I love apocalyptic novels and great covers. The Babel Apoclypse by Vyvyan Evans has both a great story and a great cover in equal measure. I mean, if the means of communication is lost, I think we all knows how that goes from our own experiences. Welcome, Vyvyan.
Guest blog post by Vyvyan Evans
If you knew an apocalypse was imminent, how would you prepare?
The Babel Apocalypse is set in the near future, the early twenty-second century, when language is no longer learned but streamed from internet in space direct to neural implants (“language chips”) implanted in citizens brains, at birth, governed by lang-laws.
So what could possibly go wrong? Plenty as it turns out. When a cyberattack destroys the language streaming servers in low-Earth orbit, large swathes of the world’s population lose the ability to communicate, at a stroke.
The only person who saw the Babel Apocalypse coming was the last native speaker in the automated world: Professor Ebba Black. Ebba is an heiress, and a hacker extraordinaire. But she had been planning for just such a catastrophe, a global language outage. She set up a secret base, Freetown, and with her team of scientists, established a Language Unplugged protocol: a medical procedure to “untether” human brains from the language chip technology that makes much of humanity entirely dependent on big tech.
In such a near-future landscape, when something akin to ChatGPT is literally embedded inside everyone’s heads, language has become a commodity, and no one actually learns it anymore. This is why a low probability event—a global language outage—is so catastrophic; no one can use language without it being streamed directly into their brains via the internet-of-things ecosystem.
But Ebba is ready. The only problem is that corporate powerplays, money and governmental politics inevitably have made her an outlaw–she is a wanted woman. Hence, Ebba must use skill and daring to stay off the grid. And with the assistance of the loner, Europol commander, Emyr Morgan, they must together figure out who is behind the outage, and how to restore language to humanity, when sinister, global forces are dead set against them.
THE BABEL APOCALYPSE AUDIOBOOK by Vyvyan Evans
GENRE: Science Fiction
BLURB
Language is no longer learned, but streamed to neural implants regulated by lang-laws. Those who can’t afford monthly language streaming services are feral, living on the fringes of society. Big tech corporations control language, the world’s most valuable commodity.
But when a massive cyberattack causes a global language outage, catastrophe looms.
Europol detective Emyr Morgan is assigned to the case. Suspect number one is Professor Ebba Black, the last native speaker of language in the automated world, and leader of the Babel cyberterrorist organization. But Emyr soon learns that in a world of corporate power, where those who control language control everything, all is not as it seems. After all, if the mysterious Ebba Black is to blame, why is the Russian Federation being framed for an outage it claims no responsibility for? And why is Ebba now a target for assassination?
As he and Ebba collide, Emyr faces an existential dilemma between loyalty and betrayal, when everything he once believed in is called into question. To prevent the imminent collapse of civilization and a deadly war between the great federations, he must figure out friend from foe—his life depends on it.
And with the odds stacked against him, he must find a way to stop the Babel Apocalypse.
EXCERPT
As I was about to glance back at the voices, a light flickered in my peripheral vision, drawing my gaze upward to the night sky. A soft white glow, high up in the dark. At first it was indistinguishable from the airway lights. But it persisted, the size of a small disk at first, before shifting to red-orange, getting larger. At that point I realized it definitely couldn’t be a hover car. This was farther up, probably low Earth orbit, which explained the initial white. But the shift in coloration—that meant a detonation, producing nitrogen dioxide, which turned deep orange when mixed with air. A gaseous cloud has reached the atmosphere, I thought. I was witnessing a chemical explosion in space large enough to be visible to the naked eye. But what was exploding?
As I continued looking up, the orange grew in intensity until it flared across the skyline, illuminating the entire landscape around me with an eerie red-orange. It was only then that I became aware of the newly hushed silence of the drunken revelers nearby. And the silhouettes of other people too, who had also stopped and peppered the pedestrian corridor. We were all now strange red creatures, watching transfixed in rapt silence as the night sky was on fire. And just as suddenly as it had appeared, it was gone; the orange light faded back into a deep well of pitch black.
AUTHOR Bio and Links
Dr. Vyvyan Evans is a native of Chester, England. He holds a PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., and is a Professor of Linguistics. He has published numerous acclaimed popular science and technical books on language and linguistics. His popular science essays and articles have appeared in numerous venues including ‘The Guardian’, ‘Psychology Today’, ‘New York Post’, ‘New Scientist’, ‘Newsweek’ and ‘The New Republic’. His award-winning writing focuses, in one way or another, on the nature of language and mind, the impact of technology on language, and the future of communication. His science fiction work explores the status of language and digital communication technology as potential weapons of mass destruction.
Book website (including ‘Buy’ links): http://www.songs-of-the-sage.com
- Author website: https://www.vyvevans.net/
- Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@vyvevans
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/VyvEvans
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vyvyan.Evans.Author
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