- #1
- 1,239
- 501
I am recalling a short-short, maybe from the 1990s, maybe from an author's blog, maybe Orson Scott Card. Not sure about those details.
The basics: a time traveller pops into an author's study, gives a bunch of predictions, then pops a year later. The predictions all come true. In the year-later conversation, the traveller explains that a nuclear-armed Iran has caused very much horror. He names various events in an on-going war involving nukes and drastic culture clash. The traveller then speaks three words, which we are never told, then pops back where he came from. The author is then left to stew on all the things he has been told, refusing to believe the three words. Of course, the cliff hanger is the hook, inviting speculation on what those three words could be to be so frightening.
I recall that it made some buzz on discussion forums at the time. It was pretty divisive, with opinions clustering at the very good and very bad.
Any info?
The basics: a time traveller pops into an author's study, gives a bunch of predictions, then pops a year later. The predictions all come true. In the year-later conversation, the traveller explains that a nuclear-armed Iran has caused very much horror. He names various events in an on-going war involving nukes and drastic culture clash. The traveller then speaks three words, which we are never told, then pops back where he came from. The author is then left to stew on all the things he has been told, refusing to believe the three words. Of course, the cliff hanger is the hook, inviting speculation on what those three words could be to be so frightening.
I recall that it made some buzz on discussion forums at the time. It was pretty divisive, with opinions clustering at the very good and very bad.
Any info?