"World War III lasted only six days"
Blazing Reader,
I just finished reviewing the second proof of my forthcoming novel, All the Humans Are Sleeping. I found more typos and created a long list of English, French, German and Indigenous words I need to learn how to pronounce for the audiobook recording (as I'll be bringing the next proof to the recording studio this month).
To commemorate this milestone (in what has been a twenty-year project) I would like to share with you the latest version of the back cover synopsis:
A Farmer, a Robot and the End of the World
World War III lasted only six days. Within the first few hours, my farm in Manitoba burned to the ground. The blast that destroyed our home came from the same mushroom cloud that killed my wife. I wish it had nuked me, too, but those heartless robots saved me.
They also rescued my daughter, so I can’t damn them. She was the only thing keeping me alive… until the Metaverse took her away.
Yes, I’ve tried to kill myself. I may do it again. But that purple Domesticbot with its pompous British accent keeps on interfering.
The robots won’t let us go to heaven and the humans have made Earth a living hell. As an alternative, the United Nations has offered our minds a virtual purgatory in the Metaverse, while our bodies are preserved in synthetic amniotic fluid like overgrown babies. One billion survivors “live” in those pods — hard-wired to the internet — forced to dream a digital fantasy where flowers never wilt and wither.
Well, I refuse their faux flowers. So what if they burnt up all the real ones?
Still, how can I accept this post-apocalyptic world? Can I endure being cloistered on this desolate mountaintop on the northernmost tip of Norway with an unhinged robot that wears a suit and tie and aspires to be a poet?
My name is Peter Stevens, the last of the Luddites. But I don’t know if I can remain awake when… all the humans are sleeping.
Let me know if that roused your interest.
Stay sane & read great books,
John C.A. Manley
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
