Coming in May: dystopian paranoia a’plenty
May’s book takes us into the realms of science fiction once again, with a healthy dose of paranoia to boot. Welcome to the world of Footage.
In a city of ten million, under glass eyes of six million cameras, one man evades their networked stares, and watches those who are watched.
It had always been Jared’s passion to observe, and for the last fifteen years, it was his job.
His days are spent deducing the stories of strangers’ lives from momentary glimpses of present actions in streets, train stations and airports. Filming every moment.
But Jared is starting to see more.
He spends every free moment pouring over the footage, and fate is bringing other observers into his life, teaching him how to push his skills further.
Before he knows it, he starts looking beyond the present, seeing the past in more detail than ever, perhaps glimpsing the future.
But he’s also hearing voices, thinks he’s being followed, surveilled, and has no idea how much – if any of it – is real.
All he knows, is that if he wants answers, he has to keep watching.
How the hell did this story come about, you ask?
Footage was actually written as a short story many years ago, albeit a short story that hit something like 15k words. When I showed it to a fellow writer (because I’m the kind of asshole who used to show everything to everyone, whether they asked to see it or not) they said it felt cinematic, and should be a movie.
Surprise surprise, it never became a movie.
Is that kind of revelation even a spoiler any more?
The screenplay sat on a shelf, the eighth or tenth draft of the story sat on a hard drive, then this whole ABAM thing happened and it seemed like it was time to dust it off.
And God it was dusty.
Anyway, it’s a fun little story. A fast-paced thriller that winds and weaves a tight little tale.
If you’ve been reading the previous BAMS, Footage organically continues on from the surveillance state pre-dystopia of ‘@‘, and contextually/tonally lives alongside ‘NLI-10‘.
If you’re an ABAM virgin, worry not, it’s completely stand-alone.
Hey look! Some pre=order-links:
Kindle edition UK – Launch discount: $2.99 99c!
Kindle edition US – Launch discount: $2.99 99c!
Best get back to writing… see you next time.