V ote.


Oh, I was so tempted to let that be The Word, the only Word in this entire editorial. “Vote!” I’d write, and leave that egalitarian word out there for all and sundry, just a wee reminder for everyone of all political persuasions, as though this election were just about making sure people remembered to participate in our pseudo-democracy (“It’s not a democracy, it’s a republic!” I keep being reminded, as though I don’t know that), that all will basically be the same whether we vote for one candidate or the other, that it doesn’t really matter who …

But it does.* And after 2016, even after 2020, if you don’t recognize that, you must’ve been hiding in the nether regions of Hades. And remembering how “if they go low, we go high” left us doubled-over on the sidewalk clutching our stomachs and other bits, I’ll add a few facts to my plea that you go Vote:

- One candidate represents a bloc that wants to do away with women’s and LGBTQIA+ rights, do away with education, do away with books … basically do away with anything that might challenge their minority stranglehold on the rest of us
- One candidate wants to be president primarily as a “Get out of jail, free” card.
- One candidate would create a Supreme Court that makes Iran look like a liberal democracy
- One candidate wants to be a dictator “for just one day”

The big twist, of course, would be if this “candidate” of whom I speak wasn’t who you thought, but, I mean, really? There is no twist. It’s obvious.

So VOTE.

Jeff Georgeson
Managing Editor
Penumbric


* And if you’re wondering what this has to do with speculative fiction, well, I’d much rather be writing about apocalypse and dystopia than living it. And apologies to our worldwide audience, most of whom don’t get a chance to vote in our election, but will have to live with whatever consequences come of it.