A wealthy, simulated paradise. A nuclear ravaged world. The only way to live is to escape.
Title: Life Plug
Author: R. Morello
Series: Standalone Novel
Publisher: Cathedral Rocks Publishing
ISBN: 9798880401970
Format: Ebook and Paperback
Pages: 177
Word Count: 42,660
Genre: Science Fiction, Dystopian, Post Apocalyptic, Simulation
After a traumatic glitch reveals the nuclear ravaged world outside their virtual paradise, Franco and Page escape Eden and must use Franco’s rare digital abilities and Page’s grit to survive a wasteland of mutated humans and digital stewards.
Life Plug follows Franco and Page, two people living inside a sophisticated virtual reality created by their wealthy ancestors to protect their lineage. When a traumatic glitch reveals the truth a nuclear ravaged world outside their simulated paradise they escape Eden and enter a wasteland filled with mutated humans, digital stewards hunting them, and secrets that redefine their lives. With Franco’s rare ability to manipulate the digital realm and Page’s determination to stay alive, they must outrun both their former captors and the dangers of the ruined world they never knew existed.
In Life Plug, Franco and Page live peaceful lives inside a beautiful virtual world built generations ago by their wealthy ancestors. Franco has rare digital abilities that let him manipulate the simulation itself, while Page believes she is simply waiting for life to begin. Their reality shatters when Page experiences a traumatic glitch that exposes the truth: their paradise is a sealed illusion, and the outside world is a nuclear wasteland.
Reeling from the lie that has shaped their lives, Page frees Franco from the digital trance he works in and pushes them both to escape Eden, the controlled environment that has kept them contained. Outside, they enter a ruined landscape filled with mutated humans, deadly factions, and digital stewards hunting them to return them underground.
Franco and Page must learn to survive in a world they were never meant to see. Franco’s extraordinary abilities, once used to shape virtual fantasies, become useless in the real world, while Page’s fear transforms into fierce determination. Together they navigate treacherous terrain, decipher who among the mutants they can trust, and evade those who want their untouched bodies for themselves.
Life Plug is a tense and emotional story of escape, truth, survival, and the rediscovery of what it means to live in a world stripped of illusion.
The Price of Privilege: Examines the ethics of a wealthy elite surviving a catastrophe by trapping their descendants in a fabricated paradise.
Virtual Reality vs. Reality: A high stakes exploration of how one adapts when the idyllic world they knew is revealed to be a lie covering a toxic wasteland.
Dystopian Escape and Survival: Focuses on the challenges of navigating a brutal, post apocalyptic world with no survival skills.
Digital Manipulation: Franco’s rare ability to control the digital realm provides a unique mechanism for survival against digital stewards.
The Evolution of Humanity: Features mutated humans in the wasteland, providing a talking point on genetic damage and survival adaptations.
A high concept science fiction novel that combines the immersive virtual worlds of The Matrix with the harsh, ruined landscapes of post apocalyptic fiction.
Features an exciting double chase: hunted by digital stewards from their past and stalked by new dangers in the nuclear world.
A standalone narrative perfect for readers seeking a complete, self contained story of escape and self discovery.
Fans of science fiction that contrasts beautiful virtual worlds with bleak realities, such as Ready Player One or Wool.
Readers who enjoy post apocalyptic survival stories and dystopian fiction.
Anyone interested in the philosophical implications of advanced simulation technology.
R. Morello writes psychological and surreal science fiction that explores grief, identity, memory, and the hidden emotional worlds people carry inside them. Shaped by New England roots, his work blends speculative concepts with deeply human storytelling.
R. Morello is a speculative fiction author whose work blends psychological tension, cinematic surrealism, and deeply human emotional arcs. His novels and novellas, including Upside Down, Fractured Echoes, and the Simulation trilogy, explore grief, identity, and the unseen internal worlds we rarely reveal.
His stories often feature “dual selves,” mirrored identities, looping realities, and emotional architectures made literal.
He writes for readers who want more than escapism stories that feel uncomfortably true, beautifully painful, and haunting long after the final page.
ISBN: 979-8880401970
Author photos (on request)
R. Morello
Cathedral Rocks Publishing
