Post-quake Tokyo, 2027 AD. First novel.
"It's 2027. Tokyo has survived the Mega-Quake of the Millennium and Satori Corporation, the owner of a virtual reality entertainment empire, is embroiled in cutthroat corporate warfare to preserve its market share, and, incidentally, save the lives of thousands of users trapped inside its virtual worlds. All of this seems far away to professor Frank Gobi as he strolls across the placid Berkeley, California, campus -- until he gets home to find his perpetually on line ten-year-old son stuck inside Satori's virtual Gametime and literally fighting for his life".
"Welcome to the world of RIM. The year is 2027. Greenspace patrols the cosmos, Gamespace has been infiltrated by Tibetan zombies and tantric viruses, and the information superhighway forces lanes through our brains. And while everyone loves the interactive sushi and the way virtual reality can unite Tai Chi students with their long-dead masters, neural technology can go haywire -- with potentially deadly, but relentlessly entertaining, consequences.
"Forget word processing. This is the world of consciousness processing. A mere sideline of professor Frank Gobi, the downloading of human psyches becomes one lucrative hobby when he's recruited by the Satori Corporation. Satori, the world's largest -- and creepiest -- multinational, knows that Gobi is the only one who can track down their missing CEO, retrieve the missing algorithm that will bring their crashed virtual reality metropolis back on line, and end their public relations -- and public health -- nightmare. Gobi knows he's the only one who might be able to save his son (handle: The Kundalini Kid), one of thousands of Satori customers trapped on line in a game that's become just a little too real". [jacket blurb, US pbk, 1994]
"Rim is a thoroughly good read, with the Japanese mystical tradition integrated onto the technology presented here in a seamless expanse. The narrative is brisk, not being bogged down with techno-speak, and after reading technology-dominated prose, it came as a welcome change to read a novel that also takes on board the spiritual." --Dave Howell (in The Web, April 1996... to contact Dave Howell, e-mail: dhowell@idg.co.uk)
