Sleeper Awake Author:Bob Rich, Rich Retired film star Flora Fielding was diagnosed with cancer. Her solution: she had herself put into suspended animation, and invested her fortune in cancer research. She expected to return to life in five to ten years -- but is awakened into an utterly different world, 1433 years later. She gradually learns the facts about the new society: * ther... more »e are only one million people on the planet. * This gives material wealth to everyone. * However, the right to reproduce is a valuable commodity. Men compete for women's approval in every possible way, including risking their lives in deeds of daring. * Everyone has an 'implant': a device that enables them to send and receive 'images', so that they are able to be with anyone else, anywhere. * All the implants, and all the computerized machines on the planet, are linked to form a single intelligence: Artif, the 'executive arm of humanity'. * Flora makes friends, and gradually learns that she was awakened for a purpose: she is the pawn in a political duel between Abel, President of Control, and Mirabelle, Deputy President. These two are opposed on every issue, including the way to raise twelve year old Tam's, their son. Kiril, a young man tortured by jealous love, commits the first violent crime in over a thousand years, and only Flora's experience from pre-Cataclysmic times can sort out the resulting problems. This book of the surprising yet plausible future has an ending that'll wrench your heart, and then there is a final sting in the tail...« less