Posts Tagged ‘authoritarianism’

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Cast of Wonders 659: The Archive of Unnamed Joy

Cast of Wonders 659: The Archive of Unnamed Joy is a Cast of Wonders original.

CW: dystopia, authoritarianism, brainwashing

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:44 — 55.9MB)

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The Archive of Unnamed Joy

by Bella Chacha

On the day my best friend forgot how to laugh, the sky over Lagos turned a dusty gold, like the gods were sifting garri over the sun.

Kambili had always been the one to pull joy out of thin air: snapping her fingers into a rhythm that made our feet twitch, making jokes out of government warnings, drawing flying cats with glowing eyes on the back of her school reports. But that morning, she just sat there at assembly, eyes vacant, lips sealed tight, her laughter gone like it had been folded up and hidden inside someone else’s pocket.

“Mood correction successful,” the hall monitor announced in that soulless mechanical tone, tapping her brass baton twice on the concrete. Around us, the students kept silent, unmoving. Stillness was virtue. Stillness was law. Stillness meant safety. (Continue Reading…)

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Cast of Wonders 333: Tunguska, 1987

First published in Tales From Alternate Earths, Inklings Press, 2016

Content Warning: Profanity, death of a pet

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:41 — 39.5MB)

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Tunguska, 1987

by Maria Haskins

1929

Alexander was running through the snow. The rifle, and the pack of squirrel-skins pounded against his back with every step. Realization seeped into him as he ran: he had shot a Metallic. Its shiny armor hadn’t protected it. After all these years of living in fear, it had been that easy to take one down: one shot, straight into its mid-section, and the hovering thing had cracked apart and fallen to the ground.

He’d peered inside the broken remains and seen nothing but metal and wires. Nothing living hid inside. Ajax dead beside it, a mess of black and grey fur and curled tail in the snow. So much blood. The torn ear, where the neighbor’s dog had ripped into him as a pup had been the only recognizable part of his head. Best damn squirrel-dog anyone had ever had. Best damn dog anyone had ever had. And that Metallic had fired like it meant nothing.

Alexander’s heart raced as he ran. Was this what rebellion and resistance tasted like: tears and bloodied iron on your tongue, the sting of gunpowder in your nostrils?
(Continue Reading…)