My new book Old Year’s Day is now live at Amazon and Smashwords.
This book is set in the distant future, but also reflects the experiences of the entity Jones and the collapse of present day civilisation.
Much of this story revolves around the dual being that is Dowling and Jones. Dowling’s mind has been numbed and bent by the drugs the all powerful Corporation feeds everyone. Jones’ mind is twisted out of shape by the memory of the horrors he witnessed on Earth, as our present society crumbled.
Old Year’s Day touches on subjects such as religion, society, philosophy, economics and the questions of existence as perceived by the individual.
Note from the author:
I started writing this book a while back, so the concepts explored in Old Year’s Day had their genesis over a year ago. Since then real life has been catching up fast.
Back then the Trump presidency in the US had not even been imagined by the vast majority of people around the world. Meanwhile the situation in Syria and the rest of the middle-east has gone from bad to worse. People in Africa are dying in droves and the tension in the Korean peninsula threatens all of humanity.
It seems to me that the world has taken another stumbling step closer to the kind of tipping point that might bring about a situation such as is described in Old Year’s Day.
John Holland.
Amazon: http://a.co/0KaHHbV
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/725244
Synopsis:
Old Year’s Day is a work of speculative fiction.
In 2199 the Corporation that at that time controls all aspects of human life, decide they have reached the pinnacle of their powers. So they stop time, in a way. 2199 keeps repeating over and over again.
Dowling is a prisoner on the prison planet of Renod. There Dowling meets a Mind Nurse called Wilson. She is a rebel at heart and part of a mysterious group who perceive humanity to be stagnating in time and space and who seek change.
All humans receive mind altering drugs in their food and drink, to help keep them servile and content. However for the Maladjusted prisoners, the dosage is much higher. It is after receiving the higher dosages of drugs that Dowling realises he is not alone within his mind. The entity called Jones appears in his consciousness.
Jones is a man from the early 21st century whose memories and self awareness has been carried forward in the genes of his descendants.
The influences of Jones and Wilson slowly change Dowling into the man who will be the focal point of a peaceful rebellion against the Corporation.
A number of staff and prisoners escape from the 44 prisons on Renod and venture into the green jungle.
Contrary to Corporation teachings, Dowling learns about ancient alien ruins and how simple life was found on Mars and more complex life forms on the ice moons Europa and Enceladus. He learns too about The Flock, rainbow travellers who roam the universe.
Then into the mix appears the Scarbi. Primates who have evolved unbelievably quickly from primates “seeded” on Renod after the terra-forming. They are very intelligent and a strange mix of savagery and gentleness.
Old Year’s Day touches on subjects such as religion, society, philosophy, economics and the questions of existence, as perceived by the individual.
John Holland
Australia
holjohn49@bigpond.com