They announced: “The world ends on Thursday.”
In denial, we raged against shadowed figures with secret agendas.
Angry streets battered abandoned stone monoliths of authority.
Bargains offered to our gods and devils; contracts returned unsigned.
Depression discarded our fairies and magical endings.
With fate accepted, in peace, our stars faded.

Mike Keyser has survived myriad dystopian futures from the safe distance of speculative fiction.