Without Disruption by Carrie French

 

Release date: January 10, 2022

Subgenre: Dystopian science fiction

About Without Disruption:

 

In pursuit of a different life, Harrison leaves everything behind – his family, his community, and even his own name. He can never go back.

Global society is united with a simple guarantee: everyone can achieve stable, lasting happiness for one hundred years in a curated lifestyle that brings them joy. Well… not unlimited joy, just mild contentment. No more, no less.

Every element of life is controlled by Vie – an AI system that is worshipped as divine. She guides members into ‘harmony’ with in-ear alerts, retina screens, and vast, immersive simulations.

Harrison is ambitious and impulsive with a curious habit of recalling hazy memories that never happened. The course of his life is punctuated with hasty decisions, emotional compromises, and genuine attempts to play by the rules.

He’s not only running out of options; he’s running out of time. Is Harrison’s will strong enough to break Vie’s authoritarian hold? Or will he finally learn to settle for mediocrity, just like everyone else?

The threat of ‘eviction’ is looming, and Harrison’s death day might come sooner than he thinks.

For fans of Alduous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Lois Lowry, and Ira Levin, this thought-provoking dystopian novel sparks questions about the diversity of joy and the resilient fight for independence.

Excerpt:

 

I looked down at my naked body and saw the mangled threads of discolored flesh — all that remained of my scorched arm. Swallowing back the rising bile in my throat, I stood up and began to spin my attention around the room. My search for a door kept my attention away from the injury.

I was nearly sick again from the thought of it.

“During process, you will feel no pain.” Vie’s voice echoed and filled the small, square room, which was sealed with glossy white metal on every surface.

I didn’t feel any pain. I also didn’t physically feel anything at all. My breath didn’t blow across the tiny hairs inside my nostrils. The bottom of my feet didn’t make sensory contact with the floor. Was I dead?

I rotated again with dizzy unease. I couldn’t make sense of what I was really looking for. An exit? A distraction?

“You have reached the end of this lifecycle, but you will start again.”

The voice sliced through me and dragged a helpless chill down my spine. It explained a condensed version of everything I already knew and laid out the web-like pattern of a soul’s lifecycle. The speech droned on, fading numbly into the background of my awareness.

I no longer knew if I believed any of it, but I hoped it was true. I prayed to Vie, the system, or whatever this really was. This couldn’t be the end for me.

“Harrison, you did not find harmony in this cycle. In harmony with time and for the sake of all humanity, you must move forward without disruption.”

This exact same phrase had played out thirteen times over the course of my life, but never like this… For the first time, Vie’s timbre was ice cold, and it wasn’t posed as a question.

“The system is designed to carry memories forward through your final transfer. In order to preserve and save this evidence for future reflection, you may dictate a record of your experiences. When you are finished, speak the phrase, ‘Process my soul into the next cycle.’”

I stood in dazed silence until the stillness was broken by another message. With uncaring persistence, she echoed the script word for word.

How long do I have left? How long can I survive in here?

Vie repeated the message three more times, but I didn’t know how to respond.

My first instinct was to work out a plan and force my will toward a solution, but I was emotionally drained, enervated, and completely exhausted. There was nothing left to do.

As instructed, I recounted the story of my life — first hesitantly, then settling into a rhythm of remembrance.

“I had a pretty normal childhood… and, um, yeah… some experiences stand out… but everything worth remembering really set into motion on the day of my seventeenth birthday. That was the first time I had harmony in my grasp and mindlessly threw it away…”

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About Carrie French:

Carrie French was born and raised in Oregon under a perpetually cloudy sky. It rained while she wrote her first book Without Disruption too. She has nearly a decade of experience as a freelance copywriter, and she writes for brands around the world. You’ve probably read her work while shopping online, but you’d never know it. (Funny how marketers don’t get a byline...) Carrie also enjoys playing the oboe, sipping whiskey, filming YouTube videos, and going on long runs through the countryside.

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