The Machine Stops

The Machine Stops was written for Jeffrey Gavett and Yarn and Wire between the Summer of 2020 through the Winter of 2021, setting fragments of text from E.M. Forster’s short story of the same name. The Machine Stops in an oddity in the output of E.M. Forster, an unusually prescient science fiction short story describing a future where all of humanity are living beneath the surface of the Earth in a machine through which they have their every need met. Forster’s story is predictive of many aspects of our current condition, both literally and by analogy. This piece sets seven fragments of text from The Machine Stops, providing glimpses of the characters and world that Forster envisioned. The creation of this piece was made possible with generous support of the SOCAN Foundation.