The internet is gone! But only in the idyllic northwest coastal city of Nanaimo, whose citizens are now grimly compelled to relearn the ancient arts of face-to-face human contact. It’s all a mess. Entertainment is limited to barbecues, dancing, courtship and sports. And capitalism as we know it has devolved into a makeshift system of neighbours helping neighbours.
The centre of the event is a teenaged girl, Lucy, who is being tormented online and wants more than anything else to go to Harvard. Lucy is half alien, but doesn’t know it. Nor is she aware of her alien father’s incredible invention, ‘Charles’, the ubiquitous overseer and protector who triggers the cyber-calamity in a logical, chivalrous gesture.
As things get worse, an organised knitting collective, made up entirely of self-sufficient, elderly women, emerges from the abyss and takes over the functions of government. But it is Lucy’s father, and his billionaire best friend Aqua Sky, who save the day! How, exactly?
By convincing everyone to help them build a Stonehenge. AUTHORS: Chris Freye Hauch holds graduate degrees in anthropology and clinical social work, and has researched and worked professionally in both fields, mostly around disability issues and homelessness. The greatest part of his working life, however, has thus far been spent in executive positions in government which, of course, is a fertile environment for the study of irony and the absurd. Alastair McColl is a writer, software developer and sailor, with degrees in English, Philosophy and Computer Science. Alastair lives with his wife, two children and dog in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, on the north eastern shore of the Pacific Ocean. He is currently developing a novel which centres on social life, in a world where most employment is performed through artificially intelligent avatars
