Like anyone, I start each New Year’s Day by using a book knife to hand-cut open each page of the newest volume of the Farmer’s Almanac. Like Lincoln before me, I set my calendar based around the weather forecasts for the next 364 days, adjusting where necessary. (I actually did this as a preteen, arranging on which day I should plan my October birthday party. No shame.)
In addition, I go through each piece of fiction set in the New Year to see what I can expect. Of those I could find in the first three minutes of research, only THE JAGGED ORBIT rings a bell.
Written in 1969, John Brunner’s Nebula Award winning science-fiction nove
l takes place in the USA of 2014, when “interracial tensions have passed the breaking point.” One of the main characters is a “spoolpidgeon”: a gossip columnist/political analyst who fabricates fake news stories to embarrass and blackmail celebrities and political figures.
It is worth checking out the book’s first two chapters below if you need a reminder that there are no actual rules in fiction.
Are you left wondering what I would pick as my all-time favorite Book From The Future? No question: Grays Sports Almanac (1950-2000).
In my next post, I’ll teach you how to give deckled edges to every page of your entire library.
By Andrew Wetzel