Man from Rock Bottom - Reading Guide
Based on the various interview questions that I shared over the last three weeks (plus one, for the Introduction), I recognized that I had a need for a reader's guide, something to help people who intend to read in groups. So here's my work at the job, to the best of my ability.
There's the downloadable .pdf version. Now, the .docx version:
For those who'd rather read the text in the course of the blog format, without having to download anything, here is that version as well:
Reading Guide for:
The Man from Rock Bottom
A science fiction novel by
Stephen Eric Johnson
Explanation of the Reading Guide
This reading guide for The Man from Rock Bottom is intended to provide readers, book clubs, and discussion groups a structured approach for re-considering the work, providing questions and thought-starters for a new approach to understanding and having conversations about the work, and then provide opportunities to integrate the concepts and considerations in the book into the reader’s own life.
As for why the book The Man from Rock Bottom is worth considering, the primary purpose that Stephen Eric Johnson wrote it was so that the process of writing could act as a means for him to explore his own personal development, and then to develop a greater understanding of self and empathy for others. By following the process of the plot, a reader can similarly have an opportunity for self-reassessment and development of their own desire for and ability to understand others, to develop empathy to a greater capacity.
In the process of reading this work, readers should recognize:
· Reading should be an active process. Take notes, jump around in the book to refresh your memory of prior events, and feel free to develop your own opinions and ideas, which might be quite different from those of your peers or even of the author. Which incidentally does not mean they aren’t correct, so long as they are thought out well.
· Discussion and group work can greatly enhance a reading of this and most books. Having more than one perspective on the work, as well as others who share in the same experience, and a group to encourage each other to keep going past potentially difficult passages all provide opportunities for getting even more out of a work than might be possible from solo reading.
· Apply the book into your life. A major part of testing any work is to see how its concepts can be applied in your life, and how it compares to your own life experiences thus far.
Plot Summary
In The Man from Rock Bottom, the story starts after the end of the world as we might know it. Humanity had a star-spanning empire, but eventually our sins caught up with us and everything collapsed, the majority of our population returning to the homeworld, before our society tore itself apart with balkanization and tribalism, we unleashed hideous monsters on each other – the products of tampering with nature to spread fearmongering and mass destruction – and the fragile ecology of the planet became mere collateral damage. Now Earth has been approached by an alien civilization, the Pan-Galactic Republic, who built a great city, Sunflower City, and have given humanity another chance. Our last chance.
This is a story about recovering from trauma, ecological preservation, learning kindness, persevering against all odds, and finding balance in an unbalanced universe.
The main thread of the plot follows the titular unnamed character of the Man, the last zookeeper and animal control worker on Earth. He lives right next to a vast complex buried beneath Sunflower City, a place called the Sanctuary, where he raises the first batch of animals and other creatures that will eventually be reintroduced into the wild, preparing them for that day. When he isn’t tending to the needs of his charges, he acts as a slayer of monsters, seeking out and striking down the unnatural horrors that keep pursuing beleaguered humanity even into their new home.
Right at the start of his day, the Man is very nearly struck by another human committing suicide out of remorse for the acts he’d committed. As it turns out, the deceased person had been part of a conspiracy of the “old guard” of humanity’s fallen empire to strike out at the Republic and its representative on Earth, a gentle purple-furred foxlike empathy named Scintillant Camor. Their intention is to take him hostage and extort everything they can from the aliens that had come to try and save their planet.
Events soon progress, and the Man finds himself navigating the ever-shifting labyrinth of tunnels that run beneath Sunflower City, dodging morlocks, fighting monsters, and negotiating with a tribe of very intelligent rats. All while he gets ever nearer to the hidden city-beneath-the-city, the parasitic dwelling place of the conspirators: Dis, the City of Hell.
All in all, the Man is having one of those days.
About the Author
The author, Stephen Eric Johnson, has been publishing creative writing on various online sites for over three decades, mostly out of a deep need to tell stories for the enjoyment of others, be it in person or by text. The Man from Rock Bottom is his first professionally published work.
