I’m not just about pulpy sci-fi featuring aliens and coffee, I’ve also got some great political satire in the tradition of “Fahrenheit 451”, “1984” and “The Handmaid’s Tale”!
What if in the future you could get dislike‘s, not just like‘s, on your social media posts and comments? Now imagine a cancel culture that’s taking things too far, and getting too many dislikes will get you arrested for cerebral offenses.
That’s where the Tolerance Bureau comes in, the new federal agency responsible for policing the internet.
A satirical look at our social media addiction in The Tolerance Bureau
The social media police are coming for you…
Think you can just say whatever you want on social media and get away with it? Think again! The Tolerance Bureau is watching everything you post. The Bureau is the new federal agency responsible for monitoring the internet, and making sure it is kept clean from offensive postings.
Offending too many people makes you a Cerebral Terrorist, and the Bureau will bring you in for mandatory psychological therapy. Try to run, and bounty hunters will track you down and lock you up in one of the Bureau’s re-education camps.
That’s Jim Rogan’s job, and he’s one of the best at it.
Hillary Wells, famous astrophysicist, made a few controversial comments on social media – and offended too many people. Now she’s wanted for Intellectual Terrorism and there’s a warrant for her arrest. And the Tolerance Bureau has assigned Special Agent Jim Rogan to track her down and bring her in.
Rogan thinks it’ll be a piece of cake. What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, pretty much everything…
Fans of Blade Runner and other futuristic bounty hunter stories will love this! The Tolerance Bureau is set in a near future that is all too plausible…
Published on Amazon, February 20, 2023
Available now on Amazon, for your Kindle and in print
“Fahrenheit 451” meets Orwell’s “1984” in The Heretic
Heretic is set in a dark dystopian future, an Orwellian world in which saying the wrong thing can get you sent to a re-education camp for mandatory sensitivity counselling, and possessing books not approved by the government is a criminal offense.
Intellectual courage in the face of official censorship.
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It follows the story of Jack, who is raised by his mother to be a loyal citizen of the New Regime. The Regime has strictly defined what is acceptable to believe and think, and has banned all books that it does not approve of. Dissenters are arrested as intellectual terrorists.
Libraries are no longer for making books available to the public, but for burning them. Anyone in possession of a book not approved by the Regime is expected to drop it off at the nearest library. The librarian makes sure they get properly incinerated.
Intellectual Heretic
Jack’s father was a famous scientist who went missing shortly after being branded a criminal for intellectual dissent. Later, his father is presumed dead in a suspicious car crash.
But Jack’s life is turned upside down when he finds evidence that his father is still alive – and on the run from the Regime. Jack risks everything to look for his father, and soon finds himself in a deadly race against shadowy agents of the New Regime who also want to find the missing scientist.
Orwellian censorship & free thought
The novel that George Orwell wrote – which gave rise to the term ‘Orwellian’ – is 1984. He was inspired by the autocratic regime of Soviet Russia for its cruel oppression of the common person, who had their personal freedoms stripped away from them. Orwell’s books were subsequently banned in Russia for its criticism of Stalin’s methods (and ironically by some states in the US).
Heretic is about intellectual courage in the face of censorship by the government and official media in the tradition of “1984” and “Fahrenheit 451”.