Rogue Event
It is a strange, new world…The year is 2137 and Earth is united into one global organization governed by Central Corporate Command & Mainframe Control. People on the surface are primarily urban dwellers in great cities focused on various business operations that keep the world economy going. The surface citizens are organized in ranks based on their levels of productivity, expertise, and efficiency. These attributes are valued while other emotions are seen as disruptive and distracting. Gabriel Lawless is part of that corporate world and he does not fit in.
Two miles below the surface, Deep Station Power Plant Six provides the surface dwellers all the power they need. Boss Maria Henry manages her underground city of fifteen thousand miners who prefer their lives of work, freedom, and emotions far away from surface dwellers. All is well until a military intelligence team arrives unexpectedly from the lunar colony bearing startling news: the rogue planet hurtling toward them will pass outside their solar system as predicted a century ago, but the size and nature of the lone planet does not comply with the laws of time, space, and nature of this universe. Worse, the dark planet is already pulling at the sun’s energy while still five years away.
With central command and the surface dwellers seemingly not caring about these discoveries, Maria makes the decision to prepare of the worst-case scenario. But will she have time?
Rogue Event is a collection of six integrated science fiction short stories presented in under a hundred pages. The story arc looks at the approach of a massive rogue planet hurtling past our solar system from five very different perspectives. While collision is not possible, danger on a global scale is probable. (Published: November 6, 2015; Amazon: 978-1-942708-16-2: Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords: 978-1-942708-17-9)
Readers Favorite Book Review
Earth of the near future is not at all the grand and glorious place one would like to imagine. A vast and controlling corporate entity has virtually enslaved the populace who are trained to be productive, efficient, and compliant workers courtesy of the educational system and the pharmacological treatments that are mandated for all citizens, no matter their age or health status. There's a lunar colony that seems to have developed their own culture independent of the corporate entity controlling the surface dwellers, and a series of mines deep within Earth house other individuals who've given up the light of day, but have also retained a separate identity.
In 2134 AD, Gabriel Lawless and his two children were engaged in unproductive and illicit activity as they explored the ruins of a long abandoned university out in the country and away from the urban dwelling they call home. The three of them keep secrets from his wife, the children's mother; she would never approve of their adventures, nor would she condone them reading the old works of literature Gabriel and the children loved so much. His children would be going away to school, euphemistically called camp, the following year, however, and their adventuring would become a thing of the past.
J.M. Erickson's futuristic science fiction novella, Rogue Event, is a chilling look at a future where corporations have gone past having human rights and have stripped the populace of anything that isn't efficient and designed to further the interests of that vast corporate entity. I was chilled by the world the author envisions and saddened by the concept of a corporate state that has hints of the world Orwell feared and overtones of Patrick McGoohan's pioneering series from the 1960s, The Prisoner. Gabriel Lawless is a marvelous character and that opening adventure he shares with his children is enthralling. Erickson's plot is original and compelling, and his writing is a treat to read. Rogue Event is highly recommended. - (5 stars) Jack Magnus, Readers' Favorite
In J.M. Erickson’s Rogue Event, we are confronted with a new world order where productivity and efficiency are highly valued while emotions and the arts are suppressed. Under the Central Corporate Command & Maritime Control, people are classified as: the surface or urban dwellers, organized based on their expertise, production, and efficiency; the rural dwellers, workers in agriculture, farming, and power production; and those who settled in a lunar colony called Peary Crater, where they declared their independence in 2071.
A writer and a teacher, Gabriel Lawless is a surface dweller and is married with two kids. He tries to make his children appreciate outlawed books and the arts and has problems fitting in. In 2137, he finds himself estranged from his family and sent to Deep Station Power Plant Six, a power station two miles under the earth’s surface. Over a century ago, it was discovered that a large rogue planet was heading towards the outer edge of the solar system, but with no possibility of collision it was not considered that dangerous. But now that this planet is fast approaching, things do not turn out as expected.
Rogue Event is an engaging science fiction novel that paints a chilling picture of life in the 22nd century. Imagine our world where people are encouraged to be devoid of emotions and are brainwashed to be efficient and productive so that most of them behave like robots.
Author J.M. Erickson sends us a warning of what the world may become in the aftermath of the growing influence of the multinational corporations in government and the technological revolution that has now invaded most aspects of our lives. The story unfolds from the perspective of Gabriel Lawless, a non-conformist who will eventually lose his family in the process. With the world under the control of a corporate entity, his interest in books, arts, and past cultures simply has no place and is even considered dangerous. What makes this story highly interesting is that it is actually unfolding before our very eyes. Will the world eventually lose its soul in pursuit of productivity and efficiency? - (5 stars) Maria Beltran, Readers' Favorite
Rogue Event by J.M. Erickson is a great read. One of the big fears of the information age is that authority will use access to information to create a society of sheep. J.M. Erickson shows us one vision of what such a society might look like. It is chilling and all too possible. But don’t get depressed. Rogue Event is ultimately a novel of hope that demonstrates how, even in the most adverse conditions, some human beings have a way of rising to the occasion. Gabriel Lawless is an ideal father in a world where such a person cannot thrive. His story is one of many that unfolds in the wake of an extinction event that the corporate government of Earth refuses to acknowledge. This government is frightening in its casual inhumanity and a lot of people pay a huge price fighting it.
As a reader I was touched most by the scenes of Gabriel playing with his children while instilling a love of reading fiction in them. I was saddened by the fact that Rebekah, his wife and the mother of his children, never gets it, never really understands, even in the face of impending disaster. Rogue Event made me think about my life in China, where information is suppressed and spun to ridiculous and dangerous proportions in the name of social harmony.
Rogue Event is a powerful novel in the science fiction genre and J.M. Erickson has the potential to move up into the ranks of the greats. - (5 stars) Ray Simmons, Readers' Favorite