I have an unhealthy obsession with nuclear war and its aftermath - this influence is clearly stamped on my work. I can’t help it… I’d rather not have this obsession (I watched Terminator 3 for the 4th time today), but the fact remains that I believe in my lifetime at least one major city somewhere on this planet will be destroyed in a nuclear battle – and I think its irresponsible and dishonest for me to smother this belief. I have felt this way for, I don’t know… 20, 30 years.

Part of the package is that I have bad dreams related to this. I had one recently that was unusual because of its humorous ending:

The foolish decision is made to launch a first strike. The nuclear codes are entered and an electrical current carrying the launch command is sent to the missiles. In my dream, I see this current leaving the pristine government office and running along street cables at night. The current, carrying this doomsday command, is now running along cables through desolate, abandoned city streets, still late at night. It reaches its destination: a boarded up building at a vacant street corner, and comes to a sputtering halt. The missiles can’t be launched because some go-between business, required to get the missiles up, has gone bankrupt under our faltering economy.

Strange and beautiful clouds near San Quentin penitentiary, last Friday