I mean, ‘Leisurely Apocalypse’ is just what it says in the tin. But that applies to both words, too. You might not be surprised to hear that people inside the universe aren’t exactly panicking. At least, not yet.
In “The Universe Is Always An Empty Place,” I imagine that they are. Nobody ever asks deathworlders if they like being that way. Probably because what would they do if we said ‘yes?’
The truth in “It’s Better This Way, Really” is brutal, and many people in that world resist it. But the Cold Equations of situational mathematics are clear. Things have to be the way that they are.
This dude from ‘Professional Pride’ isn’t really a good dude. He’s got a job to do, sure – but that job is to try to make you suffer for eternity, and he enjoys doing it. And yet: he knows he’s right, bless it; and so does everybody else. But nobody will do anything about it. Hell really is other people, huh?
‘Rust’ is kind of philosophical, and it originally had a story of some moral urgency attached to it. I think. I don’t actually remember, at this point.
Yeah, that particular method in ‘Personal Thaumaturgical Choice’ does sound kind of awful. The kind of awful that ensures that the mages who use it don’t ever seem to successfully surrender. Real fight-to-the-death types, those.
Heh. You get the feeling that the protagonist in “One Chance” has had this happen before, and is now thinking of doing a few Horrible Examples to discourage it from happening in the future. Can’t say that I blame him. Death cultists must be exceedingly tedious to be around.
Note that, in “The More Myths Change…”, the narrator does not claim to like humans. It doesn’t. But it’s interested in maintaining cordial relations and a productive working arrangement with us, which is good enough as a long term strategy.
