My latest novel, “The Dreamachine,” has hit bookshelves.
I’ve long been fascinated with the device the book is named after. It is, indeed, a real device with a storied history—it has roots in the Beat Generation, and in a latter generation, some claim it was responsible for Kurt Cobain’s death.
One can build a Dreamachine at home, as all one needs is a cardboard cylinder with holes cut into its sides and a record player. The cylinder is placed on the record player’s turntable and then rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute. A simple light is suspended into the center of the cylinder, and when the device is switched on, its rotation allows the spots of light to shine at a consistent frequency of between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency corresponds to alpha waves, neural oscillations present in the brain during the type of consciousness that lies between waking and sleeping states—this is the state in which deep meditation, and sometimes lucid dreaming, occurs. William S. Burroughs famously used the device to inspire his writing.
There have also been rumblings of hallucinations and the potential to see the future.
In the novel, Jasper Keepnews thinks his life is as normal as can be. That is until he becomes obsessed with The Dreamachine. As it lures Jasper into the shadows of his mind, he discovers his own sordid past, as well as visions of a shocking future that involves a mysterious woman’s death. That is when Jasper’s reality begins to unravel while he races to find this woman, the government races to find him. Their most dangerous sleeper assassin is awake and they want their property back.
The Dreamachine was once meant to replace the television in living rooms all over the world. In my story, it serves as the prototype for the most effective brainwashing technique a modern government has ever used against its citizens.
Independent Publisher Magazine calls the book a “Gripping Sci-Fi Novel that Blends Reality and Fiction for a Disturbing Look at the Future.” Please check it out on Amazon and give it a read when you have some time. I think you’ll enjoy. Here is a link to both Paperback and Kindle versions:
https://www.amazon.com/Dreamachine-William-Dickerson/dp/0985188650
