Hedon by Jason Werbeloff Book Blast and Giveaway

Hedon

by Jason Werbeloff

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Dystopian Science Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

What if happiness were compulsory?

What if your thoughts were not your own?

Plunge into HEDON for soul-twisting sci-fi.

In 2051, the Bhutanese Empire rules post-apocalyptic Shangri with iron-fisted Buddhist compassion. Happiness is compulsory, but making everyone happy isn’t easy in an overpopulated world. Breeders are ghettoed, homosexuality is mandatory, and Shangrians’ happiness levels are strictly monitored by hedometers implanted in their heads. Become depressed, or feel too happy without helping others feel the same, and The Tax Man will get angry. Very angry.

Gemini and Cyan, winners of the pregnancy lottery, are on the run. Cyan can’t fall pregnant, and Gemini is addicted to the Experience Machine. Will they evade The Tax Man, and find a way to end the brutal pleasures of Shangri?

The lovechild of Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale, HEDON is gritty satire on a dystopia drunk with bigotry and positive thinking.

“A one of a kind dystopian novel.”

“As politically depraved as anyone could desire.”

“This is storytelling at its best”.

– ReadersFavorite.com 5 star review of HEDON

Excerpt

Cyan had never slept so well. Nor eaten so well. Between Anand and Larisa, there were pounds of food diffusing from the kitchen at all hours. The trays of sandwiches and salmon and eggs and toast and roast-pork and creamed spinach and tortillas and honey-dripped-pancakes overflowed the dining-room table, and then onto the side-stools in the lounge, up the staircase to the bedrooms. In the last week of the pregnancy, Cyan had charged through the house, pounding up and down the pancaked staircase, gobbling every morsel as she passed, already reaching for the next plate. “J-j-jesus,” Milton would say, “the woman can eat.”

Once the baby came, Cyan couldn’t keep her eyes open. She slept, and slept some more. The baby could scream. The sky could fall, and she wouldn’t notice. But when the sky did fall that afternoon, she woke.

A bang shook the wooden frame of the house, hard enough to shift the bed away from the wall.

She felt for the baby on her chest. But there was no child. Her fingers searched every inch of the duvet in the dark bedroom. There was no child.

“Anand?” she called into the gloom. He must have taken her downstairs.

She rolled off the bed and stood, her pelvis tender. Her knees shook, and threatened to buckle. But she braced herself against the mattress, and felt more sure-footed as her brain settled.

She was on her way down the stairs when the second bang sounded. And then a third. She hurried now, the dizziness evaporating.

“Anand!” she yelled, hurrying through the house. He wasn’t in the living room. He wasn’t in the kitchen.

“What is it?” Larisa asked, her eyes puffy with sleep.

“Where is Anand?”

“What was that noise?” Larisa yawned.

“I can’t find the baby.” Cyan’s voice was as shaky as her knees.

“What?” asked Larisa, the sleep fading from her face.

“The baby,” said Cyan. “And Anand. Where are they?”

The two women hurried out onto the porch. Flames danced in the sunflower field, and most of the wheat was flattened.

“Jesus,” said Larisa.

“Anand!” Cyan shrieked, as another sonic boom shook the house, almost knocking them off their feet. She sprung from the porch before Larisa could stop her, and sprinted toward the flames.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Human. Male. From an obscure planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Sci-fi novelist with a PhD in philosophy. Likes chocolates, Labradors, and zombies (not necessarily in that order). Werbeloff spends his days constructing thought experiments, while trying to muster enough guilt to go to the gym.

He's written two novels, Hedon and The Solace Pill, and the short story anthology, Obsidian Worlds. His books will make your brain hurt. And you'll come back for more.

Subscribe to his newsletter to receive a free novel, and a lifetime of free and discounted stories: http://smarturl.it/werbeloff

**Amazon Author Page: http://smarturl.it/AuthWerbeloff   – download all of Werbeloff's fiction from Amazon.

**Newsletter: http://smarturl.it/werbeloff   – subscribe to get 'The Solace Pill' free, as well as VIP access to Werbeloff's latest fiction.

**Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7340789   – read and submit reviews of Werbeloff’s fiction.

**Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/solaceseries and Twitter: https://twitter.com/JasonWerbeloff – follow Werbeloff for release date information on upcoming shorts and novels.

**Website: http://www.jasonwerbeloff.com/   - read about the author, and the philosophy behind his fiction.

Purchase link for Hedon:

http://smarturl.it/hedon

a Rafflecopter giveaway