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Marcus Whitnell

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A retired cop and current Nebula Awards Commissioner for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, Marcus is a lifelong fan of cyberpunk and tech noir literature who is in the process of producing a series of books that follow humanity from a broadly recognisable (if worrying) present, into a foreseeable future where inherent human characteristics and an ever-increasing pandora's box of technology lead to serious moral questions and inevitable conflict.

'Ghost in the Machine' and 'First Among Equals' are the first steps on that journey.

You can read more about him, his upcoming books, and even get in touch through his website www.marcuswhitnell.org.

A neural chip capable of digitising the human consciousness? Technological immortality? Of course governments and polycorps would kill for that!

Eric Thorne had an almost idyllic life; a thriving tech business, a big house on Manhattan Beach, and a reputation as one of the world's leading wetware engineers.

But all that changes when a woman he doesn’t know shows up on his doorstep telling him he’s been abducted, that his consciousness is immersed in a looping digital prison — and his old pal, the billionaire he’d been helping, is responsible…

Over the next 24 hours, Eric realises he's become the focus of several seperate plots, underpinned by corporate greed and political ambition, to steal the chipset buried in his head. But as killers and thieves then pursue the hapless wetware specialist through both digital and physical realities, not everything, including Eric himself, is necessarily what it seems.
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If you're a fan of original cyberpunk, tech noir or technothriller science fiction, and love the books of William Gibson, Walter Jon Williams, Philip K Dick and Rudy Rucker or their modern variations by authors like Blake Crouch, Neal Asher and Daniel Suarez — this tense, action-packed novel is a perfect read for you! ​
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Ghost in the Machine

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Cyberpunk, Techno-thriller, Hard Science Fiction, Near Future Science Fiction

Set in a worryingly foreseeable future, not everything is as it seems after China attempts to steal a revolutionary neural implant. Humanity and technology are on a collision course, and as killers chase wetware specialist, Eric Thorne, through both digital and physical realities, the greed and ambition of two men will change the world forever.
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​First Among Equals

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Cyberpunk, Techno-thriller, Hard Science Fiction, Near Future Science Fiction

​You want digital immortality? No problem… so long as you have ten mill for the op, ten for a new skin, and another two a year for storage and backup insurance.

It’s twenty-six years since Eric Thorne tried to suppress the invention of a neural implant capable of digitising the human consciousness, and all his worst fears have come true. What used to be the western world is now governed by big business — and the only people thriving are the rich.

But while the polycorporate elite manoeuvre for dead men’s shoes that’ll never become vacant again, others, some intentionally, some just in the wrong place at the wrong time, begin to fight back; and as disgraced corpo-cop, Gabriel Sousa, tries to figure out who released the digital neurovirus that killed a corporate exec, two carefully orchestrated plans to topple corpocracy collide as they unfold.

First among Equals is the much anticipated sequel to Ghost in the Machine, and second book of The Sum of our Parts — a series of stories mapping humanity’s struggle to control its baser desires and instincts as ever developing technology presents life changing possibilities.
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