Fiction makes the end of the world FUN!

I spent the weekend in the Blue Mountains for Literary Salon 6 - a quarterly gathering of writers wherein we discuss two books and try to impress one another by reading our work. Also, there’s usually cake.

But I’m totally in it for the literary discussion. I swear.

Our host was the eternally spooky Tara Moss, whose novel The Blood Countess will be released this Halloween.

I’ll admit that back in Gretchenville I dreamed I might one day ride in a real limousine. I never imagined, however, that my new boss would be in the trunk, or that I would be sitting in the back with a four hundred year old murderess…

This Salon’s two novels were post-apocalyptic in theme: The Children of Men by PD James, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Walking down the street, you can always tell which people have read these books. Their eyes are permanently aglaze, and they respond to every question with “…What? Sorry, I was thinking about that haunting book.”

Why, I wonder, do we enjoy reading about the end of the world? Perhaps it’s just schadenfraude. Perhaps it makes our real lives seem better by comparison. Or perhaps, after reading about what an author thinks the apocalypse will be like, we feel better prepared for the real life version. Who among us hasn’t left the house to see a zombie movie, and returned with a leather jacket, a car boot filled with canned food, and a shotgun? (Answer: everybody.)

My contribution to the readings was my new short story, The Caretakers:

It’s so cold.

Eve can feel the synthetic oil getting thick inside her veins, the electrical pulses fading as they spark along the silver coils in her chassis. Power has long since stopped flowing from the wall socket, but she’s still plugged in. It would cost precious energy to move.

The worklights have died, plunging the corridors and terminals of the Ark into darkness. All she can see is her heads-up display. As she watches, the battery gauge clicks over from two percent to one. The battery critical alert has been winking for hours. She wishes she could turn it off to save power and postpone her death by a second or two. But this host wasn’t designed with that capability…

You can read the rest at NewPoe.com. Enjoy!

After writing it, I was depressed to discover that Isaac Asimov had already written a short story about the heat death of the universe. Oh, Isaac. My old nemesis.

Was it better than mine? Of course it was - he’s Isaac-bloody-Asimov. But I’m not petty - I shall link to it as well so you can make the decision for yourself.

The Last Question, by Isaac Asimov

The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light. The question came about as a result of a five dollar bet over highballs, and it happened this way…

Read the rest here. Stay tuned for the part where, 1000 years from now, computers become so small that you can fit one in a spaceship! (It was written, by the way, in 1956.)

Now that I’ve linked to every page on the internet (that I know of), you are dismissed.

Go on! Go! What are you waiting for? Oh, right. The mitifotit.



MITIFOTIT:
Most Interesting Thing I Found On The Internet Today

I love it when people over-think movies. Or rather, I love it when everyone under-thinks them, and someone else points it out.

This is where Cracked comes in:

Why ‘Back to the Future’ Is Secretly Horrifying — powered by Cracked.com