Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Connected - a speculative science-fiction thriller by Simon Denman
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Connected - a speculative science-fiction thriller by Simon Denman
Synopsis
CONNECTED is a speculative fiction thriller with touches of science and philosophy, which reached No.1 in Amazon UK's Bestseller lists for both Thrillers and Science Fiction within 5 days of release.
Beginning with the funeral of a renowned classical violinist in a sleepy rural hamlet in the Lake District, a former theoretical physicist tries to make sense of his brother's suicide. Across the country, a university student, enjoying the unexpected attentions of an enigmatic seductress, is disturbed when his best friend falls to his death from the thirteenth floor of a neighbouring campus tower block.
As each tries to unravel the mystery behind the apparent suicides, they are drawn into an obsessive search for a computer-generated fractal video sequence, with startling effects on human consciousness, and which might just pave the way for discovery of the ultimate Theory of Everything.
However, they are not the only ones to have seen the potential of this mind-altering video, and soon find themselves in a desperate race against time with gangsters from the shadowy worlds of sex, drugs, cyber-crime, and massively multi-player on-line gaming.
Excerpt
As the coffin was lowered, the sky darkened and a gust of wind ripped through the churchyard, stirring the ancient trees and momentarily lifting the masks of reverent solemnity gathered
around the open grave. Peter studied the faces with a detached sense of curiosity. How well, he wondered, had these people really known his brother? His gaze came to rest on Isabelle. Even now - even through the tears - she looked beautiful. He tried to imagine the feelings welling behind those big brown eyes: anguish tinged with guilt, denial, loneliness - perhaps even anger. He shivered. His own feelings were somehow suppressed. His brother was in a box, about to be sealed away for an eternity in the damp, peaty earth beneath his feet, and yet he felt strangely calm, the whole service having washed over him like a dream from which he might awaken at any moment.
The call had come last Saturday as he and Abigail had been leaving for dinner. Isabelle had just returned home from visiting her parents in Paris to discover Martin’s lifeless body slumped before the PC with his headphones on. The initial appearance of sleep, supported by the half bottle of scotch on the desk, had faltered at the sight of an empty container of tranquilisers, and finally shattered at the touch of her husband’s cold, dead skin.
View all episodes
By Simon Denman, Author and Founder of Readers in the KnowSynopsis
CONNECTED is a speculative fiction thriller with touches of science and philosophy, which reached No.1 in Amazon UK's Bestseller lists for both Thrillers and Science Fiction within 5 days of release.
Beginning with the funeral of a renowned classical violinist in a sleepy rural hamlet in the Lake District, a former theoretical physicist tries to make sense of his brother's suicide. Across the country, a university student, enjoying the unexpected attentions of an enigmatic seductress, is disturbed when his best friend falls to his death from the thirteenth floor of a neighbouring campus tower block.
As each tries to unravel the mystery behind the apparent suicides, they are drawn into an obsessive search for a computer-generated fractal video sequence, with startling effects on human consciousness, and which might just pave the way for discovery of the ultimate Theory of Everything.
However, they are not the only ones to have seen the potential of this mind-altering video, and soon find themselves in a desperate race against time with gangsters from the shadowy worlds of sex, drugs, cyber-crime, and massively multi-player on-line gaming.
Excerpt
As the coffin was lowered, the sky darkened and a gust of wind ripped through the churchyard, stirring the ancient trees and momentarily lifting the masks of reverent solemnity gathered
around the open grave. Peter studied the faces with a detached sense of curiosity. How well, he wondered, had these people really known his brother? His gaze came to rest on Isabelle. Even now - even through the tears - she looked beautiful. He tried to imagine the feelings welling behind those big brown eyes: anguish tinged with guilt, denial, loneliness - perhaps even anger. He shivered. His own feelings were somehow suppressed. His brother was in a box, about to be sealed away for an eternity in the damp, peaty earth beneath his feet, and yet he felt strangely calm, the whole service having washed over him like a dream from which he might awaken at any moment.
The call had come last Saturday as he and Abigail had been leaving for dinner. Isabelle had just returned home from visiting her parents in Paris to discover Martin’s lifeless body slumped before the PC with his headphones on. The initial appearance of sleep, supported by the half bottle of scotch on the desk, had faltered at the sight of an empty container of tranquilisers, and finally shattered at the touch of her husband’s cold, dead skin.