N0thing: A Novel

A Sequel to DreamLand

By: Matthew J. Pallamary

Narrated by: Ethan Fifield

N0thing is titled after Jordan (n0thing) Gilbert, a top tier international eSports champion. N0thing pushes through the boundaries of story, genre, and reality itself while redefining literary tradition by putting real life celebrities into a fictional story. The other real life co-star in this tale is renowned psychologist Dr. Stanley Krippner. Based in the near future, N0thing is the long awaited sequel to DreamLand, written by Pallamary and the late legendary DJ Ken Reeth. In DreamLand, the creators of computer generated dreaming hoped to conquer the stigma of death so people could die in vivid, pre-programmed dreams until the dream of DreamLand was shattered by the profit-seeking backer who made the miracle of programmed dreaming into the ultimate theme park. When a mysterious force took the dreams in unexpected directions, the boundaries between what is real and what is imagined became permeable. In the aftermath of the tragedy, the members of its surviving brain trust are coerced by the United States government to create a new dreaming platform based on the battle scenarios of traumatized veterans as a tool to help heal them of their PTSD, and as a revolutionary new gaming platform intended to recruit gamers and monetize the technology to fund the wounded veteran’s project. After winning what amounts to the Super Bowl of eSports, n0thing and his winning Seal Team Zero teammates, Renegade, Sureshot, Killjoy, and Striker are recruited as a literal “dream team” whose mission is to go into the nightmares of battle scarred veterans and rescue them from their traumatic memories while becoming ambassadors for a gaming platform that exceeds virtual reality with an experience that pushes the boundaries of reality itself. Science, technology, psychology, neurochemistry, and cutting edge brain research combine with shamanism, mythology, visionary experience, and the paranormal in this once and future archetypal tale. Pallamary says, “N0thing stands on its own as a story, but there are deeper story levels that readers of DreamLand will get as an added incentive for knowing the back story of N0thing. Jordan “n0thing” Gilbert is a professional Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player who is one of three players to win nine ESEA Championships. Dr. Stanley Krippner is a psychologist, parapsychologist, and executive faculty member and Professor of Psychology at Saybrook University in Oakland, California and was the director of the Maimonides Medical Center Dream Research Laboratory for ten years.

©2017 Matthew J Pallamary (P)2020 Matthew J Pallamary