Blazing Reader:

"The problem is, the myths and stories we create have consequences," writes Sean Arthur Joyce in Words form the Dead. "Just as on paper, also in real life we can set things in motion that arose from a figment of our imagination."

We see this today, with imaginary pandemics, gender confusion and climate hoaxes taking motion in the real world.

"And for humans, stories are bred in the bone," continues Joyce. "As the poet Muriel Rukeyser put is so beautifully: 'The universe is made of stories, not atoms.'"

The dark side gets this. This is why they spread their lies with stories, not science. But stories are neutral. They can spread the truth too. As Joyce points out:

"The more we've learned what animals, birds and insects are capable of the more the gap between us closes... It begins to dawn that the only thing left that really separates us is the human capacity to invent stories and then behave as if they're true. Because then they are true. Even If they aren't."

Sean Arthur Joyce’s Words from the Dead: Relevant Readings in the Covid Age compares the fictional scamdemic narrative to perennial stories hailing from ancient Greece to Star Trek: The Next Generation, from Brave New World to The Prisoner. You can order a copy from Ektsasis Editions.

Stay sane, be brave,
—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/