In 1925, a tinkerer named Hugo Gernsback invented an amazing antidote for writer’s block—the Isolator Helmet. This device eliminated all outside distractions by isolating the author inside a peaceful cocoon of silence. Eyeholes revealed only the blank writing pad. Pure oxygen flowed from a tank to sharply focus the mind. That same year, undocumented reports surfaced of two washed-up authors who gained unauthorized access to helmets and immediately wrote bestsellers.
Then something odd happened. In early 1926, the Isolator Helmet disappeared. Eleven original helmets had been built, yet all units vanished. When technical drawings mysteriously went missing at the U.S. Patent Office, rumors began to swirl that a Literary Deep State was involved.
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