Beyond the Garden Wall (Paperback or Softback)

Is true freedom to live a life without the interference of society possible?

Or is it a philosophical myth, to be discussed, and never brought to fruition?

In a sequel to The Panglossian Factor, 1000 years in the future finds Ayven Woodward and Mara Venn discovering that something that is now called the "Garden Principle" had spread far beyond where they live. Although Ayven had never intended to create a philosophy, an idea that had begun with something much less ambitious, people needing food, had spread to multiple star systems. But a philosophy that they themselves had not founded was quickly becoming a problem when diverse societies tried to adapt it to their own cultures. Ayven and Mara are called upon to explain why it isn't working in those societies, traveling there in order to try and provide solutions for the people.

Beyond the Garden Wall is a philosophical sci-fi epic, prefigured in the works of Robert A. Heinlein, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Aldous Huxley.

Author's Note

Beyond the Garden Wall seems to have come as a natural sequel to the novel, The Panglossian Factor. The French Enlightenment literature I had been reading and translating for about two years had naturally brought me to the writings of Voltaire. I found Voltaire's writing to be amusing, witty, and curiously in sync with much of the current, popular romance genre. But also, much of his writing was philosophical and adverse to the various social conventions and authorities in power at the time, such as the church, aristocracy, and French society in general. Of course, it was the many inequalities and contradictions in French society that eventually led to the French Revolution, and doing away with the Ancien Regime.

One of Voltaire's works, Candide, was published in 1759.It was immensely popular at the time. But is was a literary follow-up French novel, written by the defrocked priest Henri-Joseph Dulaurens (1760), that serves as a pattern for Beyond the Garden Wall. Dulaurens is widely recognized as the author of the apocryphal Candide, ou l'Optimisme. Seconde partie (Candide, or All for the Best. Part II). It was written to capitalize on the massive black-market popularity of Voltaire's original masterpiece.

Dulaurens work breaks the serene, localized ending of Voltaire's original text, where Candide and his companions had settled down to a quiet life on a farm outside Constantinople. Unlike the conclusion of The Panglossian Factor, which ends with the quiet resignation of Voltaire's famous "we must cultivate our garden" philosophy, Beyond the Garden Wall has its protagonists investigating why what is now called the "Garden Principle," is quickly becoming a problem when diverse societies try to adapt it to their own cultures.

In the end, rather than offering a cyclical or continuous blueprint for surviving an imperfect universe through practical work (cultivating one's own garden), the conclusion is that people cannot tell every person everything they think. Also, governments cannot govern by explaining and trying to control every uncertainty, while families are also concealing things from one another. Finally, people use politeness to avoid unnecessary harm, often pretending is kinder than telling the whole truth.

Jon M. Fox is a writer of experimental fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Born in the United States, Jon makes his home in Nueva Ecija Province in the Philippines. His fictional writing and poetry frequently focuses on the use of magical realism, largely stemming from his Yaqui Native American indigenous heritage and life experiences. When he isn't reading or writing, he's busy with various projects in the Philippines, farming, and sharing his time with his wife and family.