July has graced our floors and we are excited in this new month for so much more. With hearts full of hope, we take each step forward to growing more. This month's sub-genre is consumed by exponential theories of something unexpected. So, as we roll out the carpet flat, let's start with some chit chat. True to our scifi core, we present flat-earth 1.0.

We were taught in schools that Christopher Columbus discovered the earth is round. Well, with due respect to Mr. Columbus, concept of a spherical world was accepted in literary circles as early as the fourth century B.C. The ancient Greeks figured out the planet's shape (and even its circumference) in the third century B.C.

Oddly, the notion was prevalent until the more rational nineteenth century. It's strange to know that the flat-earth logic persists till today, regardless of proof like Apollo missions and the publicized pictures of the spherical Earth from space.

Oh... and the exponents of flat-earth claim they can see Sauron's castle in Mordor visible at a distance. For the uninitiated, this is a J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, Mordor reference.

According to a range of original sources, Garwood's history of flat-Earth beliefs, broaches topic important to the history and philosophy of Babylonians to the current world scenario, to science and their relationship with religion along with the making of human knowledge using natural world resources.

In simple terms, Flat Earth is defined as the study of one of history's most notorious and persistent ideas and summons all the intellectual, philosophical, and spiritual turmoil of the modern age. From ancient Greece and Victorian England through modern-day America, this sub-genre incorporates religion, science, pseudoscience, including an amazing array of people and places. This sub-genre boasts of legendary misconceptions, idiosyncratic aristocrats, fundamentalist preachers, and conspiracy theorists appearing alongside Copernicus, Newton, and NASA. Guinness Book of World Records--you guys listening? xP

The Twitter handle of Flat Earth Society, founded in 1956 has 100.3K followers and 57K on FB.

The Flat Earth concept originated with the English writer Samuel Rowbotham (1816–1884). Rowbotham published the 1849 pamphlet titled Zetetic Astronomy derived from conclusions based on his 1838 Bedford Level Experiment, writing under the pseudonym "Parallax", which was later expanded into the book Earth Not a Globe. He theorized that the Sun and Moon were 3,000 miles (4,800 km) above Earth and that the "cosmos" was 3,100 miles (5,000 km) above the Earth. He also published a leaflet titled The Inconsistency of Modern Astronomy and its Opposition to the Scriptures, which argued that the "Bible, alongside our senses, supported the idea that the Earth was flat and immovable and this essential truth should not be set aside for a system based solely on human conjecture".

One of the leading theories of flat-earth maintains that Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and Antarctica, a 150-foot-tall (45 meters) wall of ice, around the rim, with NASA employees guarding this ice wall to prevent people from climbing over and falling off the disc (as if NASA has nothing else to do but act as security guards xD xP).

Another conspiracy theory is that Earth's gravity is an illusion with objects not accelerating downward, instead, the disc of Earth accelerates upward at 32 feet/second squared (9.8 meters/second squared), directed by a force called dark energy. Even though what lies underneath the disc of Earth is unknown, but most of flat-earthers believe it's composed of rocks.

Although there are disagreements amongst flat-earthers if Einstein's theory of relativity permits Earth to accelerate upward indefinitely without the planet eventually surpassing the speed of light, it's impressive (and a tad amusive) to note that Einstein's laws are still relevant in this alternate version of reality 😉

"None of us believe that we're a flying pancake in space," Robbie Davidson told CNN in the 2019 article. A common belief at the Flat Earth International Conferences (FEIC), is that space simply does not exist at all and the disc of the Earth sits still.

We'd be surprised and intrigued to learn about the one-of-the-many opinions regarding the moon some of flat-earth protagonists have. They opine that while Earth is flat, the moon and sun are spheres. And in their version of the solar system, Stars move in a plane 3,100 miles up and these spheres light up different portions of the planet over a 24-hour cycle. Also, there must also be an invisible "antimoon" that obscures the moon during lunar eclipses.

Just think about it...how would we really live on a flat-earth? Our world would get weird fast on a flat Earth. I mean--shit would get real. Navigation would be trickier as GPS satellites wouldn't work. And gravity would go for a toss. Even if we'd expect an iota of change with gravity pulling toward the planet's center, there'd be oddly slanted trees and we'd have even sideways rain. With no gravity, Earth would not be able to hold onto an atmosphere and skies would likely turn black--to our great horror...

There weren't many flat-earth books. Here are some I found on SCRIBD:

Asbestos Head by Eric Dubay

Join Asbestos and the other 12 Heads in their spiritual and philosophical journey through life and death. Meet Pin Head the hyper-active, hyper-critical, hypocrite, Figure Head the mystic mathematician, Pot Head the shamanistic high school teacher, Dead Head the politically-active radical environmentalist, and a host of other unique personalities in this humorous and thought-provoking philosophical fiction novella.

Watermark: The Disaster That Changed the World and Humanity 1 by Joseph Christy-Vitale

THE ECHOES OF OUR PAST

Twelve thousand years ago, the human race barely escaped annihilation when a piece of exploded star passed through our solar system, unleashing an apocalypse. Great fires raged, mountains rose and fell, a maelstrom of cosmic debris bombarded Earth, continents broke apart, and oceans swept across the land. Millions of people, animals, and plants perished almost overnight. Entire societies, cultures, and belief systems were lost forever. The resulting aftershock shaped humanity for thousands of years, and continues to haunt us to this day. This is not fiction. This is history.

I searched a lot on Wattpad, but I couldn't come across any Flat-earth stories. I'd love to know your recommendations, if any. We meet next month with another crackling issue.

Bye and take care ❤️ Best wishes, Nab =]