Apparently, people who write titles for politico-military thrillers about nuclear brinksmanship find the language of The Star Spangled Banner just too good to resist. It must be the power of dark irony, to turn words of patriotic celebration into a warning for patriots. For example: Twilight's Last Gleaming is a 1977 drama starring Burt Lancaster as a renegade air force … [Read more...]
Charter of the deep future: plenty is enough
Below is an excerpt from Samuel Alexander’s new book, Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilization. This book is a creative work of fiction – a "utopia of sufficiency" – which brings to life a simple living community that became isolated on a small island after the collapse of industrial civilization. Looking back from the future, the book describes the economy, culture, and … [Read more...]
Birthday wishes
It was a sunny morning in early October and the house was astir with activity. Katie and her grandmother Edna were busy slicing tomatoes at the kitchen table for dehydrating. Henry and Ryan were working on a plumbing project in the basement to re-route the kitchen waste water to a rain barrel outside. With the exuberance of an eight year old on her birthday, the small … [Read more...]
The garden school
It was the first day of school for Sakiko and six of the neighbor’s children. Katie stood behind a desk made of two file cabinets and an old solid core wood door covered in a table cloth. The blackboard behind her was as black as a winter’s night except for her name written in yellow chalk. Her students sat in mismatched office chairs around two dining room tables salvaged … [Read more...]
Where presidents once gazed
Our fourth installment of post-peak fiction by writer JB Sties. His first piece was “The Lot: a tale from the near future.” His second was “On the fence” and his third was "Stop cutting the grass." — Ed As the train came to rest beside the wooden platform, Ryan removed his cap and wiped the sweat from his brow. His handkerchief, soaked after a long day of … [Read more...]