Guest Post by Christopher Keast author of Datapocalypse

Hello awesome readers, I have a treat for you today, a guest post by Christopher Keast, author of Datapocalypse. It’s a very unique book on my TBR, let me know in the comments if you’ve read it or if you’re adding it to your reading list!

“Datapocalypse is a poetic attempt to bring together science fiction, international intrigue, comedy, romance and dystopia in articulation of a fierce exaggeration of our destiny.”

Enjoy the following guest article by the author.

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

A blurb by Datapocalypse author Christopher Keast…

I was touring Europe and found that too many people held up smartphones and cameras in front of their eyes that not only blocked our view of Italy and Greece’s wondrous sites, but also got me thinking about the state technology and the rabid photo-seeking habits we all have. For instance, why don’t people want to see things with their eyes? So, my wild imagination ran amuck and out of it came a story called Datapocalypse.

Datapocalypse?! What’s this guy’s beef with technology? You might ask. Well, nothing really. So long as it doesn’t enslave those it purports to help or provide conveniences to. Let me explain…

Like any good idea, new technology needs to have safeguards and controls—even some regulations (sorry libertarians!)—to ensure it doesn’t have a runaway effect that diverts from its benefits and leads to unintended consequences (or maybe intended consequences if you’re a conspiracy theory buff). It reminds me of a mushroom patch growing fervently in front of eager mushroom pickers’ eyes, except the mushrooms are poisonous and nobody knows it yet. Okay, maybe that’s a little melodramatic but I aim to entertain as well as get a point across.

This is kind of the theme behind Datapocalypse, not that I’m offering any spoilers here since I strongly recommend you read it for yourself (I had to say that!). A theme where unintended consequences of peoples’ actions combined with hyper-advanced and unconstrained technology takes control of our world. It’s a dystopian analysis, or what-if scenario. There’s an interesting quote written by famed sci-fi novelist Neil Gaiman from his foreword of Fahrenheit 451 who said:

“…What speculative fiction is really good at is not the future but the present—taking an aspect of it that troubles or is dangerous, and extending and extrapolating that aspect into something that allows the people of that time to see what they are doing from a different angle and from a different place. It’s cautionary.”

I’d say most writers in the speculative fiction genre, myself included, prescribe this in one way or another. I do feel that some parts of technology—software and Internet paradigms especially—can take peoples’ attention and precious time away from witnessing the true beauty of the world. Like social media invoking fervent and excessive picture taking and posting online. It kind of dilutes the whole essence of our sense of sight, literally. Really. Think about it and tell me if I’m wrong. But after seeing all the data storage my smartphone uses for pictures and videos, I’m starting to think a purge is warranted. Just take this scene from Datapocalypse:

Pulling up a seat across from Wotely, Kicis then said, “Basically, the need for storage space is somehow purging real-life objects so humans can’t aggregate any more.”

Wotely chuckled, then said, “Do you know how crazy that sounds out loud?”

“Less crazy the more times I say it.”

“But what this means, what it signifies, is utter madness,” Wotely said.

“Madness, like this…” Kicis whipped out his Celesti-π and showed Wotley the device’s (smartphone) reaction after he uploaded a bunch of pics to Soma in real-time. This time it cleared the table as it jumped up and onto the floor. It was spared by the thick case Kicis had recently equipped it with, but still made eerie and violent noises after it hit the ground.

All that said, I recognize that technology has provided many conveniences too. Why, just look at the self-publishing industry. It allows people like myself who may stand little chance of landing a traditional publishing deal for their novels—due to the MAJOR competition out there—to, at least, attempt to get our stories out into the world on our own. I must admit, as a newer author, I’m still struggling with this but as you keep reading and resonating with what I and others like myself write, then I’d call that a success in and of itself! If you decide to read and review Datapocalypse or any of my upcoming short stories, for example, then that’s wildly successful for me!

With all the progressive technologies out there helping emerging writers including Kindle Direct Publishing, IngramSpark, Reedsy, StoryOrigin and a very long list of others, everyone’s inner-writer can now come to life. There’s a success story from technology proliferation! Just be careful what you upload to the cloud…

I’ll leave out all the other stuff in Datapocalypse about buildings disappearing, tongue-in-cheek dialogue and rogue AI. That, you’ll need to read for yourself. If you need further convincing, please check out my book trailer: https://youtu.be/tyv8l_IuYdg

Thanks for listening. Keep reading and supporting indie authors.

Peace, love and datapocalypse,

Christopher Keast

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

 

Author Bio:

Part engineer, part musician, part poet; a focused writer. Christopher spends his early waking hours writing science and speculative fiction before beginning work as a renewable energy engineer. He recently self-published his first full-length novel, Datapocalypse (available on Amazon) and is working on several other works including Eye for Ego, Viralpocalypse and The Fulcrum. He is an up-and-coming author living in Port Dover, Ontario, Canada with his wife and daughter.

Links:

Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
StoryOrigin

 

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

 

Datapocalypse
Cyberpunk, Science Fiction
Pages: 298

Blurb:

In the not-so-distant future, as the world’s digital freight-train rolls right into its inevitable threshold of physical data storage limits, strange things begin to happen. At the same time, Kicis and Anna are each at a philosophical crossroads. The two of them collide under most inauspicious circumstances: things begin to disappear. As they try to find the meaning and reasons behind it—helping others to avert disaster—as though trying to solve the final riddle plaguing humanity, has a tipping point been reached in the bounds of Earth’s physical constraints? Or is it simply the beginning of the Datapocalypse?

A novel on the throes of artificial intelligence creeping a little too much into our lives along with the continuous feeding of our picture-taking appetites. Datapocalypse is a poetic attempt to bring together science fiction, international intrigue, comedy, romance and dystopia in articulation of a fierce exaggeration of our destiny.

 

■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■

 

---

 

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.