Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on The Cloud: A Speculative Fiction Novel by Robert Rivenbark, on sale for only 99 cents through October 15!
★★★★★ "A gripping, fast-paced exploration of morality, technology, and human ambition." ~The Great Book Reviews
Bonus: Visit TheCloudNovel.com to read the first four chapters FREE!
The Cloud: A Speculative Fiction Novel
Genres: Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Cyberpunk Fiction, Steampunk Fiction4.4 stars, 66 ratings
Paperback: $12.95
Ebook: On sale for $0.99 (Free via Kindle Unlimited)
When Everyone's A Virtual Reality Slave, Who Can Free The Human Soul?
In twenty-second century L.A. dominated by The Cloud, every imaginable pleasure is accessible—yet the entire world can vanish in a single upload.
That choice rests in one man’s hands.
Blaise, a brilliant but tormented VR programmer, is trying to forget his violent past as a special forces commando by throwing himself into creating VR fantasies. He finds himself tempted by his megalomaniac boss, who offers him wealth, power, and eternal life in exchange for coding a new VR series that will addict and eliminate billions of “unproductives.”
Caught between joining those who want to bring down the ruling Cloud regime in Hong Kong, or accepting the offer of personal immortality, Blaise finds himself flanked by two relentless women—a psychic hacker risking overwhelming personal odds to save humanity from annihilation, and the other using her extraordinary carnal wiles to accelerate the final triumph of The Cloud. Ultimately, Blaise must reembrace his violent warrior nature in a desperate bid to destroy it.
Praise for The Cloud
★★★★★ "A classic hero’s journey [that asks] eternal questions about human freedom, the quest for enlightenment, and the meaning of suffering and evil.” ~Goodreads Review
★★★★★ "A captivating, edge-of-your-seat dystopian thriller that delves deep into the dark potential of a hyper-connected, surveillance-driven future.” ~Amazon Review
★★★★★ "1984 on steroids—both timely and eerily predictive." ~Jorah Kai, author of Amos the Amazing
★★★★★ "A thought-provoking, page-turning futuristic thriller that projects today’s trends into a scary yet probable future.” ~Goodreads Review
★★★★★ "Underscores how the effort to dehumanize humanity must inevitably fail.” ~Amazon Review
★★★★★ "Fast-paced, thought-provoking, and unforgettable." ~The Great Book Reviews
Winner, San Antonio Writers Guild 27th Annual Writing Contest, Science Fiction
One of the 20 Best Books of 2023, Bookworm Reviews
#1 Amazon International Best Seller
About the Author
Robert Rivenbark earned a master’s degree in Creative Writing from Antioch University, but he credits the inspiration for his writing career to Mrs. Lee, the sixth-grade homeroom and English teacher at Sagamore Hills Grammar School in Atlanta, who made him the class playwright and short story writer. He pursued a career in journalism and advertising in Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles prior to writing The Cloud, which he describes as "a spiritual descendant of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and her stunning 2020 sequel, The Testaments; George Orwell’s 1984; and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World." He has written a pilot script for the TV series adaptation of The Cloud (currently in development) and plans to work as a staff writer/producer on the series. He also plans to write two additional novels that would constitute The Cloud Trilogy. Learn more at TheCloudNovel.com, and be sure to follow Robert online:
