An hour after the explosion Rise Up Singing was packed. The whole block was standing around eating vegan doughnuts waiting for a chance at the landline. Gangs, they said. But not everyone agreed. Insurance, some thought. One guy said developers but nobody believed him because that would just be too obvious. Mitch was giving away food and Mirror was taking advantage of the situation to drive turnout for the sex party….

Download:
ZAZEN, Chapter 9 — “The Rat Queen” (pdf, 87k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 8 — “Lagerstätte” (pdf, 61k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 7 — “Cherry Blossoms” (pdf, 75k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 6 — “Aerial Map of Carnage” (pdf, 76k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 5 — “1 800 buy COAL” (pdf, 88k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 4 — “Asian Market” (pdf, 56k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 3 — “New Haiku” (pdf, 64k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 2 — “Pregnant Rats” (pdf, 81k)

ZAZEN, Chapter 1 — “Burning Ants” (pdf, 79k)

The Story: It’s the very near-future, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest—or a neighborhood near you. 27-year-old Della Mylinek has suffered some kind of breakdown after failing to stop the construction of a local Wal-Mart. In an attempt to regain psychological, financial and emotional stability, she’s moved in with her brother and his pregnant wife and taken a job waiting tables at a vegan restaurant. But her anger remains, and one thing leads to another…

“Zazen” Keywords: geology, veganism, the apocalypse, urban planning, yoga, sex parties, bombs, anarchism, aging new-left revolutionaries, strip malls, paleontology, dark hippies, transcendentalism, lavender hair dye.

The Author: Vanessa Veselka is a writer and musician living in Portland, Oregon. She has been, at various times, a teenage runaway, a sex-worker, a union organizer, a student of paleontology, an expatriate, an independent record label owner, a train-hopper, a waitress and a mother. Her work has appeared in Bust, Bitch, Maxmum Rock ’n’ Roll, Yeti Magazine and Tin House. Zazen is her first novel. She is online at vanessaveselka.wordpress.com

The Serial: Chapter 10 of ZAZEN will be posted Tuesday, November 10. There are 30 chapters in all.

Previously on Arthurmag.com:

1. ZAZEN by Vanessa Veselka, Chapter 8: “Lagerstätte”
2. ZAZEN by Vanessa Veselka, Chapter 10: “Venus Rodere”
3. ZAZEN by Vanessa Veselka, Chapter 12: “Colony of the Elect”
4. ZAZEN by Vanessa Veselka, Chapter 13: “Manifestation”
5. ZAZEN by Vanessa Veselka, Chapter 14: “Two Rivers”