Michael J. Cavallaro Cybernetica

Normally I put all novels together into a single section, but recently I received a novel, CYBERNETICA, by Michael J. Cavallaro ($15.95, Arcanum Books) that rises above the other novels I am pleased to recommend.

After reading it, my first reaction was "Move over, George Orwell" because it is set in a future in which a single corporate superpower wields control over the population through a powerful brain-to-computer interface system called sublimation. Its headquarters are in the city of Cybernetica, and the devastating Encryption Wars are 35 years in the past.

We are introduced to this future world through the lives of two con men hired in a major investigation, a famous actress marked for corporate assassination, a biologically enhanced bodyguard, and a quintessential power-crazed chief of operations for the Onyx/Enigma Group.

This is not traditional science fiction, because for one thing, it does not take place in outer space. It does however, incorporate many factors already familiar to all of us, for whom the Internet and our computers represent reality in real time.

This is a sharply written, sometimes heart-pounding story that will seem more real than fiction by the time you finish. One can only hope Hollywood will turn this one into a film to rival "Gattaca" or "The Matrix."

Cybernetica

Michael J. Cavallaro

Arcanum, Feb 2006, $15.95, 468 pp.

ISBN: 0977453324

Thirty five years have passed since the destruction caused by the Encryption Wars devastated much of society. In direct reaction, the computer based subliminal animation, known as sublimation, was created to regulate actions. All humans living in Cybernetica were expected to undergo the surgical implant of a chip to control the behavior of the law abiding citizens.

However, there exist those outside the domination of the implants. These are lumped together as criminals and hunted down by the leaders of the corporatism that rule the city. That in turn has led to some banding together of the fringe element. One particular group, the Drifters, plans to tear down sublimation and return civilization to its roots of freedom, but this revolt will be fought mostly in cyberspace, which is owned and controlled by the Cybernetica corporatism. However, no one is prepared for the spark, an assassination attempt of an actress, or the results of the hiring from shadows of two con artists to investigate the murder.

CYBERNETICA is an intriguing science fiction cautionary thriller that brings 1984 into the cyber age by depicting a society in which computers do the thinking for people. The storyline moves forward on several fronts, including the who-done-it, but deftly comes together with a battle to determine the future of mankind; one side wants programmed cattle, while the other prefers free will. Orwellian fans, and anyone who appreciates a well written exhilarating warning tale about the government-industrial-media complex telling us when to go to the bathroom, will want to read this dark futuristic thriller.