Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 224



Only Noblemtl

224.

August 27, 1986.

I flew to Georgia with Simon.

It was because I was invited to the ‘World Science Fiction Convention’, or ‘Worldcon’ for short.

Worldcon, which began in 1939 as an event hosted by the ‘World Science Fiction Society’, has been held in various parts of the world every year without fail, except for the period from 1942 to 1945 when the entire United States was in turmoil due to World War II.

Hosted in Atlanta, the state capital of Georgia, this year’s WorldCon was scheduled to run from August 28 to September 1, and featured a variety of fan booths, corporate booths, and official events.

And the fact that I was invited there meant······a lot.

It was official proof that my name value was not small, and looking back on recent events, it also meant that I was one of the strong candidates for the Hugo Award at this year’s Worldcon.

The Hugo Award is named after editor Hugo Gernsback, who is called the father of American science fiction.

Unlike the Nebula Award, the results were determined purely by the votes of fans who attended the convention, so in some ways it was a very popular award. Of course, if you say that the “public” is someone who willingly pays their own money and personal time to attend the Worldcon, then that’s ambiguous.

‘Most of them are nerds.’

That’s an incredible level of nerd.

However, since there is a difference in perception between professionals and amateurs, relatively more popular novels tend to be chosen. Novels that are well-received by both the public and critics have even won both awards.

‘I don’t know if my novel will turn out like that.’

For now, I decided to expect only a little bit.

The flight from Los Angeles takes about five hours.

Simon, who had worked all night and fell asleep right away, snored and the stuffy ears caused by the high air pressure made me feel slightly motion sick, but I didn’t pay much attention and continued reading the novel.

It was ‘Kung-fury: novel’.

According to Simon’s research, it appears that several middle schools with a high percentage of black students have adopted ‘Kung-fury: novel’ as a reading assignment for school classes.

To be honest, it was a situation that was hard to believe. In the distant future, genre novels would be recognized for their quality to the point that they would be included in textbooks, but not now. America was clearly a conservative country, and there was a strong cultural tendency to not treat comics or genres as proper works.

Moreover, it is now 1986.

‘It was only four years ago that Michael Jackson broke into the conservative music market with ‘Thriller.’

In that situation, my novel was chosen as a reading report subject for a school class.

Simon explained the reason as follows:

[It seems that the teachers were interested in seeing that black students who had not read novels before began reading the author’s novels. It seems that some teachers with progressive views among them actively took the initiative. Well, ‘Kung-Fury’ is a superhero story, but it’s not a simple story, right?]

But I felt a little scared by that fact.

‘Is this okay?’

I felt a tremendous sense of responsibility for what I had done.

I thought fellow Asian Americans might like it, but black people?

I was rereading the novel now to see why it became their pick.

Kung-Fury befriended Star Chaser.

After a fierce fight, Fury discovered the anger and inferiority complex within Star Chaser.

Star Chaser, who was somewhere between black and white, felt racial confusion but had no idea how to resolve it. The country suggested that it would be better not to reveal his race, and he followed suit.

But Kung-Fury pointed out the contradiction in such a star chaser.

People think you’re white.

Why? Because the mainstream of American society is, after all, white.

Star Chaser replies that it doesn’t matter.

Kung-Fury’s comment continued again.

Then why did you attack me when you found out I was black?

Star Chaser has no answer for that.

Kung-Fury scolded.

Surely, there will be a black president someday, so why are you so obsessed with it? Be a little more confident.

Star Chaser, who heard those words, said that he was truly grateful, but he still did not have the courage. Then he asked them to wait a little longer and let his guard down.

Yes, it was just one step, but it was finally someone acknowledging themselves as black.

The two became friends that night in the deserted California desert.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I read that scene.

‘This is a part written after seeing the kids at Escondido Elementary School.’

The kids didn’t care about race.

Although they may follow what adults say, their intentions are different from true discrimination.

As I watched those kids, I thought that maybe it was actually the adults who taught them to judge race. And when I thought that the closest thing to a superhero might be a boy, this naturally came to mind as the theme of this piece.

How to be a real-life superhero.

‘You could portray superheroes as immoral and flawed characters, though.’

I didn’t really want to do that.

This is a work that contains stories about me and my friends. It was an honest confession of my victim mentality, and at the same time, it was something that collected the stories of my friends that I felt while living one more life.

