I loved Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. The classic sci-fi movie Blade Runner is loosely based on the story, but they are both great works in their own separate mediums. You can always tell when something has an impact on the culture. In this case, we have all heard of the term “electric sheep.” So that became part of the title of my fourth Liquid Cool novel. The other part is “massacre”—don’t worry it’s in virtual reality so no real blood and guts (though we do have some rather gruesome deaths). But are the electric sheep being massacred, or are they doing the massacring? That’s what you have to read to find out.
There are two unique aspects for this Liquid Cool novel. First, it is very much like a travelogue. Our hero detective, Cruz, isn’t just in Metropolis in this story. He’s goes to many places including London Prime—the city of London in the future. Cool! He also visits Atlantis and the novel opens with a “trip” to the Hinterlands. “Is that a tiger?” Yeah, that’s what a character asks in that chapter.
What is the other unique thing about this novel?
Cruz has dealt with all kinds of villains, but this time he deals with one who is just plain…weird. The man may be funny-looking, but he is also deadly dangerous. Worse, is that Cruz doesn’t know why the nemesis (in a blond wig) is after him.
“Who is this crazy maniac after me?” Cruz asked. “And I don’t even know why!”
Yes, Cruz has a lot of craziness in his life, but it doesn’t all have to do with clients and criminals. Does he ever have issues with his parents-in-law, which he finds all kinds of “pet names” for. In these Liquid Cool novels, he gets married and, soon, has a kid on the way. So it’s not all bad.
Blade Gunner (Liquid Cool Book 2) introduced a group who wanted to create (and impose) an AI controlled society. In Electric Sheep Massacre (Liquid Cool Book 3), we meet another group of idealists who want to create their own utopia on Earth. In both cases, all that ensued was a lot of death and destruction.
Blade Gunner, NeuroDancer, and The Electric Sheep Massacre arrive March 2017!
P.S. Don’t blink because the last line in The Electric Sheep Massacre drops a clue to the next exciting Liquid Cool novel. But you have plenty to enjoy until then. Here are the current Liquid Cool novels—the cyberpunk detective series in a high-tech, low-life world.
These Mean Streets Darkly (A Liquid Cool Prequel)
Blade Gunner
NeuroDancer
The Electric Sheep Massacre
Austin Dragon is the author of over 30 books in science fiction, fantasy, and classic horror. His works include the sci-fi detective LIQUID COOL series, the epic fantasy FABLED QUEST CHRONICLES, the international futuristic epic AFTER EDEN Series, the classic SLEEPY HOLLOW HORRORS, and new military sci-fi PLANET TAMERS series. He is a native New Yorker but has called Los Angeles, California home for more than twenty years. Words to describe him, in no particular order: U.S. Army, English teacher, one-time resident of Paris, ex-political junkie, movie buff, Fortune 500 corporate recruiter, renaissance man, futurist, and dreamer.
LATEST RELEASE: THE OFFICIAL FABLED QUEST BESTIARY
