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    New Year's Eve
    New Year's Eve
    New Year's Eve
    Ebook38 pages

    New Year's Eve

    By Douglas Smith

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Aurora Award Finalist

     

    The year is 1999. The world awaits a new millennium with a mixture of anticipation and dread. The fear stems from the much-hyped Y2K computer problem, the so-called millennium bug, which could cause uncorrected programs to fail all over the world.

     

    PCWare is the world's largest software company. John Dunne is team leader for the company's newest operating system, the first with a virtual reality user interface, complete with virtual human agents.

     

    But on Millennium Eve, John has problems. A Y2K bug has been discovered in the software…and John's virtual girlfriend has become far too real.

     

    Science fiction, computers (short story)

     

    "The story deals with the Y2k bug, and although that might seem dated now, the story is not, since its ideas continue to be relevant today." —Bibliopolis

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDouglas Smith
    Release dateJun 1, 2011
    ISBN9781928048060
    New Year's Eve
    Author

    Douglas Smith

    Douglas Smith is an award-winning historian and translator and the author of Rasputin and Former People, which was a bestseller in the U.K. His books have been translated into a dozen languages. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has written for The New York Times and Wall Street Journal and has appeared in documentaries with the BBC, National Geographic, and Netflix. Before becoming a historian, he worked for the U.S. State Department in the Soviet Union and as a Russian affairs analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. He lives with his family in Seattle.

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      Book preview

      New Year's Eve - Douglas Smith

      New Year’s Eve

      by Douglas Smith

      Aurora Award Finalist

      The year is 1999. The world awaits a new millennium with a mixture of anticipation and dread. The fear stems from the much-hyped Y2K computer problem, the so-called millennium bug, which could cause uncorrected programs to fail all over the world.

      PCWare is the world’s largest software company. John Dunne is team leader for the company’s newest operating system, the first with a virtual reality user interface, complete with virtual human agents. But on Millennium Eve, John has problems. A Y2K bug has been discovered in the software…and John’s virtual girlfriend has become far too real.

      ~~

      The story deals with the Y2k bug, and although that might seem dated now, the story is not, since its ideas continue to be relevant today.

      —Bibliopolis

      Table of Contents

      DESCRIPTION

      NEW YEAR’S EVE

      ABOUT THE STORY

      A REQUEST

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      ALSO BY DOUGLAS SMITH

      THE HOLLOW BOYS

      THE WOLF AT THE END OF THE WORLD

      CHIMERASCOPE

      COPYRIGHT

      NEW YEAR’S EVE

      971219: Friday, December 19, 1997

      BOGEY PUSHED HIS

      black queen’s pawn forward to meet John’s then leaned back. Rick’s Café Américain throbbed white neon at John through a haze of cigarette smoke. Wobbling overhead, fans swirled the smoke in lazy eddies among crowded tables.

      Another closed defence, John muttered.

      You’re a closed kinda guy, Bogey replied, immaculate in a white jacket and linen shirt, black bow tie and slacks. The beginning strains of As Time Goes By wafted from a piano somewhere off-display. He glared over his shoulder, motioning to a plump white-haired waiter in a black tuxedo. Carl, get me a whiskey, and tell Sam to stop playing that damn song.

      Yes, monsieur, and for you, sir?

      Mr. Dunne doesn’t drink, Carl, Bogey said. He hasn’t figured that part out yet.

      Carl waddled away, and John reached for his king’s knight.

      Predictable, Bogey muttered.

      John scowled at him, but a trilling sound cut off his reply. A telephone appeared, hovering above the table. Bogey lit another cigarette. Still bothers me when it does that.

      And your smoking still bugs me, John said.

      "Then you shoulda left smell out of the equation, kid. Answer the damn

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