Escape...Beyond the Lindens

Imagine a country in which one in six of the population is either an official member of the hated secret police or hapless informers forced to spy on their friends and families. To escape from their repressed society, some sought any means possible to do so. Some were successful but most were not. And if found, all those involved in the escape attempt were sent to a feared secret prison where they were interrogated and possibly tortured, mentally and physically. These types of stories did happen; and not too long ago. This fictionalized account follows several families and individuals who risked their lives in these escape attempts in the months leading to the historic moment that the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.

John G. Jung is an award-winning registered professional urban planner, urban designer, professor, and economic developer. He originated the "Intelligent Community" concept in the early 1990s and continues to serve as the Intelligent Community Forum's leading visionary, co-founder and Chairman. He has headed up key portfolios and initiatives in global cities such as Toronto, Calgary, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Waterloo. Author and global keynote speaker at such events as Rio's TedTalks, Mobile World in Barcelona, APEC in Beijing, Ottawa Writer's Festival, and Global Forum conferences in Europe, he has led global business missions, workshops, design charrettes and is active teaching, consulting and participating in city-building initiatives. John is co-author of "From Connectivity to Community"; "Brain Gain"; "Seizing Our Destiny'; and "Broadband Economics" available at: https: //www.intelligentcommunity.org/books and chapter author of several other books on cities and urbanism such as Streets for All: 50 Strategies for Shaping Resilient Cities; and over 100 published articles and blogs on technical topics related to cities, climate change, artificial intelligence, human-centric design, etc. Black Rock, A Sound in the Night, All Around the Circle, Last Tree Standing, and Eden 2084 are some of John's current fiction offerings.