Sustaining Utopia is Book One in The Pavfarah Utopia (Christian dystopian science fiction) Series. The excerpt below is the first chapter in the book. As the work is not yet published and will go through further edits, it could change before final publication. But this is a sneak peek and I hope you enjoy it!

(Excerpt begins)

Jazen wasn’t sure what time it was when he awoke. Sunlight was streaming across his bedroom ceiling. His arms and neck felt stiff. I musta slept too long on my side, he thought. The air conditioning made the air especially crisp, but he liked it that way. He blinked a few times and tried to focus his eyes. The rush of the railway train zooming over the bridge a block away and the soft hum of his upstairs neighbor playing music greeted his ears, helping to further wake him.
 
“Alisto, what time is it?” he finally said groggily.

“It is fourteen twenty-seven hours,” his apartment’s male-sounding artificial intelligence system replied through speakers built into his nightstand.

“Geez, when did I go to bed?” he mumbled to himself.

“You fell asleep at five forty hours,” Alisto replied.

“Oh, that explains it,” Jazen said, unbothered. He was used to these little conversations with the computer system. “Alisto, I’m gonna need some coffee.”

“I will prepare it to your specifications, and let you know when it is ready.”

“Thanks, Alisto.”

“You are welcome.”
 
Jazen forced himself to sit up and got out of bed soon after. He shed his tee shirt and boxers to go take a shower. The hot water and steam chased some of his sleepiness away. The eye-level, waterproof digital timer informed him he had just over eight minutes to finish cleaning himself before the water would automatically shut off.
 
“Your coffee is ready, Jazen,” Alisto informed him through the built-in speaker in the bathroom ceiling.

“Thanks, Alisto,” he said, speaking over the splashing water.
 
Five minutes later, he had dried off, brushed his teeth, and was wearing fresh clothes. He decided to take a minute to style his short blond hair before heading into the kitchen to retrieve his hot beverage. On his first sip, he smiled. Alisto had made it exactly the way he liked it: extra-strong and extra-sweet. He took several gulps’ worth and savored the taste. “Thanks again, Alisto.”

“You are welcome, Jazen.”

Jazen walked into the medium-sized living room and looked towards the forty-inch flatscreen television mounted on the beige apartment wall. “Do I have any new messages?”

“You have two new messages,” Alisto answered. “One from your mother and one from the Office of the Leikala City Mayor.”

Jazen was startled to hear that. “The mayor’s office? Play that one first.”
 
The television automatically turned on and a slender human woman in her upper forties appeared. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a bun, she had a kind expression and was wearing a gray pantsuit. “Good day, Jazen. This is Olzai from Mayor Relit’s office. We need for you to come to our office tomorrow morning at ten hundred hours. We want to offer you a unique opportunity. And once you hear the terms, I’m positive this will please you a great deal. I apologize that I cannot discuss the details over vidchat, but our team will explain everything to you in person and help you fill out the necessary paperwork.” She had been fairly businesslike up until this point. Now she smiled. “Needless to say, your attendance is mandatory. So, we look forward to seeing you at ten sharp tomorrow. Have a great day!”
 
The screen went dark again, leaving Jazen to wrestle with this revelation. “I wonder what they want?” He took another sip of his coffee. “What kind of special opportunity would the mayor’s office have for me? I mean, what makes me so special?” he considered aloud. “I just volunteer part-time at the park. I don’t even go to school anymore.”

“Do you wish for me to play your mother’s message, Jazen?” Alisto interrupted.

“Is it marked ‘important?’”

“No.”

“Then I’ll see it later. Just save it, okay?”

“Very well. Saving the message.”
 
 
. . .
 
 
After finishing breakfast — a ham and cheese omelet with a side of toast and a tall glass of orange juice — prepared by Alisto’s six-foot-tall robotic avatar, Jazen donned his favorite gray baseball cap to shield his eyes from the sun’s bright glare. Then he left his apartment to venture outside. It was late July, filled with blustery warm winds and rising temperatures in this Northmost Carolak region. A number of people were out this afternoon either walking, offering food and services from sidewalk stands, or doing maintenance on the plants and greenery. Everyone looked happy and content as always.
 
One of the giant electronic billboards on the side of a building read, “Prior to the Arrival and Great Rebuilding, Northmost Carolak was part of a union of territories called The Disparate States of Americana. That union was dissolved during the Cessation, and Pavfarah was redefined by its current territories, becoming the truly united world we have today. November 2nd will mark the fifty-first anniversary of the Cessation.”
 
