Reader Buzz
on SWITCH
‘Wow! Loved it … desperately wanted more after racing through the first 130 pages. Fast, thrilling, gripping, scary…When can I read the rest?
— Gavin Hilzbrich
This book is so cinematic . . . due to the punchy dialogue and the succession of crisp, sharp images which drive the narrative forward. I want to read more!
— Sam Eades
This is absolutely brilliant! A very compelling read but I was upset when I got to the last page because I wanted more!
— Jeanette Slinger
I can't stand crime novels that have a long preamble before getting to the action and this one certainly doesn't disappoint in that way. From page one it's straight in there, bish bash bosh and continues on in that vein, so you are frantically turning the pages to find out what happens next.
— Sandra Hawe
The material I read was mad, frantic, super quick and entertaining.
— Martin Higgins
Gripping… Explosive… Page Turning…
And that’s only 140 pages in!!
— Darren Elliot
This was great - I really wanted to read on. Very much made me think of Simon Kernick and Relentless actually - same kind of ordinary guy suddenly finding his life turned upside down when he just comes home from work... Decidedly scary and asks some very dark questions: just how far would you go to save your family?
— Sue Cook
Future tech could help you pull a Sicky
Story & Illustration
By Grant McKenzie
I know this may be difficult – even shocking – for some bosses to hear, but there are times when we worker bees get fed up with the day-to-day routine and feel the need to pull a Sicky.
The best Sickies are when you take off with some friends, hit the pub, take in a game of golf, walk round the shops, or sit in a cool movie theatre to view a guilty-pleasure movie. (Anyone remember playing hooky from school to watch the original Star Wars movies?)
As a society, we’ve become so busy that weekends are no longer an escape (yard work, grocery shopping, house cleaning, aging appliances, painting, fencing, etc.) from the tedium of work. But a good, healthy Sicky can leave you feeling refreshed, energized and ready to tackle the rest of your workload.
Unfortunately, most corporate bosses are too trapped in their rigid box of rules to understand the mental-health benefits of a good Sicky. If they did, they would allow everyone to take one guilt-free, mid-week Sicky a month and then reap the benefits of increased productivity and staff morale.
But while a few rebels manage to pull off the occasional Sicky, most of us loyal louts only daydream of being the rule breakers we long to be.
Fortunately, future tech shown recently at NextFest expo in
The first thing that stops most of us from calling in sick when we feel physically fine is the fear that we’ll be caught. You know the scenario: You’re sitting in the mall, having just purchased a fresh-out-of-the-oven, sugary cream-cheese oozing, giant cinnamon bun to celebrate that great new outfit you found on sale, when who walks by but the boss’s wife whom you happened to have mistakenly insulted at the last Christmas party. She gives you that unforgiving I-remember-you hairy eyeball and you know you’re busted.
Well, fear no more, my friends for a smart professor named Susumu Tachi of the
Technology is never quite as good as old-fashioned witchcraft, but Professor Tachi’s invention actually does cast a spectacular illusion. To create the feeling of invisibility, Tachi’s cloak is covered with tiny light-reflective beads and fitted with cameras which project what is in front of the wearer onto the back of the cloak, and vice versa. A computer generates the image that is projected, so the viewer effectively sees "through" the cloak.
Tachi also wants to use his invention to liberate the cubicle rats by giving everyone a window even when they are in a windowless room. His invisibility invention could be mounted on walls to make them appear transparent, allowing you to see through them. Unfortunately, this could also backfire if you’re office happens to be located beside the washrooms.
And since the image will be projected via computer, my inner-scoundrel has to wonder how difficult it would be to incorporate an image that would appear to show yourself working diligently at your desk even when you’re not there?
Naturally, the military is also interested in Tachi’s invention so they can sneak up and kill people.
For those who want to pull a half-day Sicky, but don’t want to be caught hiding a bag of party clothes under their desk, Frederic Zenhausern, of the University of Arizona's Applied NanoBioscience Centre is showing off a set of clothes that can be changed simply by downloading new patterns off the Internet.
Combine this with the new rage of Internet-enabled cell phones and you could foreseeably change your outfit from stuffy office to party gal via a simple phone call from your car on the way to meet your pals.
Ladder-climbing brownnosers will also love this invention as there will no longer be a need to guess what colour suit and tie to wear in order to emulate the boss. Just peek in the office, download the pattern, and, voila, instant suck-up.
Unfortunately, even if you do manage to pull off a successful Sicky, the boss may still be able to catch you out by using a new invention that can read brain waves.
The brain fingerprinting machine was invented by neuroscientist Dr. Lawrence Farwell, of the Brain Fingerprinting Lab, who has worked with the CIA and FBI, two organizations that are stubbornly against people pulling Sickies.
Dr. Farwell assures us, however, that although his machine gives accurate and scientific results by measuring brain wave response to “trigger words” or images of a specific event, “it is not harmful to the people who are being tested.”
The military is also interested in this one, but they seem to be planning to use it for interrogating terror suspects (the people they sneak up on, but don’t kill) rather than office no-shows.
See you at the movies ;-)
Short Stories
An author Q&A,
plus my short Out of Order
appeared in Spinetingler's Summer 08 issue.
My short White Volcano appeared in
Out Of The Gutter 2
My short Ragamuffin Girl appeared in Spinetingler's Summer 07 issue.
My short She Remembers The Future appeared in The Late Late Show's Summer 03 issue.