about the series – easy town books

last updated 29 December 2021

ABOUT THE EASY TOWN BOOK SERIES

The overall story of the series is simple: a town experiment is planned in several stages, the town is built, the town gets into trouble, and some of the main characters mess things up.

But eventually, the town emerges as an intriguing model on all counts: society, economy, environment and governance.

And the main characters? Well, they go through a lot.

Over the seven years of the overall story, many questions are asks, and many ideas are brought to life.

There are challenges and struggles, discussions and arguments, ideas and mistakes, wins and losses, crowds and solitude, disappointments and surprises, fights and adventures, flight and magic.

And love? Well, it does its many things.

While the book series tells the story of a town and of the characters involved in creating, building and running it, the stories also include a thought experiment.

In this thought experiment, the town serves as the playground, a playground where any question can be asked, and where any idea can be tested.

Note: The original story was never meant for publication, and it was done with the ease and the lack of pretence, you get when you are on your own. And while I am intrigued by the town experiment, I also wanted to have some fun and adventures, and occasionally personal questions and struggles take the front seat in the story. Interestingly, I always returned to shaping the town and to test ideas.

At its core the Easy Town experiment is about being curious, about trying out visions, about exploring and playing around with ideas, testing the limits of the possible, daring to try out the unconventional, questioning the inevitable, allowing for complexity.

book 1, beginning

The series
can be divided
into three parts :

Part 1

Books 1-4: Drafting, shaping & building the town experiment.

This part of the overall story covers the start of the story until the beginning of year 3.

[Note: A year in the story always starts on April, 1st.]

Part 2

Books 5-10: Things get (really) messy and not just for the main characters.

This part of the overall story covers most of year 3 and the first part of year 4.

Part 3

Books 11+12: Wrapping up the overall story with two major adventures in the mix, and with a decision which affects more people than just the main characters.

This part of the overall story covers the second part of year four, runs close to the end of year 5, skips over most of year six, and re-enters the story with its final chapters at the end of year six.

take the tour: book 1-12 >