Jazen read it, recalling some of those history details from his time in school, and continued his stroll toward Leikala Park. His mood had brightened since breakfast, and he was looking forward to trimming hedges and watering the azaleas. He found it both relaxing and productive. It was an activity he could do with his easygoing coworkers, Farben and Jela, or by himself.
 
When he arrived at the Park Headquarters building, a long one-story office building with a storage unit for supplies in the back, he went inside to his locker. There, he put on the bright green and yellow vest that identified him as a park volunteer. He also put on his gardening gloves.
 
Jela opened her locker next to his and looked his way. “Hey, Jazen!”

Jazen was friends with Jela. She was short, plump, and had long brown hair that she always kept in a ponytail for work. “Hey Jela, what section of the park needs attention today?”

She shrugged. “We’re still working on Beta-Five.”

He nodded. “Okay. You heading back there now?”

“No, I’m done for the day,” she replied. “Vono and I are getting married in a couple of hours.”

He grinned. “Already? You two were only pledged through the system a few months ago, right?”

She blushed. “Four months, yeah. It takes that long for the local government to process the records and assign a local official to perform the legal acknowledgement. But we’re ready!”

“Happiness! Really, I’m glad for you two,” he added. “Give Vono my best!”

“I will.”
 
The next three hours passed surprisingly fast for Jazen. He and Farben had trimmed hedges on opposite ends of the Beta-Five section without much interaction, but that was normal. Jazen deposited his gloves and volunteer vest in his locker.
 
Along the way home, he stopped at a food stand. A young, tan-skinned woman with short blue hair wore a white uniform and cap as she took orders. Someone else was doing the cooking behind her.
 
“Fried potato bowl or meat snack sandwich?” she asked Jazen enthusiastically.

He looked down at the pictures of their offerings on the wooden counter and nodded. “Meat snack sandwich.”

She smiled. “Great choice!”
 
The older man behind her lifted a metal basket from the fryer and shook it over the hot oil a few times before tossing the toasty, rectangular light brown concoctions into a metal tray. Then with his white-gloved hands, he grabbed a small plastic plate, two pieces of bread and placed them on the plate. Finally, he took a pair of metal tongs and put one of the fried meat squares onto one piece of bread, squeezed some mayonnaise in a circle on top of the square, and placed the other slice of bread on top of it. He handed it to the young woman with a barely noticeable smile and she handed it to Jazen with an unmarked bottled water.
 
“Thank you!” he said graciously as he received the small meal and water.

“Enjoy the rest of your day!” she beamed.
 
He took the food and sat down nearby on one of the mustard yellow public benches. The water was lukewarm but fresh. The sandwich tasted like fried fish. Catfish, tilapia, or cod? he wondered. Then he shrugged. Doesn’t matter. It goes pretty good with the mayo.
 
Realizing he’d taken a while to eat his meal, and that the sun was setting, he looked up at the closest streaming billboard for the time. “Nineteen oh two hours?” he considered aloud. “I’ve got less than an hour till curfew! I better hurry back home.”
 
 
. . .
 
 
He made it back to his apartment with fifteen minutes to spare.
 
“Welcome back, Jazen,” Alisto said in a friendly if mechanical tone.

“Thanks, Alisto. Hey, could you load my Mom’s message from earlier? And do I have any other messages?”
 
Jazen heard the television click on in the living room.
 
“Of course,” Alisto replied. “And yes, you have one additional message from Bross.”

Jazen’s face scrunched up as he tried to recognize the name, but he couldn’t. “Okay. Play the one from Mom first, then the second one.”

“Certainly,” Alisto answered.
 
The image on the television switched from a dark gray background with “STAND BY” in yellow letters to Jazen’s mother, Dema, standing in her own living room in Ontak City, Middle Foreston looking unusually excited. His mother was forty-nine, heavyset, and had long vanilla blond hair.
 
“Jazen! Your father and I have great news about Kolo! I’m sorry we’re a little late with it, but your brother finally got married!”

“Alisto, pause the message,” he instructed. The TV froze his mother’s image with her eyes closed and her mouth open. “Really? When?” Jazen pondered out loud, scratching the back of his neck. “I knew he was pledged to — what was her name? Siquon?” He thought about it and chuckled to himself. “Mom will probably give me all the details. “Continue playback.”

“It was a month ago,” his mother said. “Don’t worry, I already scolded him for not sending us the livestream link of the joining rights. He said he was just ‘caught up in the moment.’ That’s no excuse for excluding your family. At least he did send a picture.” In the upper left quarter of the television screen, a photo appeared depicting his nineteen-year-old brother in a gray suit next to a brown-skinned young woman in a yellow dress. She had a wide smile and was gazing up into the eyes of her husband. “Kolo is so happy with her. And that’s what matters to me and your father. Honestly, I want the same for you and your little sister, Vemi, someday. But you will send us the livestreams, of course.”

