Strange Flesh is a novel by author Michael Olson, published by Simon & Schuster in 2012.
Strange Flesh is a novel by author Michael Olson, published by Simon & Schuster in 2012.
The novel opens with a deceased programmer inside a device that has driven a hole saw through the back of her neck. We then meet the protagonist, a professional social engineer named James Pryce who works for Red Rook, a gray-hat security company. He attends a meeting at a giant media company, run by twins Blake and Blythe Randall. [1]
James watches a mysterious video in which the Randall's half-brother Billy evidently electrocutes himself, but this turns out to be a ruse. Billy has "virtualized" himself in a virtual world known as "NOD" in order to communicate secretly with Blake.
The twins hire James to work undercover at a gamer colony called, GAME and there James uncovers other mysteries including a number of suicides among Billy's friends, known as "the Jackanapes".
It turns out that Billy has begun an ARG based in NOD at a replica of the castle from the Marquis de Sade's, The 120 Days of Sodom .
Finally, James penetrates a group working on a project they hope will usher in a whole new era of sensual technology.
The novel is set in 2015 and fits into the near-future sci-fi subgenre.
The story spends time explaining technological contraptions and could be called a "techno-thriller" but its most important theme is sex, specifically virtual sex, also known as teledildonics
Reviews to the novel have been generally positive. [2] Publishers' Weekly [3] calls the novel a "head-spinning literary thriller... a rabbit hole of kinky cybersex and multilevel mystery." Booklist [4] writes that author Olson "introduces “Imminent Teledildonics,” sexbots that employ next-gen virtual reality for revelatory virtual sex. Crimes, both high and low; bleeding-edge technology; and titillation: What’s not to love?" And Kirkus Reviews [5] describes it as "A profane, heady thriller more startling and compelling than its individual components and influences might demonstrate."
2012, English, Simon & Schuster ( ISBN 978-1-4516-2757-2), pub date April 3, 2012, hardcover
Teledildonics is the name coined for virtual sex encounters using technology to mimic and extend human sexual interaction. The term became known after technology critic and writer Howard Rheingold used it in his 1991 book Virtual Reality. In the publication, Rheingold made futuristic conclusions and summaries surrounding technology and used the term 'teledildonics' to refer to remote sexual activity using technology. Nowadays, the term is commonly used to describe remote sex, where tactile sensations are communicated over a remote cloud between the participants. The term can also refer to the integration of telepresence with sexual activity that these interfaces make possible and can be used in conjunction or interchangeably with sex-technology. The term has also been used less accurately to refer to robotic sex, i.e., computer-controlled sex toys that aim to substitute for or improve upon sex with a human partner. Nowadays, it is commonly used to refer to Bluetooth-enabled sex toys.
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