Get the e-book today on Amazon! Folks have asked me about which books, art, music, etc. influenced my writing of "The STARLING Connection."
"STARLING" is a dystopian tale, set in the near future, 2045.
Reviewers have likened the series to George Orwell's (Eric Blair, 1903-1950) famous novel, "1984," due to the massive surveillance (actually "STARLING" describes a level of surveillance far greater than "1984"). I'd say yes, of course, "1984" and "Animal Farm," both of which I read when I was very young, are influences.
I'd also say that Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) is more of an influence. He wrote an incredible book, "Brave New World," which described how a technological "utopia" would make slaves of us all.
I've been aware of Huxley's work for a long time. I've listened to him speaking in black and white film recordings as he's answered interview questions. However, I wasn't exactly thinking specifically of "Brave New World" (having never read it word for word cover to cover) when I began writing the first drafts of "STARLING" in 2005 following my military commitment.
I wrote "STARLING" based more on my experiences and what I saw happening around me with the exponential increase of technology, including the growth of the surveillance State (which was well underway by 2005 when I began the book) and the growing power of pharmaceutical corporations. Yet, "STARLING" has many parallels with the ideas Huxley has expressed in interviews and in "Brave New World."
One of Huxley's main ideas is that the totalitarian societies of the future are ever more sneaky, all encompassing kinds of totalitarianism, in which people are wholly accustomed/conditioned to accept their slavery, and in fact, actually "enjoy" being slaves without fully understanding or examining the true nature of their slavery. Slavery comes not only through mass surveillance, but also through more subtle kinds of force, for example, pervasive medication and ever more powerful technologies.
I suppose you could think of "The STARLING Connection" as a kind of modern blend of "1984" and "Brave New World," owing more to the ideas Huxley espoused, of which I came to many of the same thoughts/conclusions as Huxley did.
In "STARLING," I'm examining the nature of humanity's global systemic violence/concentration of power enabled by powerful technologies. On one level, "STARLING" is a study of monopoly, what's happening today, which will likely become all-encompassing in the near future: the convergences of the military-surveillance-industrial complexes and the prison-pharmaceutical-industrial complexes.
Today "pain pills," for example, are prevalent, and I expect ever more powerful medication will become more prevalent if the current trajectory continues. We're quickly becoming a society in which every man, woman and child are on some kind of medication.
How could it be, the majority of people medicated? The majority of people are not sick, but it is not actually the human beings who are sick, but our manufactured, artificial system of ever greater violence which dehumanizes us.
How would you feel if you were the only person you knew not medicated in some fashion?
Don't get me wrong, I recognize medication is good and necessary when we're in pain (and many suffer from chronic pain). Many folks certainly need medication for their health and safety, particularly as we grow older.
But I am very concerned about vast numbers of our children being overly medicated. We see this happening in public schools and everywhere else. I'm also concerned about the vast numbers of soldiers, veterans and increasingly, the general public, who are ever more medicated.
I'm more concerned that the larger and more powerful global pharmaceutical corporations become, the more powerful the technology of pill-making becomes, the more people will turn to medication over the real world, just as we are currently turning away from the people physically around us, becoming ever more lost in screens.
We are ever more favoring "artificial reality" over Nature.
Have we lost sight of our natural connection to each other as human beings as we're ever more distracted by a technological, artificial "connection"?
What will be left of humanity in the end?
How lonely life is becoming for those dedicated to the deepest truths of Nature and their natural consciousness.
How lonely it is for the last human being who fights for the consciousness that God gave us, who refuses to be bought and sold.
What will happen to the last handful of humanity standing?
In "STARLING," we see what happens to Simon Laramie, Jaya Ceyes, Flower Wildwind and Peter Arnold.
Why should you care about four teenagers fighting for their privacy and freedom of speech?
You should care because Simon, Jaya, Flower and Peter could be YOUR kids or your grandchildren.
The "future" is happening to YOU today.
SHARE THIS POST (while you still can)...
"STARLING" is a dystopian tale, set in the near future, 2045.
Reviewers have likened the series to George Orwell's (Eric Blair, 1903-1950) famous novel, "1984," due to the massive surveillance (actually "STARLING" describes a level of surveillance far greater than "1984"). I'd say yes, of course, "1984" and "Animal Farm," both of which I read when I was very young, are influences.
