United States

Isaac Asimov: Franchise

Isaac Asimov: Franchise

Franchise is a science fiction story written by Isaac Asimov and published in If magazine in August 1955. The story imagines a future where elections in the United States no longer depend on the votes of millions of people but where a supercomputer called Multivac chooses a single citizen to represent the entire nation. Through his or her answers, this citizen will determine the outcome of the election. In the days leading up to the election, tension builds in the country as everyone waits to discover who will be the designated voter to decide the nation’s political future.

Edgar Allan Poe - William Wilson

Edgar Allan Poe: William Wilson

William Wilson is a Gothic tale by Edgar Allan Poe, published in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine in October 1839. The story follows a man who adopts the pseudonym’ William Wilson’ to recount his life, marked from a young age by an impulsive character, lewd behavior, and a strong desire to dominate others. During his time at an English school, he faces an unexpected challenge: a classmate with the same name who imitates him and matches him in skills in a disturbing way. As the years pass, the presence of this double becomes a constant and threatening shadow, challenging his will and questioning his identity.

Ray Bradbury - The Other Foot. Summary and analysis edit

Ray Bradbury: The Other Foot. Summary and analysis

In The Other Foot, Ray Bradbury imagines a future where Black people have fled a racially divided Earth to start anew on Mars, leaving behind the injustices of the past. Twenty years later, news arrives that a rocket carrying a white man is coming, reigniting old wounds and prompting Willie Johnson and others to prepare for revenge by imposing segregation on the visitor. As the rocket lands, the white man reveals Earth’s devastation from a nuclear war, pleading for help and acknowledging past wrongs. Faced with the ruins of their former world, Willie and the community confront the futility of hatred, choosing instead to dismantle the structures of revenge and seek a path toward reconciliation.

Edgar Allan Poe: MS. Found in a Bottle

Edgar Allan Poe: MS. Found in a Bottle

MS. Found in a Bottle is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, published on 19 October 1833 in the Baltimore Saturday Visiter. It tells the story of an anonymous man who, dissatisfied with his life and searching for escape, embarks on a ship sailing from Batavia, Java, to an uncertain destination. Although the voyage begins smoothly, an unearthly calm soon overtakes the sea, foreshadowing a colossal storm that abruptly breaks loose, plunging the ship into chaos and panic.