Blazing Reader,
In my recent interview with Robert Vaughan (over at Just Right Media), Robert brought up a sci-fi story I had all but completely forgotten: Max Headroom.
I was only seven when this cyber-punk TV movie premiered on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom.
Wikipeida says that Max Headroom was advertised as "the first computer-generated TV presenter" and "known for his biting commentary on a variety of topical issues, arrogant wit, stuttering, and pitch-shifting voice."
All I remember was the stuttering. In fact, I had to start seeing a speech therapist around that time. Possibly Max Headroom was to blame?
What I definitely did not remember was that the subtitle to the movie was "20 Minutes into the Future." Later, each episode of the TV show opened with the same tagline.
This was clearly a metaphor for how fast technology is advancing and affecting every aspect of human existence. 20 years would have been factually accurate, but 20 minutes hardly feels like hyperbole.
Robert said that my novel, All the Humans Are Sleeping, had the same feeling of impending change. Granted my novel takes place closer to 20 years in the future (2041). Nonetheless, this story of butlerbots and metaverse pods does feel like something that could happen tomorrow, or, even in twenty minutes.
So don't wait, if you haven't read your copy yet, you may only have twenty minutes to do so. And if you don't own a copy yet, you can purchase All the Humans Are Sleeping (with ebook and audiobook available in under 20 seconds) at AlltheHumansAreSleeping.com
—John C.A. Manley
P.S. The full video recording of my interview with Robert Vaughan is available at JustRightMedia.org.
P.P.S. Or you can listen to the abridged audio-only version (with a sound bit from Max Headroom) in episode 893 of the Just Right podcast.