Books

It's called "The Last Spark". The setting is a city called Umbra, choked by a thick fog called The Drowse—where merchants don't open their stalls, soldiers don't drill, and even the king preaches stillness as wisdom. No magic. No chosen-one tropes. Just a protagonist who realises that the fog isn't a curse—it's collective hesitation. He defeats it not with a sword, but with the raw algebra of moving when everyone else stays still.

What hit me hardest wasn't the action. It was the Practical Log at the end—five fill‑in‑the‑blank exercises that force you to translate his struggles into your own morning routine.

Here's my genuine question for this community:

When you catch yourself stuck in that "I'll do it tomorrow" cycle—what single, physical action do you take to break the trance?

(For me, it's putting my phone in another room before I sleep. It sounds trivial, but it rewires the first hour of my day.)

If you're curious, the author offers a free preview on the product page so you can read the first two chapters before buying anything. No pressure—just sharing a find that actually moved me.

👉 [Link to preview/product: https://payhip.com/b/AsyR2]

Would love to hear your personal "fog‑breakers" below.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/50316606

I can't talk about this comic book without stressing the important fact that much of the joy and wonder and amazement that I got out of this book was due to the fact that I was already familiar with a lot of the stories in this comic book.

That's one of the strengths and weaknesses of this book, it relies on you as a fan of these stories and much of the themes of this book depend upon you knowing these characters beforehand. Now, I have never read more than a handful of comic books but I have seen a lot of the movies which helped a lot.

Marvels is about our main character Phil Sheldon, a photographer in New York as he lives through the 40s and 50s and 60s and 70s and witnesses the stories of many of the major characters from Marvel Comics. We see Captain America fighting the Nazis, the rise of Fantastic Four and the arrival of Galactus, we see Avengers forming and taking on new members and of course the X-Men and how they differ from other heroes.

I have no idea how it would feel to read these stories if you were unfamiliar with most of the stories because one of the reasons why this book works is that it reflects our own childhood wonder and amazement of these characters onto us. We see people marveling at them just as we used to, just as I did when I was a kid watching Spider-Man on an old CRT. Without that reflection, I think much of the appeal would be lost.

Of course, Alex Ross's drawing is amazing and it feels even more cinematic somehow than Kingdom Come. In that story the amount of busy action sequences left me disoriented at times but here even though there are some really cool battles against foes, much of the focus is on everyday people. I like how these scenes have a momentum to them, the sense of pace as Phil walks the streets or runs toward his house feels impactful even though there's nothing grand going on action-wise.

What I love about also is how people are hostile towards these heroes, especially the mutant X-Men who are treated like commies and hunted down at every turn. The scenes of human brutality hit a lot harder than any large scale action sequences could. The book also manges to be consistently grounded, this is not one of those stories where an average guy gets in a team-up with superheroes and forms a relationship with them. Instead,

spoiler

the only time he comes too close them, he ends up losing his right eye.

spoiler

It's not a criticism per say but I find it very strange and interesting how this book forms it's own version of superhero fatigue within the story. Phil Sheldon towards the end gets so sick and tired of people admiring these heroes whenever they get saved and accuse them of villainy when things are peaceful that he doesn't want to be a part of it and retires, leaving the story at an inconclusive end for him and the reader.

I just read Chapter 17 of The Prince only, the famous "Is it better to be loved or feared" chapter

Pretty good, might read the rest now.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/72299860

https://archive.ph/FyuI0

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/49791809

The only other comic book I have read and finished is Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite and that was years ago so I don't really know how to go about this but I'll try my best.

I freaking loved Kingdom Come. This is an Elseworlds DC comic set in a distant futuristic scenario where superheroes have been so absorbed by the general masses that people have forgotten the value of their own achievements. The things our main character, Norman MaClay, reminisces about include Nobel Prizes, sports competitions. We see modern world absorb superheroes into their culture and as a result we have justice league themed restaurants (a prominent one in the story is called Planet Krypto).

Superheroes too have changed, apparently people got bored of "truth, justice and the American way", of Superman being a symbol of hope and peace that doesn't kill and after a tragedy, he is rejected by people who used to brother in him- in favor of more brutal and savage superheroes.

What follows is a story of moral responsibility written in a way that doesn't answer "must there be a Superman" as much as it feels like a more realistic evolution of Spider-Man's motto "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility."

