The Electoral College convenes today in state capitols across the country to stamp its imprimatur on our recent, horrifying election.
This antiquated, anti-democratic convocation was much on my mind two weeks ago when I returned to Chicago to appear at the 100th episode of Tuesday Funk, the long-running reading series I used to co-host. For that occasion, it was suggested that I read from my first published short story.
I started work on "From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left" more than 25 years ago, in 1990, when my vision of the 2009 presidential inauguration seemed to me like nothing more than a whimsical fantasy. After much revision, the story appeared in the February 1993 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction,—my fiction debut. Unfortunately, it has now proved, at least in part, to be the most prescient of my stories. I wish it weren't, but there it is.
The crowd at Tuesday Funk seemed to agree, as you can plainly hear at the 3:27 mark in the video below.
Enjoy—if you can.
Many thanks to noted genius Kyle Thiessen for his timely video production.