Déjà Vu
A near-future technothriller by Ian Hocking. You can buy a copy of the limited, special edition for £5.95.
Reviews
very cool and stylish forbidden planet | shows quiet skill the guardian | great pace and strong characterisation scott pack | fascinating and powerful ian watson | elegant, engaging, and addictive pia guerra | thoroughly recommended scifi.uk.com | you’ve never read anything like before sfx | assured use of cutting-edge sf ideas ken macleod | breaks new ground stepher gallagher | a mind-blowing experience pod-by-mouth | inventive and witty the alien online | intriguing, clever and fresh debra hamel | mature confidence stan nicholls | crisp and professional grumpy old bookman | clever and satisfying tregolwyn book reviews | science fiction in the tradition of such fine exponents as baxter and clarke the eternal night
The audiobook of the first edition
You are most welcome to listen to the original edition of Déjà Vu (i.e. not the special edition) here. Below, you will find several audio files in MP3 format with an average length of 15 minutes. The total running time is almost nine hours.
The Legal Bit
This audio version of the book is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs licence 3.0. Why? Partly because of the snappy name. Partly because it’s sensible. Here is what you can do with this audiobook:
- You may copy, distribute, display, and perform this work. So, if you want to change the bit-rate, burn it to a CD, or whatever, be my guest.
Here is what you cannot do:
- You cannot attribute the work in any way other than that specified by me: (The work is copyright 2005 Ian Hocking (http://ianhocking.com); The work was first published by the UKA Press (http://www.ukapress.com)
- You cannot use the work commercially.
- You cannot alter, transform, or build upon this work.
If you’re into legalese, then you can read the full licence here.
Can you pay me if you like the book? Nope. But you can pick a number, put one of the stronger currency symbols next to it – I’d suggest a British pound or American dollar – then donate this to charity.
Prologue, Chapter One and Chapter Two
In truth, the nightmare did not belong to Jennifer Proctor. It belonged to her father. He told her about the death of his wife, Jennifer’s mother, in the autumn of her tenth year.
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Download as MP3 [25 minutes, 5 megabytes]
Chapters Three and Four
It was not usual for her to faint, but Saskia’s surprise at the appearance of her secretary was such that she woke with a feeling that a lifetime had passed, though nothing had changed in the kitchen.
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Chapters Five and Six
At her desk with her back to the afternoon, Saskia inhaled through her nose, lifted her head, and expelled the air through her open mouth.
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Download as MP3 [31 minutes, 7.4 megabytes]
Chapters Seven and Eight
She felt each second of the night. But, inevitably, a honey dawn came to the windows of Potsdamer Platz, and the empty streets gathered their people. The city restarted.
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Chapter Nine
On the following Monday, David was transferred to a police station in Whitburn, which was some miles to the east of the old research centre. The police neither registered nor interviewed him.
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Chapter Ten
Jennifer Proctor rose at dawn, when the sky was blank, unwritten. She took the elevator down to the subterranean car park. The traffic was already heavy, but manageable if she avoided the Strip.
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Chapter Eleven
Several groggy minutes after waking, Saskia Brandt opened her fridge. Some cheese. A little bread. She closed it and the kitchen darkened.
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Chapter Twelve, Part 1
It was dawn when David awoke. His face, the only part not covered by the foil, had deadened. His legs were twisted. His hands were tense balls of bone and sinew.
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Chapter Twelve, Part 2
The air was cold and smelled of pine. Saskia could hear running water. The surrounding trees were high firs and she was held, albeit briefly, by the urge to run into that woodland and just be there, where it was silent and safe.
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Chapter Thirteen
David pulled into a narrow alleyway. He dug for the kickstand and eased the bike to a stable tilt. He slid off and plucked the key from the ignition. The glow of the display faded.
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Chapter Fourteen
The hole expanded, rushed to blackness. She heard Jago say, ‘A friend of mine was paralysed by one of those,’ but he was no longer there. It was a memory.
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Chapter Fifteen, Part 1
David reached the M1 and rode steadily until Northallerton was far behind him. He turned off and entered a maze of country lanes and high hedgerows. The lights of Sheffield stained the western sky.
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Chapter Fifteen, Part 2
Saskia and Jago stood beneath a glass awning at the front of the building. It was raining. In front of them, a great lawn spread out on either side of a gravel path.
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Chapter Sixteen
David glanced at the bike’s dashboard. It was 4:00 pm. He had been riding for nearly nine hours. It was time to gather the elements of his disguise.
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Chapter Seventeen
It was a minute after midnight when David entered Terminal Five. He found an outside car park and stopped in a bay large enough for a car.
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Chapter Eighteen
The mirror buzzed against its screws and blurred her reflection. Saskia considered his story. The compass of her mind floated over an inscrutable lodestone – her lost memories, perhaps – and settled on a decision.
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Chapter Nineteen
Jennifer’s car stopped at the base of the rocky column. As she sorted her papers, she turned to Frank Stone. ‘Are you going to follow me inside?’
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Chapter Twenty
In the car, sealed from the wind, Jennifer’s attention shifted from her father to the agent, and back again. The two sat on the rear seat and awaited her questions.
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Chapter Twenty-One
Before Saskia could reply, a sharp object jabbed into her sole. She looked down and saw that her feet were now resting on the shingle floor.
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Chapter Twenty-Two
David awoke by degrees. He was on his back. Close by, two women were talking. He blinked to clear his eyes. ‘Hello?’ he asked.
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Chapter Twenty-Three
The tusk-like arches of the train station emerged on her left. On her right was a department store. She stepped between them a wounded figure.
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Chapter Twenty-Four
Snick.
Ute opened her eyes. The gun had misfired, but she had no time to ponder the extraordinary unlikelihood of the event. Memories crowded her. She remembered her first kiss.
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Chapter Twenty-Five
It was a disappointingly mechanical affair. A hatch opened in the bottom of the gondola and she tumbled into a bright, cold sky.
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Chapter Twenty-Six
‘Listen,’ Jennifer said, leaning into the microphone. ‘We’re sending you back one half hour before Hartfield. That is, 2:34 p.m. on the afternoon of May 14th 2003.’
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
Saskia lifted her head and licked her dust-covered lips. Her eyes were dry and raw. She looked around for Bruce and saw that he had gone.
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Epilogue
From his bench next to the Thames, he saw a pigeon flutter to a stop near his feet. A young couple walked by. They looked at him, glanced at the remaining space on the bench, and continued walking.
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Download the MP3 [9 minutes, 2.6 megabytes]
Didn’t like it? Abuse me in writing here.
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