Saengard Begins with the World Ender

In this episode of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Factory, Mookie sits down with the elusive author Saengard, who emerges from behind a pseudonym to talk about his debut novel The World Ender—a fast-moving, idea-heavy sci-fi story decades in the making that answers the question: "What happens when the system meant to save humanity becomes the thing that destroys it?At the center is George Greycloud Guess, a physicist who creates a revolutionary energy source meant to save a collapsing world. Instead, it triggers a chain reaction: rogue machines, shadowy global power structures, nanotech gone sideways, and an extinction-level asteroid barreling toward Earth. Governments promise salvation through massive domed cities, but their real agenda flips the plot and humanity's destiny upside-down. Mookie and Saengard talk about systems: how they grow, how they rot, and how they inevitably turn on the people they were built to serve. Saengard breaks down the core tension driving his work: technology versus humanity, control versus freedom, and the uncomfortable truth that even utopias carry a dark undercurrent.They then get into bureaucracy as a living organism, capitalism versus centralized control, and why every system—left unchecked—drifts toward authoritarianism. Then their chat spirals into bigger territory: AI, consciousness, and whether machines can ever truly “be,” or if they’re just high-powered mirrors reflecting our own patterns back at us. Along the way they share notes on collapse, control, and the strange human need for struggle, and why every attempt to engineer a perfect world seems to backfire.The GuestSaengard is the author of The World Ender, an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller. This debut novella began over 25 years ago as a small comic strip in a monthly periodical in Sarasota, Fl. Since then, the story has grown into a series. But don't worry, every book is a satisfying stand-alone story, each one in the series building on the last, charting the rise and fall of Meteora - also known as Punk City.His Websitehttps://punkcitybooks.com/Want to be on the show? Have feedback? Send Mookie a text!Support the show