But it’s so 90s
In the novel, Rick Deckard is sent to track down replicants in San Francisco – in 1992. The book was written around 1967 by Philip K Dick, and had one of the best titles ever: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1992 was 25 years ahead of the time of writing.
When Ridley Scott directed the ubiquitous, sci-fi noir drama, Blade Runner, in Los Angeles in 1982, the location was changed to LA, and the date to November 2019. 2019 sounded so next century in 1982, a whopping 37 years ahead in real-time, and 27 years later than the book’s setting. It’s all enough to give anyone a Philip K Dick-sized headache!
JR phone home
Blade Runner made a profound impact on all who witnessed it in a cinema on first release, this writer included. But it did not dominate pop culture. 1982 was the year of E.T., Dallas, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Magnum P.I., Jane Fonda’s Workout and Maggie Thatcher. Then a lot of stuff happened, including things not imagined in the book or the movie, like smartphones and the internet*. And here we are, in Blade Runner month, finally. Both the movie and the book now rank at or near the top of all-time best lists and Blade Runner has become part both of our vocabulary and of the fabric of popular culture.
Future Shocks, free to celebrate Blade Runner month
Future Shocks has three compelling short stories, one of which is set in November 2019, and features Rick Deckard. To mark Blade Runner month, Future Shocks is available completely FREE, during November 2019 only. Grab yours today…
Future Shocks on Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/ie/book/future-shocks/id1481744405
Future Shocks on Smashwords (every digital format): https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/960288
Future Shocks on Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/future-shocks-gary-j-byrnes/1133851816?ean=2940163347759
Future Shocks on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=H46yDwAAQBAJ
Future Shocks on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X89T9LF
Read the live, algorithm-curated, daily Future Shocks magazine. Experience the stories in Future Shocks come to life in real-time. Updated daily.
#ResistAI. A Manifesto for a Hippocratic Oath for technology workers.
Real-time Schrodinger’s Cat experiment. The cat is in the box with a vial of poison that may have been released by a radioactive decay event. Until you observe it, the cat is both alive and dead. Now open the box…
Every purchase of Future Shocks by Gary J Byrnes (Readathriller.com’s founder) means a hemp plant planted, and a step closer to solving the climate crisis. Full range of sustainable, lifestyle and hemp products on the Readathriller marketplace.
*In the novel, Deckard gets the news on a little machine called a homeopape, an internet-style device.
Read more
Novels by Gary J Byrnes, in print-on-demand and all digital formats. Every book sold means a hemp plant planted.
Image credits
‘November 2019’ and Rick Deckard Blade Runner screengrabs used under artistic license, copyright Warner Brothers Studios.
Because you made it to the end
Get Future Shocks in any digital format, for free until 2030, just use coupon code WF53W at Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/garyjbyrnes
Double bonus! This coupon code can be used for any Gary J Byrnes book on Smashwords!
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Has researched hemp, climate change for over twenty years. Writer, blogger, parent, animal lover.
2021 is about building a new business model to enable mass planting of hemp through easy carbon offsetting at Hempoffset.com.
- Free short story collection – Lockdown Dreams - 30th October 2021
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