Gray Matters: A Novel (Digital Original)

By: William Hjortsberg

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Synopsis: Unrest simmers in a dystopian future where disembodied brains are kept alive in tanks, waiting to earn a new body At twelve years old, Skeets Kalbfleischer is returning from a ski vacation when a lightning strike knocks his plane out of the sky, killing everyone else on board. Although his body is destroyed, a radical procedure preserves Skeets&’s brain, which spends twenty-five years in a fish tank before mankind realizes the implications of his second life. A key to immortality has been found. Four centuries later, it has become commonplace for the minds of the dead to be preserved. While warehoused in a massive storage facility tended by robots, the brains pass time watching old film clips, learning about bees, and meditating their way to a higher state of being. But for the facility&’s overseers, Skeets presents a problem. A twelve-year-old for all eternity, their most famous resident still wants to be a cowboy. To remedy this embarrassment, his handlers concoct a solution that will push humanity even farther past nature&’s wildest dreams. This ebook features an illustrated biography of William Hjortsberg including rare photos from the author&’s personal collection.