Wow.. it's our first pack. I don't know whether to do cartwheels or just
collapse and hibernate for the next six months. I'll leave it to you to decide
if it was worth all the effort. =)

(couple things to note)

First of all, you might be wondering what the work falling under the heading of
RW-ART is suppose to be. RW-ART stands for "Real World" Art, or non-digitally
created art. The jpegs listed there are scans of drawings and paintings.

Secondly, I would like to point out 'The Vortexeer' story by Rorschach. This is
an on-going epic that will hopefully be continued with every release. Don't
forget to read each installment!

In addition to some great work from our members, you will find two guest
artists--Spire who joins us from Mistigris with some impressive hirez work and
Voodoodaddy, freelance artist and all-round bouncy guy, who brings us some
literature.

(what we've been up to)

Hallucigenia was formed April with just me, Happyfish and Cyradis, on the idea
that everyone deserves a chance to be part of the 'scene'. From that tiny
beginning, we grew... joined by people I knew from 604 (Greater Vancouver,
Canada) and many people I hadn't known before from the great wide 'elsewhere'.

One notable bunch of members came as part of a merger between Hallucigenia and
the young 410 (Maryland, USA) group, Shock. After dropping by their website,
(thank you Thext, for pointing it out to me) and talking with Shock's leader,
Sassy, we found that our two groups were very similar in goals and attitude, andthat we would could go farther as one group than two. The rest, as they say, is
history.

The original plan had been to release in May but when May rolled around we
decided we weren't ready. This isn't to say we'd been sitting around and
twiddling our thumbs. Although not releasing, we were very busy with other
projects such as the completion of our website and the putting together the
new art-oriented echomail net, the Creators in Limbo message net. (Anyone
interested in CiLnet, I direct you now to the infopack, CIL-INFO.ZIP, that has
been included with this release.)

So we didn't release in May--except for an info-pack--but as the dust finally
started to settle from the flurry of activity on other projects, we started the
process of stockpiling work.. and what a collection it is. I can tell you
honestly that I never believed back in April that we would be where we are now
just two months later. Hallucigenia members, you should be damn proud of
yourselves. =)

(insert meaningless trivia)

hallucigenia is pronounced ha-loo-sih-GEE-ni-a, or, by those who've seen it
and are currently running glow3, haloouooOOOoo0000ooocigeeEEenia.

hallucigenia is a species of sea worms with seven pairs of struts and 13
tentacles.  it was named for its really trippy appearance.

"Hallucigenia.  We need symbols to represent a diversity
that we cannot fully carry in our heads.  If one creature must
be selected to bear the message of the Burgess Shale - the
stunning disparity and uniqueness of anatomy generated so early
and so quickly in the history of modern multicellular life - the
overwhelming choice among aficionados would surely be
Hallucigenia.  The genus would win the vote for two
reasons.  First, to borrow  today's vernacular, it is
really weird.  Second, since names  matter so much when we
are talking about symbols, Simon chose a  most unusual and
truly lovely designation for his strangest discovery.  He
called this creature Hallucigenia to honor "the bizarre
and dreamlike appearance of the animal", and also,
perhaps, as a memorial to an unlamented age of social
experiment."
--Stephen Jay Gould,
Wonderful Life

(see you next month)
--Etana-
group coordinator

Hallucigenia definition provided by Happyfish