marydnn 's review for:

Eight O'Clock in the Morning by Ray Faraday Nelson

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the ending has me finking.

why does he die? i think from a doylist perspective i get it, like he was just the spark that helped others to wake up, and no one individual could’ve won the entire war. in that regard i like how it ends at the *beginning* of the war, and he’s not even around to see it. but i have to wonder why in watsonian terms he succumbs to their command to die.  ok nvm maybe it’s just we all still live under capitalism and thus still have to play by its rules. okay fine i guess it makes sense.

Anyway i think john carpenter brings a lot of valuable additions, and situating this story within reagan’s america and from an unhoused guy brings the specifically anti-capitalism message to the forefront (rather than a more general cultural critique). and of course carpenter adds more personality. but i still enjoyed this story! i was very interested in how nada’s

awareness wavered, which is an important aspect to the metaphor u just don’t get with glasses! cipher-esque