Sci Fi
Shadows and Light
He grew up in the soft hum of stained glass, where sunlight through colored panes made angels dance on the walls. The church was a fortress, its rituals a rhythm that promised safety. Prayer was a language he learned before he could read, and faith was a comfort as sure as his mother’s hand.
By Sound and Spirit21 days ago in Fiction
Pax Imperialis
Every empire tells a story about itself. It claims to be a reluctant hegemon, a civilising force, a guardian of order in a chaotic world. Edward W. Said captured this imperial self-mythology with ruthless clarity when he wrote: ‘Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.’ The promise is always peace, stability, progress. Yet behind this language of benevolence stands an apparatus of overwhelming violence. Empires do not rule through persuasion alone. They require an ultimate weapon, a technological embodiment of terror that transforms domination into inevitability and resistance into madness. From the atomic bomb to the Death Star, from clone armies to genetically engineered super-soldiers in The Mandalorian, the logic remains unchanged. Universal peace, or Pax, is purchased through the threat of total annihilation.
By Peter Ayolov21 days ago in Fiction
From Rome to Coruscant to Washington
George Lucas never treated Star Wars as mere fantasy. Beneath its lightsabres and starships lies a deeply historical meditation on how political systems decay. At the heart of his saga is a simple and disturbing proposition: republics are not overthrown, they are surrendered. In Lucas’s vision, the transition from freedom to tyranny is not dramatic or sudden but procedural, bureaucratic, applauded, and rationalised in the name of peace. The model for this story is not fictional at all. It is Rome.
By Peter Ayolov21 days ago in Fiction
Welcome to the Teddy Bear Division. Content Warning.
Welcome to the Teddy Bear Division, Since I won’t be there to tell you all of this in person, I’ll state the obvious: this primer introduces general guidelines. No one of any significance will critique you. No one will reprimand any action you take. Only you can decide what is necessary and imperative at any moment, in any situation. As long as you do your job, you will face no real backlash here. You have carte blanche. You are a ghost. In this light: relax, and have fun.
By Philip Canterbury22 days ago in Fiction
