Machine Dreams

by Joshua Mertz

Set in an ecologically wrecked late 21st century, this is the story of a 'street shark' who unwittingly becomes enmeshed in an all-out corporate war for control of a new broadcast medium that can... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0966166442
• ISBN13: 9780966166446
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Bald Mountain Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Citizens United

Worried that Citizens United might unleash corporate excess? Want to see where this could lead? Joshua Mertz shows where in Machine Dreams - the dark side of San Frangeles ... there isn't a light one. Teachers carry guns, rich geezers in wheelchairs own catamites (look it up, you won't be disappointed). Corporations have nukes. Fear, torture, sex, love, heroism in an only too plausible future. Mertz is a poet in prose. His writing is immaculate, his images sharp, his rhythm flawless. This is a beautiful book about a far from beautiful world, and the contrast is only one of its stirring components. Don't read it if you can't take the terrible truth.

A Thrilling Distopian Tale

Machine Dreams presents the reader a futuristic world that seems the epitomy of things gone wrong. Yet, it is a world that we cannot wholely disown for hidden in each scene is a tie to our present. Within this world is an action-filled story with many subplots, twists, and turns, including a horrifying surprise at the end. Machine Dreams is definately a good book for an exciting story and a stimulating perspective of the future.

A Terrific Debut From Joshua Mertz

Novelist joshua Mertz escapes many of the pitfalls of first-time sci-fi writers and creates a surprising and stunning debut with "Machine Dreams." Mertz thankfully knows that charactarization and plot need not be sacraficed for whiz-bang gadgetry and high tech concepts in this genre, and provides the reader with both compelling characters and fascinating ideas. Though some of the premises found in "Machine Dreams" seem familiar from other classic sci-fi works (the corporate political control of Robinson's "Mars" series, the clausterphobic urban sprawl of "Bladerunner," the total sensory technology of "Brainstorm"), Mertz manages to present enough new ideas and interesting twists to make his world of San Frangeles a unique place in the sc-fi lexicon. Anson Hockney, the main protagonist, comes across at first as an uneven and sometimes contradictory character, but what seems like a flaw on the part of an inexperienced writer instead reveals itself as a brilliant plot twist by the end of the book. Packed with action but never at the cost of believability, "Machine Dreams" is an actual page-turning thriller. But the real beauty of this book lies in Mertz' unique vocabulary; in his ability to make his world come alive at a sensual level through his choice of words, metaphor and analogy. Buy this book and enjoy it, and we'll all wait impatiently for Mertz' next offering.