The Revisionists

"If history is written by the winners, what happens when everyone has lost?" Coming from a future society rebuilt from the ashes of apocalyptic wars in the 21st century, Agent Zed is a man "unstuck in time." The government of his era is desperate to preserve the past from seditious factions who would subvert time travel technology to rewrite history. Zed's job is to protect previous Events, however horrific, that have led to the "Great Conflagration." In this he plays loyal soldier--until his last mission, when he becomes entangled in the lives and time of the people on his beat, amid the paranoia of post-9/11 Washington, D.C.

Fans of the dystopian novel can rejoice. If Thomas Mullen (The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers) lacks the gravitas of the genre giants, he brings a fresh, modern voice to the chorus, with clean, clipped prose cutting straight to the philosophical quandaries at the story's core. Conceptually The Revisionists is an unlikely pairing of Back to the Future and Blade Runner. Zed, like McFly, struggles to understand his impact on history; like Deckard, he is haunted by the violence of his work. And Mullen, like Phillip K. Dick, relies not on sci-fi props to propel the plot but rather the slow unraveling of the characters' sanity as, one by one, their illusions are shattered. In his adroit handling of contemporary sociopolitics and his omnipotent, double-thinking state of "Perfect Present," Mullen also reflects Orwell: The Revisionists sounds a warning that 1984 may still await us. --Tom Lavoie, former publisher

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