Jonny Vulcain
“Well, Sherm got me this gig, ya’know? With all respect,I’m here ‘cause I need money, and you need a guitarist.”
- Jonny to Vinnie, Book I
From the 9th Ward of New Orleans, Jonny moved to Brooklyn in third grade, and stuck through high school after his parents headed back south. Since arriving to the city, he was adopted as a little brother by June, and together they share her Abuela's basement apartment. Jonny's heart belongs to his teenage love, Ava, who he met after enrolling into a prestigious private school riding on a full musical scholarship. Along with her family, Jonny had plans of moving to Mars and living out their days in anarcho-communist utopia, but when tragedy struck he was left locked up, while Ava sailed across the stars.
“I got a girl forty million miles away, and a brother six feet under... I’m talkin’ over my problems with an imaginary band. I think I’m losin’ the fuckin’ grip.”“Losin’ it? Nah. You made different, kid. Hard to kill, hard to die.”
- Jonny to Altony, Book I
Daily ritual since returning from prison, Jonny crosses the yard to his woodshed, and plays guitar with projections of his psyche. Wrestling with internal dialog, The Hurricane finds kicking out the jams to be his most powerful communication technique. Holding a loose grip on reality, Jonny mourns the death of best friend Charlie, along with his closet pal Sherm the Germ. Walking through life in a cloud of smoke, Jonny scrapes together funds for the next ship to Mars by performing in the house band of Small Hours, a late night talkshow with a New York cult following.
The forest was thick here, and no matter how familiar Jonny was with the area, the dense darkness was inescapably eerie. He carried the bike on one shoulder and walked through the thicket until he found a dirt path. Navigating the shadows of the woods, he watched the trees breath. Each to their own cadence, the trunks swelled and shrunk, fanning young leaves over Jonny’s head. He considered the outreaching roots, and the map of mycelium that connected them in communication. Ava had told him about that, years ago, sitting in the park after school. Fungal networks of neurons that spread messages between trees. He felt the coded conversation beneath his feet. He wondered if they spoke of his arrival.
- Book I, T-Minus
