Thomas Nelson Publishers Memory Index

"In a gripping and stunning coming-of-age novel, Julian R. Vaca reimagines a 1987 world where memories are as valuable as gold. In a reimagined 1987, mankind's ability to remember has deteriorated. To fight memory loss, men and women rely on artificial recall by storing memories on tapes and playing them back. Society's elite, dubbed recollectors, are able to retain "three-quarter memories" on their own--and they make the rules. Seventeen-year-old orphan Freya Izquierdo doesn't have time for rules. School and responsibilities take a backseat in her life as she tirelessly works to assemble the gear she needs to become a documentary filmmaker. It's a dying profession in Freya's world, but it could enable her to uncover the truth about her father's mysterious death. Fletcher Cohen couldn't care less about his trust fund or his posh, cushiony life. He just wants to get through his senior year of high school so he can leave home, ride his motorcycle up the Pacific Coast Highway, and "find himself." But his father--a career politician--carries dark secrets that may prove impossible to outrun. Freya and Fletcher's lives are both upended when the founder of Memory Frontier, a billion-dollar corporation, announces the forthcoming release of groundbreaking medicaltechnology that will forever change artificial recall. Five hundred randomly selected students will be sent to a prestigious boarding school, where they will trial the new medical technology in pursuit of a "better tomorrow." But when students disappear in the night under the watch of the school's ruthless, militaristic dean, Freya and Fernando begin to question everything--including all they've come to believe about memory loss" -- In this electric speculative YA sci/fi novel, the world treats memories like currency, so dreams can be a complicated business. Perfect for fans of Neal Stephenson and Philip K. Dick.In an alternative 1987, a disease ravages human memories. There is no cure, only artificial recall. The lucky ones—the recollectors—need the treatment only once a day.Freya Izquierdo isn’t lucky. The high school senior is a “degen” who needs artificial recall several times a day. Plagued by blinding half-memories that take her to her knees, she’s desperate to remember everything that will help her investigate her father’s violent death. When her sleuthing almost lands her in jail, a shadowy school dean selects her to attend his Foxtail Academy, where five hundred students will trial a new tech said to make artificial recall obsolete.She’s the only degen on campus. Why was she chosen? Freya is nothing like the other students, not even her new friends Ollie, Chase, and the alluring Fletcher Cohen. Definitely not at all like the students who start to vanish, one by one. And nothing like the mysterious Dean Mendelsohn, who has a bunker deep in the woods behind the school.Nothing can prepare Freya and her friends for the truth of what that bunker holds. And what kind of memories she’ll have to access to survive it.“Vaca’s debut is a thrilling and often unsettling examination of the elusive nature of memory and truth. The Memory Index will leave you breathlessly turning pages until its satisfying conclusion.” —Jonathan Evison, New York Times bestselling author of Small WorldGet hooked on The Memory Index Duology:Book 1: The Memory IndexBook 2: The Recall Paradox (coming Spring 2023) In a gripping and stunning science fiction novel, Julian R. Vaca reimagines a 1987 world where memories are as valuable as gold. Autorid: Julian Ray Vaca