Some would suggest that writing for advertising and marketing for 20 years has been fertile ground for me to grow as a speculative fiction writer. After all, great advertising copy transports an audience to another place. My first novel, "Tobol", had been germinating in my imagination for much of that time and is the realisation of a compelling desire to tell a story that I was passionate about. The frequently destructive and negative social force of organised religion, the manipulation of faith, the development and unquestioning acceptance of new technologies and the power of global corporations is a potent brew that lends itself to many more speculative scenarios. Now all I need to do is write them.
On the morning of his twelfth birthday, Simon wakes to the realisation that he must visit the Tobol cubicle at the local shops. It's an activity forbidden for children under sixteen, but he can't back down. He has boasted to his friends, lied to his parents and stolen his father's ID card. This simple, suburban defiance becomes the trigger in a sequence of events that escalate into a global catastrophe.
In this re-imagined recent past, Tobol cubicles have become ubiquitous – appliances which many adults use to seek solace from their problems. An automated combination of confessional and therapist. They seem innocuous yet prove to conceal an unimagined potential for harm.
When Simon arrives at school after his clandestine visit to the Tobol cubicle he feels triumphant. Disappointingly, Georgina is unimpressed. Simon is infatuated with Georgina. Her mother has disappeared, rumoured to have been murdered by her father, Joe. Her father's political group, the Aman Harkat, had been under suspicion for involvement in the Sydney Hilton Bombing. He is mistrusted and alienated by their community, fuelling Simon's fascination.
Reacquainted with Georgina in a chance meeting years later, Simon is drawn into her and Joe's world of loss, rebellion, fear and hope while they fight to learn the truth of Georgina's mother's disappearance in a world blinded by its addiction to religion and the easy access to Tobol's quick relief from their problems.
Simon's need to impress Georgina leads him to take a step which brings the true nature of Tobol to public attention. This is the trigger that results in mass murder and chaos. It's a disaster Simon personally feels he and his friends precipitated and one that may destroy any chance of discovering what really happened to Georgina's mother.
Simon's four year journey of self-discovery is shadowed by the development of Tobol from an accepted part of life into the means for a psychopath to commit mass murder. Simon's loss of innocence is mirrored by society's realisation that faith without evidence is dangerous. But will this lesson truly be learned?
Título : Tobol
EAN : 9781310684333
Editorial : Mark W. Richards
El libro electrónico Tobol está en formato ePub
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