Title: The Wolf of Descarta
Author: Daniel Pike
Release Date: November 21, 2013
Series: The Dream Box
Genre: Sci-Fi /Fantasy
Publisher: The Zharmae Publishing
Press (Zharmae.com)
Book Description: Jaren Reese is just another red collar trapped at the bottom
of Descarta’s genetic caste system. But in the Dream Box, he has forged a new
digital identity for himself: Balmus, the Wolf Knight.
Balmus has long since carried a torch for the Linker Petra, but he doesn’t know her, not really. Outside of the Dream Box she is just another one of his fantasies. But Brea Morgen is the real thing– a living, breathing person who desires Jaren for who he truly is, not merely what he pretends to be.
When the Dream Box that Jaren depends on crashes due to the evolution of a hostile A.I. life form, a secret military branch commissions a team of gamers and hackers to go back into the corrupted Dream Box to eliminate the threat and Jaren is given the chance of a lifetime—though it comes at a price—and Jaren now needs to decide just how much he’s willing to lose because the war about to be waged will be one on two fronts - the corporeal and the virtual.
Balmus has long since carried a torch for the Linker Petra, but he doesn’t know her, not really. Outside of the Dream Box she is just another one of his fantasies. But Brea Morgen is the real thing– a living, breathing person who desires Jaren for who he truly is, not merely what he pretends to be.
When the Dream Box that Jaren depends on crashes due to the evolution of a hostile A.I. life form, a secret military branch commissions a team of gamers and hackers to go back into the corrupted Dream Box to eliminate the threat and Jaren is given the chance of a lifetime—though it comes at a price—and Jaren now needs to decide just how much he’s willing to lose because the war about to be waged will be one on two fronts - the corporeal and the virtual.
Author Bio:
Daniel Pike is a high
school English teacher, author, blogger, and father of two energetic daughters,
Aurie and Kiera. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from ASU as
well as his Masters in Education. His first novel, Repressed Memories, was
written when he was 17 years old and high on anime. He openly admits that most
of the writing took place in his Algebra class. We may forgive him for that.
His most recent offerings include The Wolf of Descarta, book one in his Dream Box Trilogy
His most recent offerings include The Wolf of Descarta, book one in his Dream Box Trilogy
Author Guest Post:
When my lovely editor informed me in her rather nonchalant
way that I would be guest blogging, one of the potential topics she tossed at
me was the world building involved in creating the Dream Box series. I’m game
(pun intended). In a way, the universe I’ve created is a kind of double-edged
sword… you know, I really loathe that cliché. I mean, if you suck enough with a
sword to get cut by your own blade, you probably shouldn’t be wielding one.
As you may have already guessed, I’m also a die-hard fan of
the Fantasy genre. Because of this, I wanted to come up with a Sci-Fi universe
wherein chivalric knights, magic, and impossible creatures could be included alongside
the elements of a good Cyberpunk story. But I didn’t want it to stop there.
After all, once simulation is involved, anything human beings (or, in this
case, even aliens) can imagine would be possible to recreate. Hence, the Dream Box—a gaming console that
could provide virtually (pun so intended) any experience the gamer, or Linker,
could desire.
I asked myself, Self,
why would anyone create something like this? As a means of capital gain? As a political
diversion? As a weapon? As a digital neurological network connecting all of
humanity?
I decided on all of the above. And that’s where the second
layer of world building—the concrete universe of the Dream Box series, what
Linkers call the “Meat Space”—had to come in.
Who created the Dream
Box network?
The Interplanetary Council, of course. What government
wouldn’t love to get inside the heads of its subjects? Especially 300 years in
the future after the potentially rebellious have scattered to the farthest
corners of the galaxy?
What keeps the Linkers
from simply staying logged in 24-7?
The government provides those it intends to pacify with more
simulation than those it intends to be its agents. Red collars, the genetic
inferiors, spend most of their waking hours either in labor shifts or in a
subconscious state while logged into the Dream Box, therefore preventing them
from revolting against the higher caste, the blue collars. Of course, everyone
is equal in the system—in theory.
How does the
government use the Dream Box to control its subjects?
System Administrators and A.I. constantly analyze Linkers’
neurological patterns to ensure that they aren’t sharing personal information
or hacking Cyber, thus completely separating the dream world from the real
world. Of course, there are mind hackers and encoders that are good enough to
cheat the system without being caught.
What’s the
government’s end game?
To use the collective knowledge of the hive mind to find the
missing pieces to a futuristic genetic puzzle that, if not solved soon, could
spell the end of human evolution and the species as well.
So there’s nothing
that could potentially go wrong here, right?
When a hostile A.I. life form evolves within Cyber and
claims to be a new form of god, the slave masters become the slaves, and it’s
up to those who truly know the Dream Box—the dregs of society, the genetically
discarded—to save both the upper caste and the network from the horror they
have unleashed.
The major payoff of a universe like this is that I get to
play with where the lines between reality and fantasy blur while juxtaposing
the living, breathing characters with their virtual counterparts, sometimes
allowing them to develop in contradicting ways simultaneously. I do love a good
paradox. And hopefully my readers will too.
Website: http://pikeknight.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PikeKnight
Buy Direct: http://stores.modularmarket.com/zharmae/
Blog Tour Schedule
The Wolf of Descarta
11/20: Fabulous and Fun – Review
11/21: Child Controlled – Guest Post
11/22: Paulette’s Papers – Spotlight w/
Excerpt
11/23: Ramblings of a Book Lunatic – Spotlight w/ excerpt
11/23: Bottles & Books Reviews – Spotlight w/ excerpt
11/24: National Book Examiner – Review
11/25: Desert Rose Reviews – Spotlight w/ excerpt
11/26: Deal Sharing Aunt – Guest Post
11/27: WS Momma Readers Nook – Spotlight w/ excerpt
11/27: Almost Faemous – Guest Post
11/28: Mean Who You Are – Spotlight w/ excerpt
11/29: Shelf Full of Books – Review
11/30: Mad Hatter Reads – Interview
12/1: Mary’s Cup of Tea – Spotlight w/
Excerpt
12/2: Deborah Jay – Spotlight w/ Excerpt
12/2: Indy Book Fairy – Review
12/3: Tracing the Stars – Review
12/4: Monlatable Book
Reviews
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