My speculative, Rod Serling-inspired short story "The Search for Intelligent Life," a selection from 
Of Mind and Matter, is free today at the Dome's Fiction Friday. 

This is the shortest of three stories that take the reader through three very different perspectives on alien intelligence. Three ... two ... one ... contact: http://www.scifisaturdaynight.com/?p=5444

Of Mind and Matter is available through Amazon for only .99: 
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The 1984 Effect 12/21/2011
 
The dystopia is a dying art.  Popularized by authors such as George Orwell (1984), Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451), and Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Cat’s Cradle), dystopian literature sacrifices the popular feel-good storyline and happy ending for provocative commentary and an argument for social or political change.  Works following the dystopian model make use of social outsiders, antiheroes, and intellectual misfits.  They make examples of their characters.  Good people die.  The corrupt do their worst.  The world as we know it comes to an end.

These days, however, people don’t want to read anything depressing.  They want good news.  They want happy endings.  They want to escape.

And that is precisely the problem.

We all have our individual tastes in fiction, and that’s fine.  Just the same, we must take a closer look at the social complacency current trends reflect.  More specifically, we must ask if these trends reveal simply a population looking for mindless entertainment, or if they might instead be an indication of something much more nefarious and telling.

The 1984 Effect is the connection I see between social complacency and trends in literature, most notably, the virtual death of dystopia and similar genres.  I argue that we as a society have been brainwashed into believing escapism is the key to a healthy, happy life, and with that we have sacrificed free, progressive thought and intellectual stimulation.  Like the characters in Orwell’s 1984, society has been taught to go with the flow, do what it is told, and question issues just long enough perhaps to see the political backlash and fall back quickly into line.  Occupy Wall Street is the perfect example.  Many of us want change, but lack the initiative, the tools, or the backbone to manifest it.  Moreover, our minds are in the wrong place.

This is not the time for escapism, as tempting the bait may be.  This is the time for assessment, reflection, and problem solving.  This is the time to be reading the literature about the times.  It is time we reject complacency and once again begin looking toward the future.

I challenge you, the modern reader, to embrace the dystopia and all that it stands for.  Read for fun, but also read for progressivism and intellectual discourse.  Consider the depth of the profound ending (rather than the happy one) and all it might do to effect the change we’re all so desperate for.  Let’s make a difference in this world, you and I, one book at a time.  After all, without taking a long, hard look at what needs to change, we will never make it happen. 

Start your reading revolution with World-Mart, the dystopia of our time. Available through amazon in both paperback and electronic formats.

Interested in effecting change?  Let's talk!
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Back when I was a child, not that long ago, small businesses were all over the place.  There were grocery markets, department stores, and restaurant chains, but “Mom and Pop” were still everywhere.

My first job was at a family owned, full-line pet store.  My boss taught me the importance of treating the customer right, taking pride in my work, always doing right by the animals, and being educated about what I was selling.  The bottom line was important, but not as important as customer loyalty and product quality.  Fast-forward twenty years and one would find me working as a manager at a corporate pet store chain.  I found the differences between the establishments to be profound—and that bigger does not always mean better.

After an especially trying tangle against the corporate red tape on one side of me and low paid young adults slacking under my watch on the other, I remember deciding I was going to write a book that took place in a world where everyone was reduced to a nametag, khakis, and a polo shirt.  In this world, no one took pride in what they did, so everything was of mediocre quality at best.  The multiple levels of managers and associates made it impossible to accomplish anything efficiently.  Everyone did all of their shopping at the Food-Mart, because that was the only place left for people to go.  Churches were owned by Faith-Corp.  People got all of their news from Info-Corp.

And then the terrifying thought struck me that we were already well on our way there.

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Picture
Government and corporate business have merged in an attempt to  keep the country  from going bankrupt, the effects of global warming and antibiotic-resistant  disease having caused a full collapse in infrastructure. The class divide has become profound, leaving most people trapped in an impoverished, working class world with little room for improvement. Complacency and corporate hierarchy  control and confound the masses, run by the elite few, collectively referred to as "Corporate."

George Irwin remembers a time before the Big Climate 
Change, back when the airlines were still in business and people still drove their own cars.  Sadly, his children have only known an indoor world of endless reconstruction, public shuttles, recycled water, and limited energy.  The world has changed much over his lifetime, but he still
believes in the American Dream. 

When an alleged terrorist act lands his wife in the hospital, however, George stumbles upon a Corporate secret that could mean the end of all civilization.
What does your future look like?

October 15 -- Kindle and PC
October 21 -- Paperback
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