THE FINAL SHOWDOWN BETWEEN ID, EGO AND SUPER EGO.

Three young men with different approaches to life find themselves in confrontation with one another at a new workplace where mysterious lights, designed to aid progress, inadvertently turn its employees into extreme versions of themselves...

About the First Edition (Original Concept Edition)

This is an experiment! This story has been written only in excess spare time and with great passion over almost two decades: a strange and unique collaboration between my past and present selves, across time and mindsets. 'Burning Bright' was initially being written as a screenplay, back when I considered film studies. Great positive feedback convinced me to complete it—eventually it turned into this massive independent novel.

During the extended time of writing this novel, similar fiction has emerged, notably a TV series called “Severance” from 2022, which features a workplace with a memory management setup somewhat similar to the primary purpose of the lights in my story. To honor creativity, I enclose documentation in my novel's appendix (full story summary of 'Burning Bright', e-mailed and presented in 2013 at a pitching course, amongst film industry professionals, at London Film School—kindly signed by London Film School). As my storyline and most of the writing predate the similar fiction and explore an entirely different twist on the concept, I present the novel in its original form in the First Edition. An alternate edition with minor tweaks (alternate primary purpose of lights) may be released later to cater to some readers.

First Edition (Original Concept Edition) Synopsis

Gabriel, Simon and Marcus are headhunted for their imaginative, bright and morally flexible minds by the secretive large commercial science firm Myriad Arc in Australia. However, the considerable salary and privilege of working at the firm comes at a price, as the newcomers must enroll in a memory management scheme to ensure confidentiality: a network of special ‘Bracchya-lights’ abundant in the lower labs of the facility. All employees only have recollection of their doings in the lower labs whenever subjected to the mysterious lights down there.

Their predicament soon begins to beg the question: how far are the employees really willing to go to get their research results when knowing no one, including themselves, will ever remember any of it afterwards anyway. Devoid of prejudice and consequences, Myriad Arc's employees slowly become more extreme versions of themselves: The lights successfully unlock and drag the work memories to the surface each day, but the lights also progressively drag up other deeply hidden thoughts and repressed memories from the dark chasms of the minds. For the three newcomers this will ultimately lead to a terrifying confrontation within themselves and with each other, that none of them had bargained for.

If you look your dark subconscious in the eyes, unfiltered, are you strong enough to avoid being motivated by its seductive incentives?

Keywords
Hard Science Fiction / Secret Lab / Experiments  / Technology / Concept of Time / Psychology / Philosophy / Dialogue Intense / Ethics / Moral / Purpose of Life / Consciousness / Character Study / Darkly Satirical / Recent fiction / Unnerving / Spy Fiction / Horror / Action / Mystery / Drama

Pages

540

Format

E-book and Paperback

Release

December 2024 (First Edition)

Availability

Amazon.com online shopping

Author

S.M. Thygesen