FantasticLand: A Novel
Oct 2016 · Simon and Schuster
4.5star
49 reviewsreport
Ebook
272
Pages
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About this ebook
Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where “Fun is Guaranteed!” But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares. How could a group of survivors, mostly teenagers, commit such terrible acts?
Presented as a fact-finding investigation and a series of first-person interviews, FantasticLand pieces together the grisly series of events. Park policy was that the mostly college-aged employees surrender their electronic devices to preserve the authenticity of the FantasticLand experience. Cut off from the world and left on their own, the teenagers soon form rival tribes who viciously compete for food, medicine, social dominance, and even human flesh. This new social network divides the ravaged dreamland into territories ruled by the Pirates, the ShopGirls, the Freaks, and the Mole People. If meticulously curated online personas can replace private identities, what takes over when those constructs are lost?
FantasticLand is a modern take on Lord of the Flies meets Battle Royale that probes the consequences of a social civilization built online.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Presented as a fact-finding investigation and a series of first-person interviews, FantasticLand pieces together the grisly series of events. Park policy was that the mostly college-aged employees surrender their electronic devices to preserve the authenticity of the FantasticLand experience. Cut off from the world and left on their own, the teenagers soon form rival tribes who viciously compete for food, medicine, social dominance, and even human flesh. This new social network divides the ravaged dreamland into territories ruled by the Pirates, the ShopGirls, the Freaks, and the Mole People. If meticulously curated online personas can replace private identities, what takes over when those constructs are lost?
FantasticLand is a modern take on Lord of the Flies meets Battle Royale that probes the consequences of a social civilization built online.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Ratings and reviews
4.5
49 reviews
Caitlin Figus
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May 31, 2024
I was really excited by the premise of this book, but its delivery left much to be desired. I didn't like how every interview starts with each person's exposition on their life before getting to their experience in the park, it seemed like the author was padding out each chapter. I just also found that ultimately the idea of all of these people within a month murdering each other just too ridiculous to be believed. if want a 1st person documentary style book to read; I'll read World War Z again, that was written better.
Jason Sanchez
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November 9, 2024
very nice pov of reading it as if It was a report, but the story is decent. It felt underwhelming at the end, and I was hoping to hear the point of view of parents and if they were trying to reach their kids.
Raven MacGregor
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January 5, 2024
Intriguing, full of twists and turns, well written and nothing out there like it. Imagine this happening at Disneyland! 20 years ago this book might have been disturbing but the way things are now it doesn't shock me.
About the author
Mike Bockoven writes thriller/horror novels while his kids are in gymnastics class or at piano lessons. He lives with his wife, Sarah, two daughters, Emaline and Tessa, and an exceptionally dumb wiener dog named Sherlock. You can find him at his website, mikebockoven.com, on Facebook (facebook.com/Bockovenbooks), and on Twitter @mikebockoven. He lives in Grand Island, Nebraska.
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