Prompt: What is the biggest challenge you will face in the next six months?
Stopping the genre-fication of our neighborhood.
This means weeks and weeks of going to planning commission meetings, registering my objections to their proposal to turn our community into a cozy mystery themed neighborhood.
Not to mention the endless days and hours meeting with and organizing my fellow community members.
And the lost weekends picketing outside City Hall.
They say genre-fication will bring money and jobs, breathe new life into our humble metropolis. That the cozy mystery theme will boost tourism.
The airbnb folks have certainly been vocal in their support of the plan…
But I can’t help but think about the impact.
The impact all the murders that will necessarily follow this cozy-fying of our streets will have on property values.
I mean, if we have to genre-fy, why not something more fun, like a Regency romance, or Sci-Fi?
(Speaking of which, my short story Malware touches on the impact of Sci-Fi genre-fication, among other things, if you’re interested.)
ian m dudley 