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New Heaven — Matthew Dunn
We all have our own idea of the perfect heaven.
Now, when we die, we can have it.
Arcelio Sumner is a brilliant neuroscientist who has spent years searching for a cure for the debilitating epilepsy that haunts his mother's daily life. Her seizures are relentless, quieting only when she reminisces with her son about the days when he was a child. But when she suffers a stroke and can no longer hear or speak, that small reprieve is lost and the disease begins its final death assault. If only Arcelio could somehow take his mother's thoughts back to the home of his youth.
Enter Lia Gregg, a talented and beautiful laboratory research scientist whose theory for transmitting artificial images into the brain is revolutionary. Sumner hires her and together they provide his mother peace while immersing themselves into the mechanics of the most powerful force in the universe -- the human mind.
Sumner quickly realizes the power they've discovered. He forms a company called New Heaven and begins selling an alternative to the traditional, religious-based afterlife. But it can only be performed on someone declared legally dead and whose brain has been preserved by New Heaven's special process. People sign up by the thousands for the procedure that will grant them an eternity in whatever type of heaven they choose. Overnight the suicide rate in America triples, prompting the government to outlaw New Heaven contracts when suicide is involved. Undeterred, people hire out for their own murder, anxious to go to a personally customized heaven. Goon squads flourish, happy to assist for the right price.
The multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry, suffering from plummeting sales as people push their medications aside in favor of the “New Heaven”, vows to stem the tide while the Pope, beyond outrage, condemns the procedure and instructs every priest in the world to denounce the company and their employees.
Heaven, the very essence of faith, is challenged and the world begins to divide.
Now, when we die, we can have it.
Arcelio Sumner is a brilliant neuroscientist who has spent years searching for a cure for the debilitating epilepsy that haunts his mother's daily life. Her seizures are relentless, quieting only when she reminisces with her son about the days when he was a child. But when she suffers a stroke and can no longer hear or speak, that small reprieve is lost and the disease begins its final death assault. If only Arcelio could somehow take his mother's thoughts back to the home of his youth.
Enter Lia Gregg, a talented and beautiful laboratory research scientist whose theory for transmitting artificial images into the brain is revolutionary. Sumner hires her and together they provide his mother peace while immersing themselves into the mechanics of the most powerful force in the universe -- the human mind.
Sumner quickly realizes the power they've discovered. He forms a company called New Heaven and begins selling an alternative to the traditional, religious-based afterlife. But it can only be performed on someone declared legally dead and whose brain has been preserved by New Heaven's special process. People sign up by the thousands for the procedure that will grant them an eternity in whatever type of heaven they choose. Overnight the suicide rate in America triples, prompting the government to outlaw New Heaven contracts when suicide is involved. Undeterred, people hire out for their own murder, anxious to go to a personally customized heaven. Goon squads flourish, happy to assist for the right price.
The multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry, suffering from plummeting sales as people push their medications aside in favor of the “New Heaven”, vows to stem the tide while the Pope, beyond outrage, condemns the procedure and instructs every priest in the world to denounce the company and their employees.
Heaven, the very essence of faith, is challenged and the world begins to divide.
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