NEW WORLD TRILOGY
(NEW WORLD TRILOGY)
Olsen Jay Nelson
Copyright © 2012 Olsen Jay Nelson
All rights reserved.
First edition: December 2012
Approx. 91K
Note from the author
It would be really appreciated if you could leave a review after finishing this book. If you like it, leaving a review is the best thing you can do to support it and to ensure that it has a chance to reach other like-minded readers. On the other hand, if you don’t like it, leaving a review may assist like-minded people to avoid it; negative reviews also contain the potential of attracting readers who don’t care about the things mentioned or think that they may be unfair or unjustified, which is sometimes better than having no reviews.
Moreover, if the negative review is particularly pathetic, a more sympathetic reader may be inspired by this to write a supportive review, thus getting the ball rolling in the right direction. In any case, the worst thing you can do for the book and my writing programme in general is to do nothing, particularly when there are no or very few reviews, and you like the trilogy and the direction I’m heading with my work.
I don’t want to depend on people I know — I don’t know that many people, anyway; I don’t want to depend on soliciting reviews from other authors — it’s a pathetic game of cat and mouse and a waste of my time, anyway; I don’t want to purchase reviews in bulk from someone on Fiverr, etc., in order to gain visibility and popularity du jour — I’m more interested in building a readership over the long-term. I’ve watched a lot of titles rise because of friends, family, colleagues, puppetsocking (writing your own review via someone else’s/another account), author comrades, and fraud; some or all of this is commonly seen as necessary to get the ball rolling.
Unfortunately, only a small amount of readers seem to care about how a title they like gets to them; most seem simply to need a lot of reviews or a threshold amount present in the opening stages, perhaps ten or so. It sometimes works; but in most cases, more reviews are better than less or none, the latter being what you’ll find for most of my titles at Amazon.com at present — as of March 2013, I only have a single two star review. Nevermind. Having said that, I still think that opening with reviews is a vice. I prefer to publish my titles ‘naked’ because, eventually, if you write and publish enough and consistently, you’ll need to. Furthermore, if you publish with intent and build a strong backlist, you won’t need to worry about reviews … over the long-term. The idea of the long-term is important there…
I just want to write as much of the best SF that I can in the coming years and see what results. Hopefully, some readers will respect and support that … eventually. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll know how gamed, corrupt and tasteless things can get. But if you haven’t, and you stick around, you’ll find out soon enough.
You’re bound to come across me again and again in the months and years ahead if you continue to use the SF sections at Amazon; I’m just getting warmed up. If you don’t like my work, then I apologise about these future annoyances. But if you do like what I write, then I hope you can support my work at some point by writing a positive review.
All the best!
Description
This title contains the complete NEW WORLD TRILOGY, which includes DAY ZERO, AGENT ZERO and NEW WORLD respectively.
Set in a near-future dystopia, DAY ZERO and AGENT ZERO trace the events leading to and following the World Revolution and the emergence of the struggle towards New World Dynamics, which is examined further in NEW WORLD.
Blog reviews
The following are excerpts of the reviews of AGENT ZERO and DAY ZERO by Aidan Taylor at aidan-taylor-editing.blogspot.com.au:
“[Agent Zero] is a very intelligent speculative fiction …”
“This is a short story of nearly 16,000 words with a chilling end, and well worth the read for anyone interested in the direction our future is currently progressing into.”
“Day Zero takes a much closer look at the quality of life in the mid-21st century and some of the terrible things to be expected should we continue down the path we are taking in the present.”
“Both books are very intelligent reads and spoken from an academic standpoint. These books are highly informative, chilling, and motivating for those of us who care to see the future change, and I am eager to read more in this series.”
“Though not for light reading, I would recommend these books to anyone active in positive change for the future, and to whoever asks what can be done to avoid a dystopian future; also to get a few good ideas as to what should be done to avoid it.”
“I would like to emphasize the difference between sci-fi and speculative fiction. Olsen Jay Nelson's work is speculative fiction, written with as much rationality as can be applied to work pertaining to the future …”
“Unlike your typical sci-fi, a lot of thought and work goes into creating speculative fiction in order for it to be as realistic as possible; I find both stories to be frighteningly realistic.”
Table Of Contents
Note from the author
Description
Blog reviews
DAY ZERO
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
AGENT ZERO
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
NEW WORLD
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
DAY ZERO
(NEW WORLD TRILOGY)
Olsen Jay Nelson
Copyright © 2012 Olsen Jay Nelson
All rights reserved.
Third edition: June 2012
Drafted between September 2007 and April 2009.
Edited between May 2009 and June 2012.
