Hi everyone. Today I am featuring "Failsafe" by Jeff Sylvester. This Science Fiction Action Thriller is available for preorder right now and you can get it purchased below. Check out Jeff's guest post and book details below.
The world runs on code, but not all code is safe.
The World of Failsafe
If you were to judge a book by its cover (and of course, we all do!), you’d think that Failsafe is a cyberpunk novel. It’s understandable, because David Leahey created an amazing piece of art that fits solidly in that genre, and I couldn’t turn it down. However, cyberpunk expects a dystopia, and I didn’t want to write in a dystopian world. Not that I don’t love a good dystopian setting, but lately it feels like most of the science fiction I’ve read recently presents worlds where everything has fallen apart, and if I’m honest (and why wouldn’t I be!), it all feels a bit exhausting. I grew up reading Asimov, and his envisioned futures were always a mixed bag, and I love that.
But if I didn’t want a dystopia, neither did I want a utopia. The world we live in has its flaws, its progress, and its regressions, and that’s what I wanted: a future where some things have improved, and others have gotten worse. To Anna, this is a normal world, and an acceptable one, but it’s not all roses. That feels real and relatable to me.
Where Anna’s world has gone wrong is reflective of the things I worry about, and where it has improved reveals some of the hopes I have. One of my beta readers accused me of cribbing from The Expanse for having basic income, but UBI is a concept that has always intrigued me, and my characters view it as a positive thing, which isn’t necessarily the take found in The Expanse. I honestly wasn’t even thinking about that series when I wrote Failsalfe, I’ve just always hoped UBI could be a part of a better future. Other positive developments in the world of Failsafe are lower pollution, better public transportation, and less marginalization of minorities. These are some things I can wish we’ll have solved a hundred years from now.
On the flip side, the politics are bad in Anna’s world. Democracy doesn’t exist in the US, and corporations have taken over and fused with the government to render people powerless. The leader of the country might be someone who is generally a decent person with policies people like (and keeps them from rebelling), but it still isn’t healthy. Food is a particularly problematic issue because of topsoil erosion, which I’ve learned is a contemporary issue we may not be talking about enough.
During the writing of Failsafe, my wife introduced me to the idea of regenerative farming, which emphasizes practices that heal the land rather than exploit it. This drove me to create a world where corporations had done the opposite, destroying natural food for all but the elites. This is where the novel gets most dystopian. It’s also where I learned a thing or two.
As it happens, one of the earliest readers who gave me feedback on Failsafe owns a ranch and raises cattle. His initial reaction to my future prediction of rampant topsoil erosion was to find it unrealistic. This prompted me to ask “what would we have to do to create a topsoil crisis in the next 100 years?” and I did some research. It turns out, the eye-opening answer is “nothing.” At least some who work in this field believe that if we don’t change our ways, we’re going to end up with very little topsoil in the next hundred years. I shared my findings with that reader and his eyes were opened too. It makes me wonder why we don’t hear about this issue more!
At the end of the day, I didn’t want an oppressive setting for Failsafe. I wanted one with problems that need to be solved, but also with improvements that we read about and think “I hope for a world like that someday”. If I’ve struck the right balance, it should be a place that feels familiar, yet evokes both fear and hope. And while it’s a world with problems that cause Anna troubles, it’s also one she finds worth fighting for.
Failsafe
by: Jeff Sylvester
Genre: Science Fiction Action Thriller
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The world runs on code, and not all code is safe. This is why Anna Flynn has a job.
Matter Manipulation Devices alter the physical world, turning dreams into reality. But some dreams are treacherous, and the streets are filled with mods that manipulate matter in illegal and dangerous ways.
As a seasoned MMD agent, Anna fights back against the criminals who misuse these devices and traffic in illegal mods. When she intervenes in a plot to assassinate one of the world's most respected political leaders, her methods draw the ire of her superiors, and she finds herself under investigation from her own agency.
Increasingly isolated and unsure whom she can trust, Anna works to unravel a conspiracy that would unleash the worst potential of matter manipulation technology on the world.
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Jeff Sylvester
Jeff Sylvester has been a professional software developer most of his life, but also enjoys writing and creating music. He and his family live in Suwanee, GA.
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