Swarm (Garcia novel)

Swarm (2017) is a cyber-noir novel written by American author Guy Garcia. Released in February 2017, it follows Austin, Texas-based hacktivist Tom Anaya, who after receiving ultra-sensitive experimental software from the U.S. Department Of Defense uses his cyber-hacking and social media skills to trigger a biomorphic uprising that will usher in the next phase of human evolution. Under the guise of his alter-ego avatar identity known as Swarm, Anaya’s ultimate goal is to become the controller of the ‘hive mind,’ but his way of doing so could have potentially deadly effects.

Development

Garcia’s initial inspirations for the novel came from biological swarming science, electronic dance music, government surveillance and mind-control experimentation, and integration of social media into virtually every aspect of people’s lives. “I was amazed at the hive mind, so to speak, which can take on the awareness and actions of a single organism,” Garcia said. “The deeper I went, the more I wondered what would happen if the transformational effects of serotonin in human brains could be amplified and got into the wrong hands...I set out to write a high-tech thriller, but in the end, an amazing amount of the story turned out to be factually true.”

Garcia claimed the idea for Swarm came late one night while watching a cable science program about recent findings on the transformational biology of locust swarms. In a 2017 interview he recalled, “I was fascinated to learn that ordinary grasshoppers and marauding swarms of ravenous locusts are actually the same animal. Under certain extreme conditions, including lack of food and crowding, a rise of the serotonin level in grasshopper brains triggers a morphogenic reaction where they become aggressive, sexually promiscuous, and physically transform into bigger, meaner members of a single collective hive mind. I had already been thinking about how social media was changing human behavior and aggregating our online personas into a massive network of proto-emergent consciousness. As I researched the latest advances in mind control experiments by the U.S. government and others, the plot and characters all began to flow and twine together.

Garcia admitted that early in the novels’ planning stages he was split between the percentage of fiction and nonfiction in the book. But with his deeper knowledge of today’s technological landscape, he now believes the tech content in the novel is 80% nonfiction and 20% fiction.

Themes

Swarm explores technology and hacktivist culture with primal human urges and social forces that may trigger the next phase of human evolution. Garcia wanted to “make sure that the trove of information never overwhelmed the human dimension of the story, but the personal passions behind big ideas ended up being the book's moral compass and subliminal message.”

Within Tom Anaya’s story is a recurring warning about the power of advanced technology and mankind’s responsibility to ensure that right and wrong are not blurred as it evolves. “Some of the same innovations that make our lives easier also bring new dimensions of uncertainty and danger,” Garcia said. “As technology blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, past and future, right and wrong, we must find the courage to protect and assert our humanity…when new technologies and products ask permission for access to our brains, we should take a long collective breath and make sure we're not giving away something that can never be taken back.”

Garcia aimed to prove that serious literature and science-fiction themes and memes are not incompatible, and that “novels can be just as true — in some ways, maybe more so, than non-fiction books.”

Publication history

Garcia and Morphic Books utilized innovative virtual reality technology for Swarm’s launch. “Swarm, because of its subject matter and story line, is inherently suited for mixed reality marketing platforms,” Garcia said.

The Swarm VR experience was shown for the first time in January 2017 at the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontiers VR Bar. “The VR experience allows us to enter Swarm's cyber reality, but the fact is that Swarm's virtual world is already in the process of entering ours,” Garcia stated. The experience was advertised with online banners, traditional radio and television, Sci-Fi magazines, blogs, book readings, live events and word of mouth. Additionally, it was marketed at EDM concerts, universities, virtual reality blogs and sites, interactive conferences and tech start-ups.

In March 2017, a virtual reality video based on the title character of Swarm was released at www.ownyourmind.org. The website gives context to the book by inviting readers to learn about the history of mind control from late 1800s-early 1900s and listen to Electronic Dance Music (EDM) soundtracks by Berlin-based DJs featuring voiceovers from the title character.

Readers can also watch the mysterious Swarm Avatar in a viral video, the Swarm Manifesto, in which he presciently echoes current affairs to say “We take our pulse in the daily news and our temperature keeps rising. Let’s raise our hands and light the fuse for what comes next…the revolution will be alive. Thinking with a billion brains. Stepping together into the New Now.”

Garcia participated in the NALIP Media Summit panel “The Reality About Virtual Reality” in Los Angeles on June 24, 2016.

In March 2017 Garcia was featured in the podcast The Future of Mind Control with Guy Garcia, published by Earthrise Podcast.

Critical reception

Kirkus Reviews called Garcia’s “careening prose” and coverage of “[...]-edge topics” in Swarm “intellectually and politically supercharged...a white-hot ingot of daring, disciplined storytelling." A Broadway World article declared that the novel “will grip readers with is fast-paced look into what could happen if a cyber-criminal gained possession of dangerous military technology, while intertwining current issues in today's society.” Blue Ink Reviews heralded Swarm as an “utterly thrilling novel,” as the “writing is crisp, the characters compelling, and its concepts daring in a world where technology often controls, not the other way around.” Swarm received further favorable mentions in The International Business Times, The Kansas City Star, San Jose Mercury News, Star Telegram, The News & Observer, InvestorPlace, and Anchorage Daily News.