My literary fiction anthology Afterglow: Generation Y is free for one more day over on Amazon. Grab it! There are a lot of diverse stories in there, some of which you can listen to for free on YouTube, but all of them share a common thread – the experiences of the generation born in the 1980s. Pathologically nostalgic in some cases, unable to grow into full adults in others, and for one of them… Well, I won’t spoil what’s really going on Middlebury.
Nostalgia is both good and bad. On the one hand, it provides a guide for future decisions. While you can’t go back, and doing the things you did before won’t make you feel the same way, you can make new experiences that can make you feel the same. I use Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64 as an example. I think it’s an overrated game (not bad, mind you), and was even at release, but for lots of people my age it was their first 3D shooter, and an eye-opening experience. It also, with its 4-player split screen multiplayer, facilitated some great experiences with peers. That means you don’t need to go back and play the game again (especially not at 15 fps and 240p), but you can find other activities that facilitate that fun bonding experience with your peers. It could be poker or skeet shooting. These are the things that, unfortunately, evaporate as we grow older and focus more on work and family.
On the bad side, Nostalgia can actively inhibit re-experiencing the very feelings that are so fondly remembered. By trying to repeat the same thing, whether it is watching the same movie or playing the same game, or even listening to the same music, you aren’t seeking out new and interesting experiences. You are instead remembering what it felt like, but not feeling those things again. While you are putting on OK Computer for the 500th time, you aren’t listening to something else new and exciting. When you go to the newest Star Slop or Capeshit movie (and being disappointed), you aren’t seeing something that would really move you or make you think (and in fact, the more people see new movies for nostalgic reasons, the fewer good movies are made). Time is a zero-sum game. That being said, I still maintain that older works are a meaningful alternative to the modern grey goo we have now – and there are likely many things from any past decade you have not experienced.
These are a few of the themes in Afterglow, though the work is entirely fiction (for more nonfiction, check out Generation Y: The New Lost Generation with Brian Niemeier and JD Cowan). The characters are various shades of us coming to grips with a world that has moved on.
I also want to let you know that Patrons now have access to an easier-to-read version of Prince of Dusk, the book I wrote live in 2024 through this year. You can now download a full copy of the original draft, which was serially published on Patreon and Substack without having to look through the old posts. Enjoy!