Approx. 66K
Description
[SF context: DAY ZERO is near-future, high-tech, R&D, revolutionary, world system, dystopian radical speculative fiction with a very limited space presence.]
A jaded journalist abandons his profession in search of the truth and a means to disrupt the world system.
When Ikaros realises that there’s no future for him in his profession and that the safety of his urban enclave provides no genuine protection at all, he decides to take drastic action and dedicates himself to proceeding on his own terms, facing danger and resistance head on.
After fleeing the country with a vague plan, a raw desire for change and a lot to learn, Ikaros travels around the hostile, corrupt and deceitful world discovering the harshness of reality for himself and developing the desire to undermine the mounting antisocial ambitions of the elites.
The knowledge, resolve and opportunities he gains from his experiences propel him and his growing number of allies down a perilous path with the steadfast determination to disrupt the course of the future on a massive scale.
[DAY ZERO is either part 1 or 2 of the NEW WORLD TRILOGY. AGENT ZERO expands on a pivotal character featured minimally in DAY ZERO, and it also alludes to, and overlaps wit
h a few events and facts found in DAY ZERO. Due to this, both titles contain spoilers of varying degrees, so it can’t be said with confidence which one should be read first. Readers will only be able to make their minds up after the fact.]
Chapter 1
April 14, 2052
Ikaros walks towards the baggage claim area at JFK airport after suffering an early-morning, lower-orbital flight direct from Tokyo, albeit a short one. He had to check out of his hotel by 4 a.m. and only slept briefly beforehand mainly because his head was full of too many concerns about the next leg of his tour; consequently, he was exhausted during the flight and couldn't do anything much except vacantly watch bits and pieces of foreign language films without really reading the subtitles, glancing every now and then at the view of Earth below — the scene presented from such altitudes is something he's become used to over the past few years since taking his first ever flight, yet it never ceases to remind him to consider the severe and worsening circumstances that so many are forced to endure on the surface, which still looks so deceptively tranquil and beautiful from a distance.
Waiting patiently, he stands looking blankly at the baggage on the conveyor belt for a few minutes, then focuses on the little Japanese boy next to him who tries without success to jump onto it while being restrained by his impassive mother who's checking the inbox on her mobile. This prompts Ikaros to look at his own and finds that he's just received a message from a stranger. He skims it with sceptical curiosity. Henry Clay? "Who the …?" … a big fan … a synthetic oil tycoon from Texas … discuss a proposal … something that may interest you … "What? Yeah, right. Get the hell out of here!" he spits sharply, clearly forgetting where he is and loud enough for the little boy to overhear and look up at him with a grin; this is all tracked by his mother, who gives Ikaros a sharp judgemental glare as though she's about to scold him like an infant.
"Ah, sorry. The, ah …" he offers clumsily while pointing to his phone. Slightly disturbed and embarrassed by the interaction and not wanting to draw any further unnecessary attention, particularly from a parent who may have misrepresented the context but who still has a small amount of cause for anger either way, he quickly distances himself from them and hides behind a large tour group while deleting the message dismissively and wondering just how this Henry got his number, never having been contacted by a 'fan' on his phone before. Then, with relief, he spots his trolley case just before it passes him, leans down, picks it up and begins to make his way towards Customs, merging with the large stream of returning citizens and incoming visitors, many of whom Ikaros rightly assumes have half-baked 'covert' plans to overstay their visas — as is also assumed by the customs officers, no doubt. What Ikaros knows, but many of this type of visitor doesn't, is that, just about invariably, they'll more than likely be sorely disappointed with what they find, realise the nature of their ignorance, and even end up fleeing before long like so many others have before them. This thought would have made Ikaros grin sardonically at some point in the past, but not anymore; today he just observes the scene and tries his best to keep his thoughts hidden deeply behind an inscrutable visage, less prepared to give desperate people a hard time about what they do now that he's seen what he's seen, and for so long.
Two hours later
In his hotel room on Manhattan Island, Ikaros sits comfortably in his small bath with his eyes closed, thinking about various random things, including the weird conversations he heard on the plane that can only seem suppressive these days in a just-under-the-surface fearful kind of way to maintain the sense of normalcy. After this he also remembers another disappointing conversation he had with a reporter in Osaka, examines a few hopes and fears he has about his impending interviews, and then takes refuge in going over his itinerary for the next two weeks. Thoughts about Henry's message enter his mind; slightly more intrigued this time, he reflects on the situation for a while and considers various possibilities that could explain it. "A synthetic oil … a Texan?" he whispers. "What could he want with me?" Overcome by tiredness, he loses focus and, within moments, begins looping back randomly over some obscure events that quickly morph seamlessly into dreams that allow him to believe that he's still awake.
