I’m thinking I should compile my short stories into a book titled Dreaming the Apocalypse, since the eco-crash, the apocalypse, the complete breakdown of government, etc. is a theme that seems to run through all of them. I base my stories on actual dreams I’ve had. Right now I’m working on four:
#1 - This takes place after the world collapses from war and environmental ruin. The main character has lived his whole life on a mostly self-sustaining kibbutz started by a group of people who somehow managed to avoid radiation poisoning. The members are barely surviving because the food supply is short - the seeds etc. have been exposed to radiation so the success rate of crops is incredibly small. The rules of the kibbutz include discarding members (including newborns) who show signs of radiation poisoning and - since almost all children are born horribly disfigured and are therefore discarded - the population of the kibbutz is declining . Occasionally, the kibbutz docks to pick up supplies from the few existing human colonies. The members must wear gas masks, hazmat suits etc. to disembark. The main character, who has grown up on the kibbutz, goes on his first mission. He disembarks at the “Great Tree Forest” which is an abandoned playground with three withered pine trees - the only trees in the world that survived the collapse. There is a line of pilgrims there that stretches for miles. People from around the globe have walked there to pray and breathe the air by the trees, which is thought to have curative powers. It is here that the main character comes face to face with the reality of the rest of the world. He makes a startling decision about the course of his life, which I can’t tell you because it would ruin the story.
#2 - Organic crops and homeopathic remedies and those who grew them were been eradicated in the great witch hunts of the 2030s. The main character works in a big government-funded hospital/lab under the direction of high-up government officials where he fills pill complacency capsules for a living (these capsules are fed to the poor and “insane” each morning to sedate them and prevent revolt - his particular facility supplies capsules for political prisoners of the witch hunts). Each morning at 6am the government inspects the labs. As soon as they leave, the main character clears off the counters and opens trap door panels in the floors and ceilings, taking out rows upon rows of plants. He takes out juicers and pumice stones, switches the light bulbs to full-spectrum bulbs, and goes to work making herbal remedies for various ailments and filling the complacency capsules with sugar so that the revolution will stay alive. By 7am the mailman comes with smuggled packets of organic seeds and they load the truck with organic remedies to distribute to the sick. At 5pm the nurses come for the capsules to go to the prison and the main character hands over the sugar pill capsules instead. He then works into the night, falling asleep on a cot in the lab and waking at 4am to turn the lab back to its original state for the next morning’s inspection. Of course, this sort of deception can only work for so long…
#3 - The U.S. government has begun the final portion of its “Christian Nation” project - eliminating the queers, Jews, Muslims, and other non-Christians by mass extermination. The extermination is set to occur on September 11, the date the government claims the nation was threatened by all who did not follow their God. The queers and non-Christians with resources have fled the country, but the poor have been left behind to go into hiding or make one last desperate attempt to flee. The main character and his partner are leaders of the resistance and they have heard of the plan and alerted the masses. Unfortunately, one of the resistance members tipped the government off so they began the extermination a day early. The extermination begins. Riots break out and people are fleeing everywhere in chaos. There is a man with a werewolf sent to track down the main character, his partner, and their two children. The government has ordered that none of the “infidels” should be allowed to live. What will happen next? You’ll have to wait for me to write it.
#4 - Genetic engineering of designer babies was approved about ten years ago and wealthy white parents began signing up to receive their perfect brilliant blond-haired blue-eyed babies. But there’s a problem: the gene manipulation and splicing has created children who are both psychic and extremely mentally unstable. The government banned human genetic engineering, rounded up all of the genetically-engineered children, and removed them from the public. They planned to kill them, but a group of vegans and well-meaning housewives led a series of successful protests and stopped the killing. The children are now housed in a facility in Alaska, miles from the nearest town. The main character is a child care worker in the facility. The children are kept one on one with a staff (or one on two or three for the larger and more dangerous children) and are monitored at all times and subdued with drugs and tasers. One evening, when the main character is at work, there is an explosion in the facility. Evacuation procedure is to lock the children securely in their cells and then evacuate the building without them, but the main character doesn’t have the heart to do it. He is about to exit with his assigned child when he looks outside and notices that there are armed tanks and snipers poised at the exits shooting down everyone attempting to leave. There are helicopters in the air. The government has decided to destroy the facility and all those inside it so they can cover up the extermination as a gas tank explosion. The main character decides to take the child he is with and escape.
anallusivefigure