Anderson, M.T. Feed.Candlewick can·dle·wick n. 1. The wick of a candle. 2. a. A soft heavy cotton thread similar to that used to make wicks for candles. b. Embroidery made of tufts of this thread. , 234p. c2002. 0-7636-1726-1. $16.99. S It's spring break, and Titus and his teenage friends are partying on the moon when he spots a beautiful girl. He and Violet are just getting to know each other when a hacker A person who writes programs in assembly language or in system-level languages, such as C. The term often refers to any programmer, but its true meaning is someone with a strong technical background who is "hacking away" at the bits and bytes. causes their feeds to malfunction--the chips in their brains that barrage them with ads and direct their thoughts and dreams. Titus recovers, but Violet's feed is damaged; she hasn't always had a feed, and she openly questions the poisoning of the planet, why everyone is developing lesions, and the way in which the feed insidiously feeds off them. This is a new way of looking at the world for Titus, who has never before questioned his technologically enhanced way of life, hanging out with his shallow, trendy friends. Violet and Titus enter into a relationship, each trying to understand the other, even as Violet starts to decline and die as her feed stops working. This provocative SF take on the excesses of our consumer society has echoes of A Clockwork Orange, as Clockwork Orange, A depicts a future state that enforces conformity and crushes all heresy and rebellion. [Br. Lit.: Anthony Burgess Clockwork Orange] See : Totalitarianism Anderson (author of the YA novels Thirsty and Burger Wuss) creates his own vocabulary ("It was brag," for example, meaning "great"; there are some old-fashioned expletives here as well). The invented words are not hard to understand, though, and the flashes of humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was as well as the cleverly imagined grim future world should quickly draw readers into this look at teenage love and loss, and at consumerism consumerism Movement or policies aimed at regulating the products, services, methods, and standards of manufacturers, sellers, and advertisers in the interests of the buyer. carried to its logical extreme. Paula Rohrlick, KLIATT |
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