MILTON, ONTARIO, December 10, 2021 – One year after the release of Cloning Freedom, author Stephen B. Pearl continues the Freedom Saga with Freedom’s Law, out today from publisher Brain Lag.
Cloning Freedom
In the first book, clones of famous actors are used as emotional surrogates for full sensory e-entertainments on a far future human colony world. Owned by the studios and believing their broadcast adventures to be reality, the clones have no rights and are trapped in their shows at the whims of the producers and controllers, who use nano-technology to manipulate the performers’ hormones for their own desired effects.
Then, when a popular character is scheduled to be killed off, a sympathetic controller takes matters into his own hands. Utilizing his decades of experience as a Space Forces engineer, Ryan Chandler initiates a rescue of surrogate Rowan McPherson. With humanity divided on the status of clones, the studio launches an immediate pursuit, fearing that Rowan’s liberation will bolster a clone rights movement that could bankrupt the e-entertainment industry and see personhood granted to clones everywhere.
Politics and personal ideologies clash in this fast-paced, deeply realized galactic chase taking place both on-planet and off.
The Story Continues
In Freedom’s Law, Ryan and Rowan reach the relative safety of the Switchboard Station, central hub of the Galactic Republic. However, the United Earth Systems continues to hunt down Rowan using whatever devious methods it can, and they cannot enter human-controlled areas of the station without facing arrest. Further, the genetic manipulation done to Rowan for her show have left her with severe health problems that only advanced human medicine can treat.
Thus begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game as Ryan and Rowan struggle to remain free, get treatment, and prepare to move on toward their final destination. The UES is hot on their trail, along with a pair of hunters recruited from Rowan’s show and Ryan’s estranged son, a longtime member of an anti-clone rights movement. Unexpected allies come in the form of an AI lawyer, the head of the e-entertainment studio secretly supporting their flight (and recording their progress for his own purposes), and various alien races which disapprove of the way human clones are treated.
The first book was praised by reviewers:
- “Life imitates art a little too closely in this frenetic space opera caper. Pearl plays a confident game with his multiple worlds-within-worlds, running parallel scenes from the entertainment programs and the bridge of Ryan’s restored spaceship to wryly comment on how, even when his characters think they are in charge, their strings are being pulled by others.” – Publishers Weekly
- “The world Pearl has created in Cloning Freedom is rich, original, and immersive, sometimes challengingly so. Readers who are up for the challenge of navigating both the massively complex alien society and the complicated, multilayered plot will be rewarded with an intriguing reading experience.” – Booklist
- “This is a fast paced, satirical, sci-fi story about living vicariously through slaves… frenetic pace, gonzo humor, militaristic flavor and gentle landing.” – Liminal Fiction
Freedom’s Law is now available to buy in trade paperback (454 pages, ISBN 978-1-928011-60-6) and ebook (ISBN 978-1-928011-61-3) format in bookstores worldwide. Both Freedom’s Law and Cloning Freedom are also available in a dyslexia-formatted edition, with larger character and line spacing, left-aligned text, and bold type instead of italics for emphasis.
A virtual release party will be taking place on Twitch Saturday, December 11th at 6:00 p.m. EST. The livestreamed party will be free and open to the public and will feature an author interview, Q&A, and readings.
The Author
Multi-genre author Stephen B. Pearl lives and writes in Hamilton, Ontario. His published books include Horn of the Kraken, a Norse fantasy heist adventure taking place during the end-times of Ragnarok, Cats, a cyberpunk action story about a group of gamers trapped in the virtual bodies of cats, and Tinker’s Plague, a post-apocalyptic medical drama set in southern Ontario. Pearl frequently attends various arts events in Hamilton, including the monthly Art Crawl and Book Crawl.
Brain Lag
Freedom’s Law is the fourth book from Pearl and 29th release from Milton, Ontario-based science fiction and fantasy publisher Brain Lag. Media inquiries and requests to contact the author can be addressed to publishing@brain-lag.com.
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