The Truth Might Send You Into a Frightful Frenzy, and Maybe Into Sleep
What stories send you off to dreamland? One of the kindest, most generous people I know likes TV series about real-life murder mysteries, no matter how grisly. (Love that about her.) For me, stories about trains taking me to exotic locations in distant times, or fantasy tales, are just the thing.
When it comes to fantasy, one the great masters to whom I bow down is Neil Gaiman. I was among the legion of fantasy and horror geeks who have highly anticipated the debut of his “The Sandman” TV series — adapted from Gaiman’s comic books. He is a producer as well as a writer on the Warner Bros./Netflix series.
By chance, I heard Gaiman speak on a BBC radio show, and knew that Episode 5, “24/7” is one he was particularly excited about. But only when I watched it did I realize how it teases out something humming along in me very deeply. In fact, if someone asked me what theme all my fiction has in common, I would reply: “the thirst for honesty — and what lengths we’ll go to get it.”
MADNESS AND FRENZY
The character in “24/7” who is on this particular quest is a demented, insane-asylum escapee played by the brilliant David Thewlis. He wants to change the world by banishing lies. He visits a diner and observes a handful of people who seem quite happy and hopeful at the start, until a magical ruby in his possession forces them to be completely honest.
I don’t want to spoil your fun by describing details of the ensuing mayhem. Suffice to say that the episode builds to a conflagration, and when the fire is put out, a new truth emerges.
It’s no mystery why honesty is something that is so core to my personal interests. After all, I not only write fiction, but also journalism. One of the greatest assets that one can have as a reporter is a finely tuned bullshit detector.
Do you feel this same magnetic pull toward the truth, no matter what profession you happen to be in?
We live in an age when people reference the “Lie Economy” to describe how media personalities make a fortune spreading falsehoods. It’s not a surprise that Gallup reported late last year that when survey respondents were asked if they trust the media to report the news accurately and fairly, 2021’s results were the second lowest in the annual study’s history.
When personal perceptions of honesty are expressed, they can be so incredibly powerful, and sometimes this can move people in terrible ways. Look no further than the attack on Salman Rushdie as an example of that. Freedom of speech sometimes involves such terrible personal costs.
FRIGHTFUL FUTURE
Given my work and interests, there’s little wonder that my dystopian sci-fi novel, “The Juice,” envisions how media companies will control our thoughts and behaviors even more than they already are. And that is a continuing theme in the sequel novel I’m working on now.
In “24/7,” there is evil and intense violence on the screen. And that’s not exactly a sedative. But there is also the underlying idea that our ability to hope — our need to believe that there will be positive endings to our present tribulations — is far more important than the truth.
That’s the very thing I need to send me off to dreamland. I don’t think that my delight in fantasy with themes that cut to the chase of what so many of us are feeling will ever, ever end.
