Dream War [Kindle Edition]

Stephen Prosapio (Author), Irina Ivanova (Illustrator)

Book Description

Decades ago, the CIA developed the technology to enter our dreams and extract information. It was just a matter of time before they took things a little too far...

DREAM WAR
1980. Hector Lopez joins a CIA enterprise capable of entering dreams and extracting information. Lopez saves hundreds of hostages' lives by dream-linking to terrorists and foiling their plans. When the Red Brigades, an Italian terrorist group, kidnaps a US General, Lopez and his team execute every technique available for extracting information--including one that links our world to a dimension never meant to be discovered.

Present Day. The Sogno di Guerra--a Red Brigades sect--plans the slaughter of millions. And they've the help of Luzveyn Dred, the entity ruling the dimension the CIA inadvertently opened a portal to--the Spatium Quartus.

Aided by an aging expatriate, a recovering alcoholic, and a mysterious girl, Lopez must overcome memories of past failures and defeat evil--in this world as well as in a dimension of nightmares.


Genre: Science Fiction
Secondary Genre: Thriller
Word Count: approximately 85,500 words
Page Count: approximately 352 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A spooky, imaginative novel that takes a universally-fascinating concept and turns it into a delirious adventure." --Isabela Morales, The Scattering

Dream War is often gripping on a level that is visceral...Prosapio weaves together the disparate threads of science fiction, espionage, historical fiction and even a touch of Christian mythology into an ambitious, well-paced story. --Oxification

"Comparisons to Michael Crichton are spot on." --Geoffrey Edwards, author of Fire Bell in the Night

"Fun, fast paced and original escapism!" --Dana Fredsti, author of Murder for Hire: The Peruvian Pigeon

"Strong characters, vivid descriptions, and the highest possible stakes. It's original in both plot and treatment." --Dale Cozort, author of Exchange

About the Author

Stephen Prosapio received his Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science from DePaul University in Chicago. Dream War was a top-five finalist of 2,676 entries in Gather.com's 2007 First Chapters contest. Stephen resides in Oceanside, California.

His next novel Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum is scheduled for release by Otherworld Publications in June of 2011.

Product Details

• File Size: 549 KB
• Print Length: 314 pages
• Publisher: Noble Publishing; 1 edition (July 14, 2010)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B003VTZXAY
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #235,223 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and Creative! July 27, 2010

By TMoney

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

With all the copycat novels and "follow the leader", it's rare to find unique perspectives and stories in fantasy/science fiction these days. The world created in Dream War looks a lot like our own, it even shares some of our history, but it's just a bit different in ways that are wildly creative and entertaining. This book pulls you in and doesn't let go until the last page. And even then you don't want to leave the characters that you've come to know and care about.

Dream War begins back in 1980 just after a new form of terrorism (state sponsored terrorism) had reared its ugly head with the takeover of the American Embassy in Iran. The CIA pulls US Marine Lt. Hector Lopez from a mission to rescue the hostages (Operation Credible Sport - an historical military operation which was aborted) and puts him to work at the Oneirology Institute of America (the OIA to train him to dream link for the purposes of extracting information from the minds of terrorists. The OIA is fictional, but Prosapio uses historical hijackings in 1981 to dramatize the plot.

Later, he weaves another historical event, the kidnapping of US Army General Dozier by the Italian Red Brigades, into the story. And these references aren't gratuitous, they seamlessly blend with fiction (much the way Michael Crichton did) to provide realism to the story. As the story moves into the modern day plot by a (I hope) fictional Italian terrorist group, the Sogno di Guerra (Dreams of War) an offshoot of the Red Brigades, we see the connection of the fictional to the real world, but by then this intricate story has enthralled us in its language and the characters.

I won't give away the surprises in the book, but suffice it to say you'll be kept on the edge of your seat. I read early excerpts of this novel when it was in an online contest in 2007 and am happy to say that it was worth the wait!