I'd also say that Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) is more of an influence. He wrote an incredible book, "Brave New World," which described how a technological "utopia" would make slaves of us all.
I've been aware of Huxley's work for a long time. I've listened to him speaking in black and white film recordings as he's answered interview questions. However, I wasn't exactly thinking specifically of "Brave New World" (having never read it word for word cover to cover) when I began writing the first drafts of "STARLING" in 2005 following my military commitment.
I wrote "STARLING" based more on my experiences and what I saw happening around me with the exponential increase of technology, including the growth of the surveillance State (which was well underway by 2005 when I began the book) and the growing power of pharmaceutical corporations. Yet, "STARLING" has many parallels with the ideas Huxley has expressed in interviews and in "Brave New World."
One of Huxley's main ideas is that the totalitarian societies of the future are ever more sneaky, all encompassing kinds of totalitarianism, in which people are wholly accustomed/conditioned to accept their slavery, and in fact, actually "enjoy" being slaves without fully understanding or examining the true nature of their slavery. Slavery comes not only through mass surveillance, but also through more subtle kinds of force, for example, pervasive medication and ever more powerful technologies.
I suppose you could think of "The STARLING Connection" as a kind of modern blend of "1984" and "Brave New World," owing more to the ideas Huxley espoused, of which I came to many of the same thoughts/conclusions as Huxley did.
In "STARLING," I'm examining the nature of humanity's global systemic violence/concentration of power enabled by powerful technologies. On one level, "STARLING" is a study of monopoly, what's happening today, which will likely become all-encompassing in the near future: the convergences of the military-surveillance-industrial complexes and the prison-pharmaceutical-industrial complexes.
Today "pain pills," for example, are prevalent, and I expect ever more powerful medication will become more prevalent if the current trajectory continues. We're quickly becoming a society in which every man, woman and child are on some kind of medication.
How could it be, the majority of people medicated? The majority of people are not sick, but it is not actually the human beings who are sick, but our manufactured, artificial system of ever greater violence which dehumanizes us.
How would you feel if you were the only person you knew not medicated in some fashion?
Don't get me wrong, I recognize medication is good and necessary when we're in pain (and many suffer from chronic pain). Many folks certainly need medication for their health and safety, particularly as we grow older.
But I am very concerned about vast numbers of our children being overly medicated. We see this happening in public schools and everywhere else. I'm also concerned about the vast numbers of soldiers, veterans and increasingly, the general public, who are ever more medicated.
I'm more concerned that the larger and more powerful global pharmaceutical corporations become, the more powerful the technology of pill-making becomes, the more people will turn to medication over the real world, just as we are currently turning away from the people physically around us, becoming ever more lost in screens.
We are ever more favoring "artificial reality" over Nature.
Have we lost sight of our natural connection to each other as human beings as we're ever more distracted by a technological, artificial "connection"?
What will be left of humanity in the end?
How lonely life is becoming for those dedicated to the deepest truths of Nature and their natural consciousness.
How lonely it is for the last human being who fights for the consciousness that God gave us, who refuses to be bought and sold.
What will happen to the last handful of humanity standing?
In "STARLING," we see what happens to Simon Laramie, Jaya Ceyes, Flower Wildwind and Peter Arnold.
Why should you care about four teenagers fighting for their privacy and freedom of speech?
You should care because Simon, Jaya, Flower and Peter could be YOUR kids or your grandchildren.
The "future" is happening to YOU today.
SHARE THIS POST (while you still can)...
Theodore Webb is a poet, novelist, short story author and playwright. Webb is the author of the dystopian fiction novels, "Lifeline,” “Crucible,” “Colossus” and “Inferno,” the first four books in “The STARLING Series,"available for ALL DEVICES, smartphone, Kindle, PC, MAC, via Amazon.com. (Note: All four books are available as one volume, titled, "The STARLING Connection.") His short stories are also available online, including "Desperate Engine" on Amazon and "Family Hour" available in ALL digital formats on Smashwords.com. For paper copies of Webb's books, contact the author directly via email: twebb4502@gmail.com.
