The Escapist by James Morris is set in a future world which satirically echoes the present day - part wry black comedy, part all-action sci-fi with a narrative pace that keeps you reading from cover to cover. James decided to release his novel under a Creative Commons license. So I went ahead, purchased the
PDF e-book, and converted it into
HTML, iSilo and Plucker formats. You find them here attached to this post. Read more about the book in this recent
Slashdot review:
Cyberpunk just got a whole lot darker. The Escapist, by James Morris, takes the genre into a gloomy alley and gives it a good kicking. The main character, Bentley Dean, is more than just an anti-hero: he seems to enjoy being bad. His cast of accomplices aren't much better, either, and some are far worse. Most are pretty cartoon-like, too. But you still can't help liking Bentley Dean. He brings a certain charm to being a hacker with a cold-blooded killing streak.