SOMNIA

by Isaac Marion

find it here: http://www.burningbuilding.com/somnia...


“HOW SLEEP STOLE 3,315 YEARS FROM HUMANITY AND COULD HAVE STOLEN MORE”

By Student #36

November 28, 1776

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction

ebook

About the author

After 9 years, 4 books, and 1 pretty good movie, R and Julie's story is about to reach its conclusion.

THE LIVING, book 4 of the Warm Bodies Series, is available now.

isaacmarion.com

Reviews

[Sandra]

How Isaac Marion always manage to entertain me and also make me dubious of the world I live in, will always be fascinating to me. Everything I've read by him, is thought-provoking.

In this short futuristic story; sleep or "somnia" is a cured disease, and it made me think about it in a deep way. Could you imagine a world where there's no such thing as sleeping? I cannot either, but that doesn't mean that it is not appealing in some practical fashion. Think of the possibilities if sleep was not required to function.

"So much has happened in such a short time, but so much time wasted! What if Sleep were cured sooner? At the dawn of man, 10,000 B.C? What unimaginable future age would we be living in today? What blinding wonders would compose our lives?

But more importantly, what would you do? Would you do something important with the extra time? Or just let it pass?

Excellent, thrilling and somehow fathomable short story!

[Ivy Tucker]

A clever concept. Sleep viewed as a plague is ingenious. I wasn't too sure about assuming that humanity would change so quickly without it though, considering dreams help us be more inventive and creative. I suspect Marion is hinting at that subtly with how deeply the society has changed - I very much liked the hint of doubt or dissonance about "progress" given that the student and teacher don't even have names. It was a bit odd that all the people and inventions were the same though, just earlier.

[Ailla Magcamit]

I'm getting a theme now. Every Isaac Marion story (may it be a novel or something a short as this one) will always be thought-provoking. He allows the readers to see the "What ifs" in life and opens up the readers' imaginations.

I have a love-hate relationship with sleep. I love sleeping but there are also times wherein I feel like sleeping is an absolute waste of time. In those hours of unconsciousness, I could've read a novel, or studied my lessons, or ate. The opportunities are endless.

Still, I guess I wouldn't really want sleep to be cured. It's some kind of a reward after a long tiring day.

On another note, I think Somnia's point is to let us see how humankind is wasting time doing unproductive things; that since we are out for about 8 hours everyday, we should make the remaining 16 hours left of consciousness count.

[Emma Sutton]

Ever heard of the saying, "Sleep is for the dead."? It would be amazing if there was a cure for sleep. We could learn so much more, and do SO much more. I wonder if our world will ever be like this, and if it is, I probably won't be around to see it. No cancer, world peace, no global warming, etc,. That might not seem like a lot, but it would a massive improvement in our world.

[Kayleigh]

It's always amazed me how we come to just accept sleep as a natural thing in our lives, but never have I thought of it in this way! Short and very imaginative, Marion has managed to create a believable future with things that sound normal yet are non-existent, quite a challenge for a writer but he makes it look easy. Wonderful piece of writing.

[yani]

I've always thought about this before but until this short story, it was never coherent enough--just bits and fragments of what Isaac did here. And it's beautiful. And somehow scary. I'm no scientist but I love how this is so thought-provoking.

[Ce.Cilia]

A very short story with an interesting idea. I will continue reading more from the author.

[Alex Martin]

What a weird story.

This alternate universe story focuses on a question that I have never even thought of, "What if we cured sleep?"

Of course, you don't "cure" sleep, it's not something the needs to be cured, but this story shows what would happen if humanity never slept and productivity was increased by a substantial amount to the point where human evolution as we know it today happens about 600 years in the past.

Interesting story, definitely would recommend.

[BellaGBear]

The writing was good, but I do not agree with his theory what happens when sleep would be cured. I do agree that we probably will develop faster as human species, but it is unlikely to have more free time. When a normal day is 24 hours, routines and working hours will probably get longer as well. This diminishes free time, but will actually quicken net innovations and such

[ad_astras]

I forgot how much I loved Isaac Marion's writing, from reading Warm Bodies years ago. This short story was a sort of dystopia/utopia mix that asked 'what if there was a cure for sleep?'. Thought-provoking stuff, indeed.
I'd hate not to be able to go to sleep. Imagine being stuck in reality for your whole life.

[Tamara]

Thought-provoking indeed. Imagine having all that extra time. I can't help but think of how many books I'd be able to read in a day, a week, a month, a year if we somehow found a cure for "Somnia". What would you do with your additional hours?

[Krissy P (Kris)]

It's Weird, but pretty interesting. I liked.

[Carol]

Sleep as a sickness, uggghhh *shudders* Please don't cure it, I love my sleep!!!!

[*Lee*]

A clever little short story about the "future".

[Fatma Alshamsi]

Imagine being stuck in reality your whole life, I can never imagine myself in this kind of situation.
Well-written story.

[April]

Very interesting short story with an interesting concept with sleep as a disease. I love sleep so this would be even more sad to me than not having names in school.

[Rezl Hernandez]

Thank you, Space-Jesus!

[Janjohn]

This is kinda weird, but nice. So Sleep was cured, huh?