FUTURE FARM STORIES

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“The Countryside Computer,” the second story in this collection concerns a change in technology among the countryside farms. A new machine, the Countryside Computer, now roams the farmland on its own specially-widened roads. It is hugely beneficial to all the farms, bringing prosperity to all using a very simple system. But after a while, our narrator, a young boy, finds that the Computer may be a harbinger of something a lot more sinister. He witnesses a minor local criminal who is willingly impaled by and who disappears into the machine, never to be seen again. He is disturbed by that knowledge but all remains calm. Then a war devastates the landscape. There is an implied feeling that the Countryside Computer is responsible for this, even though it is itself destroyed in the strife, but there is no obvious connection.

The Countryside Computer racing through the mountainous countryside is illustrated on the book's front cover. The design for the Computer was inspired somewhat by my friend's toys of Captain Scarlet's SPV and MPV, and you may notice that its design is not consistent throughout the story. To maintain it's presence, I have added details to the machine in the close-ups!

How did this story come about? One day, in a car, travelling through the fields of Wales, I noticed that the road we were driving on had recently been widened – but widened beyond all sense of proportion. Were they going to transport ships along here! That was the 'seed' for this story. (A colourised version of The Countryside Computer appears in the comic “Torus.”)

#farmers #comics #landscape #mysticism

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chris-Reynolds/e/B002PVY8J6

Image: Panels from the story!