What’s up with 2084 Quartet
No more “Word of the Week” posts...thank goodness?
Dear Readers:
Yes, the “Word of the Week” posts have been placeholders. A way to keep at least a bit of your attention while I work to finish writing the third book of the quartet.
Again, 2084 Quartet is a tetralogy—a series of four novels. They are:
Book 1: Signifier/
Book 2: /Signified
Book 3: The Cure of All
Book 4: White Nights and Yellow Laughter
Well, I’ve finished a good working draft of Book 3, The Cure of All. However, that puts me at a big decision crossroad.
Do I start posting Book 3, chapter by chapter, on Substack? Or do I seek a conventional publisher for it?
To make a long decision short, first I’m going to seek a conventional publisher for The Cure of All. Then, if that search fails, I’ll start posting it, chapter by chapter, on Substack.
As you may or may not know, the publishing world, especially for fiction, is a cruel jungle these days. While Americans can’t get enough of sentimental, light-weight reading fare, most of us aren’t all that keen to read weightier literature—and particularly not literature of a serious-minded social and political sort.
I guess that kind of stuff is too much of a bummer—which means it doesn’t sell well enough for corporate America. So, yes, likely I’m wasting my time—if time is money—writing 2084 Quartet.
But it is my time to waste.
Here’s a big thought, though.
The last time I wrote to you with a meta-post of this kind, I closed with the following warning:
In his 1948 novel, 1984, George Orwell imagines the societal disasters that might occur if Stalinist dictatorships were to take control of the world. In hindsight, I think it safe to say that Orwell got it wrong with respect to the future political threat to humanity. It is not communism that currently menaces the world, but neoliberal corporate capitalism—a regime predicated on Minority Rule. I think it is essential to unmask this destructive and anti-democratic force before it’s too late. 2084 Quartet takes a shot at excoriating current-day power.
Well, given the re-election of MAGA-Trump 2.0, it could be too late. We’ll just have to see.
And, no, I don’t expect my four little novels to alter much of the political landscape. But they might change a few minds. And that sure can’t hurt.
Very cold comfort, I know. But are we supposed to roll over and just take this shit?
I started writing 2084 in the first decade of this century. In fact, I hoped to publish it in time for the 2008 presidential election, to help Obama get elected in order to rid the world of the heinous hangover from the Bush-Cheney regime (2001-2009). The premise of my near-future dystopian sci-fi was to imagine the worst that could possibly happen politically in America—and then extrapolate events from there.
Well, I hate to say it, but all the worst stuff I imagined back at the start of the century is currently in the process of coming true.
I didn’t get my novel 2084 published until 2009 (by Mayhaven Publishing, which has since gone out of business). What I’ve done with that original novel is thoroughly update and revise it and split it into Book 1 and Book 2 of 2084 Quartet.
Which I hope you’ve read and enjoyed (in an upsetting and thought-provoking sort of way).
Now I’m putting the finishing touches on Book 3. And preparing to start writing Book 4. All I can hope is that you’re willing to keep reading—and even recommending these books to your family and friends.
Hey, let’s bum everyone out, shall we? It just might be the right time.
P.S.
Let me remind you as well, please, to take a look at and subscribe to my other Substack newsletter, Rant Against the Regime at:
My two Substacks go hand-in-hand.
Rant Against the Regime explains and uses cultural theories to analyze our social moment by taking a look at cultural productions such as movies, politics, current events, literature, media, social issues/practices/beliefs of every stripe, education, money, language, sports, advertising, technology—and so on.
2084 Quartet is an example of such a cultural production. More than that, these four novels are a Rant against the Regime.
And one last thing.
If you really want to learn something—and I mean really learn something, take a look at this Substack newsletter packed full of powerful and provocative social commentary:
Thanks for your efforts to tell truth!