ROMBES, Nicholas
Lisa 2, v1.0

An idyllic family summer in bucolic northern Michigan takes a turn when a playwright (Lisa) discovers a dusty Apple Lisa 2 computer in the closet of her aunt’s cottage. Seduced by the retro '80s kitsch of this early Mac prototype, Lisa boots it up it to infuse new blood into her otherwise stagnating writing. But as the resulting scripts genre-switch to horror, is this Lisa’s exploratory stab at a new direction, or is she under the shape-shifting spell of this Lisa 2? Which Lisa scripts the play that portends an inauspicious destiny?

Enter David, by day the operator of a shady business that re-enacts traumatic episodes to psychologically give new outcomes in his client's minds. A toxic paranoia sets in as David suspects his wife is becoming infected by this diabolical Lisa 2 contraption. Caught in the middle is David and Lisa's young daughter, acutely tuned to the lurking crisis unfolding in the cottage. David attempts a “re-iteration” to cleanse his home of this technological terror, though self-scripting these re-iterations ventures into new territory with unknown consequences. What lengths is Lisa willing to go to protect her babies, both of the flesh and on paper? [publishers’ note]

Published by Calamari Archive, 2024
Literature / Digital