SFF: Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden’s Syndrome by John Scalzi
A new near-future science fiction novella by John Scalzi, one of the most popular authors in modern SF. Unlocked traces the medical history behind a virus that will sweep the globe and affect the majority of the world’s population, setting the stage for Lock In, the next major novel by John Scalzi.
Last week I kicked off a new feature for the blog the SFF (Short Fiction Friday) and I mentioned that I was looking for recommedations, Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome was recommended to me by Tiemen Zwaan.
As you can read from the short synopsis above, Unlocked: An Oral history of Haden's Syndrom is a prequel to John Scalzi's Lock In which will be released later in August, the 14th to be exact. With this short story John Scalzi builds up the framework for Lock In, showing just all what has transpired so far surrounding the Haden's Syndrome.
The first thing that false to note is the way that John Scalzi has put down the narrative aspect of the story. It follows several people who all tell a bit about the events that have happened, during the story you follow journalists, medics, epidemiologists, White House staff, and Haden's patients amongst others. All these perspectives are written from how they are perceiving the events that unfold and definitely add a very powerful touch the the story. It really inspires a feeling like you are part of the discussion and that they are actually telling the story like you are sitting next to them. I am always a big fan when a personal experience is related in such a way, this adds so much more emotion to the whole story, making it that much more powerful and gripping.
The story itself picks up with the first outbreak of the Haden's Syndrome all through the ending. Haden's Syndrome was briefly mentioned as the Super Bowl Flu and first thought to be related to the Influenza A subtype H5N1. To everyone who has followed the news over the recent year must know that H5N1 featured heavily in the news, with John Scalzi using this reference in his story woke me up and gave me a reality check and definitely added a dangerous undercurrent to the story. The Haden's Syndrome isn't anything like H5N1, yes it is a virus but acts in a completely different way. Unlocked is further divided in several parts when where you each have an emphasis on a different timeframe from initial outbreak, find the cure, the the future prospects.
But back to the story. When the Haden's Syndrome first becomes noted in several patients, no doctor knows what to do in order to cure the disease, there are distinct symptoms and phases through which the disease shows itself and most of the population dies when they go trough it. Haden's Syndrome is highly contagious and shows up even in the most remote place, instead of a epidemic located in a single city it becomes a global pandemic. It is when the First Lady of the United States of America becomes infected that the president issues a new act to cure Haden's Syndrome. Now all the top scientists are set with one goal, curing it no matter the cost. At this point in the story the final symptom becomes known: the Locked In state, where people have lost functions of the bodies but they can still perceive everything only not act upon it. Can you imagine just what the feeling must be, seeing and hearing everything but not able to respond? I do have to say that, along the way a cure is found, now you can say a spoiler but it has to be mentioned as this marks an important point in the story where the Haden's Syndrome patients get to be among the "normal" human population again. Which in turn causes a lot of friction between the Haden's and the normal humans. I will stop at this point with elaborating on the story of Unlocked but this latter aspect of the story readily changes your vision. Where other authors might require a full bok to achieve such a powerful story, John Scalzi manages to get the tight gripping tension from the first few pages already and keeps it right until the ending making you wanting, no NEEDING Lock In itself!
Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome is a powerfully provocative story, that readily produces a great premise for Lock In. I urge everyone who plans to read Lock In to read this prequel as it will give you a lot of background information (I presume) for the real deal.This is great stuff right here. If you don't plan to read either this short story or the book you will be definitely missing out on one of the biggest Science Fiction releases coming to you this year. Be smart and click the link below.
You can read Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by clicking this link
A new near-future science fiction novella by John Scalzi, one of the most popular authors in modern SF. Unlocked traces the medical history behind a virus that will sweep the globe and affect the majority of the world’s population, setting the stage for Lock In, the next major novel by John Scalzi.
Last week I kicked off a new feature for the blog the SFF (Short Fiction Friday) and I mentioned that I was looking for recommedations, Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome was recommended to me by Tiemen Zwaan.
As you can read from the short synopsis above, Unlocked: An Oral history of Haden's Syndrom is a prequel to John Scalzi's Lock In which will be released later in August, the 14th to be exact. With this short story John Scalzi builds up the framework for Lock In, showing just all what has transpired so far surrounding the Haden's Syndrome.
The first thing that false to note is the way that John Scalzi has put down the narrative aspect of the story. It follows several people who all tell a bit about the events that have happened, during the story you follow journalists, medics, epidemiologists, White House staff, and Haden's patients amongst others. All these perspectives are written from how they are perceiving the events that unfold and definitely add a very powerful touch the the story. It really inspires a feeling like you are part of the discussion and that they are actually telling the story like you are sitting next to them. I am always a big fan when a personal experience is related in such a way, this adds so much more emotion to the whole story, making it that much more powerful and gripping.
The story itself picks up with the first outbreak of the Haden's Syndrome all through the ending. Haden's Syndrome was briefly mentioned as the Super Bowl Flu and first thought to be related to the Influenza A subtype H5N1. To everyone who has followed the news over the recent year must know that H5N1 featured heavily in the news, with John Scalzi using this reference in his story woke me up and gave me a reality check and definitely added a dangerous undercurrent to the story. The Haden's Syndrome isn't anything like H5N1, yes it is a virus but acts in a completely different way. Unlocked is further divided in several parts when where you each have an emphasis on a different timeframe from initial outbreak, find the cure, the the future prospects.
But back to the story. When the Haden's Syndrome first becomes noted in several patients, no doctor knows what to do in order to cure the disease, there are distinct symptoms and phases through which the disease shows itself and most of the population dies when they go trough it. Haden's Syndrome is highly contagious and shows up even in the most remote place, instead of a epidemic located in a single city it becomes a global pandemic. It is when the First Lady of the United States of America becomes infected that the president issues a new act to cure Haden's Syndrome. Now all the top scientists are set with one goal, curing it no matter the cost. At this point in the story the final symptom becomes known: the Locked In state, where people have lost functions of the bodies but they can still perceive everything only not act upon it. Can you imagine just what the feeling must be, seeing and hearing everything but not able to respond? I do have to say that, along the way a cure is found, now you can say a spoiler but it has to be mentioned as this marks an important point in the story where the Haden's Syndrome patients get to be among the "normal" human population again. Which in turn causes a lot of friction between the Haden's and the normal humans. I will stop at this point with elaborating on the story of Unlocked but this latter aspect of the story readily changes your vision. Where other authors might require a full bok to achieve such a powerful story, John Scalzi manages to get the tight gripping tension from the first few pages already and keeps it right until the ending making you wanting, no NEEDING Lock In itself!
Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome is a powerfully provocative story, that readily produces a great premise for Lock In. I urge everyone who plans to read Lock In to read this prequel as it will give you a lot of background information (I presume) for the real deal.This is great stuff right here. If you don't plan to read either this short story or the book you will be definitely missing out on one of the biggest Science Fiction releases coming to you this year. Be smart and click the link below.
You can read Unlocked: An Oral History of Haden's Syndrome by clicking this link
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