conflict

Amped

By Daniel H. Wilson
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jan 25, 2015

Remember that time your Dad told you the implant in your brain didn’t just control your seizures, but that it had “something extra”? Me neither. But it’s a day Owen Gray will never forget.

You see, Owen is a medical Amp. Amps have Neural Autofocus Brain Implants; Reggies have none. Doctors have been implanting people young and old for eight years to cure things like ADD, Downs Syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. These implants irreversibly change neural circuits, and some Reggies now claim Amps are less-than-human. Discrimination and targeted hate-crimes ensue. Add in a zealous Senator, and

Aftermath by Brian Shawver


Rated by Helen H.
Mar 24, 2009

When Casey Fielder, manager of the local O’Ruddy’s restaurant, allows a fight between the privileged St. Brendan’s kids and those from the public high school to escalate, his inaction puts him at risk of being charged with negligence. As a result of the fight, Colin Chase has suffered brain damage. Shawver alternates between Casey and Colin’s mother Lea as they both investigate the circumstances behind the fight. Casey has been fired and in exploring the reasons for the fight hopes to find absolution for his inaction. Lea, on the other hand, searches her son’s past out of the guilt she feels