The Last Trumpet Project

The Trumpet Shall Sound! The resurrection of the dead by technological means. A global network of thousands of virtual alternate realities populated by billions of humans and AIs. A secret society of religious fanatics determined to turn back the calendar on human social evolution. A brutal top cop bent on usurping dictatorial powers. A cadre of high-tech vigilantes pledged to protect virtual freedom. A powerful pacifist elite who plot the end of war. A young man caught between the strictures of his upbringing and the love of his life. A society which must confront the very nature of what it means to be human. These are the elements which collide explosively in The Last Trumpet Project a sweeping and provocative novel of the near future.It is a time of breathtaking Singularity technology. A time when most human beings spend the majority of their lives in the alternate worlds of the cyberverse the global mesh of full-immersion virtual realities. Traditional social and political structures are breaking down under the enormous weight of absolute creative freedom and terrestrial immortality. The invention of a device for resurrecting the dead is the catalyst which catapults the world into a struggle that will determine the shape of the future the fate of government and religion and even the nature of life itself.The Last Trumpet Project is set in the mid-2040s. For most humans meatspace is no longer the location where the most important events in their lives take place. A million full-immersion virtual worlds beckon in the cyberverse where anything can be experienced where anyone can live however they choose even be whomever they choose.Aging is now a lifestyle choice. The distinction between work and play has largely been obliterated. Meatspace nation states teeter on the edge of extinction supplanted by voluntary cyberverse communities organized around common interests.Most significantly artificial intelligence has now completely surpassed biological human intelligence in ability. Many humans have augmented their intelligence cybernetically. Some have even given up their biological bodies altogether and become pure AIs existing wholly on non-biological substrates.But not all are enamored of this brave new world of total freedom and infinite possibility. There are those who believe that man is and must always remain a biological being despite its limitations. A Luddite reactionary movement sweeps the globe. In a desperate effort to turn back their own dissolution and reverse their growing irrelevance an alliance of the remnants of church and state plot to disrupt the cyberverse and return humanity forcibly to its origins.But the cyberverse is not about to go quietly into the night.Two young couples find themselves caught up in the spreading strife. With roots in both worlds they must decide how to reconcile the opposing viewpoints both in the world at large and within themselves. Meanwhile a secret assembly of non-biological super-geniuses is resurrecting the dead and pondering how best to end the conflict. Virtual adventure and meatspace drama. Intrigue and suspense. Romance and bullet ballet. High ideals and low cunning. War of weapons war of values. A brilliantly imagined technological backdrop. Vivid vibrant characters. And something to make you think on almost every page. Kevin MacArdry's The Last Trumpet Project delivers a powerful vision of a future looming just decades away.