Derek Cressman

Reality (TM) 2048 Derek Cressman

An inquisitive woman goes through the motions of life in a not too distant Los Angeles that has lost its vivacity. Vera escapes her hollow world through searching deep within herself to avoid a deluge of commercial information. She develops the capacity for independent thought, falls in love, and must then avoid a seductive technology that could render her catatonic.

This post-Orwellian dystopian thriller explores how the truth drowns in a sea of alternative facts, verified information, and sensationalized politics. Instead of deprivation, censorship and doublespeak of 1984, we see a world where corporations fuel vapid consumerism and control individual thought through a barrage of advertising, propaganda, and addictive entertainment streamed directly into the brain.

More than pure science fiction, Reality(TM) 2048 is a political philosophy that challenge the tenants of Ayn Rand, globalism, and judicial activism with characters who confront the murky boundaries between rationality and emotion, objective truth and lived experience. Vera's journey explores how socially manufactured identity blocks what each of us can comprehend and asks whether democratic society can exist when we no longer believe anything is true. It's where reality TV and mindless pursuit of technology could take us if we cannot find ways to reconnect with the real world.