The Shift

Contributing to a dramatic new virtual-reality television series, writer Alex Munn dabbles in his own virtual-reality creations in his spare time and must run for his life when one of his violent characters escapes. Original.

Set in the not-so-distant future, this latest by the author of Challenge and Asia Rip is a compelling noir mix of science-fiction thrills, virtual-reality wonders and 19th-century horror. When Alex Munn accepts the job as head writer for a new virtual-reality television show, Real Life, he is frustrated that his own virtual creation, Munn's World, has been passed over. The executives at Television City had no interest in a show about an 1850s New York City serial killer known as the Fishman because he disembowels his victims. But before Real Life can air its first episode, Alex's own world is turned upside down when his estranged wife, Larissa Love, is found brutally murdered, leading Alex to believe that the Fishman has somehow escaped from Munn's World and followed him into the present. What ensues is an absolutely terrifying adventure filled with plenty of plot twists that most readers won't anticipate. Alex faces jail and the loss of everyone and everything he loves unless he can pinpoint his tormentor. Foy has created an intricate thriller that science fiction and historical fans alike will relish, one that combines elements of The Alienist and Lawnmower Man. (July) ~ FYI: Among many other jobs (designing CD-ROM games, traveling through Afghanistan with arms smugglers), Foy has worked as a commercial fisherman, hence "Fishman".
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

New York XTV scriptwriter Alex Munn staggers drunk through most of his life, having written the first few episodes of a new soap, Real Life, destined to be the first virtual reality broadcast. In his spare time he's created another virtual reality, Munn's World, too gritty and authentic to interest XTV, set in 1850s New York, where participants track down a serial killer known as the Fishman--he slashes his victims as though he's gutting a fish. Neither can Alex handle separation from his beloved wife, actress Larissa. Worst of all, a gang of Asians toting automatics and carpet-cutters are trying to kill him! Then he stumbles into Larissa's apartment and finds her dead--tied up and mutilated as if by the Fishman. Alex's alibi is weird poet Kaye Santangelo, with whom he danced naked on an East River barge before descending into an alcoholic blackout. After being jailed, nearly murdered again, then dramatically escaping, Alex approaches his XTV buddy, computer whiz Zeng, who helped set up Munn's World--only to find Zeng slaughtered, Fishman-style. Someone else clearly has access to Munn's World, but why the elaborate and gruesome frame-up? Kaye discovers the explosive truth in the first episode of Real Life- -which Alex can't even remember having written. Grimly effective New York scenes--both old and new--blend with convincingly extrapolated virtual realities in Foy's (this is his sixth outing) tautly plotted, highly colored cyber-thriller. Still, there are drawbacks: It's overlong and overweight, and the present- tense narrative, no matter how fashionable, doesn't help. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Just when it seemed cyberspace was wearing out its welcome, along comes this fresh and powerfully imagined new take on the coming video revolution. In the ratings-hungry entertainment world of near-future New York City, Alex Munn is a rising young "xtv" producer whose forthcoming virtual reality^-based series, Real Life, promises soap opera junkies full interactivity in three dimensions. Already bored by the show's cliched characters and predictable plots, Munn spends increasingly more time on his unsponsored pet project, Munn's World, a crime drama that tracks a serial killer through the seamy underworld of 1850s Manhattan. Neither Munn nor his video-engineer assistant, who adds the random factor to the show's programming, is prepared for what happens when the serial killer begins making his grisly presence felt in the everyday world beyond xtv's electronic margins. Munn's deliciously glib narrative voice and an irresistibly compelling story line are key elements in making Foy's stunningly vivid, all-too-plausible vision of the next wave in entertainment media one of the best cyberspace vehicles since Gibson's Neuromancer and a deserving candidate for every major sf award. Carl Hays