Publisher's Synopsis
"The unreal story of our time... or could it be the real story of the future that awaits us not so far ahead?"
Videos, pictures, photos: frame upon frame,
Rushing by in millions, all so different, yet, so much the same:
Like me, love me: oh, say you hold me dear!
The miles between us may count far, but if you see me, I am near. I have no time to wait, no second to waste,
Life is short, so if it helps, I'll give you a taste:
Here I am, alone in the dark, I'm lost just like you,
I'll show you everything; you want to see it; I know you do! To be wanted, to be desired, that's life, can't you see?
Show me yours, I'll show you mine, for a second yours I'll be,
For a moment, though, but not forever,
You're but one, so many more have never seen me: not ever. You'll find them too, they're just around the corner,
When I leave you, surrender your soul and you'll find them sooner,
Oh, you pretty boy with golden hair,
I shan't forget your dark blue eyes until I see another pair! Find your joy in the embrace of another,
Just like us, it will be forever, but, alas!, you won't remember.
Don't be sad, you're only sixteen, don't let your glee for life fade,
Who knows, maybe we'll meet again, Niederlager Schade!
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Hiya!
Welcome to the WOW world!
WOW stands for Worldwide Optimized Wellbeing, of course, silly!
After we'd conquered all the challenges of the modern world: sustainability, injustice, war - we turned to ourselves - we wanted humankind to be the best that it could ever be - we wanted to be our own best life coaches - our own most inspiring influencers - we wanted to be happy - all the time - forever!
We wanted to feel like Gods!
Nah, we wanted to be Gods!
A new technology had enabled us to naturally align and optimize human hormones and neurotransmitters by using simple electromagnetic fields and electric relays - all at the tap of a touchscreen! Don't ask how - just say WOW!
We're all in the WOW now ("WOW now", get it?) - and we're all happy - forever happy!
Happiness is literally beneath our fingertips: whenever we need a little boost - we just tap the WOW device on our left wrist! Wow, right? WOW is right!
The WOW is continuously upgraded for the optimal user experience. The major upgrades are usually scheduled to happen during the night while we're all fast asleep and while we dream our WOW dreams!
For one of our happy people, a 16-year-old boy by the name of Niederlager Schade, Ned for short, the upgrade, unfortunately, got stuck during the night, so, the next morning when he awoke - he woke up outside of our amazing WOW world! That's so sad, isn't it?
And then, for just a few days, he was forced to live without us, he was forced to feel miserable because he was stuck: stuck in your world!
We missed Ned, and he missed us too - terribly, and who could blame him, right?
This is his story, his recounting of those few days he had spent without us - us, the happy people.
He experienced the world as the only human being outside of our happy world - outside the WOW - and he witnessed the truth - the truth about your miserable world!
Don't worry, Ned is back with us now, we made sure of that - and he's happy again - now and forever - just like we are!
You know what? Don't you want to be happy forever too?
Why don't you join us?
We always take care of ourselves and our own!
We do it! We, the happy people!
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"I suppose it was destiny that you and I should meet each other, even if it is in such an artificial manner. Ha, artificial... that's a good one! What is not artificial in this world? On the other hand, what is real? It's all real! The unreal real! A parallel universe? A psychoanalyst's cul-de-sac? Or is it all just a bad dream, huh? A really bad