By turns heart-stopping, hilarious, and profound, here are ten rollicking tales of action and technology - from the (co-)author of the ARISEN series and the acclaimed philosophical cyber-thrillers THE MANUSCRIPT and PANDORA'S SISTERS.
These stories ripple with two-fisted gunplay, white-knuckle computer hacking, and the absurdity of high-tech existence. But beneath the surface, powerful themes underpin the action: the effects of science and technology on our understanding of philosophy and religion (and sex); the quiet capitulation of isolated young men and women who are very handy with computers, guns, or both; and the meaning of our commitments to other people, especially when things begin to fall apart.
Praise for Michael Stephen Fuchs
"Just what a technothriller should be: taut, violent, smart, and very, very technical. As if The Da Vinci Code were written by someone who wasn't an idiot." - Cory Doctorow
"Guns, blackmail, computers, unfathomable corruption, angry young Taoists, and a bloody quest for a mysterious manuscript. Fuchs seems to operate on the narrative principle of 'when in doubt, put in a firefight.'" - Kirkus Reviews
"Once the guns come out, it switches gear into a dream-like actioner where characters discuss favourite automatic rifles, perform startling feats of derring-do, and bust caps in various asses. Definitely worth a look." - Dr. Ian Hocking, author of Déjà Vu
"Some writers leave you thinking they know things we ordinary mortals don't have access to. Fuchs is stupendously talented." - Crème de la Crime
* When the shit comes down in a California civil unrest, one man is tooled up and ready to rock - but soon finds himself driving his motorcycle into a flaming roadblock with a mysterious federal agent chick on the back firing an assault rifle over his shoulder...
* Nice-guy hitman Johnny Chen knows that when things don't go well, they go very poorly - and the only way out of the gunfight on this rooftop is straight over the edge and into the lion's den...
* A corporate takeover in the topsy-turvy world of the dot-com boom leads a burnt-out sysadmin to start confusing the Nerf missile launchers with more dangerous toys...
* An elite (plus hot) Silicon Valley cryptographer finds her job on a collision course with government black-ops - and all hell breaking loose with Chinese and Israelis in a balls-out firefight in her company's server room...
* Nice-guy hitman Johnny Chen knows that when things don't go well, they go very poorly - and the only way out of the gunfight on this rooftop is straight over the edge and into the lion's den...
* A corporate takeover in the topsy-turvy world of the dot-com boom leads a burnt-out sysadmin to start confusing the Nerf missile launchers with more dangerous toys...
* An elite (plus hot) Silicon Valley cryptographer finds her job on a collision course with government black-ops - and all hell breaking loose with Chinese and Israelis in a balls-out firefight in her company's server room...
These stories ripple with two-fisted gunplay, white-knuckle computer hacking, and the absurdity of high-tech existence. But beneath the surface, powerful themes underpin the action: the effects of science and technology on our understanding of philosophy and religion (and sex); the quiet capitulation of isolated young men and women who are very handy with computers, guns, or both; and the meaning of our commitments to other people, especially when things begin to fall apart.
Praise for Michael Stephen Fuchs
"Just what a technothriller should be: taut, violent, smart, and very, very technical. As if The Da Vinci Code were written by someone who wasn't an idiot." - Cory Doctorow
"Guns, blackmail, computers, unfathomable corruption, angry young Taoists, and a bloody quest for a mysterious manuscript. Fuchs seems to operate on the narrative principle of 'when in doubt, put in a firefight.'" - Kirkus Reviews
"Once the guns come out, it switches gear into a dream-like actioner where characters discuss favourite automatic rifles, perform startling feats of derring-do, and bust caps in various asses. Definitely worth a look." - Dr. Ian Hocking, author of Déjà Vu
"Some writers leave you thinking they know things we ordinary mortals don't have access to. Fuchs is stupendously talented." - Crème de la Crime
