Ah...The Future

Past Ties is the next book I intend to write. If you want to know why, you can read my posts labeled "Past Ties" 'cause I don't want to go into it again.

Since my life got busy and debilitating illness became my special friend, I've been writing in snatches only. I have a first chapter rough draft, and another 30K words I wrote in 1992 as inspiration but that's it.

This week I had a few minutes to think. Since I've changed the Past Ties timeline to much closer to now (as in, about 100 years in the future instead of 500), it would probably be a good idea to sketch out a timeline leading up to events in the book.

What would the world look like in 100 years?

Heh.

This is my world, right? It is fiction. I can make the future whatever I want, not what I actually expect to happen.

Heh heh.

Here's what I've got so far.

In 2010, conservatives take over both House and Senate, and overwhelm state and party seats across the US. Stability returns to the checks-and-balances system.

On 9-9-11, a terrorist attack destroys Hollywood and San Francisco. David Boreanaz and Emily Deschenel are killed on set. The country rises up in fury, and the "Booth and Bones Bill" is passed three months later authorizing the US to bomb terrorist territories into puddles, regardless of civilian casualties, halting the spread of Islamo-fascisim for a time.

Israel bombs Iran's nuclear facilities, resetting the Middle East clock.

It doesn't stop there, though. The destruction of a major slice of liberal California and the loss of our major entertainment center leaves a void in life, a void quickly filled by churches following the example of the Baptist church in Albany, GA, who brought us Fireproof. The North American Revival begins in Canada in 2013 and sweeps across the continent all the way to South America. The Mexican Revolution begins in 2021, spurred by the US no longer buying drugs and prostitutes because they're too busy praying and evangelizing.

Yeah, it's fiction, pure and simple. I do not believe for one moment any of this will happen. For David and Emily's sake, I actually hope not. I love them. If they got blown up, I'd be upset about it. Honestly, there could be tears (sorry, had to have my Joss Whedon homage. Probably should quote something from Angel, though. I'll think about it). But, unless something drastic does happen to reset the World Clock, I personally don't think we have 100 years before Christ returns. And Past Ties could not happen in a Post-Return world.

That's one of the problems (to me) of writing future-based sci-fi. How do you reconcile Biblical prophecy with human expansion into the universe? That's a whole other post.

Anyway, I'll keep working on my timeline, and my next book, and if any of us are here one year from now, I'll call it a win.