Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Max Caldwell, Higher Power

They say that people who go blind have their senses heightened.  For Max Caldwell, going blind gives him a sixth sense--or a new fifth one really.  Max gains the ability to see people's dreams.  Not only that, he can manipulate them if he wants.

(When I was rewatching part of Season 1 of Game of Thrones it occurred to me this is similar to what happens to Bran Stark when he's crippled and then starts to have visions as a "wog."  I wrote this in 2005 so maybe GRRM beat to the punch on that score, not that I even knew who he was in 2005--and he still wouldn't know who I am, so there.)

His first attempt to do this accidentally leads to his parents dying.  Young Max spends the next 20 years in an institution, until budget cuts lead to him being declared "cured" and released into the world.

Max doesn't want to get involved with anyone's dreams, but one day he's accidentally pulled into those of a comatose woman named Sarah.  He uses his skills to save her from terrible nightmares.  Then he decides to go farther and try to create a paradise in her mind.

But the more he tries, the more seems to go wrong.  A lot of the problem is like in the Matrix, if you make things too great people smell a rat.  So with inadvertent help from his therapist Max ends up creating a real world in Sarah's mind, one in which they fall in love with each other.

The core concept might be a little creepy, like The Time Traveler's Wife where the guy essentially seduces the woman as a little girl.  But if you get past that it's a tender love story about broken people who find each other.  It's a tearjerker if you're in the right mood.

It's from the period in 2005-2006 where I thought more romance-oriented stories would help me reach the big-time.  I of course contend it's better than any Nick Sparks or Mitch Albom claptrap.  I'm just saying.

This and the rest of my books are available at the new Planet 99 Publishing site

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I would love to have that ability. I can only dream of what I would do!

Jay Noel said...

Damn. That's a pretty awesome premise. A little Matrix, a little Inception....maybe some Nightmare on Elm Street without the child molester crazy guy. Okay, just kidding. But I really think this is pretty unique premise for reals.

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