Mind Fuck by Manna Francis (Science fiction)

This isn’t an easy book to summarize, and for once, I think the book’s blurb actually does a good job:

There are no bad guys or good guys. There are only better guys and worse guys.

One of the worse guys is Val Toreth. In a world in which torture is a legitimate part of the investigative process, he works for the Investigation and Interrogation Division, where his colleagues can be more dangerous than the criminals he investigates.

One of the better guys is Keir Warrick. His small corporation, SimTech, is developing a “sim” system that places users in a fully immersive virtual reality. A minnow in a murky and dangerous pond, he is only beginning to discover how many compromises may be required for success.

Their home is the dark future dystopia of New London. A totalitarian bureaucracy controls the European Administration, sharing political power with the corporations. The government uses violence and the many divisions of the feared Department of Internal Security to maintain control and crush resistance. The corporations fight among themselves, using lethal force under the euphemism of “corporate sabotage,” uniting only to resist attempts by the Administration to extend its influence over them.

Toreth and Warrick are more natural enemies than allies. But mutual attraction and the fight for survival can create unlikely bonds.

The story begins when Toreth and Warrick meet at a conference where Warrick makes a presentation about the new sim technology being developed by his corporation. A proposition by Toreth leads to sex, but in Toreth’s mind, that doesn’t constitute enough involvement to turn down a case involving SimTech. A student intern at the corporation has been found dead while using the sim, and the similarity to a previous death that was ruled accidental is enough to bring in I&I.

Mind Fuck is actually the first novel in a series of stories, of varying length, which make up The Administration series. I first read it online, and it is still available to be read for free. I’ve been in love with this series for a few years now, so I was delighted to find that a dead tree version is now available.

I ordered Mind Fuck and its sequel directly from Casperian Books, a self-publisher small press. I was a little concerned about the quality of the books, and the shipping time, since they ship only through US media mail. I needn’t have worried; the books arrived in exactly three weeks, reasonable for a package shipped from the US to Canada. The editions are wonderful, with beautiful covers and a crisp, clean internal layout that I find very pleasing, and very appropriate to the content. Each of the books came with a matching bookmark, printed with the book’s cover on one side, and the blurb on the back, which I thought was a very nice touch. I was also impressed with the quality; it’s my first time ordering online direct from a press, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.

Even the price was reasonable–$15 US apiece compares favourably to the standard Canadian price for trade paperbacks, and even with the shpping charge included, they were pretty much equal to what I’d pay at an ordinary brick-and-mortar bookstore.

Mind Fuck is set in the near future, and has some of the best science fiction world-building I’ve ever read. Although the technology is new, most of it is clearly the result of believable advances in today’s technology. There is mention of terraforming of Mars and of deep-sea habitats, but the only new tech that gets any focus is the sim. And what a shiny new piece of tech it is.

The way the author writes about it, you would think she had already built and programmed a sim system herself. Without going into tedious detail, she gives an amazing idea of the scope of the sim project and the limitations and liabilities that come along with it. It really is hard to believe that no such system exists in the real world. That it all came out of her head.

The same is true for all the day-to-day details of the world of The Adminstration; from criminal law to corporate contracts, a few well-placed details make the Administration so real it’s hard to believe it doesn’t exist. The characters, too, though they are so different from anyone I’ve ever met or imagined, are walking, talking, breathing people so alive I wouldn’t be surprised if they walked off the page and into my living room.

I’m not a fan of police procedurals, nor dystopian fiction, nor books with graphic sex scenes, yet this novel is all three, and somehow I love it because of, rather than in spite of, those traits. Part of it is that Mind Fuck is, at its foundation, a difficult, fascinating, engaging mystery. The first time I read it, yes, I wanted to know what happened to the characters, and more about the world, but I also wanted, quite desperately, to know the solution to the case. When the book did give me the answer, it was perfectly satisfying, even though I hadn’t seen it coming.

The police procedural format is, surprisingly, one of my favourite aspects of the book. I find the world of the Administration fascinating, and no part of it more so than its criminal investigation procedures. Toreth is also a great viewpoint character, because his thoughts about his interviewees and the about the policies he has to follow are always amusing.

As for the dystopia aspect…Mind Fuck isn’t 1984 or Brave New World. It’s not a cautionary tale, and both Toreth and Warrick are more privileged than victimized by the system, so I find it interesting rather than depressing. The sex scenes, although they are graphic, are not gratuitous. When sex is shown, it always advances the plot or deepens our understanding of the characters in some important way.

I could write much more about how utterly amazing this book is, but ultimately, all I really want to say is: go read it. As I said above, it is available to read online for free, or you can buy a print copy directly from Casperian Books, or from Amazon (though the author and publisher get a bit more money if you buy direct from Casperian.)

Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, Manna Francis, R.I.P. III, The Administration