Zeitgeyser was a short, somewhat timid newcomer to the Ranch. His pointy head and pith helmet identified him immediately as an .edu, a common pest around the Ranch and alt.cyberpunk. After his near-death experience at the hands (claws?) of Lisa's pet gargoyle, Sym, he proved that he could participate actively in the cooperative narrative of the Ranch and was accepted as a regular. He frequently posted from a retreat suspiciously reminiscent of an ivory tower in a pocket universe adjacent to Rancho Deluxe in the strange tessellated metageography of the cooperative narrative. Zeitgeyser was the avatar of Mark Giese, one of the authors. This persona was developed over time as a way to present a non-threatening aspect to the native "punkz." The avatar was constructed when more traditional methods of approaching the people participating in the discourse at alt.cyberpunk failed. Some might argue that the creation of this avatar was disingenuous; however, in a very real sense this somewhat goofy aspect of the author was and is very much a part of his sense of himself and his identity.

[Return to index for Appendix B]