It's 1984 Meets The OdysseyBlake DeKalb is a well-educated, well-groomed, middle-aged, able-bodied, digital-age American male.He is also homeless and unemployed.His life is now a never-ending and fruitless job search. He constantly waits in line for free meals. He wastes time on the Internet at the public library, and works the occasional odd-job for his sometime employer and good friend, Tony.About the only thing Blake looks forward to every day is a chance to use the popular, smoke-able, still-legal street drug of choice, "Krash."He also dreams of a date with an attractive volunteer he met at the soup kitchen. All his friends say she's out of his league.Perhaps because of his refusal to look downtrodden, Blake is the target of every beggar in the city. Every movement of his public life is under video surveillance. Everything happens against a backdrop of wailing sirens.Everywhere he looks, a camera is pointed at him. Everywhere he goes, a security guard appears out of nowhere to inform him he can't sit there, stand there, or smoke there. He is constantly subjected to a distrust that is "institutionalized, inescapable, all-encompassing, never-ending, government-mandated, and married to technology."SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT THIS!One day, Blake obtains an especially strong Krash cigarette, so strong it produces profound visions. In these visions, Both George Orwell and Ulysses appear, and communicate with him."I told you so," is Orwell's message."What can we do about it now?" asks Blake."Do what I did," declares Ulysses. "I've been through this before."And the two of them thrust Blake into a leadership role, one Blake doubts he can assume.Will he lead the next American Revolution? Will he inspire hundreds to lash out against "The Camera State?" Will he rescue his city from the clutches of authoritarianism?But more importantly-- will he get the girl?If you're one of those who thinks, "Those cameras are there to make us feel safe. There's nothing anybody can do about them, whether we like it or not. That's just the way it is," read Ulysses Lives!, and you'll think again.
