The Barn Preview — Early Review

This is spaceship Earth… (Spoiler Alerts)

Recently, a D.C. connection provided me early access to Brit Bot’s (pen name), debut sci-fi novella preview, The Barn.

I started off envisioning The Stranger Things backdrop, but somewhere off the New Jersey turnpike. The timeline starts off on May 4th. Perhaps it’s affinity for tequila, but I cannot help noticing the juxtaposition to Cinco De Mayo / Day of the Dead. Coincidence?

Quickly, you’re revealed to the dry, sophisticated humor to expect in The Barn with Grace, the main character / 10th grader who has a unique perspective worrying about most things kids her age would not consider, ie: nuclear arms proliferation or with her mom Rose hypothetically chucking Dante’s Inferno in the garbage. Has Brit Bot crafted Grace from a portion of her own self-image as a kid?

Despite Rutherford, the hopeless half ghost town, where 89% of students drop out (seems too high for the school to be still open), being laid out in detail, there are numerous questions to be had. I did not realize that the narrator is a potential character until they talk to you directly saying “what he told me broke my heart”. Who is this narrator and are they telling the story after something has happened and know things we don’t or are they with us in the here and now?

The mystery intensifies with the new mayor of the town being informed of the executive order via The Custodian. Once the executive order is revealed to him I got a sense of the philosophy behind the story. How come no one else recognized the mayoral candidate at the barn before?

Even if you’ve seen a hundred, a
thousand, or a million white swans, seeing one black swan will prove ‘all swans are white’ false.

Although, the custodian appears to be a shadowy figure, there is a chance he is keeping information as a benevolent protector, however, we just don’t know yet. I’m pretty sure The Stranger that appears when Noah, the gallery owner goes into town is The Custodian with his witty comments and awkward demeanor.

I can see this sneak peak of The Barn either becoming a full novel or being the first major success of Medium’s new series content line. The notion of judging reality vs. what is impossible is an interesting thought experiment. The Barn will be taking us down the Rabbit Hole.

Where we’re going is like that, only you’ve had neither thousands nor millions, but trillions of
observations… every sense experience, every
thought, every time you look out a window, you are observing reality in one particular way and
building a model of the way the world operates… The barn is a black swan.

I’m Adam Hurwitz — If you enjoyed the above, recommend this and check out the rest of my posts. Thanks!