Paradigm Shift - Paperback

by Jakub K. Rucinski (Author)

Mushy, green and rich soil, fruitful ranches and crescent-shaped lakes defined the discovery of a new continent, on which settlements immediately began to arise - but the Realm of Arkaine is quite unlike any other state. This cryptic thriller describes an alternate North American continent, where rather than promote justice through impartial juries, the Civil Salvation League intimidates the country's opponents in show trials. As an alternative of allowing freedom to a career, an economic system determines one's occupation, a grueling twelve hours of labor. Most of all, elections have been replaced with a Regional Assembly, which determines the fate of the militant colony under the jackboot of an ambitious despot. Oliver Anderson was not a citizen of the nation into which he was born until he was conscripted into naval service at the age of nineteen. Having ran away from home, he embarked onto his first journey into the Gulf of Mexico with no backup plan, and returned without a single bill in his pocket. He bears no city or location to his name, but merely the same amalgamation of metallic floors stretching hundreds of miles in diameter, separated by streetlights, pillars and highways emptied of cars - the Whitestock Hub. Ever since the disastrous event of Oliver's childhood, civil conditions and liberties are restricted in the name of peace and security, while a war rages on just south of Arkaine. Impoverished and ambitious, he seeks employment as a shipyard worker, and soon comes into contact with the struggles of ordinary people. But to what lengths can he ethically go in fighting a repressive system? To how great of a cause can someone become dedicated to before the lines between reality and idealism become blurred?