In a way it reminds me of the modern trend of superhero media's shift towards more adult deconstructions of the genre with shows like Invincible and The Boys and the superhero fatigue. In following them we somehow forgot what it really meant to be a superhero until Superman (2025) came and reminded us that kindness and helping others is what superheroes should be teaching

I also think this is one of the best visual feasts I have ever experienced in comic books. The art style, I don't know what it's called but it feels so realistic yet very aesthetic at the same time. This is one of those comics where if you had to adapt it you would have to just make it in live-action because I don't think this art style can be done justice in animation. It already looks and feels so real

It's very cinematic too, I loved the Wonder Woman in this comic and every scene with her especially her scenes with Superman look so damn good.

My minor complaint and this maybe because I'm not used to this stuff, is the amount of other side heroes that fight in these huge scale full panels that I did not recognize and feel connected to. That's a part of the story, the newer generation of superheroes are cool but I don't feel anything towards them and that makes the action sequences just beautiful eye-candy.

Also I thought the ending especially the epilogue could have been more impactful.

General Location:

The Kamchatka Peninsula, one of the most isolated and rugged regions of Russia. In the post-apocalyptic world of the 2030s, however, it became a true “lost paradise” for survivors—at least at first.

Geography: The peninsula is almost entirely isolated from the rest of the world: to the west lies the Sea of Okhotsk, and to the east and south, the Pacific Ocean.

• Avacha Bay — The central location. Large and sheltered, it features a relatively mild microclimate thanks to volcanoes and geothermal activity. Although a thermonuclear bomb struck here, nature (volcanoes, wind, and the specific geography of the bay) quickly “cleansed” the area of intense radiation. Furthermore, a unique “wind rose” (prevailing wind pattern) prevented other WMDs (including the “Biomorph”) from entering the region. It is safe to live here, grow food, hunt, and fish. The flora and fauna, with the exception of a few invasive species, are identical to pre-war times.
• Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky — The main city. It was destroyed by a nuclear strike.
• Vilyuchinsk and Primorsky — A closed city and a settlement located in the Krasheninnikov (Taryinskaya) Bay area. This is the home of one of the primary survivor communities—the “Primorsky Quartet” (led by Andrey Zharov, Evgeny Gorin, Nikita Vishnevsky, and Alexander Tsoy). This is a more organized settlement with attempts to maintain order and establish a normal life.
• Svetly / New Hope — An American settlement (appearing primarily in the second book).
• Former Barracks — Located by the road between Vilyuchinsk and Primorsky. They are home to the trio of volcanologists.

Atmosphere and Features of the Post-Apocalypse

Unlike the Moscow Metro or other regions of the universe, Kamchatka is not a total radioactive wasteland. Nature recovered quickly due to volcanic activity and the peninsula’s geography. Survivors sustain themselves through fishing, hunting, and gardening.

                                       **Faction**

The Volcanologist Trio — One of the most colorful and important character groups in the “Edge of the Earth” dilogy. They are a small, close-knit team of scientists living in former military barracks along the road from the settlement of Primorsky to Vilyuchinsk.

Members of the Trio:

• Mikhail Krasheninnikov — The only Russian in the group, a Kamchatka volcanologist from the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology in Petropavlovsk. He is the leader and “diplomat” of the trio, as well as the main protagonist of the book.
• Olivia Sobeski — An American volcanologist from Yellowstone National Park (USA) and Mikhail’s wife. She possesses a distinctly Western outlook on things, often viewing local leaders as “bandits” and treating them with deep distrust.
• Antonio Quaglia — An Italian from Naples, a volcanologist with an artistic streak. He wears a beard (which has turned gray over time), loves sketching, and has a fiery Italian temperament. He walks with a limp (the aftermath of past events), which is why he lives on the ground floor of the barracks. He was the one who predicted the explosion.

They settled in old, three-story barracks (a building with two entrances), setting up their living quarters on the first and second floors. The location is highly convenient: relatively close to Primorsky, yet sufficiently isolated.

Why They Are Not Part of the “Primorsky Quartet”

Despite the barracks being geographically located within the Primorsky settlement’s sphere of influence, the trio is formally not part of the “Primorsky Quartet” community.

