A song, a poem, some reviews, and other feminist bicycle science fiction updates

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Yesterday was a big day: Two people, completely unrelatedly, sent us creative projects inspired by the Bikes in Space series.

More on those in a minute. First, a big news flash about the Kickstarter campaign for Bikes in Space 3, Pedal Zombies: We’re in some hot water here. With less than 5 days to go, we still have $2,600 to raise. That’s more than $500 per day. Can we do it? Honestly, I don’t know. But it’s important that we make it, especially because without this funding we cannot fairly pay the authors. So I’m going to give it my absolute all. I’ve already added a lot of creative, fun, one-off rewards to make it really easy to back and will continue adding more as the days go by. And I’m asking you all to back the project—even if just a small amount—and to help spread the word. *Thank you.*

And now, as promised, a poem.

This is by Ann L., the mother in law of one of our authors, who shared it with us yesterday morning. She has not previously been known to write poetry or ride bikes, but we can only hope this continues—it’s really quite wonderful.

Space Bike
I pedal as on a solar wind.
The sky, the stars, the moon
All smile down on my aging feet
We know where you are.
We know what you want.
To soar, to fly fearless on
This poor aging machine
broken pedals, loose chain
and yet to be one with the universe.
I pedal.

***

A poem, and then… a song!

Yesterday afternoon, as I was beginning to start to tear my hair out over this project, I received a Kickstarter message from backer Lorne Laliberte, who had somehow stumbled across the project and been inspired not just to back it, but to write the following song. He wrote that while it incorporated bicycles and zombies, he wasn’t sure if it qualified as feminist. I assured him that in my book, a song about a badass lady protecting you from zombies on her bicycle is feminist as all get out.

I asked him if he planned to record the song and he sent over a sound file a few hours later! Lyrics to follow Enjoy!

(Update: Lorne also recorded an alternate, more countryish version, which you can listen to here.)

Bike Girl © 2015 Lorne Laliberte
I just want to ride beside you on my bike,
dodging danger like you do,
carving corners as you lash out with your knife,
never falling out of view.
Through the hordes, over mountains,
screaming down the hills, in my dreams
I glide alongside you.
I wish we could race the world away forever,
but I can’t ride as fast as you.
So I’m hiding in this old garage we found,
sorting through the spokes and rims and brakes.
Sit here patching inner tubes and trying not to make
the sound of a mistake.
Contemplate the dry caress of rubber.
Smear circles in the glue.
Let it peel a layer off my skin, but
still my thoughts are stuck on you.
Try not to feel alone…
you’ve been gone for days.
I lost sight of you
when you led them away.
I have always owed you everything;
I trust you with my life.
My knobby tracks will follow you
anywhere you like.
I know you will make it back.
I grow stronger every day.
I’ll do my best to follow you
next time you speed away.
I just want to ride beside you on my bike,
dodging danger like you do,
carving corners as you lash out with your knife,
never falling out of view.
Through the hordes, over mountains,
screaming down the hills, in my dreams
I glide alongside you.
I wish we could race the world away forever,
but I can’t ride as fast as you.

(If you liked that song, here’s another zombie song by Lorne, though this one sadly lacks bicycles.)

Feel free to send us your Bikes in Space inspired works (we won’t share them without permission, I promise). And in the meantime, get noodling on your submissions for the fourth volume, theme: Utopia/Dystopia.