An all-new original science-fiction thriller from Mark W. Tiedemann, bestselling author of the ISAAC Asimov Robot Mysteries: Mirage and Chimera, with a special e-book tie in. America 2050 is a very different place. In the wake of a triumphant isolationist movement and a massive depression, state's rights supersede federal authority on all levels, and in the subsequent balkanisation of ecomomy, class, and politics, getting anything done in the 'national interest' is a tortuous, nearly impossible task. For Grant Vozcek and Reva Cassonare, working for different, normally uncooperative agencies, overcoming these barriers takes on a personal edge when a Treasury agent is found murdered in St. Louis. They must work together to find the killers, and the reason behind the killing. What they discover leads them through a maze of political and corporate collusion involving currency fraud, graft and the systematic harvesting of people who cannot defend themselves because they do not legally exist. For Grant and Reva, failure would not be simply unacceptable, failure would be a felony of conscience.
I began wanting to be a writer, and veered off into photography in high school. This was probably a good thing, since there were no decent instructors in either in my school, and I was rather bad at the writing. I became fairly good at photography. All my pursuits have had public aspects--art, music, literature. I'm something of a ham when I have an audience, but I'm self-conscious about my abilities. Nevertheless, I love the doing. I attended Clarion in 1988 where I finally learned how to write and also made some of the best friends of my life--Kelley Eskridge, Nicola Griffith, Daryl Gregory, Brooks Caruthers, Peg Kerr--and gained a decade of wisdom in six weeks (at least it feels like that).
I could have done none of this without my partner, Donna, to whom I owe what happiness I have--and I think I have quite a lot.