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Lackluster, but readable September 17, 2011

By Kevin Loveridge

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book ended up being totally different than what I expected it to be, and I was let down. The premise was fairly interesting, but the plot unfolded like the author was making it up on the spot. The characters were underdeveloped and I found myself not caring about what happened to any of them. There were moments in the book where I felt the author intended a scene to be powerful, but I felt them to be trite and cheesy. Aside from the subject matter, any comparison to King or Crichton is inaccurate. Crichton would have explained how the technology worked and make it believable, and King would string out the horror and make the antagonist truly blood curdling. All that being said, I didn't hate this book, and I think it would be good for a high schooler or a mass consumer of pop fiction.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad at all... July 5, 2011

By Travis Stein VINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

With this being my 2nd Kindle book and for $2.99, I wasn't sure how good or bad Dream War was going to be. As it turns out, I was pleasantly surprised. Dream War starts out in the 1980's where the CIA is rumored to be developing experimental technology capable of entering people's dreams and extracting information from them. Enter Lt. Hector Lopez, a marine soon to be turned into the CIA's newest recruit to lead their dream link technology. At first, the intentions of the dream link branch of the CIA, known as the Oneirology Institute of America are to help defend and protect the innocent via dream linking and for a while it goes quite well. Lt. Lopez saves the lives of hundreds of hostages by dream linking into the minds of terrorists and foiling their plans. However, things begin to go awry when a U.S. general is kidnapped by an Italian terrorist group known as the Red Brigades. During one of these dream-link operations into the minds of one of the higher-ups of the Red Brigades, a mysterious portal opens and a entity known as Luzveyn Dred appears and offers Lopez the chance to join him with the promises of rich rewards. Lopez declines and the future of mankind slowly spirals down from there. Unintentionally, Lopez and his team have inadvertently opened up a portal to a dimension with horrific consequences that no one could have foreseen. After the first few years of the missions, Luzveyn Dred begins to appear more and more in the dreams of Lopez and his fellow agents. As team members start dropping like flies after dream-linking missions, Lopez begins to sense something is wrong but what?

Fast forward to the present day, as a off-shoot of the Red Brigades known as Sogno di Guerra plans to murder millions. However, the Sogno di Guerra aren't your regular terrorist group bent on slaughtering innocents. They claim to be the on-earth army of the entity/ruler (Luzveyn Dred) of the Spatium Quartus - a dimension that the CIA/OIA opened up a portal to over two decades ago via dream-linking.

Along with a retired Hector Lopez, a recovering alcoholic and his mysterious step daughter... Lopez must now overcome his past failures and demons and battle evil not only in the real world, but against Luzveyn Dred in the Spatium Quartus before it's too late for humanity.

Overall, this book was a nice surprise and talk about a bargain! It reminded me of a lot of different ideas from past movies and the Bible. You have your elements of The Matrix, Inception, and the biblical wars between heaven and hell all weaved into what turns out to be a pretty good novel. With the battles between Luzveyn Dred and Lopez and his team, they bear a very obvious resemblance to those of heaven and hell in the bible. Even if you're a self-proclaimed atheist, the religious aspect of Dream War doesn't detract from the story. I'll say I definitely enjoyed this book from Stephen Prosapio. As an author, it seems like he's on the right path and I look forward to reading some of his future stuff. As for the ending, it's not a cliffhanger but a definite tease that the battle with Luzveyn Dred just might not be over yet. If the next possible book is anything like Dream War, I certainly will be picking up a copy.

-Travis S.

P.S. On a side note, what is the deal with the garbage reviews for this book? I'm talking not only about the bad reviews, but also the good ones. When did we as a society become so lazy and start to write 2-5 sentences while not even reviewing the book? Yes, we know you enjoyed and Prosapio pleasantly surprised you... but the point is to review the book, lol.

More About the Author

Stephen Prosapio was born in Louisville, Kentucky and grew up in Chicago. He received his Bachelors of Arts degree in Political Science from DePaul University.

After reporting for one of the nation's largest fantasy football websites, footballguys.com, Stephen wrote his first novel, Dream War. Competing against 2,676 other novels, it won a Top Five Finalist award in Gather.com's 2007 First Chapters contest. Dream War was released as an eBook in July of 2010. Articles about him and his writing have been featured in the San Diego Union Tribune, The North County Times, Today's Local News, San Diego Magazine and the DePaul University Alumni magazine.

Stephen's second novel Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum is a paranormal suspense novel about a paranormal researcher--who is himself possessed--forced to team with a rival TV ghost hunting show investigating a 19th century asylum. He uncovers as many dangerous secrets as he does spirits.

Stephen resides in Oceanside, California. He is currently crafting a sequel to Ghosts of Rosewood Asylum that chronicles the Xavier Paranormal Investigators next case.