G.F. Bileck's "Am I Beautiful?" takes you on a surprisingly deep and enthralling trip through the murky abyss of man's darker side. It's a brilliant, mind-bending Sci-Fi thriller that will keep you spellbound until you've turned the very last page. Bileck burns down a pitch-black firework of ideas so richly detailed and conceptualized that you'll often find yourself wondering whether you're reading fiction or a convincing historic novel set on a distant planet. Revolving around two main characters, bound together by fate and their enigmatic past, the narrative explores the dichotomy of man's startling technological advancements on one side, and the never-ending search for spiritual answers on the other. Make no mistake, it's a gripping survival horror story at heart. A story about mystery and intrigue in a time when the worst enemy of mankind, sterilized by its own apathy and blind inventiveness, is mankind itself. Bileck sends her protagonists off on a thrilling, thought-provoking ride through their own personal hells that will stick with you for a long time. If you dare enter. And enter you must, because this dramatic, action-packed roller coaster of a novel is an experience best understood by participating in it.
About the Author: I was born a Janus head, destined to live in two worlds at once, without ever being allowed to fully materialize into either one. For me, there's the real world and the imaginative, the technological and the natural, the pitifully rational and the hopelessly spiritual. Although I'm a part-time extrovert, enjoying the loud side of life, I have always found myself drawn to exploring the darkness inside me. Where most people see a city full of life, people, traffic, restaurants and clubs, I see a vast network of tunnels, sewers, basements and buried things - overlooked, ignored, maybe forgotten, but ever-present, whether we like it or not. 'Am I Beautiful' is a spelunking tour through the undercurrents of my mind. And - since, in the universal realm of infinite possibilities, every idea conceived in our world is a reality in someone else's - it is also a narrative of actual events happening somewhere, sometime, for someone. Someone on the other side of the dimensional rift that keeps us apart. I strongly believe in the cyclical nature of the universe and in elemental reincarnation, of which Mac and Faith's story gives testimony. But most importantly, I am what you could call a classic Greek soul, enraptured by life and love, forever searching for beauty in places, people and art. - Which is why this novel serves, to an extent, as a treatise of the antonym for all of these beautiful aspects: death. While I'm sure dying is a fundamental and necessary part of existence (and I've probably been through it countless times before), it still bugs me. Big time.