Sixteen minutes later
The old-fashioned ringtone of his room's phone irritatingly penetrates Ikaros's dreams by replacing the voice of some sarcastic and aggressive reporter with increasing severity until he's eventually brought out of his sleep poised and ready to punch him in the face. Still confused, he pulls tightly with both hands on a clump of hair until the roots tingle, but doesn't make any move to race to the phone; instead, he methodically gets himself out of the bath, grabs the towel from its hook and begins to dry himself while the phone rings out and he thinks about getting a New York breakfast, whatever that may mean.
Four minutes later
The phone rings again. This time Ikaros is standing by the window looking out at the surrounding buildings. He turns around and leans down to the bedside table and picks up the receiver. "Who's this?" he asks curtly.
"Ah, Ikaros, is that you?"
"Yeah, who is this?" Ikaros repeats in a soft voice with a mild Australian accent.
"I'm Henry. Did you get my message I sent earlier?"
"Ah, yeah … I did," Ikaros replies, surprised to hear from him. "Um, how did you get my phone number … and the, ah, hotel?"
"I'm sorry about being so forward, Ikaros, and I know you don't know me personally, but, like I said, I think I've got something you may be interested in … very interested in."
"I can't imagine what, though. You're an oil man, right?"
"Synthetic oil. That's right."
"Yeah, well … I'm not in the oil business."
"Hell, I know that. To be honest with you, Ikaros, I like your philosophy and …"
"You like my philosophy? How could that be?!" he asks, more than slightly perplexed that a Texan tycoon of any kind could ever like his 'philosophy.'
"What I mean is, you do what you want … you really do what you want, which at some level anyone's gotta respect."
"Unless, of course, I were a homicidal maniac."
"Well, yeah … admittedly. But you also keep the big picture in mind. Although I can relate to that in my own life, I have to say I've made a lot of safe choices over the years, or at least what many would call 'good business choices' or something, which I don't exactly regret as such, but I just know it's not enough … now more than ever. I think you know what I mean, right?"
"I'm pretty sure I do, yeah."
"And although many of these choices have made me a wealthy man …"
"A wealthier man."
"Yeah, okay, Ikaros, I'll accept that. I still think there have to be things done in this world that are bolder than just the good choices, and particularly the desperate choices. I mean, if we're ever gonna make the necessary changes."
"Or at least try."
"Let me ask you… Are you happy with the way things are heading?"
"Who could ever say they are? I'm not interested in saving or restoring the status quo; that would be ridiculous … particularly these days."
"Mm, there's a certain brand of insanity that keeps that long-dead horse animated."
"It's animated but dead?! Look, I'm not really interested in standing here listening to what you've come to realise about the world. What's your point?"
Unintimidated, Henry laughs heartily at the other end of the phone, and Ikaros notices from the tone and manner of it that Henry finds his audacity curiously appealing, which makes Ikaros want to hear him out.
"Okay, Ikaros, have it your way. I'll cut to the chase. I've got a multi-billion-dollar funding offer waiting for you down here, and I'd really like it if you could find the time to pop in on your stateside tour at some stage so we can go over the details, see if you'd be interested in taking it on or not. It's pretty basic: I provide you funding so you can do your programme your way … no interference, period. And no one need know about it except you and
I. I'll make sure of it; you can count on that. How does that sound?"
Ikaros remains silent while staring down at the traffic below. "'Multi-billion' isn't what it used to be, you know?"
"This multi-billion is; I can assure you. Don't concern yourself about that. What I'm talking about is more than enough. Having said that, I know my 'sales pitch,' as it were, won't impress you, so what I wanna do is send you my details and everything you'll need to verify that I'm who I say I am and that I'm genuine; then you can decide what to do with that from there, okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Um … I'll have a look and think about it. That's about the best I can do, though."
"Wouldn't expect anything more from you, Ikaros. I'll let you go, then. Have a nice trip. And it's been nice talkin' to you."
"Yeah, you too. Bye." Ikaros throws the phone casually onto the bed and looks out the window, leaning his head against it to get a better look at the buildings and the busy intersection a bit further down the street. He knows that this trip may be the first and last chance he gets to see Manhattan with all its over-exaggerated pretensions about being a retro-techno hybrid, a multi-cultural and economic hub, and a model city. It's obvious to many that it still sentimentally and vainly clings on to its former glory and lives in denial about its path into the likely futures.
NEW WORLD TRILOGY (Trilogy Title) Page 1
