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| The Future Is Artificial |
Take One: Cheryl Davies’ sci fi novel Automation
takes social media, reality TV and online gaming to a whole new level –with
deadly results.
Take Two: In the near future, our love of gaming and
reality TV combines. Gameworld is the result: a Truman Show/The Sims-inspired
digital world so realistically portrayed that the games have a hard time
separating the game from reality. Each gamer controls a character in a game
that operates like the most addictive soap opera. Each character looks and acts
like a human being with all of our emotional intricacies in place. There
appears to be no difference between the characters in the game and people in
real life.
And there might not be.
The drama surrounds two of the gamers and their characters.
When one gamer has relationship problems, he becomes jealous of the perfect
relationship of his character. He decides to ruin it, not realizing the effect
that it will have on the owner of his characters girlfriend. The dominoes fall,
putting the two owners on a crash course toward one another.
The novel also has its mystery involving the true nature of
the characters and the secrets of their ‘existence.’ I can’t say much without
giving away the details.
End Take: This is a solid debut novel from Cheryl
Davies. She is able to lay out her futuristic world without getting muddled in
unnecessary or overloaded details, but still paint a picture that easily translates
to the reader. She does well in fleshing out her characters –one wonders if it
is on purpose that the gaming characters are more likable than their human
counterparts. Selfish human nature and the culture of voyeurism are strong
themes that she presents without beating the reader over the head with the
message.
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