Editor's Note

Thank you for picking up the latest copy of Radon Journal. As you read a little revolution or simply escape from reality, we hope these stories and poems will linger with you. Issue 9 marks our fourth year publishing progressive authors. We have grown from a small online-only genre journal to appearing in the hands and on the tables of readers and anarchist book fairs worldwide.

Issue 9 launches into a world teetering between authoritarianism and corporate dystopia—a continuing reactionary movement against the gains made by oppressed groups in recent history. Five days after our publication, the next Trump term will begin, and only one thing is left certain: we will all have to fight harder.

If you are reading this note, you are likely as exhausted as we are after 2016–2020 and the pandemic. To keep your sanity, please start small and local. Your heart is larger than most but cannot handle doom-scrolling and the simultaneous tragedies of eight billion people. Know that anarchists will do what we have always done: take care of our communities and build out from there. Play to your strengths and keep an ear out for the needs of others. Maybe you work best in the streets, physically resisting. Perhaps you’re more suited to providing refuge, offering information, being a caring confidant, or simply being a voice against misinformation and bigotry.

Our team consists of younger millennials and elder Gen Z who grew up around the turn of the century. We remember the optimism of the 90s and foolishly thought it would continue. As children, we thought the world had learned from the wars of our fathers and the tribulations of prior centuries. That the worst our species had seen was behind us. In 1999, the Seattle World Trade Organization protests rang in the largest anarchist victory since perhaps revolutionary Catalonia. The twenty-first century was set to be one of radically positive change.

But we now know how it turned out. Tech corporations continue taking over online networks and openly bribe legislatures. Social media companies have become more powerful than governments. Algorithms create echo chambers of brain rot and endless, baseless anger that would be at home inside 1984’s Two Minutes Hate. The left is losing the propaganda war among the boomers on Facebook and Gen Z on TikTok, where misleading clickbait reigns supreme. Despite a world of knowledge at our fingertips, people are less educated and more susceptible to con men's snake oils.

The wars and sins of our nation-states are not forgotten. The cycle of violence, resource taking, colonizing, and conquest have continued unabated.

The picture we paint is a dark one, because the world is in a dire state, and at risk of descending into worse. But we should acknowledge that society has made progress since 1925. Thanks to technological and social advancements, quality of life is far higher across the board, and across all classes. The pace of tech is exponentially increasing, which brings us equally positive and negative futures, depending on how we grapple with them. The science fiction stories in the following pages both illuminate and warn of impending paths for civilization to take.

This is why Radon exists: to combine science fiction with social commentary, so that we may all better understand human nature. It is through stories that we best learn about ourselves. Remaining vigilant, curious, and kind is crucial for any decisive change. We explore stories of how humanity might get it wrong so we can learn together, in the present, to get it right.

One day, we hope for a transhumanist world where our genomes are free of disease and death. A science fiction made reality where exploring the stars is our greatest concern. An anarchist existence free from money or oppression. A future where the concept of dystopia is a myth spoken in disbelieving whispers on playgrounds.

Until then, we continue fighting for a better tomorrow. Our lives may be nothing but an endless class war—but our children’s may not be. Thank you for joining us in the upcoming chapter by reading Radon.