One of the questions I’ve been asked is whether Hammerfall is supposed to be a prediction of the future.
No, it isn’t.
But for me writing the book wasn’t ever about me expressing my specific view of what’s going to happen. For me, it’s always been about exploring some of the issues we will have to face in the future. Whether that might be living conditions, immortality, the distribution of wealth – or when does the line between human and machine begin to blur.
What happens when convenience quietly becomes control?
When I started writing Finding Sid Bassett, I wasn’t trying to invent flying cars or laser weapons. I wanted to provide enough of a wireframe of a world that you could start filling in your own blanks. I wanted to give you what you needed to figure out the rest, not to control every detail. I wanted a world that felt familiar enough that, once you stepped into it, you might wonder whether we were already getting there.
A city where almost everything works.
A city that’s cleaner.
Safer.
More efficient.
A place where nearly every problem has been solved.
Or has it?
The interesting stories don’t begin when everything goes wrong.
They begin when everything appears to be going right.
That’s the world Justin Hammer lives in.
As the story unfolds, you discover organizations that seem trustworthy, technology that appears helpful, and people who honestly believe they’re making the world better.
Some of them are.
Some aren’t.
There are two massive issues I like to poke into:
– What freedoms are you willing to let go of to be comfortable?
– What happens when the flawless becomes flawed?
One of my favorite parts of writing the series has been creating the layers beneath the headlines—the files, organizations, locations, and people that rarely get center stage but quietly shape everything happening behind the scenes.
That’s one reason I created the Evidence File.
It isn’t required reading, but if you’re the kind of reader who likes to know who’s who, where things happened, and how the pieces fit together, I think you’ll enjoy digging through it.
Over the coming weeks I’ll use these Bulletins to share some of those pieces—without spoiling the story.
We’ll look at places, organizations, and technology.
And occasionally, a few people who are more dangerous than they first appear.
Thanks for joining me on the journey.
The file is open.
— Rob Savette
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