Future.Con
 Nowick Gray
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2000 Xlibris Corporation
 ISBN: 0738829803

Future.Con is about a computer programmer in Philadelphia, virtual reality & a computer virus. It's also about a person taking a deeper look at his lifestyle & quality of life, from the inside out. In this way it's a universal story.

It's a novel of alternative reality in many forms. The main character has to come to terms with his life choices & he's challenged to do this by a computer virus-program which appears to be the villain, but which might be, in retrospect, considered helpful.

While I am still green at reading books upon my monitor & so cannot speak from expert experience, I can say that I shall not readily abandon the printed word. With all the hours of writing I do spend at my computer, reading a book is a form of R&R - there I am in a comfortable chair with its textures at my fingertips & a lifetime skill of turning pages.

Notwithstanding, I delved into Nowick Gray's Future.Con to see the adventure flicker before my eyes, of a rather lost soul stumbling through both personal & professional relationships & to whom a strange & unconnected presence makes itself known.

Into the clutter of his semi-numbed emotions & semi-boggled mind, intrudes another life form like a bat, at dusk, flitting on the periphery of your vision. Cryptic messages appear in odd places, his automobile takes on a life of its own & his trusty PC seems different.

Future.Con is a strange, meandering read. For a first solo effort, it has promise & it does grow on you.

In print from Nowick Gray: Roots Jam : Collected Rhythms for Hand Drum and Percussion

For more from Nowick Gray check out my Interview with him.
(10/08/00)

Rebecca