In Finland (my home), only four things in life are certain: (1) ei elämästä selviä hengissä*, (2) sooner or later it will get freezing cold, (3) Russia and its larger-than-life tycoons live next door, and (4) sames goes for Sweden and its hyper liberal, combative women. With these certainties in mind and a penchant for imagining the future during outstretched, hush winters, ‘Nordika Revolution’ is both a mischievous discussion on the human condition and a science fiction novella.
Two particular events inspire ‘Nordika Revolution’. One, the eccentric claims of a Swedish academic about an occult brotherhood which kidnaps, rapes and ritually sacrifices children and women, and who is responsible for triggering a serious political extreme-feminist following; one which, right as we speak, runs a vast networks of shelters for abused women headed by devoted, militant leaders who are quite outspoken about their belief that all men are rapists. The second event is the Global Future 2045 Congress held at the Lincoln Center back in June, 2013. In it, then-32 year old multimillionaire Dimitry Istkov jolted the science world by unveiling his Ruble-fueled 4 step plan towards immortality, i.e. by 2020 to achieve brain remote control of robots, by 2025 to transplant a dying body into a robot body, by 2035 to fully move a mind into a computer, and, finally, by 2045, to achieve artificial brains capable of controlling hologram bodies. And, to show that he meant business, right after the bombastic episode at the Lincoln Center, Istkov founded the ‘Evolution 2045’ political party.
Fast forward 30 years. Voilà. The dystopian world of ‘Nordika Revolution’ has written itself. With a post-faux-apocalyptic world as background, the story tells the adventures and misadventures of a handful of historical alpha-males whose minds have been cloned and mounted on organically built androids, both for the purpose of proving a point and of providing entertainment for the apathetic masses. As these hybrid gladiators fight their way through foes and obstacles thrown at them, fleshing factions and alliances carved out from the echoes of their old self, they question themselves by their mere existence what it really means to be human, how it is possible to have wants when there are no needs, and what is the purpose of everyday life when you are not really, er... you. The story then unfolds on top of a milieu made of Valkyries and eunuchs, high technology and low self-esteem, sexless leaders transcending what they carry between their legs to mirror each other in the dream of immortality, lots of snow, and the unresolved paradox of tragedy: is it, like David Hume suggested, that spectators can derive pleasure from suffering when the beauty is more powerful than the pain, or, instead, as Feagin asserts, pain is pain though the pleasure occurs as a meta-response to it --one loaded with self-congratulatory pride for being capable of compassion?
Yes, Nordika Revolution is peppered with plenty of bang, bang, and boom, hi-tech epic battles, and lots of boyish thrill for hard sci-fi. But, as said above, it is also quite deep.
J.
* You won’t survive life (sooner or later)