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Century's End
GAZE INTO THE FUTURE. DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU SEE?
Riots and assassinations. Wars and rumors of wars. An economy in shock and a dust bowl that spreads further each year. Brokers consulting witches. True believers worshiping UFOs. A charismatic TV evangelist running for President. A faceless conspiracy that plans the ultimate atrocity…and a woman who holds the future in her hands.
Riots and assassinations. Wars and rumors of wars. An economy in shock and a dust bowl that spreads further each year. Brokers consulting witches. True believers worshiping UFOs. A charismatic TV evangelist running for President. A faceless conspiracy that plans the ultimate atrocity…and a woman who holds the future in her hands.
260 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1981
27 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 16, 2017
I don't remember what prompted to to look for a copy of this book to read since I had never heard of Russel M. Griffin. As it turns out Griffin only wrote 4 novels and some short stories before dying , I believe from a heart attack, at age 43.
I loved the novel. But because there are a lot of ideas that were derived from actual movements and philosophies that were going on in 1981 when the book was written it may not appeal to younger readers. I was 34 in 1981 and recommend this book very highly to all baby boomers and some early Gen Xer's. The book is about strange events going on just before the big millennial event of year 2000. Obviously year 2000 is long past and the biggest bugaboo was all the calamities that were going to occur because of the world's computers not being able to handle a 4 digit year.
The main story concerns two very different and clashing groups in America. The backdrop is that changing weather patterns have created huge dust storms in the midwest that were worse than the dust bowl of the 30's. If I remember correctly one character even uses the term global warming. This has resulted in a lot of hungry people looking looking for answers in magic, alien saviors and a TV marketing genius presenting his own religion and helping things along by selling his adherents electronic devices that make them more susceptible to his "message".
His organization is one of the two I mentioned above. He calls himself Doctor Love. The second is a lot of young people taken in by a cult that promises them they will be beamed up to a better place by aliens in flying saucers. They all drop out, quit their jobs and follow their leader all over the continent trying to find the place the aliens will arrive at. In the mean time Doctor Love sees them as competitors and is taking extreme measures to wipe them out. A few of the cult people realize that Doctor Love is killing off their members and they make some, not very successful, attempts to kill Doctor Love and his people.
In the mean time all these followers are talking about are the cosmic truths their leaders have been preaching to them. The theme song for Dr. Love's message would be "Don't Worry, Be Happy" as he puts them in a mellow trance with special headphones. The Flying saucer cult are spending their time developing there "radar" which helps them locate their leader and hopefully the site the saucer aliens will be arriving at. It's not clear if the saucer people actually have paranormal abilities or just think they do. A lot of the cult dogma is built around the visions the cult leader is having, including visions about here own death.
Now we come to the two major protagonists. Jervis Santalucia, a man half black and half white, who has some personal problems based on his feeling he was rejected by both races. He has written a some horrible racist and sexist novels that became huge hits because he understood what the market wanted. He considers himself a pop artist with his finger on the public pulse. Then he is selected by Doctor Love to help stage his big New Years Eve 2000 performance. The other is Circe the "witch" who started out doing prognostications for various corporations. Magic had been blossoming in the time just before Y2K but it was a not lot of drawing pentagrams or throwing weird stuff into boiling cauldrons while saying incantations. They had their own corporation and limited their magic, by using Tarot cards and crystal balls, to help corporations beef up their bottom line.
Along the way Jervis and Circle individually discover some scary stuff about Doctor Love's organization and the nasty things they were trying to do with the Saucer People cult and what they were really planning for the new millennium. They eventually cross paths and eventually team up. Circe was fired from the magician's corporation for lacking the level of magical talents to do her job but discovers she has a real "gift" and real powers and wants to use them against Doctor Love. Jervis is an unwilling accomplice but ends up aiding Circe in her plan to save the world from Doctor Love using magic.
As I look back at my review I find that I am not doing a very good job explaining why this is an exceptional book. It is satire in the style of Philip K. Dick or Kurt Vonnegut and every bit as good. A reviewer on Amazon said the "book is droll, philosophical and trenchant at the same time" and I think that's an accurate description. This was one of the first books to deal with the coming millennium in a near future science fiction story. Griffin manages to do it well using a mixture of humor and pathos and a lot of craziness.
I loved the novel. But because there are a lot of ideas that were derived from actual movements and philosophies that were going on in 1981 when the book was written it may not appeal to younger readers. I was 34 in 1981 and recommend this book very highly to all baby boomers and some early Gen Xer's. The book is about strange events going on just before the big millennial event of year 2000. Obviously year 2000 is long past and the biggest bugaboo was all the calamities that were going to occur because of the world's computers not being able to handle a 4 digit year.
The main story concerns two very different and clashing groups in America. The backdrop is that changing weather patterns have created huge dust storms in the midwest that were worse than the dust bowl of the 30's. If I remember correctly one character even uses the term global warming. This has resulted in a lot of hungry people looking looking for answers in magic, alien saviors and a TV marketing genius presenting his own religion and helping things along by selling his adherents electronic devices that make them more susceptible to his "message".
His organization is one of the two I mentioned above. He calls himself Doctor Love. The second is a lot of young people taken in by a cult that promises them they will be beamed up to a better place by aliens in flying saucers. They all drop out, quit their jobs and follow their leader all over the continent trying to find the place the aliens will arrive at. In the mean time Doctor Love sees them as competitors and is taking extreme measures to wipe them out. A few of the cult people realize that Doctor Love is killing off their members and they make some, not very successful, attempts to kill Doctor Love and his people.
In the mean time all these followers are talking about are the cosmic truths their leaders have been preaching to them. The theme song for Dr. Love's message would be "Don't Worry, Be Happy" as he puts them in a mellow trance with special headphones. The Flying saucer cult are spending their time developing there "radar" which helps them locate their leader and hopefully the site the saucer aliens will be arriving at. It's not clear if the saucer people actually have paranormal abilities or just think they do. A lot of the cult dogma is built around the visions the cult leader is having, including visions about here own death.
Now we come to the two major protagonists. Jervis Santalucia, a man half black and half white, who has some personal problems based on his feeling he was rejected by both races. He has written a some horrible racist and sexist novels that became huge hits because he understood what the market wanted. He considers himself a pop artist with his finger on the public pulse. Then he is selected by Doctor Love to help stage his big New Years Eve 2000 performance. The other is Circe the "witch" who started out doing prognostications for various corporations. Magic had been blossoming in the time just before Y2K but it was a not lot of drawing pentagrams or throwing weird stuff into boiling cauldrons while saying incantations. They had their own corporation and limited their magic, by using Tarot cards and crystal balls, to help corporations beef up their bottom line.
Along the way Jervis and Circle individually discover some scary stuff about Doctor Love's organization and the nasty things they were trying to do with the Saucer People cult and what they were really planning for the new millennium. They eventually cross paths and eventually team up. Circe was fired from the magician's corporation for lacking the level of magical talents to do her job but discovers she has a real "gift" and real powers and wants to use them against Doctor Love. Jervis is an unwilling accomplice but ends up aiding Circe in her plan to save the world from Doctor Love using magic.
As I look back at my review I find that I am not doing a very good job explaining why this is an exceptional book. It is satire in the style of Philip K. Dick or Kurt Vonnegut and every bit as good. A reviewer on Amazon said the "book is droll, philosophical and trenchant at the same time" and I think that's an accurate description. This was one of the first books to deal with the coming millennium in a near future science fiction story. Griffin manages to do it well using a mixture of humor and pathos and a lot of craziness.
March 25, 2026
A story with dark humor, sadness, and hope, stylishly written.
We can’t wait for salvation to come from above; we have to help ourselves.
It reminded me much of Network—a corporation is trying to take over the nation, using a charismatic mascot on television; Make Room! Make Room!, with the predicted gray misery of life in 1999 (although overpopulation is not the problem in this case); The Man in the High Castle, with tarot, fortune-telling, and the occult part of everyday American life and corporate structure; and The Wizard of Oz. Dust storms, a Kansas girl looking for something more than Kansas …a good witch, a false king, the power of believing in oneself…
The part about Mr. and Mrs. Soames was
The most powerful part for me was about the girl who lost her best friend to radiation sickness, and with her all the beauty and hope and imagination in her life. Her whole town is sick and dying from a nuclear meltdown ten years earlier. Even though she’s young, she doesn’t chase the false hope of any cult.
At least things weren’t this bleak in the real year 1999.
This would make a great movie (and feels rather like it was intended to be one, with the quips from Santalucia and the detailed descriptions of action and the appearances of characters).
If the cover is meant to depict the “woman who holds the future in her hands”, that would be Circe, who is dark-haired. Blondewashing!
We can’t wait for salvation to come from above; we have to help ourselves.
It reminded me much of Network—a corporation is trying to take over the nation, using a charismatic mascot on television; Make Room! Make Room!, with the predicted gray misery of life in 1999 (although overpopulation is not the problem in this case); The Man in the High Castle, with tarot, fortune-telling, and the occult part of everyday American life and corporate structure; and The Wizard of Oz. Dust storms, a Kansas girl looking for something more than Kansas …a good witch, a false king, the power of believing in oneself…
The part about Mr. and Mrs. Soames was
The most powerful part for me was about the girl who lost her best friend to radiation sickness, and with her all the beauty and hope and imagination in her life. Her whole town is sick and dying from a nuclear meltdown ten years earlier. Even though she’s young, she doesn’t chase the false hope of any cult.
At least things weren’t this bleak in the real year 1999.
This would make a great movie (and feels rather like it was intended to be one, with the quips from Santalucia and the detailed descriptions of action and the appearances of characters).
If the cover is meant to depict the “woman who holds the future in her hands”, that would be Circe, who is dark-haired. Blondewashing!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews