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STRANGE FUTURE

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STRANGE FUTURE – DEAD?

9 years
by Josh Smith in Strange Future, The Sequel

Update on 6/1/2015:

Yikes. It’s been so long since I’ve had a free moment to think about Strange
Future. What brought me back was an effort to clean up my web host and get
things in order. Lots of old projects are either being removed entirely or
“archived” in an effort to keep things clean and organized. Lots of memories are
surfacing, and lots of projects I want to continue are coming back to light. So,
what’s the long and short of things?

1) Strange Future’s sequel DOES exist and is about 65% written. The entire plot
is in my head, and I know where I want to go with things.

2) Life has changed, and I don’t know that I’ll ever get to finish it. However,
I’m still holding out hope! I’m not going to declare the project dead, but it’s
definitely on life support…

The site is being left as is for archival purposes. If you’re curious as to what
I’m up to otherwise, visit jfade.com for the latest.

Original post from May 2011 below:

—–

Hello! Just a quick note to let you know what’s going on with Strange Future. I
realize it’s been AGES since I’ve posted any content, and I don’t really use
Twitter often enough to make it relevant… As of this moment, Strange Future is
NOT dead. I’ve just been very busy with other projects, so I’ve not had a lot of
time to work on the sequel.

This past November, I participated in NaNoWriMo, so that basically pushed
Strange Future to the back burner. I “won”, and really enjoyed it. I feel really
good about the story that I came up with, too, so I do intend on trying to do
something more with it. I also started working full time, which has majorly cut
back on the time I have for writing in general. Excuses aside, I miss writing,
and I miss the characters I came up with for Strange Future.

I still intend on finishing up the Sequel this summer, hopefully for a fall
release.

In the meantime, you can follow my exploits over at jfade.com – my personal
blog. I’ve not talked much about my writing there, but do intend on doing so as
I get back to it. That’s all I can tell you for now. I still get plenty of views
on here, so I know there’s interest. I’d just like to thank you for that, and
please, stay tuned for more–because there’s more to come!




NFASF: CHICAGO RE-ELECTS DAVIDSON POSTHUMOUSLY

14 years
by Josh Smith in News from a Strange Future


CHICAGO RE-ELECTS DAVIDSON POSTHUMOUSLY


RESIDENTS SAY THERE WAS NO OTHER GOOD ALTERNATIVE

Story by Loretta Sikes

Denizens of Chicago have once again re-elected Tom Davidson mayor, granting him
his tenth consecutive term as mayor of the city. There’s only one problem:
Davidson died two weeks before the election.

“Everyone knew he was dead,” Andrea Shooter said, her voice full of frustration.
Andrea had been the only person to run against Davidson in the election, and
when she died most people assumed it would be a landslide victory in her favor.
But residents of Chicago had an unexpected trick up their sleeve. Despite the
fact that Davidson had died, his name remained on the ballot.

“The ballots had already been printed, and since no other contestants made an
effort to run after Davidson’s death, we decided to keep the existing ballots,”
Carrol Dean, head of the election committee said in an interview. “We didn’t
think having his name on there would have been a problem. After all, everyone
knew he had died.” That didn’t stop residents from showing up to the city
elections in droves, many of them casting their ballot in support of Davidson.

“Honestly, you know, Davidson was the best mayor we’ve ever had,” a long-time
Chicago resident told one journalist stationed outside of one of many voting
locations. “I just didn’t feel that anyone else was capable of doing the job.”
The sentiment was apparently widespread: Davidson won by a 13 point margin.

“I just can’t understand it,” Shooter said. “I had a great plan, and I was going
to do a great job.”

Normally, to combat situations where fictional people or historical figures are
mistakenly elected via fill-in ballots, procedure dictates that the city council
select a new mayor. The problem in this case is that Davidson, though dead, does
still exist.

“His family had him cloned, and so he does not fit the definition of fictional
person as defined in the city bylaws,” a city councilwoman said. “These bylaws
were created before cloning was possible. We have no way to handle a situation
like this.”

The fate of Chicago’s government remains in the air. While the current
politicians argue over what to do, many citizens already have the same idea.

“If Davidson’s being cloned, then he can be mayor again, and we can take things
right back to where they were,” one citizen said. Many citizens agree on this
point, but when asked how a newborn would be able to administrate the city, most
of them simply shrug. “Can’t do worse than anyone else.”

Think this is entirely too far-fetched? Think again.

cloning politics



NFASF: CONTROVERSY BREWS OVER PLAN TO PUBLICIZE MEMORIES

14 years
by Josh Smith in News from a Strange Future


CONTROVERSY BREWS OVER PLAN TO PUBLICIZE MEMORIES




HISTORY BUFFS APPLAUD PUBLISHING MEMORIES OF THOSE DECEASED, PRIVACY ADVOCATES
CRY FOUL

Story by Ned Dion

When the personal memory and DNA backup system was first released over fifty
years ago, it was hailed as a great advancement, ensuring that people all over
the world could be restored to their original condition if something were to
ever happen to them. Unfortunately, the price tag meant that most people would
never be able to take advantage of the devices, and as time went on, it became
clear that there were some longevity issues with the standalone units.

“It’s what drove me to start my service,” Don Donaldson said, referring to the
aforementioned problems. “I wanted to make memory backup affordable and
reliable.” Donaldson’s service, dubbed MemorySpace, has been in business now for
nearly fifteen years. MemorySpace’s services are run by two main components: the
memory reader–a small, relatively inexpensive device that interfaces with the
firetooth connection on your computer–and the MemorySpace portal. It was the
inexpensive reader device that put MemorySpace on the map.

“We wanted to make sure that the device was not only inexpensive, but free to
share,” Donaldson said, showing off one of the early models. The fact that
anyone can use the reader to upload their memories to MemorySpace’s portal for
free finally made memory backup feasible for, literally, everyone.

“One company even operated a ‘MemorySpace Booth’ for a while, letting anyone
come in, pay a nominal fee, and upload their memories right then and there.”
Donaldson said, pointing to pictures showcased in MemorySpace’s company museum.
All that glitters, however, is not gold. At least that’s what privacy advocates
are saying after recent revelations about MemorySpace’s policies.

“Most people don’t realize that the terms of use you accept when signing up for
the service–which the vast majority of people don’t read anyways–has you
agreeing to accept any and all changes in policy they decide to make, past
present or future,” Bill Masters, head of the Pangaeans for Privacy
organization. “To give a tangible example, this means that if MemorySpace were
to decide that they would share all of your negative thoughts about your friends
with the world, they’d be perfectly within their rights to do so. There would be
nothing users of the service could do to stop them.”

Donaldson wouldn’t comment on any specific claim. He merely dismissed them as
“ridiculous fear-mongering.” Still, his company recently announced that it would
provide anthropologists and other social scientists at New York State University
with a “select collection of aggregated, anonymized memories.”

“It was a truly unexpected, but extremely welcome move,” Professor Swath
explained. “Our task is to study how changes in society affect each and every
one of us. For instance, we’re extremely interested in how the general populace
felt about major historical events when they happened. This will allow us to go
beyond the history books and get to the heart of the matter.”

Donaldson assures the users of the service that the only memories that will be
released will be from those who have already died, and that all names and exact
locations will be removed from the memories. The one exception would be the
names of famous people mentioned in the memories. Pangaeans for Privacy is not
convinced.

“We got a hold of a sample of these so-called ‘anonymized memories’ and were
able to narrow the owner down to one of three people. If we could do that
without knowing the person represented by these memories, how easy will it be
for someone who actually DID know them?” Masters said. Time will tell for sure,
but MemorySpace is not backing down on its plans.

“We feel it’s extremely important to the study of history to have this type of
information available,” Donaldson said. “We’re sure that our users will agree,
and will continue to make use of the extremely valuable services we provide.”

computers history implants memories technology



WHAT’S UP WITH STRANGE FUTURE?

14 years
by Josh Smith in Strange Future

So, in case you’re wondering what’s going on with the first book (since you’re
visiting this site I’m assuming you’re at least somewhat interested, otherwise
you wouldn’t be here) here’s the quick scoop:


BEING MADE FREE AT MORE PLACES:

Thanks to the awesome folks at Smashwords, the eBook version (which is free, as
you all know) will soon be available for free at even more places. This includes
Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Sony, and Amazon. (The current version that’s for sale
there will be removed soon.) In addition to all these places, Smashwords just
sent out an email notification that it will also soon be available on Apple’s
iBookstore for the iPad at or close to launch day. You all might not think it’s
that cool, but it’s awesome and pretty exciting. I’ll let you all know as soon
as it’s up at each site.


A FEW NEW REVIEWS:

Though I’ve been meaning to make a review page containing links to several
reviews, I’ve not gotten around to it just yet. Meanwhile, the copy that’s up on
Smashwords has gotten a couple of reviews I’d like to take the time to share:

> Review from Mike Collins on March 13, 2010, 3/5 stars:
> 
> I liked it … quite a bit.
> 
> Some of the parallels between now and the future were quite funny … especially
> when they went to ‘International House’ and discovered the IHOP !

> Review from Mark Jacobs on March 17, 2010, 4/5 stars:
> 
> A good, entertaining read; incorporating a universe of interesting ideas. It’s
> fascinating how the future is described in fiction depending on the author’s
> personal viewpoint, and their perception of who is deemed politically powerful
> at the time of writing. Although I realize most of this is satire, Josh has
> vividly drawn some aspects of a future world that is both believable and
> credible to even to an old Conservative like me. One minor note of criticism:
> I always cringe when I see a character in the future that is totally befuddled
> by events in the near or even distant past; i.e. Amazed that there was a time
> when there was no government control of reproduction (baby lottery). I think
> we should give future characters a little more credit. Good job, Josh! I hope
> to see more from you soon.

I’m not sure if either of you will get the chance to see it here or not, but let
me put it here anyways: Thanks for the reviews guys, appreciate it!


THE PODCAST VERSION:

If you’ve subscribed to the Podcast version of the story on iTunes, you’ll note
that it’s severely behind schedule. One of the mistakes I made was not following
the advice of others to finish editing the ENTIRE podcast before posting it
online. I was way too eager to get it out there, so went about halfway and then
stopped. Lo and behold, life comes along and keeps me busy. That said, however,
I’ve not given up on it and I’ve got two more chapters nearly done and ready to
be uploaded. Look for them soon, within the next few days. More will follow.
Live and learn, I guess…

~~~~~

So, that’s about it! You’re now pretty much caught up on everything that’s going
on with Strange Future. I’ll keep you posted on any other new developments as
they come along.

ebooks podcast reviews shameless plug smashwords



NFASF: WOMAN UPSET OVER “UNAUTHORIZED CLONING”

14 years
by Josh Smith in News from a Strange Future


WOMAN UPSET OVER “UNAUTHORIZED CLONING”




CLAIMS DONATING HER HUSBAND’S BODY TO SCIENCE DIDN’T AUTHORIZE THEM TO CLONE HIM

Story by Marshall Grey, Op-Ed Writer


A local woman, exasperated and running out of other options, is bringing her
story to the media, and it’s quite a story. Joann–Jo, as her friends call
her–Willman is a sixty-one year old widow who has lived in this city her entire
life. Don’t let her age fool you: she’s still as spry as she used to be, and is
determined to fight this “sad circumstance” as long as she can. You see, a
little over thirty years ago, Jo’s husband Rex passed away.

“He was always so into technology,” she said, looking at a picture of him
forlornly. “He was a first adopter for everything.” It was true. Rex worked hard
and saved his money so he could afford the latest and greatest offerings from
the world of technology. As she showed me around her apartment on the upper east
side, I spotted all sorts of devices that were top-of-the-line when released.
Rex had collected several versions of different DNA and memory backup systems,
both of the memory disk players put out during the studio wars of the 2170s, and
a myriad of implant accessories. Rex’s love for technology didn’t stop there,
however.

“He told me one day, you know, that his dream was for his body to be donated to
science when he died so they could improve human-machine interfaces,” she told
me with a distant look in her eyes. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time,
because it seemed like something he would say.” Of course, it was always assumed
that this would happen far off in the future, at the end of Rex’s golden years,
but fate has a way of making fools of us all. Rex died at the age of 30 in a
work-related accident. Jo made the tough decision to respect her husband’s
wishes and donate his body to science. What she failed to do, however, was to
place restrictions on what type of research Rex’s body could be used for.

“It never even occurred to me at the time,” she said, glaring at the wall over
my shoulder. It was a tragic mistake. One thing led to another, and Rex was
cloned for a research project. Once the project was complete, a local family
adopted him and raised him as their own. The clone of Rex is now thirty years
old, the exact same age Rex was when he died.

“I had no idea it would happen. One day, two years ago, I was at the grocery
store and saw him–the clone I mean. I couldn’t believe it! I ran up to him and
started babbling like a maniac, telling him he was my husband and what was he
doing alive and…” she trailed off. “It was damned foolish of me.”

Once Rex’s clone realized who he had been, he filed a civil suit, demanding that
Jo turn over his memory backup devices. The long court battle has stretched out
for the past two years, but a verdict is set to be delivered tomorrow. Jo’s
argument centered on the fact that she didn’t authorize cloning. Rex’s
attorney–and attorneys representing the scientists that performed the
cloning–say that she didn’t forbid it from happening, so they were within their
rights to do so. Analysts suggest that the court will rule in Rex’s clone’s
favor.

“Once I found out who I had been, I felt I needed to get those memories back. My
life had been cut short, but science brought me back, and I feel very strongly
that being cloned was something I would have wanted,” Rex told reporters outside
the courthouse yesterday. Whether or not he is correct about that is anyone’s
guess. Reading private memories stored in a memory backup unit is currently
forbidden by law, and security measures within the units themselves only allow
the owner–verified by DNA–to access the memories to begin with. Regardless, Jo
isn’t buying it.

“I just want to make sure that something like this doesn’t happen to anyone
else. Scientists shouldn’t have the right to clone anyone unless the person and
their family specifically authorize it.” Jo also wants to know if there are any
other copies of her husband out there, but the scientists refuse to answer,
citing the fact that much of their research is classified, and they wouldn’t be
at liberty to say. When this article is published, she may very quickly find
out.

“I wish I could take it all back!” she said, weeping, her head in her hands.
Don’t we all, sometimes…

