The Hooverville Hexagon: Through the Looking-Glass and What Nighthoover Found There

 

For those of you who don't know Hooverville, we've got some updated glimpses. Come on: it's Sunday afternoon. You need a break from reality. But first, the Sunday Quote of the Week.

Sunday Reflection

In the end, it was the Sunday afternoons he couldn't cope with, and that terrible listlessness which starts to set in at about 2:55, when you know that you've had all the baths you can usefully have that day, that however hard you stare at any given paragraph in the papers you will never actually read it, or use the revolutionary new pruning technique it describes, and that as you stare at the clock the hands will move relentlessly on to four o'clock, and you will enter the long dark teatime of the soul.

Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe, and Everything (1982)

What Google's AI Searchbot Says

About 30 Hours in Hooverville

And we quote…

(All I did was Google it because I wanted to give y'all the link. It spewed out this text, unbidden and without the slightest encouragement from me. I quote Shakespeare: O brave new world that hath such people in it.)

 

30 Hours in Hooverville is a collaborative novel experiment compiled by Dmitri Gheorgheni. Published via Lulu, the book represents a unique creative exercise originally organized by writers from the h2g2 Post.

 

Hooverville's Town Hall* as seen from the highest point

in the area. You cannot escape the piercing eye of Lady Justice.

Also the water tank, without which Fireman Fred wouldn't have

been able to dowse the fire in the Town Hall.

 

The Premise and Setting

The story takes place in Hooverville, a highly fictionalized, magical town located in western Pennsylvania, not far from Punxsutawney. The narrative chronicles the overlapping lives and perspectives of the town's citizens over a strict 30-hour timeframe, starting exactly at midnight on November 1st.

 

The town is characterized by its eccentric atmosphere, where the two loudest elements are the organ at the First Church of Nighthoover and Fireman Fred’s fire siren. Right outside of town lies Misty Mountains State Park, a strange nature reserve where unclassified, unearthly species are routinely discovered.

 

Core Characters

The collaborative project features a rotating cast of unique perspectives:

• Lola Latour: Owner of the Nose'n'Book Used Book and Tchotchke Emporium.

• Fred Ireland the Fifth: The local fireman in charge of operating the town's loud siren.

• Sheriff Rowdybush: The local law enforcement officer who oversees an impressively large (but mostly empty) jail.

• Wynken De Woordesmyth: The chief ranger of Misty Mountains State Park who manages the park's strange wildlife and river access.

Are you looking for information on how to purchase a copy of the book, or did you want to dive into the original h2g2 community threads where the experiment was written?

 

*Okay: it's really the Courthouse. But most of our writers are Europeans. They decided it looked like a Rathaus to them. So a Town Hall it became.

 

Slight update: You can always buy the book from Lulu or Amazon, only USD13.60, a bargain. At the moment, checking out the h2g2 community threads is a bit iffy, as you're likely to get an annoying error message. Which is why we're publishing from the Annex here. But the Mgt assures me they are 'working on it' and that 'big things are ahead.'

 

 

When approaching the feral parked car, beware

the glint in its eyes.

 

Lifestyle Column

by DG

Shopping with celiac: always an adventure. Here are a couple of snapshots from the 'Gluten Free' frozen-food case at the Brookville Giant Eagle (pronounced 'Iggle' if you're from Pittsburgh).

 

Exhibit 1: regional cuisine. See that on the top shelf? Gluten-free pierogis. Pierogis. I wonder if they export to Poland? I wonder what my fictional character, Wladislaw Winkezkowski, would think about them?

By the way, this shelf section is all there is. But wait…there's more on the same column of shelves, further down…what gourmet delights await us?

 

Exhibit II: Yes, in western Pennsylvania we (and the bears) frequently crave faux-Mexican food. (/s, as they say.) Don't fancy a burrito? How about a gluten-free pizza? There's a wide variety…er, well, we wouldn't go that far, but the cauliflower crust is…er, not exactly yummy, but technically edible. Have you ever eaten a pickle pizza?

 

Neither have I. And at $9 a pop, I'm not about to. Srsly, people. Does Heinz give you a kickback?

 

The Hooverville Siren

 (Video)

Now you know why one of our writers (thanks, Caiman!) chose the fire chief as his character. Cover image by FWR, from a photo by DG.

 Quiz: Where Would You Find This Sign?

 

Keep scrolling.

 

Yes: it's simply the most luxurious facility you've ever seen in your life. Located at the highest point in town. Magnificent view.

What do they do there? Why, run your lab work: blood tests, xrays, ekgs, eegs, mammograms, other -grams, scans, tricorder readings: every kind of test.

It's beautiful. And it's surreal. The name has changed at least three times since it went up. It's hard to tell who's managing your care these days.

The lunch area's probably for the staff: I've never seen anybody there while I was lounging in their sumptuous waiting area. Not shown: the conference room and the play area. If RMS Titanic were to be built today, its first-class club room would look like this.

This place is so elegant it could have been a setting in a 1970s scifi movie about a dystopian future.

Wait: could that be the reason…?

Nah.

 

Be seeing you,

 Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor