“The Dark River is a work of fiction inspired by the real world.
An adventurous reader can touch the sundial hidden beneath the streets
of Rome, travel to Ethiopia and stand outside the holy sanctuary in Axum,
or walk through Grand Central Terminal in New York and look up at the
mystery on the concourse ceiling.
The aspects of the Vast Machine described in the novel are also real or
under development. In the near future, both private and governmental
total information systems will monitor every aspect of our lives.
A central computer will remember where we go and what we buy, the
e-mail we write, and the books we read.
Each attack on privacy is justified by the pervasive culture of fear
that seems to surround us and grow stronger every day. The ultimate
consequences of that fear are expressed in my vision of the First Realm.
Its darkness will exist forever and it will be opposed- forever- by
compassion, bravery, and love.” John Twelve Hawks.
The above is the authors note excerpted from The Dark River, second book
in the fourth realm trilogy. Published by Doubleday, a division of
Random House Inc., New York.
Islander.