In 2006, Johnson earned his Master’s degree from Southern Illinois University, then got knocked out of the loop for many years after suffering a nervous breakdown during an especially dark period of his life. While emotionally recovering, he worked various odd jobs as a freelance editor, an online tutor, a grader for the GRE, and a substitute teacher, including a few years as the “permanent substitute” for a somewhat dangerous middle school with a number of inner city kids. Last he checked on the old place, he was very concerned – but unfortunately not especially surprised – to discover that they’d recently had a scare after someone tried to smuggle in a firearm.
Writing The Man from Rock Bottom was the act that helped Johnson finally get himself back into the process of making more of his life. Presently he's a teacher while working on his PhD in the field of Rhetoric & Composition at the University of South Florida. Naturally, he is studying the application of rhetorical empathy in the field of pedagogy, the academic study of teaching.
As for his future plans for writing, Stephen Eric Johnson is working on the following three projects (when he’s not putting together his dissertation, of course):
The first is a sequel to The Man from Rock Bottom, tentatively titled The Wasted Lands of Earth, intended to further explore the setting and the events that led to the downfall of human society before, and the menace from that past which threatens its recovery and salvation in the present.
The second is operating under the working title New Rat City: Angel @ the End of the World, a cyberpunk and biopunk supernatural thriller about a world on the edge of disintegration, and a cyborg former space pirate turned future-modern yojimbo doing his best to protect an angel from the dark forces that would consume her.
The third is Trench Dungeon, a fantasy version of the interval right after our Earth’s World War I, set in the no-man’s land that remains of the middle country where a terrible magical conflict took place, and the unsung heroes who will brave the dangers of the trench dungeons in order to save their world from the Total War being planned.
Further writing from Stephen Eric Johnson can be found on his blog, found at https://www.amanfromrockbottom.com/general-9
The Process of Engagement
To get the most out of your reading, you might find the following actions useful. They are drawn from the book How People Learn, put out by the National Academies. This is a freely downloadable resource which is just what it says on the front cover, and can be downloaded from https://www.nationalacademies.org/publications/9853 - there is also an updated version, but this one should suffice.
1) Acquisition. Read or otherwise consume the original work. Do research into its connections to the real world and the themes it brings up. Look up any vocabulary terms that are unfamiliar, or that seem important, since looking up words and facts you thought you knew can often reveal new information you missed previously.
2) Reflect. This is also called metacognition, or thinking about how you think. Make connections between your own life and the work.
3) Discussion. Talk over what you’ve read. Get different perspectives. Read reviews and articles to see a professional lens.
4) Transfer. Once you have a decent idea of what lessons you’ve learned, or could learn, or should learn from the work, then start to consider how you might apply them. This will mean changing your behaviors, or even the way you think. Hopefully for the better.
Major Themes in The Man from Rock Bottom
Humanity: What it means to be human what it means to feel empathy for others; what can make us our own worst enemies; what we can do to overcome ourselves
Rock Bottom: Where we go when we think there’s nowhere lower; finding our way back from the brink; persevering through adversity with courage
Second Chances: Or third, or fourth, or however many we need. Both giving them to others and accepting them in ourselves.
Heroic Journeys and the Everyman: The Man is a stand-in for ordinary people called on to do extraordinary acts in extraordinary circumstances. In the process, he follows Joseph Cambell’s Hero’s Journey. And so can you, each in our own little, ordinary, everyday way. We are, after all, the heroes and heroines of our own stories.
(Themes Continued)
Survival: Not just the survival of the body, but also the survival of the soul.
Diversity and Difference: The book is in a setting filled with many sorts of people, not just humans. The humans themselves are from all sorts of different backgrounds. All are united, though, in a shared pain, shared trial, shared survival. Even as different as all these peoples are, even when they’re of completely different species, even so, empathy is possible, and sympathy can make us reach out to anyone in their time of need. This is the foundation of Sunflower City as a concept, rather than just a place.
