Biocube Escape

What would you do if you discovered your dark dystopian world was a sealed off cube buried deep inside a beautiful planet?

Somewhere near the edge of the galaxy spins the planet Lithos, the furthermost outpost of the human race. Buried within it, just under the floor of its deepest caves and safely above its magma core, lies the Biocube that houses the People's Paradise of Underland, known as the PPU, a self-contained rectilinear world of 49 levels where curves are banned and every problem has a logical solution.

That's if you believe the ancient myths. On the other hand, if you are a rational modern person, a de-mythologizer who knows that such tales are pure bunk; if you refuse to be bamboozled by silly children's stories, then you may find Lithos and the Biocube in your own world or perhaps inside yourself. Its location is entirely dependent on your point of view.

Biocube Escape is the tale of Vee, a young bioengineered female inhabitant of the Biocube, who discovers the existence of a long forgotten world where humans stand up straight, food tastes good, beauty abounds, and curves are legal.

In a race against time, Vee and her friends undertake a page-turning quest to reach the surface of the planet Lithos. At every twist and turn of their escape, they encounter the long term consequences of the founders' utopian ideas for attaining human perfection via genetic engineering, cultural conditioning, and totalitarian politics. Their confrontations are alternately horrifying and hilarious.

To find out what happens, order your copy of Biocube Escape today.

A Word on Dystopias

As a science fiction story, Biocube Escape is intended for brighter teens or adult readers. On a deeper level, readers will discover an allegory based on a synthesis of actual historical dystopias of the twentieth century and certain utopian ideas now abroad in the twenty-first.

Dystopias are real, not mere science fiction constructs invented to amuse readers. Dystopias originate in forward thinking utopian ideas about how to reach human perfection and happiness at some nebulous point in the distant future, inevitably at great cost to actual people currently alive. To date, all such attempts have ended in dehumanization, totalitarianism, environmental disasters, a culture of death, and other cataclysmic consequences not unlike those described in Biocube Escape.

Despite the apparent decline of Nazism and Communism, the utopian dream of attaining human perfection by reengineering human biology or reconditioning the mind still abound. Today, one encounters them on a regular basis in transhumanism, some aspects of genetic engineering, and New Age ideologies.

In the words of Thomas Merton, "There are ways that seem to men to be good, the end whereof is in the depths of Hell."

Topics covered in Biocube Escape include:

*Dystopian Science Fiction
*Dystopian Young Adult Fiction
*Satire
*Friendship
*Modern art criticism
*Twentieth century history
And yes, a touch of sweet romance.

If you'd like to read a science fiction story with ties to modern political history, order your copy of Biocube Escape today.
About the Author: Irene Groot is a retired history teacher whose innovative programs have won numerous statewide awards. The utopian totalitarianism portrayed in this novel was the focus of her research as a graduate student at Santa Clara University and has continued to intrigue her ever since. Her interests include writing, researching symbolism, curating the collected works of California Abstract Expressionist artist Arthur Colligan, and visiting the beach. Irene lives with her husband, Peter, an MIT trained mathematician, in Silicon Valley, the epicenter of genetic engineering. Biocube Escape is her first novel.