The reason for this is Olivia and Antonio’s foreign origin. In the conditions of post-war isolation and rising nationalist sentiments among some of the survivors, having a foreign background carried serious risks. Consequently, Mikhail had to run an independent household: they secure their own food, make their own repairs, and trade or barter with Primorsky, but they do not participate in the community’s collective management and resource distribution system.

The Cover Story

To avoid unnecessary questions and conflicts, Mikhail fed the locals a convenient cover story:

• Olivia was supposedly a native of Finland.
• Antonio was supposedly from Cuba.

This legend worked for a while, especially in the early years after the war, when people were far more preoccupied with basic survival than running background checks.

The Primorsky Quartet

The name “Primorsky Quartet” primarily refers to the four young leaders of the community:

• Andrey Zharov
• Evgeny Gorin
• Nikita Vishnevsky
• Alexander Tsoy

These are four friends and comrades who, at the very beginning of the post-apocalypse, managed to unite, take control of the situation, and become the de facto leaders of a significant portion of the survivors in the Avacha Bay area.

Over time, the name “Primorsky Quartet” also came to designate the entire large community they lead. The community occupies:

• The settlement of Primorsky (the Quartet’s main base),
• A significant portion of Vilyuchinsk.

It is one of the largest and most organized settlements in post-apocalyptic Kamchatka.

Goals and Ideology

From the very beginning, the Quartet set an ambitious goal: not just to survive, but to preserve the remnants of civilization. They actively:

• Introduced public courts and written laws.
• Made education mandatory for children and teenagers.
• Strove to maintain discipline and order.

Their approach can be described as authoritarian-enlightened: a heavy hand toward bandits and marauders, combined with an effort to build a normal society for ordinary people.

Economy and Way of Life

The community’s economy is primarily agrarian and gatherer-based:

• Fishing (a vital sector, as Avacha Bay is rich in fish).
• Hunting.
• Animal husbandry.
• Gardens and greenhouses.
• Foraging for wild plants and berries.

They actively use surviving machinery and repair old equipment, but there is almost no industrial manufacturing.

Governance Structure

• The Quartet itself (the four leaders) is usually based in Primorsky.
• Vilyuchinsk is governed by Evgeny Saprykin—an older, tougher man who originally helped the young men of the Quartet eliminate local bandit leaders. Saprykin is considered a reliable but more “old-school” leader.

Military and Technical Ambitions

The community put serious effort into restoring the surviving machinery in the bay:

• Military minesweeper — They successfully repaired and launched it. Its relatively simple diesel engine allowed local specialists to get it running.
• Nuclear submarine — Despite all efforts, they failed to restore it. The post-apocalyptic society lacked the qualified personnel, resources, and infrastructure required to service a nuclear reactor.

Overall Image

The Primorsky Quartet is the most “state-like” entity in Kamchatka during this period. On one hand, they truly provide people with order, protection, the opportunity to educate their children, and a relatively stable life. On the other hand, some (including Olivia from the volcanologist trio) view them as authoritarian, and sometimes even bandit-like in their methods.

The Settlers

The Americans of New Hope are one of the key factions in the second book of the “Edge of the Earth. Fire and Ashes” dilogy. They emerge as a new, rather unexpected force on the map of Avacha Bay.

Origin and Arrival

In 2033, a group of American survivors arrived in Kamchatka from the Aleutian Islands, specifically from Dutch Harbor (a major port and former US naval base in Alaska).

When they ran out of resources, they crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed in Kamchatka, occupying the settlement of Svetly (located on the opposite shore of Avacha Bay from Primorsky). The settlement was relatively intact and deserted, so the settlers quickly adapted it to their needs and renamed it New Hope.

All of them are former US citizens, just like Olivia Sobeski. Among them are military personnel, rangers, civilian specialists, and ordinary people who managed to survive the war on the Aleutians.

Leaders

• Karl Riggs — The primary leader and sheriff of the community. Pragmatic, charismatic, and tough, yet striving to maintain the appearance of democracy and the rule of law. He is the one who most often conducts negotiations and speaks publicly.
• Ron Johnson (referred to as Roy in some sources) — A former US Army Ranger and private military contractor. He is more bellicose and straightforward than Riggs.

Symbolism and Self-Identification

One of the most notable details is their flag. The settlers use the Gadsden flag (“Don’t Tread on Me”—a yellow banner featuring a coiled rattlesnake) instead of the traditional Stars and Stripes or the First Navy Jack.

