FLASHPOINT
Book One of the Underground
Author: Frank Creed
Published by Writers Café Press
ISBN: 978-1-934284-01-8
200 pages
Frank Creed pushes the boundaries of Christian fiction with Biblical cyberpunk—when he talks
about "God in the machine," he's quite literal. He's been thinking and playing in the genre since
long before William Gibson made it popular—and Creed can give Gibson a run for his money.
Creed starts with the basics for both cyberpunk and Biblical speculative fiction: a dystopic world
run by a totalitarian global regime, with a pretty wide division between the haves and have-nots.
Those who support the regime live a prosperous life, while those who do not are left to the
squalor of a crime-riddled underworld at best and slave camps or "reconditioning" at worst. True to
the Christian angle, the government has established a watered-down "feel good" religion, and true
Christians(dubbed "Fundamentalists") are forced to hide their practices or go totally underground
by joining the Resistance.
Dave and Jen are our young heroes. When the government finds out their family is part of a secret
home church, they are taken to the underground by their father to save their lives. Daddy leaves
them in order to draw off the authorities and is captured with their mother. Meanwhile, Dave and
Jen are taken in by the Resistance and discover they have amazing abilities. They receive
cybernetic mind enhancements that enable them to become the kind of perfected humans God
created, before we were damaged by Original Sin. Dave becomes a superhero with Matrix-style
abilities, while Jen becomes e-girl, the computer wizard no cyberpunk novel is complete without.
They join the Resistance; their first mission: Save Mom and Dad and the members of their home
church. And as they fulfill their mission, they learn what it means to be part of God's army.
There's nothing especially spectacular in the plot, but the real magic is in the execution. Creed
does a fantastic job of weaving in all the things that make cyberpunk an exciting genre to read:
the melding of human capabilities with highly technological advancements, exciting scenes that
deliver the adrenalin rush, earthy but clever repartee, cunning twists to the mundane, some well-
thought
out fight scenes…
But what about the Biblical message? Here again Creed shows his genius. He immerses you in the
Word of God just as he immerses you in the cyberpunk culture—in thought, word and deed. The
thing I personally love about cyberpunk is the complete cultural mythos, right down to vocabulary.
Creed does the same thing; in addition to some really fun slang, he's woven in Scripture and the
ideals of his Christian "Army" so that as you read, you are neither preached to nor pulled out of
the story. It's all part of the program—literally and figuratively.
Flashpoint is a fast, fun read, something I was comfortable in giving to my 13-year-old son, and
which I wouldn't mind re-reading again. (My husband can tell you that from me, that's high praise.)
If you are looking for Biblical speculative fiction the way it should be done, you need to read
Creed!
REVIEW OF FLASHPOINT
by Karina Fabian: reviewer at Virtual Book
Tour de 'Net; editor of Infinite Space Infinite
God, author and host of FabChat
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