretty cool too. The ability to explore and give form to ideas in my head without any restrictions is simply liberating.
What catches my attention with sci-fi, is that there really aren’t any rules.
Sometimes though, it helps to have a little more focus; world building can quickly spiral out of control when you’re processing things on your own. Very similarly to psychedelic experiences, it is important to have a focal point if you are utilizing the trip as a contributor to learning and self-growth. This is where CFW’s Stacyverse comes in, and I begin stories not just with fresh context, but a style of writing I have wanted to experiment with for a long time.
Psychedelia
But before we get into Stacy PIlls, I want to lightly touch on my relationship with psychedelics and chemical experiences. I think it is important to highlight that most of my advanced geometric work with suspension is a result of my having had wild visual experiences during altered states of mind. From lysergic diethylamide and psilocybin, to various tryptamines, my trips have formed a lot of the visual spaces that occupy real estate in my mind.
Not only have these visual spaces influenced my live installations, but the chemical shift that occurs in one’s body is strongly correlated with what happens after ingesting hallucinogens. Our bodies are chemical factories, and we can tap into states of euphoria by increasing our dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, and adrenaline outputs, along with a slew of other non hormonal chems as well. It’s a complex machine that spits out complex cocktails when properly modified. This is exactly what happens when one embraces and gives into the body suspension experience.
Our bodies are chemical factories
So in many ways, giving form to the experiences I have had through many trips and suspension experiences is part of my workflow as an artist. The form is essentially dependent on the medium it is conveyed in. With rope, skin, and steel, my work takes the form of suspension. With code, I generate loops mapping pixels to HSL values in still images. With writing, it turns into psychedelic sci-fi.
In Pills We Trust
So after a few months of looking at and admiring CFW’s work, it struck me that the Stacy Pills and his style were poking at a flap in my head. Leaning into the feeling, I decided to look under this tab of brain flesh and found there is an entire world with a massive history waiting for me to explore it. So naturally I told CFW “Hey man, I want to write about Stacy Pills, can I build your lore?” I did not expect him to say yes, because as an artist, I understand it can be difficult to bring people into your creative process, and world. But he did, and here we are.
I had never written stories about what pops up in my head when I look at somebody’s creations like this before. And that focus I mentioned earlier suddenly appeared before me. There was a defined object that was the source of the stories I wanted to write. Asking CFW for some restrictions, I began to define the boundaries of the stories, and then started building out some characters that would #takethepill.
The experience that these characters would undergo had to follow my belief that drugs are primarily medicinal, and even recreational usage can lead to life changing experiences. Chemicals can enhance and shift our perception of the worlds we inhabit, and allow us to explore our potentials, as well as shifting our identities in directions that would be beneficial to our personal journeys, as well as those we care about in our lives.
All of my influences, from the light hearted absurdity of The Incal, to the heavy realizations I had experienced on psychotropic drugs, clicked so well with the messages in CFW’s work. They clicked with my fascination with identity, and catharsis through euphoria as well. The messages we want to communicate with our work found a weird intersection here.
CFW’s message of seeking happiness comes with a message of integrity. His art also reflects a futuristic vibe, and plays on urban culture - which includes art and drugs. Primarily, folks take drugs to feel better. So the Stacy Pills would have to result in positive outcomes, no matter what. And thus, each Pill he created was fuel for a story about personal growth, for finding some peace after going through an intense experience, and oftentimes an unconventional lens through which to look at the history of this world we are building.
It is so much fun to build this world where one can take a pill, and go through an intense DMT-like experience, and come back within the space of a few breaths. Just the idea that each pill is custom made with a custom container that sometimes contains the energy/input of an artist, makes it a designer drug, literally. A different trip by design, every time. Just like a valuable psychedelic experience - never the same twice.
The stories have been on pause for a bit, especially with market conditions crashing, and my dedication to creating lore that ties in all the different facets of the Stacyverse. With the creation of Pillheads Generative, I now have the opportunity to tie in a second dimension that explains where some of the impossible traits that characterize these Pills are coming from. It’s turning into a multi-dimensional psychedelic future, and that means staying on brand gets a little more difficult. It’s a great challenge, and I’m leaning into it.
You may be wondering where these stories come to an end. I have no fucking idea, but there are a few endpoints along the way I am dedicated to reaching. One of my biggest goals is to create a graphic novel, wherein each page is a multi-edition NFT with some moving elements, and collections are entire chapters. I am dying to give visual life to the environments I have created, from the Legacy Arch bridge, to the cafe called The Window. If you want to see this come to fruition, you can always support me, CFW, and the Stacyverse projects financially by picking up our NFTs, or donating as you see fit. Sharing across social media also helps of course.
Support the Project at these links:
Stacy Pills
Pillheads Generative
Stacy Pills stories
Official Site
Our Discord
Ultimately, I want to see the project’s culture thrive. The community we have built is very strong, and has withstood the bullshit of a bear market. As an artist based group, we have not stopped creating through all of the downtime we have experienced; we simply cannot stop as creatives. The utility we provide is devoid of the financial demands of an immature market, though we are realistic about the need to fund our projects. As artists, we just want to bring the things in our heads out into this world, and let them live their own lives with all of you. It’s just taking a little longer than intended, because we’re not externally funded!
I want to wrap this article up with a couple of updates and a question for you as a reader.
The Updates
I’m going to be changing up the format for this newsletter in the upcoming weeks:
New shortform blast on Mondays highlighting an artist
Paid subscription for hour long podcast with artists, collectors, and curators, both on and off the blockchain (drops Wednesdays)
Friday longform articles continue to be these long AF reads.
The Question
Let me know your thoughts, and see you next week!