Once upon a time, the future was full of promise and adventure.
Each day we'd soar past the Art Deco towers of Retropolis in our flying cars, skimming over the monorail tracks that led past the outskirts of the city.
We'd live a life of leisure because the streamlined marvels of technology had made our daily labors a thing of the past.
Plentiful, clean energy would drive the rockets and the pneumatic tubes that kept the City of Tomorrow running.
Greenbelt communities would bring the farmlands close to home, and home itself would be close to the theaters and libraries of civilization.
But we'd keep our ray guns handy - there'd be no way of telling just when those Atomic Spiders were going to show up again.
It'd be swell, wouldn't it? Yep. It really would.
"So You'd Like to See Retropolis! A Visitors' Guide to the Future That Never Was"
One reason why the population of Retropolis has grown so in recent years is that there's just no other place that offers so many opportunities to the new resident. Really - where else would you go?
The Retropolis Transit Authority not only moves this population around, but as the populace grows the Transit Authority absorbs many of these same new workers. Indeed, the Transit Authority is one of the city's major employers.
And though the Mad Science industry is confined to the Experimental Research District it is nonetheless a key employer, too. This is partly due to the regrettable but rapid turnaround in assistants. But in spite of those drains on the population the Mad Science industry just grows and grows in what's often referred to as an actual explosion of scientific research, or, for short, as "an explosion", or "the big boom".
Membership in the Society of Demented Research Technicians is crucial. The laboratory assistants have been unionized since very early in the days of the district and - no matter what a scientist, professor, or doctor may say to applicants - there is no such thing as a non-union laboratory in Retropolis.
Anyone interested in pursuing a such a career should start at the Society of Demented Research Technicians rather than answering the ubiquitous ads in the newspapers, or those handbills so often seen on street corners in the District.
at Thrilling Tales of the Downright Unusual:
Months in the making! These original illustrated stories take you on an interactive trip to Retropolis, among the rocket pilots, faithful robots, mad scientists and civil servants of the Future That Never Was.
Thrill to their unlikely adventures! Marvel at the lushly rendered illustrations on every page! Examine the objects they encounter, and learn strange facts about them!
The Thrilling Tales web site is itself a wonder of retro futuristic technology - with astonishing image zooms, saved bookmarks, and other features that come direct from the rocket powered, streamlined world of 2039.
And because aetheric pixels aren't always enough to satisfy... you can also buy the Thrilling Tales stories in the form of full color, fully interactive books.
Enjoy... the World of Tomorrow, Today!
