Alex Bright > Recent Status Updates

I really need to start reading again.

Well, the father is a piece of garbage.

I want to write a novel titled “The Last of the Feral Kids,” about late GenX/early Xennial children who grew up just before the internet and video game consoles became ubiquitous. No, not a Stranger Things rip-off. Real things, like dealing with the Satanic Panic, Chernobyl, the Fall of the Berlin Wall, etc., but from a child’s perspective.

And in his world set free, Christianity is the world religion. Obviously.

***bangs head repeatedly against the wall***

…. Aaaaand, the Universal Language chosen? English. 🤦‍♀️ I don’t think he understands how important language is to history and culture. Homogeny ≠ World Peace.

At least Wells recognizes the profound destitution these events would unleash upon humanity, at least in the short-term; that many people would die in the aftermath and others would not/could not change.

I had to double check to see if there was a satirical element to this novel, as there is a certain Swift-ishness to how Wells draws his characters -- that is, as ridiculous as Martinus Scriblerous. But no, Wells just had a rather naive view of men, thinking most are simple and genuinely good.

United Nations. He’s proposing the UN, if the UN was a dictatorship. And all the members would agree to no war, ever. They’ll just agree. Because of M.A.D.

Wells is an idealist and Swift would have torn him apart, if they had lived in the same time period.

Did Wells seriously think the idea of a One World Order would actually fly, just because of M.A.D. existing with atomic weapons? Well, he got M.A.D. being a thing right, at least. He didn’t conceive of the Cold War… but I’m more concerned that he didn’t conceive of women having a place in… well… anything. Ugh.

I don't think so. Humanity's memory is extremely short, unfortunately.

Wells’ description of an atomic bomb (again, he wrote this is 1913) is kind of comical, but still kind of incredible.

Wait. Did Wells just predict the Channel Tunnel??? In 1913??? He literally called it the Channel Tunnel, too!

The more things change, as they say…

Litigious Corporatocracy? Yes.
Alchemy succeeds in making gold? Um. Not so much.

Wells writes a fictional account of what is essentially the first splitting of the atom, by a character named Holsten. Bear in mind that he wrote this book in 1913. Holsten writes in his journal that he, “Felt like an imbecile who has presented a box full of loaded revolvers to a Creche.”

Wells knew what was up long before most people.

This just went from Blade Runner to Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe.

So far this reminds me of Make Room! Make Room! (aka Soylent Green), in that it’s much less like the movie than I expected… but more interesting.

Sounds like the Silo is an awful lot like Eden. Don’t you dare ask questions or want more.

This is nice. Something I definitely needed. Despair thickening through fiction

It is intriguing, though. I’ll give it that.

Reading the short novella before I decide if I want to read the extended book/series.

Anyone else feeling numb, broken, and adrift?