Jazen facepalmed as he laughed. “Mom, you know Vemi is only fifteen! She still lives with you and Dad.”

“Anyway, make sure to call and congratulate your brother,” she finished.

“I’ll try you again tomorrow. He wants to arrange travel to see us, but you know those things take time. Love you, son. Take care!”

“I love you, too, Mom,” Jazen said softly with a smile.
 
With the first message’s playback completed, the screen went gray again and the words “LOADING NEXT MESSAGE” appeared in yellow letters. Then random lines in assorted colors streaked across the television in every direction, and it flickered on and off several times. After that, all of the lights in the apartment clicked off.
 
Bewildered, Jazen cried, “Alisto, what’s going on??” But there was no answer. A moment later, the lights flashed back on, and the television returned to Stand-By mode. “Alisto? Are you there?”

“Yes, Jazen,” Alisto replied. “How may I serve you?”

“What was the cause of that power blackout just now?”

“My system is not aware of any power disruptions in the area,” Alisto told him.

That doesn’t make any sense, Jazen thought. “What about the message from Bross? Is it still there?”

“My system has not received any messages besides the one from your mother and the mayor's office.”

“Alisto, please run a diagnostic on your system.”

Ten seconds passed. “Self-diagnostic completed. No anomalies found.”

Jazen raised an eyebrow. “Huh. First time for everything, I guess,” he mumbled to himself. Still confused, he sat down on the beige couch facing the television. “Alisto, I’d like to play Dragonfighter for a while.”

“Very well,” Alisto said. “Activating the virtual reality interface in your cepha-chip.”
 
Jazen closed his eyes, waiting for the familiar light buzz effect to occur in the back of his skull. That would indicate the VR startup, and he would find himself immersed in a fantasy realm holding a massive longsword or some other weaponry. His ordinary musculature would become significantly enhanced, allowing him to fight the holographic creatures of this realm. But nothing happened. No buzz, no interface formed.
 
Jazen was confounded. “Alisto, what’s going on? The game’s not loading.”

“I have no explanation, Jazen. I sent the appropriate command. The interface should have engaged. When you go to the mayor’s office tomorrow, I recommend you report your cepha-chip,” Alisto suggested. “And have the technicians analyze it for possible repair or replacement.”

“That’s a good idea,” Jazen replied. “What entertainment is on right now?”

“The Wheel of Intellectual Acuity game show, Pavfarah History Today, the movie Return to the Stars, and a live satellite feed of the solar system,” Alisto replied.

Jazen sighed. “None of that sounds very interesting. How about some music? Play the Exclamation album by Carcharodon Carcharias.”
 
Seconds later, dramatic-sounding classical music burst forth from the speakers. “Lower volume by twenty-five percent,” Jazen ordered, and Alisto complied. Jazen closed his eyes and enjoyed the selections for the next hour.
 
When the last song finished, he said, “I’d better go to bed now. I have an early start tomorrow. Alisto, shut off the lights and set an alarm for eight hundred hours.”

“Very well. Good night, Jazen.”

“Good night, Alisto.”

(Excerpt ends)

I tried. I really tried to make it work having an author profile over at BlueSky. I even linked my account to my allensteadham.com website address. I posted about my Christian fiction books, stories, and works-in-progress. I connected with a few friends and a few other people in the community. And in fairness, initially there was a little bit of engagement.

But my word, there was so much derangement on that platform! Death threats towards a certain prominent political figure and related personalities, disturbingly angry people of a particular ideology, and a kind of one-way group think that I just can't understand.

I attempted a moderated approach. I blocked certain keywords and blocked a lot of accounts who only had one or two things to scream or complain about. On one person's advice, I tapped into a feed for Christian fiction. And finally, I deleted the Discover function.

For a couple of weeks, I was happy with photography accounts and one or two authors and creatives who just did their thing.

But now, there was ZERO engagement.

So, I was left with a choice:

1. Open things back up and deal with the sheer unpleasantness and madness; or

2. Deactivate my BlueSky account.

I chose to deactivate my account because I'm not getting anything positive from BlueSky anymore. It's 90% echo chamber for mostly unhappy people who don't seem interested in what I have to offer. And that's fine. My work isn't going to be a great fit for everybody or every environment.

Don't get me wrong: there are some genuinely nice people on BlueSky. But they're not in the majority. And that's unfortunate.

I'll keep pressing forward. Social media platforms change and they come and go. I don't regret setting up the account, and if things eventually improve, I may come back. But the way it is right now, it's not for me.

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