Novel #4: Dream Hackers

I have recently completed my fourth novel, Dream Hackers, a fictional futurist story set in the year 2099.

Our story is set in a future of Haves versus Have-nots. The Haves are the elders, whose lives have been extended through science. They own the vast share of the world’s wealth, food, and water supplies. The Have-nots are the impoverished young adults residing in squatter cities who have been organized into a devastating army of computer hackers.

Medical, computer, and scientific advances began in the first decade of the century, expanding life expectancy exponentially to the point where extended lifespans became the standard. As a result, the world population is heavily tilted toward wealthy seniors who live as long as they choose.  This dystrophic civilization spawns a cold war where the elders are under constant attack, having their life savings, wills, health records, property -- and even their dreams -- hacked by aggressive youths. This gripping action-adventure story follows four main characters as they seek a peaceful solution to conflict, only to learn that there are greater forces of evil behind this worldwide clash.

Brenda and Clem Wellman are 100-ish-year-old seniors, living in retirement in the charter city of New Mesa, Arizona when they are financially and psychologically attacked by the hacker army. Brenda, a pampered 99-year old former beauty contestant, is fearful of youths, robots and aging. Clem is a former educator and reluctant hero of the senior defense movement who has been targeted for dream hacking.

Park, a 40-something, ladder-climbing, conniving, trash-talking, computer-hacking youth, joins the ComGen (Computer Generation) as a personal vendetta against his wealthy Minneapolis parents. His base of operations is located in the squatter City of the Dead in Cairo, Egypt. Park becomes the ComGen’s most effective dream hacker.

Alexander Joseph resides in Edinburgh, Scotland as head of Mergers and Acquisitions for the Royal Bank of Scotland. As an ex-Navy SEAL turned stodgy British subject, he is recruited by the bank’s CEO to secretly infiltrate the ComGen and discover those responsible for hacking the RBS seniors’ bank accounts.

André is an almost-French domestic robot working and residing in the Wellman home in New Mesa. Due to his loyalty to Clem he is caught up in the battle between the elders and the ComGens. In his adventures outside the Wellman home he encounters danger, intrigue, robot makeovers, bigotry, and Halloween costumes.

The ComGen young adults want a quality of life equal to that of their elderly parents, with homes in upscale charter cities.  They long for a return to family unity and to the pleasures and comforts of fresh food and water.

The elders want their selfish, isolated lives back without conflict and to live out their days in comfort.

This is an action-adventure, science-based, fast-paced, decidedly prophetic novel that assumes scientific evidence of today and rams it relentlessly into a perilous and high-speed future.