Today I’m happy to have a guest post by debut author Alex Hughes to share with you! Alex’s novel Clean, the first book in the Mindspace Investigations series, was released earlier this month, and this post gives some background on the world it is set in. Hope you enjoy reading about it!
A Quick Guide to the World of Clean
By Alex Hughes
- Tech Wars
Sixty years ago, the world was broken when a madman and his followers turned technology against the people. Cars turned against them, phones publicized all financial data, and the smart houses turned into prisons. People died in deliberate car wrecks, went penniless overnight, companies imploded, and your neighbors literally rotted in their homes. Even now, decades later, the people can’t forget. Any computer technology bigger than the chip that powers your oven timer is strictly forbidden. Of course, that doesn’t mean the power to make it doesn’t exist… - Fusion-Powered Flying Cars
Turns out you can modulate a small-scale fusion engine with a very tiny chip on the scale of that oven timer. And fusion is stable, relatively clean, and powers cars (and anti-gravity fields) very well. We’ve run out of fossil fuels, sure, but really, who needs them anyway? - Telepathy, etc. etc.
A small but significant portion of the population now has mental Ability. Sure, that means a lot of telepaths of various strengths, but it also means precognition, telekinesis, teleportation, and pyrokinetics. But that’s the fun part. - The Guild & Jurisdiction
After the Guild stepped up to save the world at the end of the Tech Wars, they’d earned themselves both fear and respect. They also won the Koshna Accords, where they get total jurisdiction over their members… and where membership gets compulsory at a certain strength of telepath. Born with Level Seven Telepathy? Welcome to the Guild, your new home/prison/family/collective. Mind the rules – they’re enforced swiftly and strongly. - Internet & Privacy Laws
Remember those cameras in public places? Gone. Electronic banking? Gone for the likes of us. The little Internet is still full of superviruses and scary things, and even email takes three days to go through Quarantine. It’s okay though. For the first time, this country finally has the privacy laws it’s always needed so desperately. - Pollution
Yes, the rain is carcinogenic, but with advances in medical science, they can take care of most of the cancers in an afternoon. Plus produce artificial organs if yours wear out. So the horrific pollution really isn’t so bad… - Lingering Technology
If you see Tech left over in your local reclaimed buildings, please report it promptly to the Tech Control Organization. We rely on citizens like you to help us keep these dangers off the street. Remember, a safe world is a Tech free world. Thank you.
About Clean:
A RUTHLESS KILLER—
OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
I used to work for the Telepath’s Guild before they kicked me out for a drug habit that wasn’t entirely my fault. Now I work for the cops, helping Homicide Detective Isabella Cherabino put killers behind bars.
My ability to get inside the twisted minds of suspects makes me the best interrogator in the department. But the normals keep me on a short leash. When the Tech Wars ripped the world apart, the Guild stepped up to save it. But they had to get scary to do it—real scary.
Now the cops don’t trust the telepaths, the Guild doesn’t trust me, a serial killer is stalking the city—and I’m aching for a fix. But I need to solve this case. Fast. I’ve just had a vision of the future: I’m the next to die.
About Alex Hughes:
Alex has written since early childhood, and loves great stories in any form including scifi, fantasy, and mystery. Over the years, Alex has lived in many neighborhoods of the sprawling metro Atlanta area. Decatur, the neighborhood on which Clean is centered, was Alex’s college home.
On any given week you can find Alex in the kitchen cooking gourmet Italian food, watching hours of police procedural dramas, and typing madly.
