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Alternate Realities - Fiction, Social Science Fiction, Thrillers
Empyre by Josh Conviser — book cover

Empyre

by Josh Conviser
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Overview

“Raw kinetic energy and blistering pace . . . a thriller for the new millennium.”
–James Rollins, author of Map of Bones and The Judas Strain

“Empyre is edgy, entertaining, and frightening. We can only hope the scary technology Conviser proposes is the purest fiction!”
–Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of Hunters of Dune

For decades, Echelon forced peace on the world. Freedom was a sham: Echelon wielded total, if secret, control. In the end, two bioengineered Echelon agents, Ryan Laing and Sarah Peters, brought the conspiracy down.

But there is no happily ever after for the liberators, or for humanity. With Echelon’s fall, a power vacuum is opened–and all hell breaks loose.

Now an outsider in the world he created, Ryan retreats into the wastelands of Antarctica and a life of isolation. But when Sarah is blamed for a series of terrorist attacks, Ryan must return to a world he wanted to forget. Could Sarah be responsible for these atrocities, or is she a pawn in a much larger game?

The answer lies with EMPYRE, a shadow organization at the center of the chaos gripping the globe. Ryan’s only hope is to uncover EMPYRE’s devastating secrets. The battle will drive Ryan and Sarah to the dark corners of the earth, to a floating, guarded city where the ultimate evil–and the ultimate plot against humanity–await.

“Josh Conviser’s near future is fascinating to imagine–and terrifying, because we might just be heading for it.”
–John Scalzi, author of The Ghost Brigades

Praise for Josh Conviser’s Echelon

“Imaginative and intuitive . . . Conviser mines and mints a nonstop stream of visual images.”
–Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files

“Bond level action.”
–SFRevu

Synopsis

“Raw kinetic energy and blistering pace . . . a thriller for the new millennium.”
–James Rollins, author of Map of Bones and The Judas Strain

“Empyre is edgy, entertaining, and frightening. We can only hope the scary technology Conviser proposes is the purest fiction!”
–Kevin J. Anderson, co-author of Hunters of Dune

For decades, Echelon forced peace on the world. Freedom was a sham: Echelon wielded total, if secret, control. In the end, two bioengineered Echelon agents, Ryan Laing and Sarah Peters, brought the conspiracy down.

But there is no happily ever after for the liberators, or for humanity. With Echelon’s fall, a power vacuum is opened–and all hell breaks loose.

Now an outsider in the world he created, Ryan retreats into the wastelands of Antarctica and a life of isolation. But when Sarah is blamed for a series of terrorist attacks, Ryan must return to a world he wanted to forget. Could Sarah be responsible for these atrocities, or is she a pawn in a much larger game?

The answer lies with EMPYRE, a shadow organization at the center of the chaos gripping the globe. Ryan’s only hope is to uncover EMPYRE’s devastating secrets. The battle will drive Ryan and Sarah to the dark corners of the earth, to a floating, guarded city where the ultimate evil–and the ultimate plot against humanity–await.

“Josh Conviser’s near future is fascinating to imagine–and terrifying, because we might just be heading for it.”
–John Scalzi, author of The Ghost Brigades


Praise for Josh Conviser’s Echelon

“Imaginative and intuitive . . . Conviser mines and mints a nonstop stream of visual images.”
–Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files

“Bond level action.”
–SFRevu

Publishers Weekly

Robert Ludlum meets William Gibson in this dystopian spy thriller, the sequel to 2006's Echelon. Five years after taking down the corrupt, world-controlling cabal known as Echelon, former intelligence agent Ryan Laing is faced with an even bigger task: stopping Alfred Krueger, a vengeance-obsessed bioterrorist who has turned Laing's ex-girlfriend, Sarah Peters, into an asymptomatic carrier of a deadly retrovirus that has killed thousands of innocents. Laing, a bioengineered marvel augmented with several eye-popping nanotech enhancements, is reluctantly drawn back into the clandestine world of operatives and assassins as he tracks down Krueger and tries to figure out whether Peters is a victim or a co-conspirator. Even worse, he finally has to confront the wreckage of his personal life. While the cyberpunk elements are somewhat formulaic and certain high-tech components a little far-fetched (antiproton guns, etc.), the Orwellian atmosphere, intricate plot lines and breakneck pacing make this cyberpunk/espionage hybrid a highly entertaining read. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Robert Ludlum meets William Gibson in this dystopian spy thriller, the sequel to 2006's Echelon. Five years after taking down the corrupt, world-controlling cabal known as Echelon, former intelligence agent Ryan Laing is faced with an even bigger task: stopping Alfred Krueger, a vengeance-obsessed bioterrorist who has turned Laing's ex-girlfriend, Sarah Peters, into an asymptomatic carrier of a deadly retrovirus that has killed thousands of innocents. Laing, a bioengineered marvel augmented with several eye-popping nanotech enhancements, is reluctantly drawn back into the clandestine world of operatives and assassins as he tracks down Krueger and tries to figure out whether Peters is a victim or a co-conspirator. Even worse, he finally has to confront the wreckage of his personal life. While the cyberpunk elements are somewhat formulaic and certain high-tech components a little far-fetched (antiproton guns, etc.), the Orwellian atmosphere, intricate plot lines and breakneck pacing make this cyberpunk/espionage hybrid a highly entertaining read. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Kirkus Reviews

Previously, in Echelon (2006), agents Ryan Laing and Sarah Peters managed to destroy the ultra-secret surveillance, command and control network by which means the United States arranged world affairs to suit its own interests. Now, alas, ECHELON has mutated into EMPYRE, with terrorism as its primary tool. Ryan, still full of the nanomachines that render him nearly invulnerable, climbs mountains in Antarctica. Sarah, obsessed with adding cyborg enhancements to her body, has blundered into the web of mysterious arch-spymaster Phoenix and his fanatical, brainwashed assassin Zachary Taylor. Unbeknownst to Sarah, Phoenix has turned her into a Typhoid Mary-so when she comes before EMPYRE's committee, Phoenix throws the switch, and Sarah exudes a plague that decimates not only EMPYRE but the entire CIA. EMPYRE's chief, Andrew Dillon, barely survives and orders CIA loyalist Frank Savakis to grab Sarah and Ryan, who share a link through their implants. Dillon tortures Ryan, partly from revenge, partly because he thinks Ryan can help him locate Sarah, who's helplessly releasing new plagues at the command of Phoenix while being hunted by every law enforcement official on the planet. Ryan, however, escapes Dillon and seeks a way to assist Sarah via an old ally that helped them bring down ECHELON. Then, in chapter two-well, not quite, but it seems as though things move that fast-we learn that Phoenix secretly has been controlling EMPYRE all along, and his plans for world domination make EMPYRE look like a group of boy scouts. Hyperspeed high-tech froth, sometimes exciting but about as involving as watching Godzilla slug it out with King Kong.

Book Details

Published
October 1, 2007
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Pages
288
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780345485038

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