“What, a book? You mean like the posts you used to write?”
Very funny. I don’t know how many of the old guard are still around, but the last time I was active in RPGC was more than 10 years ago, when I was a wee lad in high school acting about 10 years older than I was, Holy Mazrim Taim, moderating forums with ban hammer, essay-long responses, and impeccably proper punctuation. Those were good times that I remember fondly.
The prodigal son returns; only now, I am a man grown. The reason I come here today is to tell you all that I now am the author of a science fiction novel called Meld Resistance, book one of the Gardenpunk series.
The premise of my book is that national governments and major multinational corporations have merged into a world power known as the Meld Authority in order to take concerted, worldwide action to address and reverse the impact of climate change before it’s too late for human civilization. The Meld Authority is a technocratic, globalized empire that makes constant use of professional gaming strategists (think Civilization on steroids), combined with massive data streams about climate and population, to determine the best path forward for human survival. However, necessary solutions demand massive sacrifices, particularly from citizens of first-world countries, with regard to their standard of living. In order to (forcibly) ease the transition, the Meld Authority pumps a gas known as the Meld into the air within its territory, which induces a sense of profound peace and suggestiveness to authority. The Meld is designed to lower appetite as well, to the point where the people appear painfully thin, but do not feel their hunger.
On the outskirts of Meld-controlled territory, people carve out lives for themselves through salvage and local food production (hence, Gardenpunk), since the global fossil fuel transportation economy, upon which all our lives currently depend, has been eliminated by or subsumed into the Meld. The Meld continues trying to make inroads into people’s neighborhoods, where it encounters resistance from people who assert that the forced drug would take away their freedom. The story follows one such pocket of resistance as it develops into full-fledged war against the Meld.
Gray areas are the point - the reader is meant to keep second-guessing which “side” they’re supposed to be on, because there are no easy answers to this conundrum. I am extraordinarily proud of this work - not only does it address these complicated philosophical and political concerns, it is an adventurous scifi romp through a crumbling, post-apocalyptic vision of the city where I live (Philadelphia) - enjoyable on multiple levels.
The best part is: it is available for sale today. If this book sounds interesting to you or if you know someone who would be interested (like any of the old guard who might want to know how Maz is doing or buy his book), please visit the book’s website. There’s a shop where you may order the book, and you can read more about the characters and the world. Some parts of the site are still under construction, but there’s enough there to pique curiosity.
It’s good to visit here again. Good memories. I’ll keep an eye on this forum topic. Thanks for your time and interest!
