Sleeper, Awake

Bob Rich

Jan 2021 · Modern History Press

About this ebook

Retired film star Flora Fielding was diagnosed with cancer. Her solution: she had herself put into suspended animation, and invested her fortune in cancer research. She expected to return to life in five to ten years -- but is awakened into an utterly different world, 1433 years later. Population is strictly limited to one million, but there is plenty of wealth for everyone. This new world is controlled by an AI called "Artif," whose power derives from implants in the brains of the all the planet's inhabitants. Why has Flora has been awakened now and who has designs for her new existence? Her very life and the control of planet Earth may rest in the answer to that question.

"Vividly written, Sleeper, Awake transports you into a world beyond comprehension, yet he presents it so well, it becomes plausible. Wonderful landscapes, incredible gadgets, love and a touch of poignancy, this book has it all. Like me, if you weren't a Sci-fi fan before, you will be converted after reading this book." --Barbara Tanner, author of Hannah's Choice

"As a dedicated environmentalist as far back as the 1970s, I found this book refreshing... Rich's portrayal of a new society, its inventions and innovations-all of them designed in harmony with the laws of nature-is nothing short of brilliant. This reader was captivated by the spiritual growth of the protagonists and by the wonderful devices they use in everyday living." --Florence Byham Weingberg, author of Unrest in Eden

"Sleeper, Awake is an unusual novel, full of clever inventions and the echoes of myths and older customs. The Norse Tree is there in spirit, so are Greek Icarus and the philosophy of the Frontiersman. Rites of passage are alive and well, and teenaged girls are still-well-teenaged girls. The ending is thoroughly satisfying, with the final scene putting the whole novel into a new and amusing perspective." --Sally Odgers, author of Elysian Dawn

Learn more at www.BobsWriting.com

From Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

Ratings and reviews

In Sleeper, Awake the reader encounters an alien and surreal Post Cataclysmic and Post Chaotic version of Planet Earth some 1,500 years in the future. The technologically advanced soceity depicted is conceptually challenging and its genetically and numerically controlled human population presents the reader with controversial and disturbing societal practices. Although human relationships have evolved for the better, Earth's society remains imperfect and its human emotions resonate with today's readers. The author, Dr Bob Rich, protrays feelings with compassion as well as gentle humour and gives hope for the survival of making and other natural species.

Most post-apocalyptic sci-fi novels evince a toxic wasteland infested with hideous blood-sucking mutants. The protagonist battles grimly to protect the few survivors, with death at every turn. In Sleeper, Awake, by Bob Rich, however, cancer-stricken Hollywood star Flora Fielding emerges after fourteen centuries of suspended animation into a high-tech garden of Eden, where Artif, an omniscient, artificially super-intelligent being convenes humankind’s every need. As Flora begins to acclimatise to her new reality as a pre-Calamity awakened sleeper into a concept-rich future-world of technological perfection, a familiar psychological quandary emerges in the form of old-fashioned jealousy that contravenes a significant 34th Century male-female relationship paradigm. Rich offers a uniquely-presented perspective of a society unaccustomed to violent emotion having to deal with it, which throws contemporary humanity’s darker urges into sharp relief, adding substance to the story and resonance to its title. 21st century sleepers should awake and accept that violence and greed on a grand scale is ruinous for all. Moreover, raised sea levels, radically altered landscapes and wild super-tropical weather throw the real 21st century climate crisis into sharp relief. While the plot lacks life-and-death struggle and a definitive romance, the many featured characters all fret and strut their moments. The fun for the reader initially is in conceptually grasping the 34th century linguistic nuances and the many inventively imagined hi-tech time and energy-saver devices. The real strength of the story lies in Rich’s evocation of future imagery and his contemporary warning about the climate crisis and the damage caused by those who lust for wealth and power. Sleeper, Awake is green science fiction. I am not sure if that is a genre. Maybe it should be one. This work would sit equally as well in any sci-fi fan’s bookshelves and on a middle-secondary English curriculum.

What a surprise for Flora! Flora has her body cryogenically sealed until a cure for breast cancer is found. Unfortunately, it seems they didn’t bring her out of it until 1400 years later! Imagine waking into a world where there is no starvation, no homelessness, no wars, no disease, no need for money. Talk about a reality check. Bob Rich’s well-written, well-constructed world is ordered, with definite rules, like: a population of no more than a million. How they pull this off reminds me of when I raised Alpine dairy goats. We carefully bred them to complement the characteristics considered to be the standard of perfection for the breed. In Sleeper, Awake, no one with physical deformities is allowed to reproduce. Sounds kind of controlling, doesn’t it? But, in this story, the control works very well for the people. As a matter of fact, that’s what they call the group that keeps things flowing smoothly: Control. Flora navigates her new world amongst a variety of unique characters, all very well developed and one-of-a-kind. The emotion is well done. The dialogue specific to each point of view character. But who are each of these people? What part do they play in Flora’s awakening? This world is peaceful. The people are well-educated, the children happy. Everyone is healthy. Is this world better than ours? Or an amazing expansion and development of its possibilities? And why is Flora awakened when she is? Why is she chosen over the 122 others who’d been cryogenically stored in the same way? Not tellin’. You gotta read this to find out.

About the author

In 1972, Bob Rich had young children, and a Ph.D. thesis to write up. He was bored with the project, and kept himself awake during his library research by reading about unrelated topics. He wanted to be able to predict the future for his kids, and so drifted to futurology. No, not Nostradamus or astrology, but the use of existing trends to predict the future.

The evidence was unmistakable. The coming world was horrendous. Resources then still plentiful such as cheap petroleum would become depleted, leading to hardships and even wars. This would lead to far more expensive and environmentally more damaging methods of supply. Air and water would be polluted, so that cancers, asthma, allergies and other severe health problems would become epidemics. Increasing global mobil­ity was bound to increase the rate at which new strains of diseases, and entirely new diseases would emerge, and even then, genetic engineering was a possibility, leading to the risk of releasing entirely new monster organisms.

He was aware of research on the effects of crowding on mammals, and predicted the breakdown of the family, increasing stress-related diseases like strokes, heart attacks and digestive ulcers, wars of genocide based on unreasoning hatred, addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling and anything else with the slightest promise of easing distress.

Horrendous weather events were guaranteed to become more frequent, and more severe.

In other words, he predicted today’s society.

Some details were still to come. For example, this was over forty years before scientific evidence confirmed that we are in the sixth extinction event of earth. Species are dying out at more than 1000 times the “back­ground rate,” and the numbers of many so-far not endangered species are plummeting. Of particular concern is the drop in insect and bird numbers, in part due to the climate catastrophe, in part to our insanity in bathing the entire planet in pesticides and other toxins. Destroy species at the base of a food chain, and the entire ecosystem disintegrates. And we are a part of nature, not apart from nature.

Since that time, Bob has never stopped fighting for a saner world, on the grounds that, when the Cataclysm comes, he can at least say, “It wasn’t my fault.” You can read about his proposed solution to humanity’s problems in his essay, How to Change the World (http://wp.me/P3Xihq-5).

Bob is the author of 18 books to date. You can inspect them all, and find lots of writing that is informative, challenging, inspiring — but never boring — at his blog, Bobbing Around 

(https://bobrich18.wordpress.com/).