Microstory 2454: Elizabeth Victoria

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If you’re looking for something anachronistic and weird, you’ve come to the right place. The Elizabethan Era ran from 1558 to 1603, during Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The Victorian Era started in 1837 and ended in 1901. They are both iconic periods in Great Britain’s history, but vastly different as they were separated by more than 200 years. The technology here is hard to get a grasp of. Not only are we dealing with stuff that they were using nearly a millennium ago, but they’re juxtaposed by each other. When you walk into a building, you never know if it’s going to be lit by gas lamps, or incandescent bulbs. It could be both! Which, I mean, it’s not like they destroyed all the gas lamps when they invented electricity, did they, innit? People walk around in all sorts of different clothes. They all looked alien to me, but I could tell that some of them were really old, and some were really, really old. The architecture is a mix, of course, with wooden cottages and natural stone buildings right next to giant even-stoned factories. Again, I’m sure a lot of the old stuff still existed in the new era, but the way they have it organized so randomly, it seems very forced and intentional. I’m not sure if I was supposed to learn something here, but it was fun to spend an afternoon getting a look around. I don’t think I would want to spend a lot of time there, though. I don’t much care either way, but I went with a historian friend, and they didn’t like it. They would prefer a historical dome to be accurate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like they were shocked and appalled. The design was very clear in the prospectus, and you know they read that whole damn thing, because I waited for them to finish it while we were sitting in the vactrain station. They told us that it was intentionally incongruent, and in that goal, they delivered. That’s all you can ask sometimes, innit? (Hey, am I using that word right? I don’t even know.)

PS: Please read my friend’s review. They actually know all the historical and cultural stuff that kind of flew over my head anyway.

Microstory 900: Providentials (Introduction)

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At some point many moons ago, I was sort of hurting for ideas, so I went back through my old works, trying to figure out whether I could expand on them. I wrote a couple of fables, and figured I could come up with more. I quite enjoyed writing the Perspectives series, so I decided I could revisit that concept from time to time. And I realized that I could reapply my strategy from Bellevue Profiles to a Salmonverse Profiles version, of which two have already been posted. My salmonverse canon has become so much larger than I ever thought it would, and I think the audience might benefit from a source that sums up each character’s backstory. You’ll see these all come to fruition over the next few years. I also figured I could write an expansion of my 99th microstory, 99 Problems. What a great idea, right? I’ve already told you what I hate; now I can tell you why. It just seemed so perfect since I didn’t have anything else for the 900 block. Well, then November 8, 2016 happened. One of the worst people in the history of the world was elected King Dumpster of the Divided States of Russiamerica. I was heartbroken. Not only could this administration negate everything we’ve worked so hard for over the last two billion years, but it was a testament to how many hateful people there were in the country I once thought I loved. It was extremely clear to me from the very beginning that Donald Trump was, and is, a Russian spy (we can argue semantics all you want, but if you don’t think he’s Putin’s intelligence asset, then you are not paying any goddamn attention). It seemed to take a long time for others to realize this very obvious fact, and it’s going to be even longer before all the people who either deny it today, or aren’t bothered by it, simply turn over to the sweet release of biological death. His election, however unjustified and illegal as it was, turned out to be a major wakeup call to me. This is the world we’re living in. Nazis run the U.S., the United Kingdom wants to hide away in a hole, and the future is doomed. But as time wore on with Drumpf’s first year, I started to reject these ideas. Seriously, screw that. Screw him, and screw all the negativity. I’m not going to sit back and let this happen. I’m going to fight for this planet that has been ruined by—sorry to say it—you neurotypicals. You’ve had your chance for the last couple hundred thousand years. Maybe you wanna give someone else a shot? We might surprise you, and I doubt we could do worse than the pile of crap you’ve created. Let’s start with this. I’m cancelling my 99 Problems series, and replacing it with something less negative, because that’s what we need right now. I’m going to show you that there is still good in the world, and that we can get through this. King Dumpster’s people have made one final push against the future, but they will ultimately fail. This is my contribution, as a writer...my personal list of 99 Providentials.

PS: My Dream series was longer than normal. These will probably be on the shorter side.

Microstory 391: Validation

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Attention

You’re almost there. I promise that you don’t have too many steps to take care of. So people not only know that you exist, but they’re listening to what you have to say. What do you think you need next? Well, if you’re not an idiot, then you can just read my title and tell straight up. If not, then that’s what. Now you don’t just want to be heard, but you want people to agree with you, or at least be ready to engage you in a conversation. If it’s that first one, then great, you’re done for now. If it’s the second one, then don’t fret. Dialogs are positively not bad things. Bouncing ideas off of other people, gathering more knowledge, and gaining insight can only help make you a better person. That’s the problem with the voting population, at least here and in the U.K. Immediately after the latter’s vote to leave the European Union, Google pointed out a skyrocket in the number of people asking their search engine what the EU even was. That’s right, despite the fact that this vote was in the news for the weeks on my side of the Atlantic, and I knew about it without being generally well-informed, people who were actually going to be deciding this didn’t know. These are people whose opinions you should not listen to, and who do not deserve your validation. That vote was obviously a sham, not to mention the fact that it was a ludicrous proposition in the first place. It’s completely backwards, we should be moving towards tighter unity, not greater nationalism. I digress. As I’ve tried to get you to understand before, do not be afraid to be wrong. One of my favorite quotes of all time is from Isaac Asimov. He said, “people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” This is obviously a joke, but it’s also on point. What’s worse than being wrong is being wrong but knowing “for sure” that you’re right. If you’re in a position where people are listening to your ideas, then you have an obligation to make those ideas informed and well thought out. Learn from mistakes, change your mind, admit your ignorance and lack of education. It’ll be worse for you when people find out anyway.

Approval