This is a conscious choice: they position themselves not as official representatives of the old United States, but as a post-apocalyptic quasi-state (similar to Hansa, the Red Line, or the VDNKh Commonwealth in the Moscow Metro).

The Community and Way of Life

New Hope is a fairly well-organized settlement. The Americans quickly established defenses, set up their economy, and began developing the new shoreline. They are more “individualistic” in spirit than the Primorsky Quartet, yet they remain just as united when facing external threats.

The Jokers

They appear in the second book and drastically change the balance of power in Kamchatka, turning the already tense “Cold War between the Quartet and New Hope” into a living hell.

Origin and Arrival

The Jokers are cannibals who arrived from Southeast Asia (circumstantial evidence points most likely to Thailand or Bali). They survived the nuclear war in those regions and, by all indications, spent a long time roaming the seas in search of a new “feeding ground.”

In August 2033, they landed on the shores of Kamchatka on their ship and immediately began terrorizing the coastline of Avacha Bay.

Appearance and Customs

• Facial Scarification: They deliberately inflict deep scars and gashes on their faces and bodies. The goal is to make their skin tough, thick, and more resistant to radiation and infections. As a result, their faces look horribly distorted, frozen in permanent “smiles” and grimaces.
• Aesthetics: They are obsessed with “bloody works of art”—the walls and decks of their ship are decorated with human remains, skin, entrails, and trophies. A flag made of actual human skin flies from their vessel.

Name and Self-Identification

The name “Jokers” was coined by Ron (Roy) Johnson (from New Hope). It stuck due to their visual resemblance to the Joker from DC Comics—mad smiles, chaos, a complete lack of morality, and a love for theatrical horror.

They call themselves the “New World Order.” In their worldview, anyone who has not joined them is simply “food.” They make no effort to hide their nature: for them, cannibalism is not a measure of last resort (as in Yamantau), but an ideology and a way of life.

Equipment

Despite their degenerated nature, they are fairly well-armed and organized:

• A military French helicopter carrier (likely a Mistral-class or equivalent).
• At least one quadcopter (drone) for reconnaissance.
• Firearms, boats, a jet ski, and a multiple rocket launcher system—everything they managed to preserve or capture during their years of wandering.

Behavior and Psychology

• They are cowardly when facing organized resistance—quickly scattering under heavy, disciplined fire.
• However, they are extremely dangerous during ambush attacks, in close-quarters combat, and when they feel they have the upper hand.
• They also consume each other, but they shroud this practice in an entire religious dogma. Supposedly, by eating a fallen comrade, they save their soul, preserving it within their own body.

Judging by their behavior, Kamchatka is where they encountered serious, organized resistance for the first time. Before this, they had apparently had an easy time capturing weak settlements, sustaining themselves solely through terror and cannibalism.

Posting because I can't even get a Korean copy online (all the websites need Korean credit cards or Korean ID to buy), the original newspaper it was serially published in is paywalled, and the only alternatives are an audiobook version on YouTube and a not so great Chinese translation PDF on Anna's Archive (currently in the process of OCR-ing and digitizing if that's the right word)

If anyone knows a way to either buy the book or if someone already has it and wants to sell (hell if you have access to original papers even), please let me know!

Websites I've seen it advertised Aladin Kyobo

I am looking for a book series that upon completion will leave a feeling of emptiness, as if I'm saying goodbye to a good old friend, when you realize the good old days were left behind. It's a shitty feeling that only comes after something great, something that left a mark on you.

"ABODE" is one of the most technologically advanced and gloomy locations in the "Metro 2033" universe, described in detail in Andrei Grebenshchikov’s novel Metro 2033: Abode of Dreams. Unlike the half-destroyed and dirty Moscow Metro, this complex was originally conceived as a true autonomous paradise on Earth, but ultimately turned into a giant high-tech tomb.

Architecture and Level Layout

"ABODE" is located south of Moscow, in the Shcherbinka area. From the surface, the complex looks like a huge artificial hill, the base of which is constantly shrouded in poisonous yellowish fog. Thanks to its own nuclear reactor, the bunker is completely autonomous: it has functioning sewage, water supply, air regeneration systems, and full electricity.

The complex descends deep underground and is divided into functional levels:

• Upper level: A huge transport hangar with red emergency lighting. Heavy equipment is preserved here: evacuation buses, "Tiger" armored vehicles, and "Volk" chemical protection vehicles.

• Technical floors: Purification systems and warehouses stocked with food supplies for generations ahead.

• Minus 2nd and Minus 3rd floors: Residential zones with comfortable furnished apartments. The elite and specialists in key professions lived on the third tier.

• Minus 2nd and Minus 3rd floors: Residential zones with comfortable furnished apartments. The elite and specialists in key professions lived on the third tier.

• Minus 5th floor: The highlight of the project — a large-scale imitation of a pre-war city. Under a high ceiling with a painted daytime sky, there are asphalt roads, functioning street lamps, open cafes, shops, a library, a cinema, swimming pools, and flower beds with fountains.

• Lower levels: A high-tech medical block (Minus 6th floor), beneath which lie deep technical wells and elevator shafts.

Fatal Trap: The Mystery of the Hermetic Gate

The main vulnerability of ABODE was its own security system. The massive entrance hermetic gates could not be locked or opened at will.

All of the bunker’s automation is tied to a rigid timer linked to the date of the beginning of World War III (July 6). The gates open only once every four years and only for a very short period of time. For the rest of the time, the residents are locked inside with no chance of leaving.

History

Originally, the Object was built as a large commercial logistics center with underground refrigeration units. However, one of the investors — the architect Vladimir Aristarkhovich Sannikov (later known as the Dreamer) — had foreseen the nuclear apocalypse and secretly converted the project into an autonomous ark. On the day of the Catastrophe, buses carrying the families of shareholders and residents of an elite village managed to enter.

However, the utopia never materialized. The very first years were marked by a fierce power struggle between the official Bunker Administration and the dissenting residents, who were nicknamed the "Swamp People." The "Swamp People" uprising was suppressed by the leadership with extreme brutality: people were shot with machine guns and burned with flamethrowers.

The Dreamer himself intervened in this conflict. Having lost his young son during the coup, he faked his own death and became a secret executioner. For years, he methodically eliminated the leadership and tormented the population of ABODE, forcing them to live in constant fear.

The Curse of the "Sleeping One" and the Fall of the Bunker

The final collapse of the shelter was caused by a biological threat from outside. During the next gate opening in 2021, the daughter of the Administrator — El — broke out while trying to save her young son Nick.

The boy was taken to the safety of the Metro, while El herself disappeared into the radioactive Fog.

Four years later, during the next automatic opening of the gates, El’s living but comatose body was found on the threshold of ABODE. It turned out that a dangerous telepathic mutant had possessed her. Becoming the "Sleeping One," El began broadcasting waves of madness throughout the entire bunker. Residents of ABODE went insane en masse, killing their relatives in their sleep or committing suicide.

Within a few years, the entire population of ABODE died out in terrible agony. The only survivor was the mad Dreamer, who for years dumped the bodies of his former neighbors down the elevator shafts and cared for the body of the Sleeping One on the minus sixth floor — until the voice in his head ordered him to go outside and bring back her (El’s) grown son.

Finale

In 2033, ABODE finally ceased to exist. Lured by deception, Nick managed to destroy the creature inside his mother, ending the mental nightmare. The creator of the bunker himself, the Dreamer, fell under mental control while trying to escape and was crushed alive by the closing multi-ton hermetic gates of ABODE, which sealed this underground city forever.

Commentary

I can’t help but note the similarity between ABODE and the Vaults from the Fallout universe.

Both are highly technological shelters, but with a "Secret." (While Vault-Tec’s involve experiments, In ABODE, this is a hermetic seal that cannot be opened at any time.).

And in both cases, they met a rather grotesque end.

Pride City is a small isolated group in the Metro 2033 universe that existed in the surface territory of the Moscow Region. The faction appears exclusively in Andrey Grebenshchikov’s novel Metro 2033: Sisters of Sorrow. It is a community built on the principles of radical homosexuality.

The organization was formed after 2013 (after the nuclear war). The members of the community settled in a two-story supermarket building on a hill near the Moscow Region village of Donino.

Society and Daily Life

Almost nothing is known about the internal structure of this community, except for a few details.

• Encounter with outsiders: The hosts persistently offer any arriving traveler a “free democratic choice.” A tray is brought out with a jar of Vaseline (a symbol of entering into sexual relations with members of the community) and a small bottle of poison (death).

