I used to enjoy reading a good dystopian sci-fi novel. But now that I am living in one I’ve switched to fantasy. In fantasy at the conclusion of the trilogy the Dark Lord is consumed by the chaos he has created, or otherwise meets a sordid end. I admit it’s a cheap vicarious thrill, but one can hope.
This morning started with the radio. There was an interview with someone at an aviation factory about the effects of tariffs. Then another with a different expert, and finally another. They were all rather tightly parsed to imply that, “Well, there might still be a silver lining in this big dark thunderhead!”
The station is about to lose its funding. They may be acting with an abundance of caution to avoid not only losing the funding, but also having the FCC pull its license. Soon we’ll all be able to listen to innocuous pop songs all day with no interruptions for crazy news. Mainstream has gone crazy.
Well I’m in the middle of book two where the revolution against the Dark Lord has found a renegade Magus of great puissance. What a fantasy !
Discover more from Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Had to smile at this post. Dare I comment on current events? I have been amazed yet again at how some fact can be turned on its head and re-presented as a fantasy. How a relative who’s always looked out for himself very well, I’d say–is now presented as the long-suffering victim of other people’s greed. Going home and slamming the door “until you cave” is the new diplomacy. Or has it always been this way in world affairs, but done quietly in back rooms?
The Dark Lord is down here in Florida visiting Alligator Alcatraz. I wonder if we should make him test the waters. Oops. Our governor cut the budget on rescuing people.
I have always loved / read dystopian novels (although my parents used to take them away at bedtime) and I couldn’t agree more with your comment “now that I’m living in one”
I absolutely turn to fantasy when I want to escape an uncomfortable reality. I find that I love the political fantasies and political scifi most, and now with your post I’m wondering if that is because I like the way things are clear in books, and the paths to ruin and to success are also clear. It’s so much easier that way.
Unrelated to politics or to hope, one of my all-time favourite short scifi stories is Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge by Mike Resnik, and it is gut-wrenching in its slow reveal of humans’ direct path to demolition over millenia. One keeps thinking there might be an explanation that doesn’t blame us for our own defeat, but in the end, humans just self-immolate. I don’t know why I keep coming back to it. Maybe to remind myself of how important it is to keep trying.
I just wonder how many redo’s we get. A queston somewhat addressed by a book I just finished called the Ferryman, by Justin Cronin.
I’ll look it up. Based on my comment, I read Seven Views again. And it still packs a punch. 🙂
I read stuff by George Schaller and stories by traveler/adveturers who do stuff like ski across the South and/or North Poles.
This is where I live now, “Dystopia”. Thank you dear Lou, we will find a way at the end. Love, nia