How Not to Die of the Truth

Friday, March 3, 2023

Blazing Reader:

During my interview in last week's episode of Just Right, the host played a clip by legend Ray Bradbury where the legend of speculative fiction writing says:

"...every other animal acts in the instant to destroy or run from destruction. We choose not to do so. We build walls, we build cities, and so inside these cities, inside these walls we need artists — we need people like myself — who take hold of a piece of reality and say this is what it is."

There are rare situations where running or physically fighting are the best way out of our troubles. Civilization tends to protect us from such survival situations, but it also brings with it more complex and long-lasting threats that require more strategic and patient solutions.

In order to find clarity to complex problems we have stories. Stories also bring emotional relief from the tensions of dealing with long-term problems. They bring order to the chaos that finds its way over the most secure walls of the most orderly cities.

When the first lockdown was announced three years ago, I immediately knew the truth: There was no pandemic that warranted such extreme (and ineffective) actions. That's why I started writing a short story, that eventually became the 500-page novel, Much Ado About Corona. It was my attempt at producing art that would stop us from dying of the truth.

And when the novel receives five-star reviews like this recent one "Autumn" posted to Amazon, I know, to some degree, it succeeded bringing relief and clarity: "This book was a great read about a crazy year in history. I was a waitress in 2020 who refused to wear a face mask. This book is everything I felt during that time."

Stay sane and don't die of the truth,

John C. A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/