Sci-fi

Distraction

by Bruce Sterling
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3.004 ratings10 want to read · 7 read

Description

It is the story of a once great nation coming apart at the seams while an unending spectacle of politics, science, sex, and corruption has everyone too busy to notice.... It's November 2044, an election year, and the state of the Union is a farce. The federal government is broke, cities are privately owned, the military is shaking down citizens in the streets, and Wyoming is on fire. The last place anyone expects to find an answer is the nation's capital. Washington has become a circus and no one knows that better than Oscar Valparaiso. A master political spin doctor, Oscar has been in the background for years, doing his best to put the proper spin on anything that comes up. Now he wants to do something quite unusual in politics. He wants to make a difference. But Oscar has a skeleton in his closet: a grotesque and unspeakable scandal that haunts his personal life. He has one unexpected ally: Dr. Greta Penninger. She is a gifted neurologist at the bleeding edge of the neural revolution. Together Oscar and Greta know the human mind inside and out. And they are about to use that knowledge to spread a very powerful message: that it's a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. It's an idea whose time has come...again. And once again so have its enemies: every technofanatic, government goon, and reactionary laptop assassin in America. Like all revolutionaries, Oscar and Greta might not survive to change the world, but they're determined to put a new spin on it.

What it’s like

ViolenceStandard
CombatIncidental
HorrorCreepy
SpiceFade-to-Black
ProfanityModerate

Awards

1 win

Details

First published
October 1998
Pages
544
Reading time
About 11 hours
Format
Novel
Audience
Adult
Publisher
Spectra
Language
English
ISBN
9780553576399
Series
Standalone

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