Debut author Gregory Basham’s cyberpunk novel Cyberspace Void is available now. Subtitled A Set of System Failures + User Errors, it presents a set of five science-fiction short stories set in a dystopian, cyberpunk near-future.
Synopsis –
In a cyberpunk world where AI governs everything from love to war, humanity is beginning to fracture.
The void appears to be not too distant from the present, and yet, it is territory untraversed. Virtual reality simulators are more exhilarating and immersive than real life, and for a lonely boy of 12, the game matters more than anything, or anyone, else.
Androids, called silicons, walk the streets, occupying every role across the spectrum of society, from government advisor to superpartnerbot girlfriend. When a depressed college student loses access to his bot, he despairs as if he’s lost true love.
The CONINC mega corporation rakes in billions designing ASI, androids, and cybernetic implants. One of their sadistic, high ranking executives considers human beings to be as disposable as machines. Seeing this intense cruelty as weakness, a new member of his cybernetics design team plots his downfall.
Cyberspace Void is an interesting collection of stories that work very much as a cautionary tale on the advancement of technology, and our increasing reliance on it. They range from relatively small stakes, like a corporate drone struggling to deal with their obnoxious boss, to much larger scale political intrigue.
The most common theme across the various stories is the inhumanity of human beings. In a world increasingly reliant on technology, and the potential of synthetic/digital intelligence to take a prominent place in our future society, where other stories portent the fall of humanity to the rise of the machines, Basham shines a mirror on the real threat – ourselves. In our present day, we see corporate leaders and powerful politicians prioritising developing technology and development and adoption of AI over the well-being and secure future of the human race, and this tendency towards valuing tech and profit over human life is explored extensively in Cyberspace Void.
The stories follow characters from all walks of life. Where the scariest stories should be of the people that wield the most power, perhaps the most unsettling is the, potentially very real, story of a young boy corrupted by a reliance on technology. With virtual worlds becoming more viable, there’s a very real danger that the very young won’t be able to tell the difference between the real world and a digital one. If we let children play in an online world with no real consequences, how are they to learn lessons of self-preservation, and the value of life. Behaviours and habits they pick up in the safe virtual reality spaces will carry over into the real world, and they may well struggle to make the distinction.
Some of the other cautionary tales are a little more obvious, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t well presented and compelling. When a short story leaves you wanting to see more of the world and situation presented, that’s a good sign. The lack of an ongoing narrative might be unsatisfying for those who are looking to invest themselves in a world and experience a well-rounded story, but the nature of Cyberspace Void makes it perfect for reading in small chunks. Once you reach the conclusion of one story, you can put the book down and return several days or weeks later, and get straight back into the book with no worry about trying to remember where you left it. Cyberpunk, and sci-fi in general, lends itself well to short stories, as often there is a concept or situation worth exploring, but to pour it out over 70,000 words would be stretching the narrative a little too thin.
Cyberspace Void is a very enjoyable read, and as a calling card of sorts for author Gregory Basham, it is very effective. A superb piece of work, and a great start for a new author who clearly has a lot of stories to tell. We look forward to Cyberspace Void 2, which Gregory tells us is coming in 2027.
Cyberspace Void is published by Traveling Creative, and is available now in digital format on Amazon, or directly from https://www.travelingcreativemedia.com
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