The Experiment of Dreams
By Brandon Zenner
Genre: Psychological
Thriller
Synopsis:
A
shocking psychological thriller: Benjamin Walker's lifelong career of testing
experimental drugs and medicines, as well as participating in fascinating
sleep-related studies, has come to an end. A new and lucrative job opportunity
is offered to Ben, working on a project named Lucy, a machine capable of
reading and recording a person's dreams in intimate detail. All is finally
going well for Ben . . . until strange dreams of a town named Drapery Falls
begin to plague him, and memories once hidden begin to reveal themselves. The
doctors and staff onboard team Lucy are not who Ben thinks they are, and Mr.
Kalispell will stop at nothing to keep Ben's emerging memories buried for good.
Ben is put on a collision course that will bring him to the brink of total
insanity, and perhaps even death. At the heart of it all, Ben's worst enemy is
his own mind, and he must confront his past in order to save his future. The
twist and turns in The Experiment of Dreams will keep you
guessing, down to the very last line.
Author Bio:
Brandon
Zenner was born and raised in Red Bank New Jersey, only a short distance from
the shore. His short fiction has been published in both print and online
publications, the first being PLAZM 28, submitted when Brandon was just 19
years old. In 2014 Brandon published his first full-length novel, "The
Experiment of Dreams," as a Kindle ebook. The paperback novel followed a
year later. His second full-length novel is well on its way.
Throughout
his early years writing, Brandon's favorite practice was to open a dictionary
to any random page and aimlessly select the first word that this finger
touched. He would then feverishly write a short story using his Smith-Corona
typewriter. Using a mechanical typewriter, without the aid of auto correct,
taught the importance of grammar and spelling (as well as patience and
aggravation).
Author's Links:
Buy Links:
Excerpt:
“Just a moment,” Dr. Wulfric said,
using a swivel knob on the keyboard to fast-forward the scene. He stopped as
the images cleared to what looked like mountains; only they were very blurry.
Then the image again snapped into unimaginable clarity, the brightness of which
startled and entranced Ben. His brain let loose a sense of euphoria that swept
through his body. The camera was high in the air—in an airplane or
helicopter—flying above a colorful mountain range or deep valley, perhaps the
Grand Canyon. Ben didn’t know.
“It’s beautiful,” Ben said. “Is
that the Grand Canyon?”
“I’m not sure.”
Patches of brush in the far
distance appeared in such detail that Ben doubted that he’d be able to see it
any clearer if he were there himself. Suddenly the camera dropped, diving
straight into a massive gorge. The plane barreled down, and then quickly
leveled itself, going faster and faster—like a jet. Ben felt his stomach lurch
as the camera swung straight up, hugging the wall of the canyon. It was so
close to the rocky edge that whatever aircraft was taking these pictures was in
serious danger of crashing into the wall. Flashes of dark brown, yellow, and
orange whizzed past the screen at amazing speed, yet the image was never
blurred; only his eyes couldn’t process the speed in which they were passing.
When Ben blinked and held his eyes shut, the exact image of whatever was
flashing by on the screen stayed in his mind like a photograph—no streaking or
blurring whatsoever. It was so fast—too fast. The scene swooped down and back
up through the valleys and gorges, in unbelievable detail.
Ben’s mind whirled. Dr. Wulfric
hit a button and the screen went black. Ben shuttered his eyes, letting his
brain rest.
“So, what did you think of my
video?” Dr. Wulfric asked.
“I don’t know. Those colors ...
I’ve never seen colors that vivid on a TV screen. What is this, some new
high-def system you’re testing?”
“Not exactly.” He chuckled. “The
little girl was my daughter, although she’s no longer a child. The roller
skating rink is just like the one we went to on her third birthday, maybe a
little different. The mountains, though—I have no idea where they came from.”
“Okay ...”
“That, Ben ... was from a dream I
had a few days ago. I don’t remember dreaming it, but that was indeed recorded
from my dream.”
Ben looked about the room—the CAT
scanner, the computer monitors and blinking machinery, and the Pyrex beakers
and other labware. “What exactly are you guys doing here? You recorded your
dream? Is that what that thing does?” Ben pointed to the scanner.
“Sort of,” Dr. Egan replied before
Dr. Wulfric could answer. “What we have here are two separate technologies.
We’ve created a serum that actively monitors the neurological activity in the
brain during REM sleep and transmits the activity to that piece of equipment
over there. That instrument is called a Frequency Responding Lucid Transmitter.
The serum works off the electrical output of the brain, triggered in part by
the release of serotonin in the pineal gland, which lies above the medulla—”
“Yes, Ben,” Dr. Wulfric said,
waving Dr. Egan down—who was pointing at the base of his head to his own
medulla oblongata. “To answer your question without confusing you any further
...” He looked again at Dr. Egan, “that device can read and transmit the images
from your sleep—from anybody’s sleep. Presently, it can only transmit during
the REM cycle, but that is about to change. This machine can record a dream in
greater length and detail than the dreamer is aware when he’s dreaming.”
“That’s just crazy,” Ben said. “I
mean in a good way. It’s amazing. I’m starting to see where I fit in with all
of this.”
Dr. Wulfric smiled. “We would like
to further explore the extent to which this machine can operate. We need
someone who can utilize their REM cycle to its fullest potential. Someone like
you, Ben.”
No comments:
Post a Comment