It's the Sovereign Era, when the sudden appearance of men and women with remarkable powers -- Sovereigns -- changes the course of history and threatens the balance of power in the late 20th century... but not every incident involving metahumans has global significance. Some stories are more... homespun.

Harrison Wheeler's folksy "The News From Bewilder Pond" public radio show ran from 1974 until 1989 as a platform for Wheeler's stories of a fictional Nebraska town (based on the host's own boyhood Minnesota home). The broad cast of characters were as gently flawed as they were charmingly human. In 1987, Wheeler revealed that some residents of Bewilder Pond had been quietly... super-human... all along.

In this partial transcript from an episode that first aired on Sunday, October 4, 1987, Wheeler spins a tale of a father with a singular gift who is determined to impress his adult son's new super-powered girlfriend. Is acceptance in the cards?

"The News From Bewilder Pond" is a stand-alone short story set in Matthew Wayne Selznick's ongoing Sovereign Era cycle. You don't have to have read any other Sovereign Era works to enjoy it. But you should!

ABOUT THE SOVEREIGN ERA

THE SOVEREIGN ERA is Matthew Wayne Selznick's ongoing alternate history series presenting a mosaic of novels and stories detailing how the presence of super-humans changed the last decades of the twentieth century and the future of humanity.

THE SOVEREIGN ERA READING ORDER

0. 
   

   Hazy Days and Cloudy Nights: "How It All Got Started" (serial)

   
   


1. 
   

   Brave Men Run

   
   


2. 
   

   "The World Revolves Around You"

   
   


3. 
   

   The Sovereign Era: Year One

   
   


4. 
   

   "Canary In A Coal Mine"

   
   


5. 
   

   Pilgrimage

   
   


6. 
   

   "The News From Bewilder Pond"