Welcome to Dystopia citizen.

Episode four of The Books of Thoth has finally arrived. For those of you just joining the fun, The Books of Thoth is an audio drama anthology. You’ll hear stories of the past, the future, and alternate worlds.

“It Was The Best Day Ever” follows Citizen 123192-A. He lives in a grim totalitarian dystopian society known as The PostState. A boot in the face forever. But he doesn’t let it get him down. In fact, he’s about to tell us about how much he loves life in The PostState. He’ll burn books, rat out his fellow Citizens to the authorities, and maybe even eat a ration bar or two. It’s sure to be the best day ever!

I would like to take a moment to thank my cast for helping make this episode possible. Thank you to Jay Callan, Cameron Gergett, Melissa Bowens, Tiffany Perdue, Julie Hoverson, Ed Haynes, James Barnett, and Karim Kronfli.

I include several references to classic dystopian fiction in this episode. See how many that you can spot. This episode was my longest to date. Almost twice as long as my previous episodes. I certainly hope it was worth the wait.

The Books of Thoth is hosted on RedCircle: https://redcircle.com/shows/6701d0b5-6b14-4b76-992d-02f391b5cf42

You can also find it on all major podcast platforms:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hQ94fOX5V03CXg8ZLgMZ9

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-books-of-thoth/id1716132833

RadioPublic: https://radiopublic.com/the-books-of-thoth-6pQno2

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/79a3cad8-de67-4e6e-bb57-0567e0460c4d/the-books-of-thoth

iHeart: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-the-books-of-thoth-127954491/

Podcast Addict: https://podcastaddict.com/podcast/the-books-of-thoth/4730175

Player FM: https://player.fm/series/the-books-of-thoth

TuneIn: https://tunein.com/podcasts/Storytelling/The-Books-of-Thoth-p3911191/

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/b1vs77tq

Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-detail/cqaub-2da068/The-Books-of-Thoth-Podcast

Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-books-of-thoth-5528099

Audible: https://www.audible.com/podcast/The-Books-of-Thoth/B0CN3CLRMY

And it is also on Apollo Podcasts and Pandora, but I can’t link to them.

And of course, here’s the official webpage. Just a little hub that leads to the transcripts, the Twitter account (@BooksofThoth), and all the place you can listen to The Books of Thoth: https://booksofthoth.carrd.co

I am very happy to announce that today I release the 2nd Edition of "Oceania 2084 - Austere Edition".

The Austere Edition of the game is the completely free and text-only version of the game.

Get the game here: https://jocher-symbolic-systems.itch.io/oceania-2084-austere-edition

https://preview.redd.it/vxuqjicydxwd1.jpg?width=2000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff49e43aca22692be567deced1e4c9e722500ebe

This version has come about because of the successful Kickstarter campaign that I ran spring 2024. For those of you already familiar with the game the changes are quality of life changes , some minor rule tweaks to make the play experience smoother and a revised lore chapter. 

For those of you NOT familiar with the game yet let me introduce it.

Oceania 2084 is a table top roleplaying game heavily inspired by the book "Nineteen Eighty-Four" written by George Orwell.

In gamer-lingo, the game is an asymmetric, adversarial storytelling game with a heavy focus on social game-play and stealth. The game is designed for 3-8 players. It is a game about resistance despite unimaginably bad odds and finding small glimmers of hope even when things seem impossibly bleak.

https://preview.redd.it/h03lhrh2exwd1.png?width=595&format=png&auto=webp&s=3b78aba0ddd7074e71fd2263479edbd231480f2c

It is an unconventional take on collaborative storytelling.  Oceania 2084 is an asymmetrical adversarial game, with a group of players on one side of the conflict and one player taking the role of "Big Brother" effectively being the antagonist.  The actions of one side enable actions from the other side, according to a rule-based point system. There is no traditional conflict resolution system, where you roll a die to achieve something. Instead, the game is balanced through a system of risk and reward and strategic usage of resources.  This doesn't mean that you will not be rolling dice, there are a lot of situations and rules that use and rely on die rolling. 

