Bradley Vandeventer

Angels with Engine Failure Bradley Vandeventer

In the year 2065, the citizens of Aswadistan have the Internet in their heads via cortical modems. They steer their magic carpets with neural networks. Identity-swap parties are in. GnosisNet, a software that will render politicians and police obsolete, is set to roll out. An expat psychonaut known as the Outernationalist is hired to design its neurotransmitter algorithms. But he meets Najwa, the ex-sultan's court storyteller. She filibusters his work with stories, anti-stories, and quantum stories-forcing him to rethink his alliance within the coming political upheaval. While chasing down her past, he learns that her storytelling engine is powered by the Black Light, a deadly by-product given off by GnosisNet's elected stewards. Once the head-hacking mafia gets to him, the Outernationalist must "go analog" while visiting illumination farms and long-lost cities in search of the tools needed to fight the war over bandwidth and help others reclaim the sovereignty of the senses. He struggles to shake Najwa's hold on his reality-all while enduring bad salvia trips, head-cluttering pop-up ads, online litigation, and magic lamps full of utility fog. ANGELS WITH ENGINE FAILURE is a literary cyber-fable full of esoteric philosophy and tales-within-tales. It's Arabian Nights meets The Matrix. It is an indictment on the technology hellbent on eliminating our privacy, as much as it is a meditation on narrative and its power to subvert and inspire.