For my fanfiction, I am very inspired by Edward Hopper’s individual rendition of New York. He allows us to be captivated by his vividly colored buildings but also shrouded in mystery due to his use of setting.

Automat print, 1927, by Edward Hopper.

He creates this world from his own where he deploys the simplest devices of Art, reduction. This is where he strips a place of its details but leaves the minimum to act as if it is a clue to the audience.

But I thought, why not make it to a reality?

In our current day and age where war is largely prevalent due to the dense delegation of global responsibility to one of the world’s most conceited boss… We take for granted the many possessions we have until all is lost.

I present to you Region-9658, a time set in the future but not too far away from our own. We are not in a post-apocalyptic world, living under ruins and beside dead bodies. We have rather recovered from the losses from the recent Sixth world war and we are doing fine.

Our main character in this story is Finley, he has been living each day peacefully after the sixth world war. Depression falls onto Region-9658 (which is inevitable after the war trauma), everyone is silent, everyone is sparse and keeps to their own devices. Everywhere you turn, they talk minimally and they smile or have a slight nod to acknowledge your huge presence, as there are not many people in the room other than yourself. Everyone and everything is so mundane you kinda get the hang of things, everyone is so eh, meh. you don’t want to stand out to break the silence.