Earlier today, I began thinking about the phrase “better than…” and several thoughts bubbled up in my loquacious mind, eventually coalescing into the question, “Better than reality?” Which leads me to today’s post, “Why read fiction these days reality is already quite a bit stranger and more engaging than fiction?”


Let me qualify this: “Better than…what?” Better than eating? Better than money? Better than sex? Better than writing?. Better than…fiction? 


Having a creative mind that runs quite well on its own without the need for a lot of conscious direction, for me, I like the creative process itself. And, yes, it’s better than eating, money, sex and trying to write it all down. Call it “freedom” if you like, for that’s how it feels. Freedom of expression? Freedom of the spirit? For me, it's more like freedom of the soul, imagining the soul to be the sum total of all lifetime experiences. Don’t forget this line, as it is integral to THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor.


Without creating a spoiler, in a Multiverse like that posited in TEOM, there’s always the question of how to get from one universe to another, and, well, the “natural” way is birth and death. The latter transition is guided by one’s "soul" (as defined above). Ponder this, Pilgrim. It’s quite deep. Then read THE EDGE OF MADNESS and prepare yourself for a ride like no other. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CCCIrQGs


So why read fiction? In my world, it’s to gain insight into the results of our lifelong actions — I call this kind of fiction SCI-FU (science-based futuring) — in order to quiet the beast within that incessantly wants to know what happened before and what happens next.