Well here we go
When Fiction becomes Reality
It seems appropriate that I start posting to Instagram (and maybe TikTok) on Independence day. It is the start of something new and perhaps revolutionary. For those who are already subscribers, my apologies for any redundancy. Many of you already know why I write.
For those reading this for the first time, I want to explain why I am even doing this. I am writing a series of fictional novels describing what will happen in our near future (the next 20 years). The perspective is from someone writing in the future looking BACK to around today.
Trying to describe what and why things happened that lead to their present day. I have coined the term ‘edu-fiction’ to describe my fiction. My first goal is to entertain. To write an interesting story that engages the reader enough to both pickup the book, but to also learn and think while doing so.
When I started thinking about writing this story, forty years ago now, I was out of college starting my career in the software world. It was during the Reagan administration and we were still in the cold war, worried about being nuked.
Fast forward thirty-five years. I had retired (for the first time) trying to decide what to do when I finally quit talking about writing and sat down to do it. Thirty-five years was a long time to think about a particular story. Sadly, and not surprising, to anyone who has studied history, the political landscape of 2020 and 1985 was not all that different.
We are still worried about getting nuked. We don’t trust our government. Corruption, terrorism and issues regarding inequality, race and abortion are still front and center. If anything, our politics are now more divisive. Oh, and we are again discussing an aged president whose mental capacity is being questioned.
One thing contributing to the rapid decline, or perhaps the lack of progress, is cable news. A second, perhaps more profound, mostly negative ‘advancement’, has also been social media. These two creations of the post 80’s era have done more to hasten the potential downfall of our civilization than any other.
Seems a strange thing to discuss as I start posting to Instagram - biting the hand that I hope to use to spread my message. I am a contrarian if you have not figured this out yet. Also, the truth hurts. Social Media and cable news, for all their pluses, and there are some, their negatives have quickly swamped the negative side of the balance. To the point they are now a dangerous weapon in the hands of the immoral and unethical. Add AI to this and we have a very serious challenge ahead of us.
A consistent message you will see in my posts, my Substack blogs, and in my novels is concern. Concern for our future. Your future. I truly believe we are on the downside of our civilization. It is not irreversible. I can’t change it alone. But I can point out some of why I think it is happening. To help others understand as well.
Together, this can be stopped. But only if enough people wake up to the realities of what is happening and why. How we are allowing our freedom to be disenfranchised by the relentless assault of dis and mis information from those same cable and social media outlets. They do not have your best interests at heart. From either ‘side’. Trust me.
Why did I title my blog post the way I did? I have had several people who have read all three novels in the saga tell me I need to write faster. Reality is catching up to what I describe in my fictional stories. This is surprising and, frankly, disturbing.
When Orwell wrote 1984, he was writing in the post World War II forties. By his title, one can only assume he figured it would take a couple of generations for his dystopian future to occur. I only started writing my books in 2020/21. True, there was a worldwide plague occurring and our government was busy spewing dis and misinformation through their allies on the networks, in cable and social media, while suppressing dissent and truth.
Wait a minute, sounds a lot like 1984. Hmm. And I started thinking about this forty years ago. Two generations…
Anyway, I sat down writing and the floodgates opened. What I have published as three novels now, with the fourth forthcoming in the next month, is what I produced in rough form during this time. I wrote this story because I need people to open their eyes to what they are squandering by not paying attention. By allowing these relentless voices to discourage your involvement in shaping your future.
My books have one purpose. To show you one ‘what if’ of what can happen in our future if we don’t stand up now and prevent that alternative history from becoming our reality. What started as a fictional account is now turning into a reality. My worst fears and predictions are becoming truths.
This was not my intent. I am not Nostradamus; I don’t want the reality of my story to become our reality. I am writing it as a guidebook, just as Orwell did 1984, to help us not let this be our future.
I hope to use Social Media for some of that good I allude to as possible. I know it can be powerful and useful. A novel is not a cat video or a cute picture of a baby doing something amazing. And I certainly did not start writing to make any money as it is next impossible to make a living doing this. Thankfully, I do not need to make a living writing.
This also gives me the freedom to say what must be said. To point out the hypocrisy and show where we are in danger of letting our freedoms disappear, willingly. On this independence day, I reflect on the bravery of our founders. They risked everything on the idea of freedom to choose. Envisioning how they could be governed by themselves. Not by a king, a dictator, or a group of investment bankers.
Instead, to get together with their neighbors. To collectively decide on a series of laws. Laws the majority would vote on and abide by. And change as needed through legislation voted on by those elected by the people. Not by lobbyists and unelected bureaucrats.
This is an experiment, our journey of self rule. Human nature does not agree with this. It takes work to lead. It takes none to follow mindlessly. We are risking two hundred and fifty years of efforts through inattention and indifference. As with most successful and affluent civilizations, we have forgotten how we achieved both the success and the ability to have leisure time, so many others do not.
We are squandering the hard work of our grandparents and those before them. Who fought and sometimes died so we could have our ability to praise terrorists at our top universities. We have raised generations now who do not know how or why we have what we do.
They’ve been provided with smart phones and material items we would have laughed at even forty years ago as neither possible nor necessary. Yet here we are. We have incredible tools and we use them for what? Does the average 20-year-old understand what had to happen for them to sit idle and swipe through endless streams of irrelevant content?
If you made it this far, I am sure you’re feeling really chippy now :-). Yep, just what I want to read with my limited free time! Please trust me. It is worth the time and effort to be better informed. It may be the difference between freedom and mere existence. While I am highlighting what can go wrong, I am telling the story from a future. It must turn out Ok, right? Right?
We’ll find out together. The future is the sum of our choices now and as we move forward.
I think you will enjoy reading the books and following Nick Turner on his journey. Because, ultimately, it is your journey, too. Stay involved in shaping how your future happens. Don’t be a passenger in someone else’s decisions. Together, we will shape the future. This is my hope and the real reason for my ‘edufictional’ novels. Think of them as guidebooks for the future.
I admit to having little knowledge of what to do with social media. So I will post progress on the books and tidbits of the process of all that goes into being an indie writer and publisher. It is not for the faint of heart. I welcome any thoughts or suggestions on content you might find interesting.
As a writer, doing anything in less than pages goes against my principles :-). Expect most of the exposition to be here on Substack. I will post links to these on Instagram. I am also posting on X. These will be my two main social channels along with this blog.
As is always the case, in this brave new world, we are all reliant on the goodwill of others to share what they like (and dislike). If you find any of this interesting, please pass it on. I believe in the message I’m delivering. It will only take root and help others if the word is spread. The only way this happens is YOU.
We are like the modern Sons of Liberty, groups with which most of our founders were affiliated. Groups of people from all walks of life finding common ground in liberty and freedom. In my books, this is the Turner Rabble. Welcome to the revolution!
Happy Independence Day!