cloning drama memory backup op-ed science



TEASER TUESDAY: VERA AND THE COFFEE SHOP

14 years
by Josh Smith in The Sequel

It’s getting to the point where it’s more difficult to post sections from the
sequel without giving too much away about new characters and plots, so the
Teaser Tuesdays may become less regular and shorter as I have to limit what I
can show you. This week is just a short little paragraph about an excursion Vera
takes to a local coffee shop, and reflects most of the frustration and annoyance
I feel when I go to a coffee shop myself (which is rare itself).



> Vera left the coffee shop, sipping on her mocha, which was quite delicious. It
> was nice when baristas actually knew what they were doing. All too often they
> would utterly fail at creating a drink. In fact, the last coffee that Vera had
> drank in the twenty-first century was watered down, too sweet, and flavored
> far too strongly. To even call it a coffee was an insult to the arabica tree
> that the coffee beans had been harvested from. This time, however, the coffee
> was perfect. She walked along, enjoying the evening breeze coming off the
> ocean. It wasn’t long, however, before she arrived at the block containing the
> bookstore and had to put a stop to her evening stroll.

So what’s next? Well a bit of the bookstore scene will probably show up in the
next Teaser Tuesday, which will be in a week or two.  Stay tuned!

coffee excerpts sequel teasertuesday vera



TEASER TUESDAY: CLONING

14 years
by Josh Smith in The Sequel

For this week’s Teaser Tuesday I bring you two paragraphs from a chapter that
has a brief discussion on cloning (why, specifically, I will not reveal). This
is only part of the narration from this section, and is part of my efforts to
make more of the revelations about future life and tech come from the narrator
and/or the character’s personal experiences rather than having Darin, Lyla or
someone else explain things directly. Enjoy!

> The major problem with clones is not so much the feelings of deja vu one
> experiences after encountering several of them in rapid succession, but rather
> in the semantics involved with keeping track of them. When the technology to
> clone first came into use, the scientists involved briefly experimented with
> numbering, lettering, even code-naming each clone to try and distinguish them
> from one another. This practice was quickly discovered to be rather
> ineffective due to the fact that as soon as the clones moved around the room,
> it was impossible to know which of them was ‘Alpha’ and which of them was
> ‘Beta’. It was rather disheartening for the scientists because the idea had
> seemed so good on paper, but in use was rather futile. This realization
> resulted in brief trials with name tags, but this too failed when the clones
> realized how much fun it was to distort the results of the experiments by
> switching name tags halfway through.
> 
> The labeling system caused just as much frustration for the clones. After all,
> it was rather disheartening to hear that Victoria M had gone off to a really
> great party and met a dashingly handsome young man while you, Victoria E, sat
> at home watching a sappy romance for the sixth time. Thus, most clones came to
> refer to themselves as if they were a single entity, causing the lines between
> which clone had done what to blur. Of course, with the technology to truly
> merge memories still based entirely in theory, the clones were left to merely
> revel in the delusion that they had all done really cool, awesome, and
> exciting things.

cloning excerpts science sequel technology



TECHNOLOGY TIME: JET PACKS

14 years
by Josh Smith in Technology Time

We’ve probably all seen it. The vintage, iconic images from the fifties and
sixties showing the people of the future flying around using “rocket belts”
“rocket packs” or “jet packs”, depending on when and who was talking about it.
Take this snippet from a January 1969 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine:

> “….the average commuter may, at last, have the long-awaited individual
> commuting vehicle that would whisk him from his front porch to his office
> entrance in minutes….”
> 
> (Source)

Big claims, and sadly, ones that failed to come true… Until now:

> The Martin Jetpack by New Zealand’s Martin Aircraft is the closest thing to
> bringing my childhood fantasies to life. If I place an order now and put down
> a 10 percent deposit, it could be mine in 12 months. The problem is coming up
> with the other 90 percent. No license is required to fly this in the U.S.,
> though regulations may differ in other countries.
> 
> The jetpack itself is 5 feet tall and 5.5 feet wide and made of a carbon fiber
> composite with a pinch of Kevlar for the rotor. It uses regular gasoline and
> will travel a grand distance of 31.5 miles at a maximum speed of 63 mph, which
> should comfortably take you from home to office (and back) in a jiffy, and
> with a lot of noise.
> 
> (Source)

Yes, you heard right, the jet pack has finally progressed from being a mere pipe
dream to becoming a consumer-purchasable item. If you have $90,000 dollars, by
next year, you could be flying around in your own personal jet pack.

