The events of 2016 have shocked a great many of us. A vote for Brexit followed by the election of Donald Trump is a swing towards right wing politics that few of us expected to be so stark. Many European countries are leaning that way, too, championing nationalist parties like France’s National Front and Austria’s Freedom Party. And I didn’t think it would happen until 2020.
I wrote a story called The Meddle Phantom back in early 2015. It’s a magic realism novella that follows the stories of three people who are acted upon by a supernatural entity. The backdrop for these stories is the rise to power of a US Presidential candidate who runs in 2020.
The Meddle Phantom is about whether it’s okay for gods to interfere with human quarrels and explores how different moral systems can come into conflict. For example, the titular Phantom only kills when he knows for certain that a person is evil, while the hitman of the second story kills because he’s an uber-nihilist who can’t understand why the ending of a life means anything.
I tried to write it in a way that isn’t preachy. There’s no socialist or atheist agenda going on in the background. I wanted to raise questions, not answer them. Much of the story is left to you to decide what’s right and wrong. If anything I’ve mentioned intrigues you, please give it a try. It’s also become more relevant of late because my cartoonishly racist, evil Republican candidate blames a certain race of people and people of a certain religion for all the problems in the US. Sound familiar?
Let me just say that I’m not claiming to have predicted the future here. My fictional would-be President takes the form of a young radical who rises on a culture of xenophobia. Personality-wise, he doesn’t come off like Trump at all. However, there was some basis for my choice of when to set it.
When I wrote The Meddle Phantom, I was really into something called the Strauss-Howe Generational Theory. It posits that every generation (a period of around twenty years in their definition) fits one of four archetypes and that these four cycle around again and again. Those archetypes are the high, awakening, unravelling, and crisis. After a crisis comes another high and on it goes. While it’s worth noting that the theory is totally unscientific, it’s a lot of fun to think about.
Strauss and Howe played match-up and highlighted events during generations as far back as the early 15th century that fit their model. For example, the most recent time of crisis ended with the second world war. The baby boomers lived in a time of high. Then they cite the anti-establishment movements of the 60s as a time of awakening, and the culture wars of the 80s as the beginnings of the unravelling. But that means…
Indeed, according to their model, the latest crisis began in 2005. This generation has seen the global financial crisis and the war on terror. Every era of crisis goes out with a bang, so what will our bang be? Given America’s superpower status, I thought the most likely option would be for an authoritarian fascist to take control of the state and lead it down a dark path. This character isn’t really in the centre of The Meddle Phantom, but he links the stories together. I just used this generational theory to decide when to set the story.
At only 36,000 words it isn’t very long – about half the length of the first Harry Potter. The download link is below. There are two formats so if you have a kindle one might work better than the other. Please check it out and share your thoughts.
One quick caveat: I’m not a professional writer, so don’t expect the writing to be the best you’ve ever seen! That said, I’m pretty pleased with it, and it’s one of the few stories I’ve written that I’m happy enough with to share with other people.
I hope you give it a try!
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