Xen: The Zen of the Other

Ezra Buckley, Joseph Matheny

Wildcard Interactive, Mar 1, 2021 - Fiction - 142 pages

In a world devoid of rites of passage, Ezra Buckley finds himself confronted with the genuine prospect of having a life-changing, Liminal experience in the woods of Big Sur.

What is it that he experiences? Is it the legendary Watchers of Big Sur phenomena or something else? Will he survive it? Is it even real?

Xen is a work that confronts the questions of identity, modernity, life, the other, and the place for rites of passage in the modern world.

“…wildly creative experiments with form…through a down-to-earth lens and with a sense of humor. … I felt spoken to many times as Ezra articulated his own frustrations with life and with his own expectations of the world.” – DAVID AMITO, award-winning Actor. Writer, Producer, Director of Antrum

“This is tantalizing, intriguing, and weird stuff and we recommend it highly.” -Original Falcon Newsletter

“What I appreciate about Buckley’s book is the sense of desperate and furious will-to-life/power, coupled with a playfulness that is wonderful.” – Julian Langer

“I just finished reading this a few minutes ago. I guess “finished” isn’t really the correct wording… because I’ve really just begun.” Reader on Reddit

About the author

Joseph Wayne Matheny (born December 24, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American storyteller and artist who has created works using alternate reality gaming and transmedia storytelling methods, dealing with subjects of liminality and modern myth. He holds patents for prediction, recommendation, and behavioral analysis algorithms and software design. He is a published author of screenplays, white papers, technology, sci-fi, marketing, and gaming books. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest. He is probably best known for the avant-garde work, Ong's Hat, which has been called the proto-Alternate Reality Game by academia, the mainstream, and alternative media. Ong's Hat is often cited as the first ARG on many List of alternate reality games.

Joseph Wayne Matheny (born December 24, 1961, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American storyteller and artist who has created works using alternate reality gaming and transmedia storytelling methods, dealing with subjects of liminality and modern myth. He holds patents for prediction, recommendation, and behavioral analysis algorithms and software design. He is a published author of screenplays, white papers, technology, sci-fi, marketing, and gaming books. He currently resides in the Pacific Northwest. He is probably best known for the avant-garde work, Ong's Hat, which has been called the proto-Alternate Reality Game by academia, the mainstream, and alternative media. Ong's Hat is often cited as the first ARG on many List of alternate reality games.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Xen: The Zen of the Other; Volume 2 of The Liminal Cycle
• Authors: Ezra Buckley, Joseph Matheny
• Editor: Joseph Matheny
• Contributor: Joseph Matheny
• Publisher: Wildcard Interactive, 2021
• Length: 142 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Absurdist; Fiction / Fantasy / Contemporary; Fiction / Fantasy / Dark Fantasy; Fiction / Fantasy / Paranormal