A relatively minor textfile-writing group, but still very good friends of the Works BBS, The Phido Phreaks came out of a Fido BBS in Michigan called "Thieves' World", run by one Thomas Covenant.
Thomas Covenant discovered textfiles.com and provided me with his collection of Phido Phreak files, including lots I didn't have and not providing me some I did. He wrote most of the descriptions you see below, as well as this note:
All works by The Silver Ghost unless otherwise indicated. Comments by the carbon based life form formerly known as Thomas Covenant, now going by damaged justice (frogfarm@hempseed.com).I have refrained from attempting to describe TSG's works of fiction, as no words of mine could do them justice.
| Filename |
Size |
Description of the Textfile |
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1stcamp.tsg | 2847 | Typical First Campaign. We *wish* this was non fiction. Think "Eric Encounters the Dread Gazebo".
| a-plea.tsg | 2012 | A Plea to Musicians. As they say, true perfection of design is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away. SG presents an eloquent case for simplicity.
| bakintim.pph | 12852 | Back in Time, by The Silver Ghost
| bakintim.tsg | 12813 | Back In Time. Fiction.
| cabgnite.ph2 | 4305 | Night of the Cabbage Patch Kids by Thomas Covenant. The only reason I wrote this was a case of "sequel fever" after reading Daemon's Smurf Kill. The astute and discriminating reader will quickly ascertain that it took me much longer to find a unique and readable voice than it did TSG.
| chldmagc.tsg | 2085 | A Childrens' Guide to Magic. Douglas Adams has nothing on TSG when it comes to cynicism.
| classhot.tsg | 4432 | What's Hot and What's Classic. With Warelok and I pumping out "What's Hot 'n What's Not", TSG decided to gently take us to task by reminding us that popularity is not an indicator of elegance. I have seldom received a more resounding and welcome chiding.
| couldhpn.tsg | 7309 | It Could Happen To You. TSG plays divorce counselor, in a style that reminds me of Dave Barry.
| cristdnd.tsg | 6905 | Christianity: Concerns for the AD&D player. This is even funnier if you've read the original that it parodies.
| feelgood.pph | 6691 | Feeling Good, by Thomas Covenant
| fuckwrld.ph2 | 9281 | How to Fuck Up the World by Thomas Covenant. Published in an April Fool's issue of Phrack, this is one of my fondest memories, but is nowhere near as funny unless you're familiar with the works of the Metal Communications group.
| futureae.tsg | 4634 | The Future Evolution of ASCII Express. AE was one of the most popular pieces of Apple software ever. Here, SG extrapolates from then-current trends to speculate on upcoming features and developments. Nostradamus he ain't, but I trust him more than John Dvorak...
| heavy.tsg | 5177 | ...heavy... here there be monsters
| hot-not1.ph2 | 8692 | What's Hot 'n What's Not part One.
| hot-not3.ph2 | 7226 | What's Hot 'n What's Not part Three.
| hot-not4.ph2 | 8021 | What's Hot 'm What's Not part Four (Part Two is missing in action), by the Warelok. These are either an indicator of our cultural brainwashing or a concise time capsule for data archaeologists. Or something.
| intrcept.tsg | 28476 | The Interceptor. Fiction.
| k-rad.pph | 12437 | The K-Rad, by The Silver Ghost
| k-rad.tsg | 12400 | The K-Rad. Fiction.
| maiden.pph | 17102 | Maiden Taiwan, by The Silver Ghost
| maiden.tsg | 17179 | Maiden Taiwan. Fiction.
| mtg616.ph2 | 2588 | The Rise and Fall of the 616 Users Meeting by Lunatic Surfer. Relatively objective, if short, account of the first major get-together for Thieve's World users and assorted others.
| official.pph | 6401 | What Is Phido Phreaks?
| onewish.tsg | 11740 | One Wish. here there be monsters
| outtakes.tsg | 10966 | Outtakes. A few half-baked ideas that never got finished.
| parodies.tsg | 5522 | Parodies. Short and snappy; the only reason TSG didn't parody me was because my pitifully low output prevented any analysis of my style. (Lucky for me I didn't develop one until much later...)
| pphistry.hum | 4162 | The History of the Phido Phreaks, by Double Helix
| progtech.tsg | 4637 | Programming Techniques (that you won't find in textbooks). TSG may have recanted some of these statements since he wrote this, but it still rings pretty true. When real life hits where the rubber meets the road, something's gotta give.
| rap.tsg | 4558 | The Penultimate Rap, or, The Next Step Is Free Verse. White boys (and geeks) *can* rap, if they put their minds to it.
| smurfkil.ph2 | 22077 | Smurf Kill by the Daemon. We had to have someone around who made me look sane by comparison.
| ultimate.tsg | 3721 | The Ultimate Computer Program. More accurately, "The Ultimate Computer Programming Language". He makes it look so easy!
| witchunt.pph | 6150 | My name is Erika, and I am a witch
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| There are 32 files for a total of 275,398 bytes. |