This read like how a rich chocolate cake tastes. The word choice, the description, the world, rich and vivid, brilliantly done. The reveal of Uncle Walt had me laughing, a twist I didn't expect but landed perfectly. I didn't know about Epcot before reading the comments, I am also not surprised Disney thought he could make a planned city. Bravo!
An excellent work, Zack, and I look forward to your future short stories. Would you say this is alternate history? It read as such, but I wanted to make sure I understood the premise as I don't know a lot of the real history behind EPCOT. When the next season of the Lunar Awards launches, I hope you'll consider an entry.
No seriously I wrote it as alternate history, just having fun with the “what if Disney didn’t die and got to carry out all his Epcot plans on a grand scale?” There’s an awesome Defunctland episode on YouTube that covers the original Epcot vision, super interesting.
You’re too kind, I imagine you’ll have some entries from each of us 😎
Thanks for the recommendation on Defunctland. That sounds really interesting. When mixing real history with fictional history sometimes it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. I've never tried alternate history, but maybe I should give it a go one time.
Great job to everyone on this Substack. You're off to a great start!
Thanks, and likewise to your endeavor!! Having a set of awards that feels “ours” and not like an impossible in-club is really a worthy cause. Doing good work sir!
I'm so glad to hear you say that! It's exactly what I want for this community -- to feel like it's a group where we can all have a sense of belonging as writers of fantasy and science fiction.
I didn't realize the true nature of the setting until the name drop of Walt Disney punched me in the face, then my vague knowledge that EPCOT was intended to be a place where people lived filled in the rest and everything clicked.
For how dystopic the setting is the ending felt oddly cheery, but then again the only people in the room are its maker and an enforcer of it. But Disney talking about trust rang a little hollow considering the whole design of the place. Jimmy felt so smugly sure of his position that I didn't entirely buy his change of heart, would have liked to get more in his head for that.
I love your note about the main character, I definitely think if I wrote anything else in this setting I would want to flesh him out more! Working under Heinlein's Rules I'm glad this one is out the door so I can move on and improve. I tend to struggle with internal character motivation so that's a problem to tackle with the next story 😎 Really glad to hear the twist landed!
This read like how a rich chocolate cake tastes. The word choice, the description, the world, rich and vivid, brilliantly done. The reveal of Uncle Walt had me laughing, a twist I didn't expect but landed perfectly. I didn't know about Epcot before reading the comments, I am also not surprised Disney thought he could make a planned city. Bravo!
Appreciate your kind words! I had fun with it, and I find the more fun I have the more pleased I am with the final piece.
An excellent work, Zack, and I look forward to your future short stories. Would you say this is alternate history? It read as such, but I wanted to make sure I understood the premise as I don't know a lot of the real history behind EPCOT. When the next season of the Lunar Awards launches, I hope you'll consider an entry.
https://lunarawards.substack.com
Yes, to my knowledge Disney wasn’t a robot 😂
No seriously I wrote it as alternate history, just having fun with the “what if Disney didn’t die and got to carry out all his Epcot plans on a grand scale?” There’s an awesome Defunctland episode on YouTube that covers the original Epcot vision, super interesting.
You’re too kind, I imagine you’ll have some entries from each of us 😎
Maybe he was a robot all along. 😉
Thanks for the recommendation on Defunctland. That sounds really interesting. When mixing real history with fictional history sometimes it's hard to tell where one stops and the other begins. I've never tried alternate history, but maybe I should give it a go one time.
Great job to everyone on this Substack. You're off to a great start!
Now that’s thinking like a fictioneer 😂
Thanks, and likewise to your endeavor!! Having a set of awards that feels “ours” and not like an impossible in-club is really a worthy cause. Doing good work sir!
I'm so glad to hear you say that! It's exactly what I want for this community -- to feel like it's a group where we can all have a sense of belonging as writers of fantasy and science fiction.
I didn't realize the true nature of the setting until the name drop of Walt Disney punched me in the face, then my vague knowledge that EPCOT was intended to be a place where people lived filled in the rest and everything clicked.
For how dystopic the setting is the ending felt oddly cheery, but then again the only people in the room are its maker and an enforcer of it. But Disney talking about trust rang a little hollow considering the whole design of the place. Jimmy felt so smugly sure of his position that I didn't entirely buy his change of heart, would have liked to get more in his head for that.
I love your note about the main character, I definitely think if I wrote anything else in this setting I would want to flesh him out more! Working under Heinlein's Rules I'm glad this one is out the door so I can move on and improve. I tend to struggle with internal character motivation so that's a problem to tackle with the next story 😎 Really glad to hear the twist landed!