Below is a description of the new novel, Surviving New America: Hope Thomas and Her Enemies. Check out the Author’s Note, the Prologue, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. Here’s Surviving . Here is a little bit about me. If you’re interested in buying the eBook or paperback (Thank You!), click here or on the Amazon ad.
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The ascendency of Donald Trump during the past decade is such a dramatic story that it’s easy to overlook the transition that made it possible. This transition, in the final analysis, may be even more important. Humans have been overwhelmed by the unimaginably powerful telecommunication networks and the applications and services they make possible. This depressing and scary thought is what Surviving New America: Hope Thomas and Her Enemies is about. Simply put, modern telecommunications and associated technologies are so powerful and sophisticated that society no longer can be governed as it has in the past.
The novel is set in 2029 and 2030. The main character is twenty-one-year-old Hope Thomas. She has an abortion in Texas. The state wants to make her the first woman executed under newly promulgated laws that make the procedure a capital crime. Thomas relocates to New Mexico, fights extradition and speaks out on her ordeal.
Jayson Damond, owner of several companies under the J&T umbrella, has a far different problem. The aging billionaire is putting the finishing touches on Damondville, a small city he is building in Colorado. But few people are showing interest in moving in and his bucket list project looks more like a humiliating white elephant than the capstone of a legend’s career.
Damond, who is a telecommunications pioneer, has a plan: He refashions Damondville as New America and says he wants to secede from the United States. The drama, he reasons, will resonate with the public, generate excitement and fill his new city.
New America continues to struggle, however. Damond realizes that listing grievances is not enough to inspire people to uproot their lives. It requires an emotional and personal connection. In short, Damond must give them somebody to hate. That person is Hope Thomas.
Theo Pennimen, Damond’s protege and partner, is brilliant and troubled. He is deeply ashamed of his role in creating the technology that he feels is ruining people’s lives and destabilizing society.
Pennimen sees an opportunity to atone for his sins by turning New America into a stunning teaching moment. He will hijack and amp up Damond’s relatively mild vilification of Thomas. People will quickly grow to despise her and heed the call to come to New America. Pennimen then will reveal that he is behind it all and show people how easily they surrendered their free will. He will provide a path forward that turns the dangerous technologies into cyber guardians.
There is a price, however. The level of hatred that Pennimen must generate against Thomas puts her in great danger.
Pennimen indeed inspires thousands to sojourn to Colorado. This teaching moment never happens, however. Instead, New America degenerates into a quagmire of conflicting agendas, anger, confusion and violence. Hope Thomas, meanwhile, strives for physical survival, emotional healing…and revenge.