"The End of an Era"
(Social science
fiction)
 In 1999 I heard
a brief report on the radio
concerning the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Evidently, as World War II vets
were dying off, the once-many VFW posts were closing down everywhere.
There were fewer Korean vets who were members, and lesser numbers in
subsequent wars, and the members were all dying off. The radio report made
a note at how, soon enough, there would be no VFW posts and perhaps nobody
would remember or care what the veterans did for their country.
I tried to sell this story everywhere, but
the same responses came back from editors: nicely written, well done, send
us something else, but we're not interested. The story is about
people no longer being interested in the sacrifices made for our freedom,
so I found it sadly ironic that nobody was interested in the story. I
thought maybe it wasn't very well done, but Ed Staff at COMBAT Magazine
liked it.
I will say this: I have never
been a fan of online magazines. While sometime you find a good e-zine, most are
just plain bad. After all, there's very little investment in time,
energy, or money to launch an e-zine; any teenager with a computer can
whip up a Web site and declare himself a magazine. Sadly, far too many of
these do just that. Writers who cannot put a proper sentence together,
much less write dialogue, build believable characters, or plot a story
suddenly have 300 publication credits... all online. There's something to
be said for a printed magazine, when the publisher is paying to produce it
and is thus far more careful as to what goes into print.
COMBAT Magazine is the exception to the
rule. While COMBAT's Web site design could stand for vast improvements,
don't let its appearance fool you. The quality of the writing on that site is fantastic. As such, I'm
pleased that this story, rejected by countless others despite nice
comments on how well it was written, appears on COMBAT's Web site.
In this story, Major Robert Armstrong
stands vigil over the dying form of General Franklin. They are the last
two survivors of World War III... which happened 300 years before. Life has
been greatly extended in this future, and the entire planet is united as
one. Yet nobody seems to remember the incredible sacrifices the millions
of soldiers made during WW3, and Armstrong, talking to Pressperson
Wastauk, wants to inform the world of how importance the passing of
General Franklin will be.
You can read the entire story online
here.
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