The game is inspired by rogue-likes, Red Carnations on a black grave, Lasers & Feelings, Vampire the Masquerade, PbtA, A Thousand Year Old Vampire, and Paranoia among other things.

If you like the game you can support me by buying Oceania 2084 - Surplus Edition (the graphically designed PDF and Hardback Book). It was funded through Kickstarter in spring 2024!

https://preview.redd.it/lvyarwg6exwd1.jpg?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bf0fdf7cdab525d08eed491aa6880c565b7b737e

Order your copy of the hardback book here: place your order.

Get the Surplus PDF here: https://jocher-symbolic-systems.itch.io/oceania-2084

Join the discord: https://discord.gg/aGaF4hW

Rate the game and share it with all your friends!

/Johan Eriksson

https://tubitv.com/movies/678459/godkiller

I read a lot of the graphic novels a few years ago, but I never got to finish it. Forgot they made an animated movie back then, but stumbled across it on tubi. It's definitely dystopian, but I wonder if it can also fit in cyberpunk.

guess it’s monday.

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220222840-cut-to-control.

I just finished reading Cut to Control by Sasha Kane, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around how intense and thought-provoking it was. It’s set in a future world that’s so tightly controlled by a matriarchal society that men are literally graded based on their circumcision status. The concept alone is wild—your place in society is determined by how much sexual control you have, and this is measured by something as intimate as circumcision.

The book dives deep into the Dominion Trials, where young men are forced to undergo tests to determine their future circumcision grade. The trials are brutal, stripping men of their autonomy, and based on their results, they are placed into classes by a machine that circumcises them according to their grade. The most demeaning grade is Class E—men who have almost no sexual control and are treated like lesser beings, barely above slaves in this system. The way the book explores the psychological and physical impact of being placed into a class that defines your whole life was really powerful.

What makes this dystopia so gripping is how real it feels. There’s this sense of helplessness in the face of a system that uses men’s bodies against them, a world where the government controls everything from sexuality to freedom. It’s one of those dystopias that hits you hard because the power dynamics are so believable—there are echoes of totalitarian control, body politics, and authoritarian rule all woven into the story.

There’s also a rebellion element led by Aaron, the protagonist, and other men who refuse to accept the system. It brings a great tension to the story, especially as they fight back against a society that has absolute control over their bodies and sexuality. The stakes are high, and the rebellion feels like the only hope in a world where personal freedom has been stripped away.

This book isn’t just about control over men’s bodies, though—it also makes you think about larger issues of power, submission, and how far a society will go to maintain control. It’s dark, provocative, and absolutely gripping from start to finish.

This is a dystopian book that might be kinky and it explores really unsettling aspects of control and freedom. It’s intense, thought-provoking, and will leave you questioning the limits of control in any society.

That's why I...

So, brief story, today i was in school til mid afternoon and havent eat all day so grabbed some shitty cheese-burguer with no second thoughs on those "24 Grab-N-Go" vending machines and while it was hotting my cheese-burguer i was reflecting on how dystopian it is to just go into a machine, put money on it, and go.

Like, sure we have vending machines for drinks and snacks but "full meals" is so out of this world but its not, its normalized even if we all agree its unhealthy and shitty quality; it takes simple jobs for people who need it and replace with ass quality machines...and i just accept it? Its definetly not the most dystopian thing in modern days but its those little details that simalize our world to those being descripted a century ago.

I've written a book called Kurdor the Newcomer. The art of a dystopian Utopia. It's about an island utopia run by an AI system called Arthur. Not all what it seems when the society begins to break apart in the eyes of the protagonist Emily Millar.

In the book I've explored a number of elements that go into making a utopia / dystopia - things like food, alcohol, power and control, self expression etc. In the sequel I'm working on expanding the themes including religion.

My question is what elements of a society need to be clear controlled to make dystopia or utopia. Are they the same elements? Can you have free speech in Utopia if it questions the status quo?

Untrue Stories begins in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland in 1948. The writers H.G. Wells and George Orwell have both booked the same cottage for a vacation. The two men cannot stand each other, as they have very different views of the future. However, Wells has an ace up his sleeve. He has invented a bicycle with the ability to travel through time. Wells is determined to settled the debate once and for all. He accidentally travels to the year 1984 after taking a wrong turn. Wells discovers a future of totalitarianism and oppression. A boot to the face forever. Wells befriends a young woman named Julia. She is none other than Orwell’s granddaughter. Together, they conspire to change history for the better. But the Thought Police are hot on their tail, and are determined to ensure that the future of Oceania comes to pass.

This was another audio drama where the creator, in this case Robin Johnson, ask me to review it. I just want to emphasize that before we go forward.

Okay, I’m just going to be honest here, I did not enjoy Untrue Stories.

The first strike was the theme music. I’ve listened to many wonderful audio drama themes over the years. The theme music for Untrue Stories, however, is not one of those cases. It reminds me of those toys that are supposed to play music, but what they actually play is basically just electronic screeching. I always tried to fast forward through the theme music whenever possible. Okay, so how was the voice acting? In contrast to the theme music, the voice acting wasn’t bad. Overall I found the performances to be fairly decent. I found Orwell’s voice to be a bit irritating, but I think that might have been deliberate.

Untrue Stories features cameos from numerous 20th Century science fiction authors. Unfortunately, these appearances are little more than cameos, and Untrue Stories doesn’t really do anything creative with them. They basically amount to “Hey, look, it’s Issac Asimov! He wrote I, Robot! Boy, he sure likes to talk about robots!” or “Over there! It’s Ursula K. Le Guin! Ooh, she’s got a secret message codenamed Omelas! Just like the short story she wrote! How wacky is that?!”

These scenes felt like a cutaway gag from an episode of Family Guy. On that topic, I found the humor to be incredibly lowbrow, and at times bordering on sophomoric. The main attempt at humor was making historical figures act like jerks. Almost all of the jokes failed to get even the slightest chuckle out of me.

We learn that Orwell is destined to become Big Brother himself in the dystopian future of Oceania. Orwell finds out, and thinks that this sounds swell. So, he recruits a team of dystopia writers, such as Ray Bradbury and Margaret Atwood, to help make the future as dystopian as possible. If nothing else, they’ll be able to brag about how they tried to warn everyone, but nobody listened. Now, this could have been potentially funny. Have them all act like over-the-top Saturday Morning Cartoon villains, or something similar. Unfortunately, the actors playing the dystopia authors all gave very subdued performances. They all seemed to be under the impression that they were in a completely different audio drama than Untrue Stories. Bit of a missed opportunity there.

Now, I do have to give some moments of praise to Untrue Stories. There is a bonus episode that takes the form of an in-universe television program about how to speak Newspeak. I found this bonus episode to be genuinely funny and clever. I also liked the episode where Wells and Julia change the future into the 1984 of our world. However, they don’t actually travel to the future to see it for themselves. Julia’s clothing changes to a punk style. She and Wells assume, based on this, that they’ve turned the future into an irradiated post-apocalyptic nightmare. Wells then places a computer chip into a Sony Walkman. Said chip is from the far future, and any machine it is placed into turns sentient. The Walkman can only communicate using songs from the 1980s mixtape that it has in it. This leads to several amusing moments. As an aside, I agree with Wells, tea always goes in the cup before milk. That way, you can better control how much milk you add.

Now, comedy is a highly subjective genre. One of the most subjective, in fact. Untrue Stories had its moments, but overall, I just didn’t care for it. It failed to make the most of a potentially interesting premise. So, unfortunately, I cannot say that I recommend it. But perhaps you feel differently. If this all sounds entertaining, and something you’d like to try, then good for you.

Have you listen to Untrue Stories? If so, what did you think?

Link to the full review on my blog: https://drakoniandgriffalco.blogspot.com/2022/09/the-audio-file-untrue-stories.html?m=1