Since some time ago, my novels have been deeply reflecting my life in that way.

‘So I don’t understand anymore!’

Even if black people love kung fu and there’s something about the character of “Star Chaser” that they’re crazy about, is that really something that they should use in a book report class in school?

So what, white kids are crazy about ninjas, so now there’s a cyborg ninja so there’s going to be another frenzy?!

‘······uh.’

By the way, a cyborg ninja appeared in the recently released ‘Kung-fury: comics’ issue.

“······.”

I was overcome with an ominous(?) feeling that this might happen for some reason.

***

Now in its 44th year since 1986, WorldCon was held simultaneously in the massive convention halls in the basements of the Marriott Marquis Hotel and the Hilton Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

The two hotels were located within a five-minute walk of each other.

Since I was invited to attend, I stayed at the Marriott Marquis Hotel with Simon the entire time and went to the event at set times to do things like group interviews and autograph sessions.

The rest of the time is all free.

But I couldn’t just let it go after coming this far.

Even before the first event, the autograph session, began, I walked around Worldcone and checked out which booths were set up, enjoying the atmosphere of the event itself.

In the future, as I grew older, I would often attend for various reasons, but in my previous life, I had never been to a World Cone event, so I was invited as a ‘writer’.

I really felt like it was a new experience.

Even at this time, Worldcone was an event with a very free atmosphere.

‘I think they said that about 6,000 people would come in 3 days?’

Considering that it was a non-profit event, it was a really large turnout.

So naturally, an atmosphere was formed where people of all kinds gathered together and enjoyed the festival.

“Independent······! Independent······!”

“Biri biri, bibim. The chances of seducing that woman are 0%.”

“I am the incarnation of the god of the universe, Apocalypse······.”

All kinds of crazy people were running around. It was what they called ‘costume play’.

It was 1986, so there wasn’t a lot of expertise, and most of it was just repairing or sewing together existing clothes, but I guess you could say that it had its own unique sensibility.

Simon and I had a great time taking pictures with them.

“SEEN! Look here!”

Click!

He spoke while taking pictures and exchanging words with the incarnation of the Apocalypse.

“Hey, Simon. Call me Shin.”

“Oh, yes, yes. I will do that. Shin.”

This time, it was Simon who snapped.

After taking pictures like that, I walked around the booth again.

The endless supply of entertainment felt very delicious. Every single booth, where people brought their own computers to play their own text adventure games, or every single corporate booth selling their own books or handing out pamphlets, was fun and interesting.

After enjoying Worldcone for a while, it soon became the time I had been told in advance.

I headed to the organizers’ office with Simon and attended the first scheduled event, an autograph session.

On the podium at the innermost part of the convention hall.

People lined up in front of a long table.

There were four other writers who had been invited to the event, and the rest of them, who were either waiting in their rooms or enjoying the event in the convention hall like me, would be joining together at different times to do autographs and interviews, enriching the event.

Roger Zelazny, Connie Willis, Paul Anderson, Joanna Russ.

I, too, have read at least one novel written by them, the giants of science fiction literature.

Just being able to be here with them was a great honor for me.

In particular, the professor who is sitting right next to me right now, Roger Zelazny, is one of the great giants of genre literature who wrote ‘The Amber Chronicles’.

The great writer looked at the nameplate and my face in front of me, smiled, and gave me a leisurely greeting as follows.

“I really enjoyed reading your work. I didn’t know you were such a young writer.”

“Thank you. I also get a lot of inspiration from your work.”

“Hahahaha! The ‘Losers’ series could win a Hugo Award! I guarantee it!”

The autograph session finally began in a cheerful festival-like atmosphere for SF nerds.

At this time, after signing, there was usually an opportunity for each person to speak for about 10 seconds, saying something like, “I enjoyed your work,” or “Thank you.”

But in that situation, everyone who came before me always added something more before passing by.

First, I sign.

Swish, swish.

“Author! The ‘Losers’ series was really impressive!”

“thank you.”

“Oh, and the cyborg ninja······!”

“Next~.”

At that point, the event organizer moves on to the next step.

And I think, lost in thought.

‘······What is it? What on earth are you trying to say?’

Everyone wanted to say a word about ‘Kung-fury’, a comic that is currently being released.

