Good morning. Did you know that in 1953, before his first recordings, Johnny Cash wrote a science fiction short story called “The Holografik Danser”? According to Steve Turner’s biography, “The Man Called CASH,” he wrote a number of short stories during this period, many under the pen name “Johnny Dollar.” As Turner explains, “The Holografik Danser” “portrayed a twenty-first-century America that had been conquered by Russia — major cities had been razed by nuclear attack, and entertainment was paid for in kiosks and then piped into homes via phone lines. Partly inspired by the news of the explosion in television broadcasting, he envisaged a time when live holographic entertainment would be beamed into living rooms for twelve dollars a show. He further imagined the possibility of a man projecting himself into the hologram.” No word on whether brain transplants were involved.
The story went unpublished, but anyone looking for a copy can find it in Rosanne Cash’s 2001 anthology, “Songs Without Rhyme: Prose By Celebrated Songwriters.” (Via Cracked)