Free (Kindle) The Cult Candidate by Richard Monaco [Sci-Fi Dystopian Technothriller]

[ATDrake]

The Cult Candidate by Pulitzer Prize finalist Richard Monaco (ISFDB) is his vintage standalone science fiction technothriller, set in a near-future dystopia where a consciousness-raising cult claiming to develop the psychic abilities of ESP is rising in influence, even as a plucky journalist and his friend dig into the real truth of their power, free courtesy of publisher Endeavour Press' Venture imprint, who are e-printing it from its 1982 edition originally out from Sphere.

Currently free @ Amazon (available to Canadians & in the UK and pretty much everywhere else that Amazon sells worldwide, since this is being done via their KDP Select exclusive-or-else program)

Description
The Star Organization has recently entered the scene, and gains new followers by the minute. The society claims to want to bring people to a higher level by having them acknowledge their spiritual power, working to help each other see energy on a higher plane.

Tom Clenaire, a journalist for a major network, smells something fishy. He enlists the help of his old flame’s new partner, Frank Conan, who is independently studying how to reach new planes of free consciousness.

Leader of the Star Organization, William Starman, is a seemingly unassuming man. But his fervor in the science of ESP, and his nerve-wracking control of the power, doesn’t sit right with Tom.

Those in power see only the potential influence it gives them.

But as Frank and Tom dig deeper in the organization, increasingly disturbing patterns become clear.

Starman is waiting for his time to come — the time when he will replace the weakness, confusion and doubt of democracy with absolute tyranny. Because he has unlocked the ultimate weapon: the power of the human will to reduce the whole world to total, slavish submission …

In the past they called it magic. Now it is called science, or even enlightenment. It is the force that moves people against reason, masses against the laws of nature … an unstoppable, breeding evil…

The Cult Candidate is a dystopian work of classic science fiction. Elements of Huxley and Orwell inhabit Monaco’s work, as he explores the potential for humankind to subjugate itself to the will of a higher power – be it godly or even one of its own.

[Dr. Drib]

Got it.

Thank you!

[ATDrake]

Now a repeat freebie if you missed it earlier.