But it’s also a story unrelated to the ‘Losers’ series, and I ended up saying ‘Next person~’ without realizing it, under their pressure.

Just when everyone was about to explode with curiosity, one fast-talking white woman finally managed to give her impressions of what a cyborg ninja would be like.

“Cyborg ninjas are so damn cool!!”

“······Ah, thank you.”

That’s it.

***

“Phuhu.”

After the event was over and I returned to my room, I let out the breath I had been holding and sat down on the bed.

Simon followed in and said with a grin.

“Thank you for your hard work, author.”

“I’m dying from laughing so hard that my facial muscles are sore.”

“Are you really laughing?”

“Of course~. This is a place to meet readers~.”

It’s true that I did force myself to smile a little, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t happy.

Every word they said made me think that I had done a good job writing the novel. And at the same time, it made me feel the weight of the novels I had written so far.

I rubbed my face with both hands to relax my muscles and said to Simon.

“There are a lot of stories about cyborg ninjas.”

“Ah, ‘Zero.’”

Cyborg ninja, ‘Zero’.

Kung Fury’s arch-rival, and in some ways, another main character of this work.

As his name suggests, he was both ‘nothing’ and ‘everything’ at the same time. And he was a type of supervillain terrorist that the US government had never faced before.

Zero’s ability revealed in the work was the power to control ‘networks’, which have become important in modern society.

A leisurely weekend evening.

As many American families huddle together at home, eating dinner and watching the news, news of superhero villain arrests continues to be reported.

While everyone is feeling proud of ‘United America’, Zero appears on the screen while hacking the news broadcast. As a man in a black ninja outfit appears with an unknown background, many people focus on the screen wondering what the strange phenomenon is.

And with his red eyes glowing ominously, Zero reveals his name and purpose.

[My name is Zero. From now on, I will slowly destroy the America you love.]

Zero shows where he stands with those words.

That’s right in front of the nuclear power plant.

This crazy supervillain had taken over the nuclear power plant from the start.

For a moment, the news was cut off due to a collaboration between the government and the broadcaster, but Zero hacked into the broadcast network again, took control of the communication, and continued speaking on the screen.

[In an hour this place will explode.]

All Americans are shocked, and the U.S. government immediately dispatches superheroes and police officers to each nuclear power plant to resolve the situation.

There was a possibility that the video itself was fake, but if even one nuclear power plant were to be destroyed, it would cause irreversible damage to the United States. That had to be prevented at all costs.

And Zero expected them to act like that too.

While the superheroes are away, he infiltrates the White House with his ninja henchmen to accomplish his true purpose.

After dispatching the bodyguards, he advances and hacks into the panic room to try to kidnap the president inside.

Just then, the superheroine Liberty Queen, who is tasked with protecting the president no matter what, stops him. With superhuman physical abilities and the ability to “project laser beams from her eyes,” she pressures Zero, saying that he would not have expected such a situation.

But Zero already knew everything.

His real planned target was, in fact, ‘Liberty Queen’, the second most powerful hero in the United States after ‘Star Chaser’.

He quickly approached Liberty Queen, scattering smoke to block her vision, and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her with all his might.

And Liberty Queen, who had been resisting in pain, felt her strength slowly drain away. It did not mean losing her life, but it meant it literally.

As a superhero, my strength and superpowers began to fade.

If ‘Kung-Fury’ was hiding the ‘time travel ability’, then Zero had the ‘ability to take away others’ abilities’.

Zero, who had thus turned Liberty Queen back into a normal human and taken away her ‘ability to project laser beams from her eyes’, then recklessly fired a laser at the entrance to the panic room, which had been closed again, melting it.

And as he steps inside, he gives the President this warning:

[You are not my real target. President. You will just sit there and watch the destruction of America as you always have, incompetently, without knowing the real secret. People will die, resenting you.]

Leaving behind a warning filled with hatred and anger, Zero quickly disappears from the scene.

“······With this guy appearing in comics this time, I feel like more people are buying the novel.”

“I think there’s someone who’s wearing a ‘Zero’ costume to this event. I saw it at the author’s autograph session earlier.”

“Ugh······.”

Could it be because the ‘Losers’ series made him famous across America, and his next work was ‘Kung-fury’?

People’s reactions were like that, and it seemed like something unusual was happening.