Being Overwhelmed: Throughout the story, the Man and many other characters are faced with odds that seem utterly hopeless. The Man himself suffers from social anxieties, so much so that he regards fighting monsters as preferable to dealing with people. The courage expressed in the course of the story, as often as not, is the courage to press on in the situations that really tax us.
Saving the World: What exactly does it mean to “save the world”? This isn’t just a question from over-the-top fiction, either: it’s something we each do every single day. We go out into our daily lives so we can save that day, save the ones who matter most to us, and hopefully make a difference for the better, even if it’s only in our own small, unnoticed way.
Reader Active-thought Questions
1) What does “Rock Bottom” ultimately represent in the story, and how does that meaning change as the reader gets deeper into the book?
2) What might keep us, here and now, from making the best use of the resources and technology available to us? What do you think are the biggest underlying causes of ecological problems in our day?
3) What do you think will cause the end of the world as we know it? When, in your opinion, should a civilization come to an end, or should civilizations end at all? What is your reasoning?
4) What is your reaction to the words of Garfi Lett, in Chapter Zero, when he says “Think about this, Sin: every sapient species, somewhere in their religions, has some mythology built up around a messiah, someone who’ll save them from their sins. Out of all those tens of thousands of different cultures, each with their own ideal savior, humanity is the only one that killed theirs”?
5) What do you think of the portrayal of humanity in The Man from Rock Bottom? Was it fair? How come?
6) What was your impression of the various nonhumans in The Man from Rock Bottom? Is it odd to like a fictional species more than your own? How come?
7) Of the presented major protagonists – Scintillant Camor, the Man, Gret, Trinidad Del Toro, Susan Six, and Benjuro Clee – which did you like the most? The least? How come? Did you like any of the minor characters? What are your reasons? What aspects of these characters do you think you might want to incorporate into your own worldview?
8) What do you think causes humanity to be such a divided species? Is that a good thing? A bad thing? Just a Thing? What should be done about it, if anything? What do you think of the book’s presentation of our divisions?
9) What is your reaction to all the violence in this book? Is it excessive/gratuitous? Realistic? Necessary? What is the place of violence in the real world?
10) What does “finding a place” mean to you? What does it mean, to you, to find joy? How does someone go about achieving – and maintaining – these states?
Reader Thought Exercises
Here are a few prompts for readers who would like to write some journal-style notes and thoughts based on the themes presented in The Man from Rock Bottom.
One experience that helped me develop empathy for someone was…
One time when I understood what it meant to feel joy in my life was…
One time when I had another chance, and made the most of it was…
One time when I gave someone else another chance and was rewarded for my choice happened when…
One idea from The Man from Rock Bottom that I want to bring up in conversation this week is…
Suggested Music
Here are a list of a few pieces of music that might help you to develop a greater “feel” for the emotions in The Man from Rock Bottom, presented in no particular order:
The World is Just Awesome put out by The Discovery Channel, for the love of our little blue planet
Circular Road by Heathers, for the link to the Hero’s Journey
Get Out Alive by Three Days Grace, for the emotional tension and the fear of making your way through the endless tunnels of the monster-infested undercity
My Hero by Foo Fighters, because it’s what we can all be, each in our own small way
Fancy by Bobbie Gentry, for the powerful emotions of survival when the world insists you won’t be allowed
I’m A Believer by The Monkees, for the deliberate choice of optimism – of joy! – in the face of all odds against
When the Last Page Turns
Now that you’ve finished The Man from Rock Bottom, you have a unique opportunity. You have encountered themes of self-sacrifice, compassion and empathy, survival of both body and soul, the ideas surrounding ordinary people being heroic, and a deep look into the soul of humanity as seen through alien eyes. These are themes that need to be digested, considered, and brought up again after some time has passed in order to properly explore them to the fullest.
To this end, you should seek out conversations on the themes of the book. Share your insights with your fellow readers; similarly, let them share their insights, so that both of you – all of your – can be edified together. Then spend a little time apart, perhaps a week or two, before meeting again to see how your views and insights have evolved.
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