It is the day after tomorrow, and a device has been invented that immediately induces REM sleep, otherwise known as "Sleep" with a capital S. Society has been transformed. The average person now only needs two hours of rest a night. The work day is officially sixteen hours long. Americans party at clubs until daybreak, then log into virtual worlds and party in a reunified Korea all morning too. And within this busier, noisier, more global society, we watch the intertwining fates of four people as they struggle with issues regarding Sleep: new parents who for postnatal reasons aren't allowed to use their special Beds; an Iraq vet and PTSD victim who is haunted by the non-ending nightmares that Sleep produces; a harried, arrogant doctor whose Bed has stopped working, driving him to the brink of madness; and a band promoter with an illegal Bed that lets her Sleep for hours on end, then stay up for four straight days and nights.
Chicago science-fiction veteran and former medical assistant Mark R. Brand presents here a stunning and nuanced look at the world that might just await us around the corner -- a place where GPS, Facebook and cellphones mesh perfectly to tell us where even in a nightclub to stand, yet traditional enough for couples to still have fights over groceries, and for office politics to still have enormous repercussions; and since it's being released by the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography, it means you pay only what you want for an electronic copy, even if you want to pay nothing, making this mini-novel easily worth taking a chance on. Rich in its prose and deep in its metaphor, you do not have to be a fan of sci-fi, Michael Crichton or Malcolm Gladwell to love "Life After Sleep"Éalthough it certainly wouldn't hurt either.
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MAY 2011: A paper version of Life After Sleep is now available, the first title in CCLaP's new "Hypermodern Editions" series, special handmade books designed with professional collectors in mind (including hardback covers with decorative endpapers, exposed Coptic stitching, a signature/provenance page, an extended Colophon, a color photo adorning the cover, and more), but kept reasonably priced for beginning and part-time bibliophiles. Versions with either recycled paper or cotton sheets are available; they are shipped the next weekday morning after your order via USPS Priority Mail (delivery in two to three days for Americans, six to ten days internationally), and in the US come with their own tracking number that you can follow online. Simply click on the appropriate link below to order one right this moment:
USA: Recycled paper: $15 (plus $5 shipping)
USA: Cotton sheets: $20 (plus $5 shipping)
INTERNATIONAL: Recycled paper: $15 (plus $13 shipping)
INTERNATIONAL: Cotton sheets: $20 (plus $13 shipping)
Interested in learning more about how these books are actually made? Click below for a special four-part photo essay on the subject:
Part 1 |
Part 2 |
Part 3 |
Part 4
Supplemental and promotional material:
An interview with Brand regarding the process of writing this book
A critical essay by the publisher, on why he signed the book in the first place
A "passing the torch" essay by Ben Tanzer, CCLaP's last published author, on what he thinks of this newest book
A link to this book's page at Goodreads.com, where you can leave comments and read other people's reviews
A link to this book's Facebook page, where you can do the same
And don't forget to check out the video commercial for this book, which you can watch through the YouTube interface above.
This book has been released under a Creative Commons license (click the above icon to actually read it in full); this gives you permission to make unlimited copies for yourself, convert it into other formats, translate it into other languages, and use it as a basis for nonprofit multimedia projects (audio, film, animation, stage performance, calligraphy, etc), in return for you not changing the contents or removing the credits.
Cover image: Austin Oie.
Attention small and large presses: The paper rights for this book are still available. For more, please contact Jason Pettus, CCLaP's owner, at [cclapcenter at gmail.com].
CCLaP is always on the lookout for great unsigned manuscripts. Click here for more on how to submit your own.
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