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Chameleon: The Virtual Reality Virus
Programmer Joe Norton awakes to an alternate reality, courtesy of an AI mind-control virus, a crash course in tough love.
Is there someone to blame—Moira, his office mates, the honchos from head office? Get used to it, the only way out is to go further in.
Caught between worlds, with a mission to kill and a menu of false choices, Norton must find his way back to the home brain, and the promise of a new life, before the bug spreads. Published in an earlier edition as PsyBot , Chameleon is recast in Vancouver in 1992. More than a retro reboot of the cyberpunk era, this timely dive into the underworld of black ops reveals the interface of an emerging transhumanist agenda. This noir blend of Crichton, Dick, and Lem with Vonnegut, Borges, and Calvino beckons with its “surreal, bizarre” imagery and “beautiful, unique prose, blurring genre and literary fiction.” Pick up your copy today by clicking the Buy Now button at the top of this page.
Is there someone to blame—Moira, his office mates, the honchos from head office? Get used to it, the only way out is to go further in.
Caught between worlds, with a mission to kill and a menu of false choices, Norton must find his way back to the home brain, and the promise of a new life, before the bug spreads. Published in an earlier edition as PsyBot , Chameleon is recast in Vancouver in 1992. More than a retro reboot of the cyberpunk era, this timely dive into the underworld of black ops reveals the interface of an emerging transhumanist agenda. This noir blend of Crichton, Dick, and Lem with Vonnegut, Borges, and Calvino beckons with its “surreal, bizarre” imagery and “beautiful, unique prose, blurring genre and literary fiction.” Pick up your copy today by clicking the Buy Now button at the top of this page.
302 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2020
About the author
Nowick Gray
48 books21 followersNowick Gray writes in a variety of genres, each work teasing the dynamics of choice among multiple realities: whether romantic relationships, plot endings, murder suspects, virtual worlds, alternate timelines, narrative loops, stylistic colorings.
Nowick works as a freelance copy editor, performs and teaches West African drumming, and enjoys nature photography. Educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Victoria, he taught in Inuit villages in the Arctic before carving out a homestead in the BC mountains. In more recent years he calls Victoria, BC home, while wintering in tropical locations.
Nowick works as a freelance copy editor, performs and teaches West African drumming, and enjoys nature photography. Educated at Dartmouth College and the University of Victoria, he taught in Inuit villages in the Arctic before carving out a homestead in the BC mountains. In more recent years he calls Victoria, BC home, while wintering in tropical locations.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2020
A new AI virtual reality game is out, and programmer Joe Norton is itching to take his turn in trying out the new virtual reality. The only problem? The game is as mysterious as it is insidious and armed with his rifle, with only one bullet and a boat load of bad choices, Joe must figure out the endgame and how to disengage from the game before all is lost forever. Trapped in this game as well as his dreams, Joe also struggles with discerning reality from imagination. This book is a reworked version of a previous story.
As I have not read the previous book, I can only talk about this version that I have read. The book reminded me a bit of the movie Insomnia albeit with a virtual reality twist. While the story was interesting, I found it moved along slowly at times and I was as confused as Joe on whether a situation was real or imagined.
As I have not read the previous book, I can only talk about this version that I have read. The book reminded me a bit of the movie Insomnia albeit with a virtual reality twist. While the story was interesting, I found it moved along slowly at times and I was as confused as Joe on whether a situation was real or imagined.
July 11, 2020
Chameleon seems to defy and deflect all attempts at placing it in a genre. It is a cyberpunk, futuristic story, set in the past, and involves rogue artificial intelligence, virtual reality, conspiracies, odd timelines, and the blurring between what is real and what is virtual.
That may sound like a recipe for confusion, or an attempt to the author to obfuscate a thin plot, but this book is strong on plot, character development, and holding the insane sounding story together. A rogue computer virus cannot derail any of the fun of reading this novel. I would highly recommend this to anyone—especially if you are a lover of good sci-fi.
That may sound like a recipe for confusion, or an attempt to the author to obfuscate a thin plot, but this book is strong on plot, character development, and holding the insane sounding story together. A rogue computer virus cannot derail any of the fun of reading this novel. I would highly recommend this to anyone—especially if you are a lover of good sci-fi.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews