Welcome back, dear readers! Has it really been a week already? Time flies when you’re having fun, and we here at the PRL are having a grand ole time bringing you stories about and inspired by our dreams.
I have to say that since the election, and the treasonous chaos on January 6 at the capital, I haven’t been following the news very closely. I’ve been working a lot to finish editing the first PRL Novel that should be done soon and hopefully be in a bookstore near you in the near future. It’s been good to have distance from the chaos of politics and political opinion and discussion. I want to consume more news about science and technology, and I will, but I wonder if I should be paying closer attention to the news of the day and getting involved to avoid the disintegration of our democracy. If we can’t maintain the democracy, then we risk losing life as we know it, and I don’t want that. I feel guilty because I’ve grown accustomed to the comforts of the life that America affords and I’m hoping that my fellow Americans feel the same and avoid electing crazies who will push our democracy over a cliff.
But none of that is dreams. I’ll find a balance, figure out how to be a comfortable revolutionary, which sounds oxymoronic.
You came for the serials, and we’ve got some good ones. Enjoy!
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This week:
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The dream continues, as our favorite black man continues his journey. The place where he finds himself is strange to him, but not as strange as the beings who dwell there find him. It’s safe to say that his welcome is lukewarm.
The Black Dream Cycle: “But…” the voice seemed to stammer with a confusion that made it feel less mysterious, “but…in all the lands, there is nothing…like you. I am not sure what to do with you.”
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I know that working with electricity is a dangerous job, or it can be dangerous if one isn’t careful, but I’m not deterred. I just have to proceed with caution, lest the currents cook me inside out.
Electricity Sonnets: “The shock is bright enough to still/ Grown men tremble at 16 volts: Let go!”
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The shuffle continues and takes us to a future very unlike our present, where the animals can speak and humans are adjusting their attitudes. But not all humans are ready for progress, and our narrator suffers for it.
Shuffle: “I was born into a world that had a narrow view of intelligence, and by that I mean, we bought and sold other Terran animal species to keep as pets, some we bred and kept as livestock, others we hunted for sport. Now, in my 30s, the world is a very different place. In the time of True Enlightenment that occured after the cosmic event that allowed all sapient organisms of the Earth to communicate as humans do, things have changed drastically.”
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The Rebel Max is back with another six issue miniseries that will appear in every even issue of the volume. This one is about a pandemic, you can guess why I had this dream at some point over the past year. This serial is way more interesting than my dream though.
They Live: “But life is mysterious too. We think we understand what it means to be alive because we are, but we don’t really have any idea.”
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Uh-oh, Wes is having ominous dreams. His daughters’ names are nice, and they reveal how big of a sci-fi nerd he is. It’s obvious he’s troubled, I won’t make light of his turmoil.
Selections from Wes E.L.’s Dream Journal: “The water is so nice, she replied, and then ran across the shore to the edge of the water that beat against the coast in a stop-motion staccato. Her hands were up in elation, then she was bent with fingertips in the blue, then her hands were up again and a spray of light blue water fanned the air in front of her.”
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Have you seen that movie Inception? I like DiCaprio, I saw it, can’t explain the plot, only the impressive gimmick at the heart of it. But it seems like the VIV Chief is incepting her colleagues. Even if she doesn’t mean to, she’s planting the seeds for interesting dream stories from her friends.
Welsh Rarebit: “So I think Chief is setting us up,” Noah said to everyone as he started on his second piece of the brownie. “She fed us a dish that is supposed to cause nightmares.”
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It’s the PRL Serials Volume 1! Tomorrow may be full of doubt, but you, dear readers, can count on the PRL for the best serial fiction on the internet.
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