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Unreality: a novel
‘Unreality’ centers on a young professional couple who realize that to attain the freedom they desire they need to leave the US behind. But even on distant shores, the forces they were trying to escape filter in and prompt a does the dream lie exclusively inside and, if so, can it be separated from the fears and anxieties that also dwell within? The story is set in four locations about 15 years in the future and told against the backdrop of a reality tv show the likes of which has never been seen.
Sometime between now and when this story occurs, the world of reality tv has had a comeuppance. Think the game show fixing scandal of the 1950s. Its reemergence frames ‘Unreality’ from the perspectives of the viewing audience, network executives, participants (both witting and otherwise), and society as a whole.
The book opens on a rehabilitated Great Lakes freighter now at sea in the Caribbean. The ship has lost propulsion. The seas are calm but the men on board are not. They've been on this creaking tub for a very long time and the idea that they might be on it for even longer could be the final straw.
Adults interested in why people do the things they do will want to read 'Unreality.' Some readers will be disgusted. Others will be exhilarated. Some even smugly satisfied. But in the end, feelings of this sort pass, and the truth emerges.
Put another way, ‘Unreality’ would sit comfortably on a shelf between ‘The Mosquito Coast,’ ‘Deadeye Dick,’ and ‘Black Coffee Blues.’
Sometime between now and when this story occurs, the world of reality tv has had a comeuppance. Think the game show fixing scandal of the 1950s. Its reemergence frames ‘Unreality’ from the perspectives of the viewing audience, network executives, participants (both witting and otherwise), and society as a whole.
The book opens on a rehabilitated Great Lakes freighter now at sea in the Caribbean. The ship has lost propulsion. The seas are calm but the men on board are not. They've been on this creaking tub for a very long time and the idea that they might be on it for even longer could be the final straw.
Adults interested in why people do the things they do will want to read 'Unreality.' Some readers will be disgusted. Others will be exhilarated. Some even smugly satisfied. But in the end, feelings of this sort pass, and the truth emerges.
Put another way, ‘Unreality’ would sit comfortably on a shelf between ‘The Mosquito Coast,’ ‘Deadeye Dick,’ and ‘Black Coffee Blues.’
285 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 23, 2023
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