by Gilles DeCruyenaere
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Science Fiction / Dystopian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Jason
Crawford has dedicated his life to fighting the mysterious alien race which
threatens the massive city-ship he calls home. A few days before his first
mission, however, Jason discovers a terrible secret which could mean an end to
his way of life forever. Fearing government reprisal for this new-found
knowledge, Jason takes refuge in the Rim, a walled-off section of the ship
where citizens are left to fend for themselves while the government ruthlessly
plunders its resources.
While there, Jason forms an uneasy
alliance with fellow exile Greg. Though they share the same goal of exposing
the government's terrible secret, their relationship is strained; Jason is
selfish, profane and morally ambiguous, while Greg is generous, kind and
liberal-minded.
Will Jason and Greg manage to
achieve their goals despite their ideological differences? Will Jason ever
escape the Rim, and if so, can he hope to regain anything even resembling the
life of entitlement to which he was accustomed?
"I Dreamt of Trees" is a
story of struggle and survival in a dystopian society built on fear and greed.
Though you may be tempted to judge the characters, be certain of one thing: On
the USS McAdam, no one is quite as good, nor quite as bad as they seem.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT
Drake
was pulled out of his reverie by a child's shrill cry; across the parking lot a
small girl tugged insistently at her mother's skirt while pointing up and to
the east.
“Sky
pretty!”
He
smiled. The huge bank of lights which orbited the ship once every 24 hours did
so without deviation - though the eastern sky did take on a pretty purple hue
as the lights dipped toward the horizon in the west, it was the exact same
pretty purple hue every single day; only a child or a simpleton would find it
exciting. Drake dropped the NicoStix into his pocket and put his little car
into reverse.
As
he checked his rear-view mirror, he caught sight of a young couple staring
wide-eyed at the darkening sky. What the heck … Drake put his car in park and
stepped out onto the pavement, squinting towards the east for any sign of
whatever these people found so interesting. He stared at the pretty purple sky
for a full sixty seconds, finally grunting in annoyance and turning back
towards his car. As he placed his hand on the door handle, a chorus of oohs and
ahhs arose from the people in the parking lot, and he spun around just in time
to catch a bright splash of colour coruscating across the eastern horizon.
Drake
gasped audibly. The shield surrounding the ship was designed to absorb harmful
radiation, converting it into harmless light energy. The multicoloured light
generated was usually barely visible, and only at the darkest time of night;
for the light to show so vividly at sunset would require an absolutely enormous
amount of radiation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Gilles DeCruyenaere lives in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada with his wife Joanne and their fur-baby Yogi. In his
spare time Gilles enjoys reading, watching movies, creating art and
experiencing nature, as well as collecting rocks, minerals, antiques and Star
Wars paraphernalia. A graduate of the Digital Media Design program at Red River
College, Gilles recently served as film editor for the feature-length animated
film “Emma's Wings: A Bella Sara Tale”.
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