{"id":6734,"date":"2023-11-08T21:57:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-08T21:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=6734"},"modified":"2023-11-08T21:57:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T21:57:17","slug":"sober-noises-of-morning-in-a-marginal-land-by-brian-w-aldiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/?p=6734","title":{"rendered":"Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land by Brian W. Aldiss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land<\/em><\/strong> by Brian W. Aldiss (SF: Authors\u2019 Choice 3<\/em>, 1971) opens with the narrator, who has been brutally interrogated, being taken back to his room. After he recovers a little he manages to escape through a trapdoor in the roof\u2014only to be recaptured some time later by three horsemen.
As this story unfolds we discover that (a) this is set in a 38th Century Kazakhstan (although his surroundings are little different from today\u2019s); (b) there is One State ruling the Earth; (c) the narrator has actually booked into this prison for a one month course of suffering (apparently he has \u201ca tendency towards guilt\u201d); and (d) that mankind is in the process of developing a shared consciousness:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe State recognises that human consciousness is changing. That a quantal step is being taken by the human animal. That we are coming into a period when more and more individuals\u2014finally the whole race\u2014will . . . evolve into a being with a greater capacity for consciousness.\u201d
The word eluded me. Then I got it out in a whisper. \u201cSupermen?\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s not a term I would use. We know there are different levels of awareness. Not just the conscious. The below-conscious as well, with more than one level. They are merging into a new integrated consciousness.\u201d
\u201c. . . And the State wants individuals with such awareness to be on its side. . . . \u201c
\u201cIt wants to be on their side.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There is further discussion about this concept, and also the divisions that separate individuals from one another\u2014but it\u2019s all rather gnomic. The point of the story remained unclear.
** (Average). 6,600 words. Story link<\/a>.

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sober Noises of Morning in a Marginal Land by Brian W. Aldiss (SF: Authors\u2019 Choice 3, 1971) opens with the narrator, who has been brutally interrogated, being taken back to his room. After he recovers a little he manages to escape through a trapdoor in the roof\u2014only to be recaptured some time later by three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[313],"tags":[536,17,315,1586,1587,1585,12],"class_list":["post-6734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brian-w-aldiss","tag-536","tag-17","tag-brian-w-aldiss","tag-consciousness","tag-future-prisons","tag-sf-authors-choice-3","tag-short-story"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6734"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6743,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6734\/revisions\/6743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfshortstories.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}