This week, Futures welcomes back Karlo Yeager Rodríguez with his latest story, Writing for the end of the world. Previously, Karlo has led us through Choices, in sequential order and introduced us to an updated version of Iago. His latest story aims to prevent the impending Apocalypse. When not saving the world, you can find Karlo online at his website or on Twitter. Here, he reveals what inspired his latest tale — as ever, it pays to read the story first.

Writing Writing for the end of the world

Writing for the end of the world is the first story I’ve written explicitly with an author protagonist. Specifically, an author who writes post-apocalyptic stories to assuage his fears about the world ending. Does what he writes convince anyone of consequence not to destroy the world, or is he fooling himself? The absurdity of his situation let me use one of my favourite jokes to parallel the author’s view of himself.

In light of what’s been happening in the real world, I understand the drive to use art as a warning, but I can’t help but think of a Kurt Vonnegut quote: “During the Vietnam War, which lasted longer than any war we’ve ever been in — and which we lost — every respectable artist in this country was against the war. It was like a laser beam. We were all aimed in the same direction. The power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high.”

I know Vonnegut’s right, but all of us must do what we can, in the way we can, to effect change.