• Manner of speech: Representatives of the faction behave in an exaggeratedly mannered way and speak in falsetto. However, at the slightest disobedience, they instantly resort to using weapons.

Appearance and Armament

The inhabitants of the faction have a hypertrophied, provocative appearance:

• Clothing: They wear shiny shorts, tights, high-platform shoes, vests with beads worn over bare skin, and decorative feathers inserted into elements of their clothing.
• Makeup: They actively use women’s cosmetics, painting their eyes with mascara and blue glitter eyeshadow.
• Security: The fighters and sentries are clad in tight black leather. Despite their caricatured appearance, the faction is well armed with melee weapons and rifles, and maintains a stationary machine-gun position on the roof near the flagpole.

Role in the Plot

In February 2033, the novel’s main characters were passing by a shopping center. Deciding to inspect the building, they entered and encountered a delegation of five people led by an unnamed, heavily made-up leader.

After receiving the traditional ultimatum (“lubricant or poison”), the characters responded with a sharp refusal and opened fire. In the short and bloody battle in the lobby, the heroes completely eliminated the entire delegation from Pride City and their guards. When the characters tried to escape, a machine gunner on the roof opened fire on them, but the protagonists managed to get away.

No worries, I'm still digging through it. But I understand if the book is not for you.

Dear Melville, I thought the deal was one single lecture chapter between the plot ones. I'm flabbergasted.

It used to strike me as astonishing how the peoples of the Global South share the same sentiments toward their former colonizer. But in reality, this uniformity of sentiment and thought is merely a product of the material conditions of colonialism which are the same everywhere.

Fanon, in his renowned work, was able to crystallize these sentiments through a rigorous analysis of the anti-colonial war and the political, economic, social, and cultural emancipation of the colonized. “[D]ecolonization,” he writes, “is quite simply the substitution of one “species” of mankind by another. The substitution is unconditional, absolute, total, and seamless.” However, decolonization or total independence are not so simple in reality, as long as the colonizer is never ready to relinquish their colonial "property." Ultimately, “[t]he well-being and progress of Europe were built with the sweat and corpses of Blacks, Arabs, Indians, and Asians”; and this the European cannot give up without losing an essential part of oneself. Faced with the colonizer’s threats (“If you want independence, take it and go back to the Middle Ages”), the national liberation movement has only one of two possibilities: either the nationalist leaders would acquiesce and submit to the colonizer's will, or the underdeveloped nation shall endure the poverty that comes with independence. For even if political independence was achieved, it would be meaningless without economic sovereignty, which is the point of contention with the colonizer. Thus, “[t]he apotheosis of independence becomes the curse of independence.” “In the first scenario, the newly independent and underdeveloped nation makes concessions to its former colonial power: it signs economic and monetary agreements that make it economically dependent, accepts small injections of funds from the former colonial power to bolster its budget and adopts capitalism, enshrining the private property of the former colonists, which was previously acquired by force.

In the second scenario, which is no less arduous than the first, the national movement has no choice but to demand sacrifice from the starving people, to “ask them to make a gigantic effort.”

These famished individuals are required to undergo a regime of austerity, these atrophied muscles are required to work out of all proportion. An autarkic regime is established and each state, with the pitiful resources at its disposal, endeavors to address the mounting national hunger and the growing national poverty. We are witness to the mobilization of a people who now have to work themselves to exhaustion while a contemptuous and bloated Europe looks on.

Anti-colonial intellectuals like Fanon observed at the time the great battle between capitalism and socialism, which clearly manifested itself within the formerly colonized country. Fanon correctly judged that the conditions of the capitalist colonizer must absolutely not be accepted:

We know, of course, that the capitalist way of life is incapable of allowing us to achieve our national and universal project. Capitalist exploitation, the cartels and monopolies, are the enemies of the underdeveloped countries. On the other hand, the choice of a socialist regime, of a regime entirely devoted to the people, based on the principle that man is the most precious asset, will allow us to progress faster in greater harmony...

“The national revolution will be socialist,” thus wrote Jean-Paul Sartre in his preface to this book. “if it is stopped in its momentum, if the colonized bourgeoisie takes over power, the new state, despite its official sovereignty, will remain in the hands of the imperialists.” However, anti-colonial socialism cannot be utopian or fantastical the way leftist intellectuals in Europe imagined it. The liberation movement must necessarily adopt a strategy of total and radical immediacy. The role of the revolutionary activist is crucial here. This is not their own war, but the people’s war. And this must be reflected in the organization of the revolution:

In an underdeveloped country, the party must be organized in such a way that it does not merely maintain contact with the masses. The party must be the direct expression of the masses.

