SFF

Busted Synapses

by Erica L Satifka
Broken Eye. Nov. 2020. 104p. ISBN 9781940372587. pap. $14.99. SF
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Set in the near future where humans are economically irrelevant and engineered humans reign supreme, this novel is a great, prescient what-if scenario about the potential for humans to be more than just humans. Wheeling, WV, residents Jess and Dale have two things in common: lowpaying drudgery jobs and debt. Dale has a side job—selling a drug that allows him and others to enter violent, virtual simulations for the entertainment of Island residents. When Alicia, a New Woman from the Pittsburgh Development Zone Island arrives in town, seemingly running away from a perfect life, their lives will take a trajectory that neither expected and both will be faced with life-altering decisions
and revelations.
VERDICT A superb example of dystopian, cyberpunk f lash fiction that echoes William Gibson’s Neuromancer, this volume may be slim but it packs a punch. Satifka (A Punk Rock Future) magnificently weaves an in-depth world that is entirely believable (and possible) and that is a fast, but great, read. Readers of dystopian sf will especially love this irreverent take on the darker side of the virtual world and the move toward transhumanism.
Reviewed by Laura Hiatt, Fort Collins, CO , Nov 01, 2020

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