How this impacts the technology of the future: While this type of technology is
excessively cool, I don’t envision this being all that useful for most of us
civilians. While it could have very specific purposes for certain jobs (imagine
being a window washer and being able to use a jet pack instead of the rope and
pulley system) by and large, it’s basically a toy. The eventual development of
the hover technology in the stories will make turbine-driven devices such as the
jet pack now for sale obsolete. With hovercars, hovertrains, and the PODS,
transportation is pretty much covered, and any type of “hover pack” would be
used solely for entertainment and leisure.

(Article thumbnail taken from the Martin Jetpack website.)

jetpack technology transportation



TEASER TUESDAY: A BIT FROM THE INTRODUCTION OF THE SEQUEL

14 years
by Josh Smith in The Sequel

For this week’s Teaser Tuesday, I bring you a small portion from the
introduction to the sequel. Enjoy!

Ever since mankind has inhabited this planet, a great number of seemingly
impossible events have taken place. The odds against these events were so
mind-bogglingly high that the universe’s top historians wrote the planet off
before it had a chance to make any history to begin with. Earth took no notice
of this, however, and puttered on, unaware that it had caused the complete
upheaval and replacement of those top historians. The universe’s current top
historians have since called this “the greatest blunder in the history of
historians,” and have since wrote many books on the subject, including The
Little Planet That Could, See Earth Spin, and the all-time classic Where the
Wild Earthlings Are.

Still, the same historians—and most of the rest of the inhabitants of the
universe—were caught completely off-guard when humanity managed to pull out of
their Third World War without completely obliterating themselves. They were
caught even more off-guard when the humans managed to unite under one world
government. They watched with keen interest as mankind rebuilt their
civilization at a record setting pace. It all seemed, once again, impossible;
but if there was one thing that the planet Earth and its inhabitants seemed to
do right, it was the impossible.

earth excerpts history introduction sequel teasertuesday writing



NEWS FROM A STRANGE FUTURE: NEW VR MOVIE TAKES BOLLYWOOD BY STORM

14 years
by Josh Smith in News from a Strange Future

This is one of the last new features that I’ll be adding to the site for the
time being: News from a Strange Future is a look into Vera’s scrapbook
containing “clippings” that she printed from the News Portal. Enjoy!


NEW VR MOVIE TAKES BOLLYWOOD BY STORM




OPENING OF THE SCI-FI ACTION MOVIE PORTAL CHASE SEES STRONG GAINS AT THE BOX
OFFICE

Story by Adelina Macey

The opening of the Virtual Reality flick Portal Chase took movie goers on the
ride of a lifetime this weekend, but those in the theaters weren’t the only ones
taken on an incredible journey. Bollywood insiders who had predicted the movie
was “too big, too expensive, and too campy” were stunned as the movie exceeded
all expectations, taking in nearly half a billion viewers in the first weekend.

“It’s simply amazing to see the reception that the movie has received,”
explained Carl Conrad, Manager of Intellectual Property for Virtual Adventures
Ltd., the company that produced the film. “VR movies have been slammed in the
media, but public interest is clearly there,” he added.

This isn’t the first virtual reality film to be released, but it is the first
one to do so well. Previous VR releases were either over budget, underperformed
at the box office, or were poorly received by critics. Early polls taken after
The Horsehead Nebula Wars, one of the first VR movies released, showed that
audiences had mixed feelings about the new technology. Many complained of
headaches or discomfort caused by the VR system.

VR movies have also met with a significant amount of controversy. Three years
ago, the release of one VR movie resulted in the death of a man with a weak
heart condition. According to the coroner, the movie–a horror/thriller mystery
that simulated a murder in graphic detail–“literally scared the man to death.”
The family has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the movie, and the case
is still pending.

Since then, public interest in the technology has exploded. Movie-goers looking
for a thrill are more willing to part with their money for such an experience,
especially since it is something they cannot easily replicate at home.

“Memory chips containing our movies have long been the target of piracy,” Carl
Conrad said. “Pirates have figured out how to easily copy and distribute
illegitimate copies of movies that everyone has worked so hard to create.
Protecting the content is an ongoing battle that we intend to continue to fight.
One of those ways is the new VR system, which provides a unique way for
audiences to experience movies that no pirate can replicate.”

Due to the runaway success of Portal Chase, Bollywood insiders say that VR
movies will soon become the norm.

bollywood entertainment intellectualproperty movies

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