If we want to increase the gross national income, reduce the imports of certain useless, even harmful, products, improve agricultural production and fight illiteracy, we have to conduct an information campaign. The people must understand what is at stake. Public business must be the business of the public. We arrive therefore at the need to increase the number of local cells among the rank and file [...] The masses must be able to meet, discuss, put forward suggestions and receive instructions.

Here lies the absolute manifestation of the dictatorship of the proletariat in which the revolutionary takes power and gives it to the people.

To politicize the masses is not and cannot be to make a political speech. It means driving home to the masses that everything depends on them, that if we stagnate the fault is theirs, and that if we progress, they too are responsible, that there is no demiurge, no illustrious man taking responsibility for everything, but that the demiurge is the people and the magic lies in their hands and their hands alone.

To go back to my claim in my title, Western leftists and anarchists (not all of course) harshly criticise the "totalitarianism" of AES in the Global South because of their ignorance of the historical and material conditions that shaped the revolution, as showcased above, as well as the mechanisms through which Socialist regimes govern.

Socialism in the postcolonial world has always been under existential threat by the ex-colonial, capitalist forces. The DPRK, for instance, must be situated within the context of the dissection of Korea, the American imperialist war and the continuous threats to its sovereignty; Cuba within the context of the numerous assassination and coup attempts and the perpetual sanctions; China within the context of the imperialist incursions of the West and Japan, the foreign backing of warlords and the continuous fearmongering of Western propaganda, and so forth.

Moreover, the importance of this book for a Western reader has been succinctly expressed by Sartre:

Why bother to read it since it is not meant for us? [...] because Fanon analyzes you [Westerners] for his brothers and demolishes for them the mechanism of our alienations. Take advantage of it to discover your true self as an object. Our victims know us by their wounds and shackles: that is what makes their testimony irrefutable. They only need to know what we have done to them for us to realize what we have done to ourselves. Is this necessary? Yes, because Europe is doomed [...] Have the courage to read it, primarily because it will make you feel ashamed, and shame, as Marx said, is a revolutionary feeling. You see I, too, cannot lose my subjective illusion. I, too, say to you: “All is lost unless. . . .” I, a European, am stealing my enemy’s book and turning it into a way of healing Europe. Make the most of it.

Lots of emotion with this one.

Right off the bat, I love Stephen King and IT is my fav book of all time. I prefer his stories to go as batshit crazy as they can and this has been delivered with books like IT and Misery and Pet Sematary but then there are his other works, like 11/22/63 and Hearts in Atlantis which seem to be much more grounded and calm because their main focus is just normal people.

So can Stephen King tell a good story when there's no undead pets or clown monsters? Absolutely. Hearts in Atlantis is a solution of five stories taking place from the 60s to '99 that are interconnected to some degree.

It would be worth it to talk about those different stories in detail but I don't wanna give away the discovery aspect of this book though I will say that I probably liked the first story most since it had that little children dealing with magic sort of charm which was very reminiscent of IT. Even had an old man wanting to give a suckjob to a kid so it was very similiar (Poor Eddie)

Other stories are more focused on Vietnam and the American war there. I'll admit, I don't know much about that part of history, I'm not from any western country and you just don't read about stuff like that in schools. I think I picked it up casually through years of just reading books

Anyways, that whole Vietnam experience is here. We get to be there, running away from the heat of fire, camping and being drunk, and then back home trying to adjust to a normal life and trying somehow to forget and be forgiven for all the bad things we did there while trying to live a normal life. It's presented very well though I will say some of the stories do get a little too smart-ass sometimes. It's not something I would take out of the book but it is a little immersion breaking when you feel a character making a pointed speech about something that reads like a statement by the author.

Overral, I gave this book a solid 4 out of 5 and I think it has honestly helped me come to terms with King's more "normal people" books. I had tried to read 11/22/63 but gave up because I was sort of expecting something more edgy but I think I'm ready to make peace with it after Hearts in Atlantis

A fantastic book combining the topics & theories of Buddhism & Psychoanalysis, two important aspects of self-enlightenment that are rarely used in combination due to their opposing rules & lore.