With his contribution to Say...have you heard this one? writer Larry Hammer adds to the cycle of folklore surrounding a well known businessman from the American West. Here's an extract from "Paul Bunyan and the Photocopier."
"Now just between you and me, there's nothing on this green earth that scared Paul the way that photocopier scared him...that big plastic box, all white and humming, with its ten thousand buttons and twenty thousand lights, the sole purpose of each one to tell him that he'd fogotten to select an output tray--that sent the cold blue heebies down to his feet, through the soles of his boots, and into the basement boiler room."
Larry's most recent stories and poems have appeared in The First Heroes, edited by Turtledove and Doyle, Abyss & Apex, and Light. He lives in Tucson with his wife, Janni Lee Simner.
He has a Pretty Good Home Page, a Pretty Good LiveJournal, and would like you to know the Straight Dope about his subject matter.
Larry sent this answer when I asked what his story is about:
"'Paul Bunyan and the Photocopier' is about how capitalism attempts to harness the mythic to its own purposes, while the folk process continues to liberate it. Well, you kinda have to squint past Mazy to see the last part. Babe made me write that, and having a Big Blue Ox whuffling over your shoulder can be mighty persuasive."
Thanks, Larry Hammer!
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