Uncertain Futures

What would you sacrifice for stability? The world's most powerful are betting it's a lot!

Like any writer, I’m always looking for inspiration from the real world to influence the creation of my imaginary worlds. I want my stories to be enjoyed, but I also want them to resonate with readers by reflecting elements of our world that matter to me— and hopefully you as well.

The interplay between technology, power, resistance, corruption, morality, existential philosophy, history, and religion are all major themes in my stories and I endeavour to find an audience who cares about this stuff as much as I do— especially when it is packaged into a narrative that is dipped in the chocolate of fast-paced, action-filled plots.

My current work-in-progress (WIP) is the Nekonikon Punk series. When it is finished the main narrative will span three books: Ctrl Break, Ctrl Alt, and Ctrl (undecided right now). I am already pretty sure I have at least one prequel book in the chamber (my head) and various other stories I want to tell within this world. I may decide to release those as an anthology of short stories, or expand them into full-fledged novels. At any rate, my point is that I am finding Nekonikon to be fertile soil for the types of stories I want to tell. Who knows how long I’ll be expanding on this fictional world?

Nekonikon is dystopian by its very nature. It is a city originally established by three megacorps where they have placed their headquarters, production facilities, and worker housing. Eventually, they established their own municipal governing body and became disillusioned with the deliberative, slow moving American government with its taxes, antitrust laws, and endless regulations. Before long, Nekonikon had its own private army and seceded declaring itself an independent city-state. It went to war with the USA along with a group of other similar city-states along the Pacific Coast, eventually ending in a peace treaty establishing their sovereignty.

I honestly don’t think this is a very far-fetched concept. Have you ever worried about our younger generations and the world which they are inheriting from us? We haven’t left them much. Combine the cost of housing, post-pandemic inflation, climate change, the social security crisis, the widening wealth gap, AI threatening the job market, with the great plastic island in the Pacific and its no wonder dystopias are commonplace in YA and NA fiction! It is safe to say the next few decades are full of uncertainty and our youth are greatly affected by the future they are facing.

So imagine a company comes along, led by some CEO that makes more money in a year than some entire nations will in a decade. He (let’s face it, this CEO is a ‘he’ in our current world order) offers you- a young person- a stable job that includes an apartment. As long as you work for him, you have a decent place to live and wages enough to afford food. How many people would jump at the chance? Then that company starts whittling away your rights. You give up your privacy and in exchange for increased surveillance, you gain some minor conveniences. The company establishes its own community of workers with some pretty strict bylaws; you don’t have much of a say, but hey it keeps out the riff raff. Now that company establishes a governing body. You don’t get to vote, but you’ll keep your mouth shut if you want that promotion that comes with the slightly bigger apartment with a better view…and so on.

In short, a strongman comes along and offers stability and security in an uncertain world. I believe people would flock to it. Maybe you disagree, but current trends towards authoritarianism certainly seem to support my stance. And frankly, I don’t blame them. It is us who have failed our youth. We left them this mess of a world and simultaneously stood by as schools dismantled civics classes in favor of increased STEM subjects. I have nothing against STEM, but we reap what we sow when that’s become the primary focus of education. We need a better way!

I don’t have much hope for preventing this kind of future, but I do hold out hope that we will always have people who resist it. There are still many of us who care about democracy and lament the crumbling of our societies’ foundations over the past 30 years or more. The fragmentation of our politics, the mistrust of institutions, the lack of well-rounded education, all serve the wealthiest at the expense of the poorest. But despite their concerted efforts, the ideals of freedom, privacy, and genuine human connection remain strong. That is what I want to write about. And that is what I hope you want to read.