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PETER MCGREGOR'S FIRST NOVEL
THE RETREAT
has now been republished as a paperback
It is a satire nd has as its targets political correctness, the unreasonable influence of minority groups, dumbing down, gated communities and the present hostility to science. imed at political correctness
The book centres on the question of whether a perfect society can be created without some form of control, and whether people who are capable of facing up to the needs of such a society have any obligation to those who cannot. Like George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty Four” it is about the present, but set in an imaginary future.
Helen Gordon is in discussion with the mysterious Catechist as she prepares to leave the island of Mingulay where she and colleagues have been undergoing survival training prior to joining a new community established in Islay and Jura. She is one of a group skilled in computer viruses and sabotage which will defend it. Just after she arrives there is an attempt by special forces sent by the UK government to destroy the community’s vital electronic surveillance equipment. The attempt fails. She meets David Miller, a man whom she was anxious to meet, but he does not know who she is. It is 2022.
There is a flashback to 1996. The European Union decides that it will no longer recognise the UK’s right to a veto unless its electoral system is changed to a proportional one. A young man in Conservative Central Office has a bright idea which prevents the Labour Party from winning the 1997 General Election. The Tories are now the largest Party in the House of Commons, but chaos results in the disintegration of the political structure (the law of unintended consequences). Former Parachute Regiment hero Walter Bell V.C., now a New Labour MP finds a way to use the mysteries of the UK constitution to take control of the situation. It is a subtle form of dictatorship.
The community at which Helen has arrived was created by people who are tired of the decline in standards and morals in the UK. They also want to follow the Native Americans by establishing reservations for Native British from which others would be excluded. They have decided that with the aid of modern technology they could create a better pattern of living, with modest living standards and sustainable, with no ambition to impose their ideas on the rest of the country but a determination to defend themselves ruthlessly. The communities are exclusive and only certain people are allowed to live in them. This is a revolution. More new communities with the same principles have been established.
There is continual conflict between the UK Government and the communities whom they call “the Nimbys”. In the communities there are differences between the Liberationists and the Conservationists. The communities’ price for helping to recommission closed down nuclear power stations is the transfer to them of control of Oxford and Cambridge. There are problems in the Welfare towns in which people without jobs are compelled to live. In London David Miller meets Clare Calderwood, the Leader of the Conservative Party. They discuss whether it is right for people to look after themselves without taking any responsibility for the rest of the country, especially if they concentrate on the interests of the indigenous population. Clare persuades David to let her visit Islay and Jura with Walter Bell. When Bell leaves she and David become lovers. Clare returns to London, and successfully negotiates a new coalition with herself as Prime Minister.
Helen discovers that she is particularly skilful at controlling computers directly from the human brain (the human computer cerebral interface or HCCI). As Clare moves into power in London by splitting her Party into fundamentalists and realists Helen and David are surprised to find themselves in a tense and desperate cybernetic struggle for the future of the communities. David (whom we and she now know to be her grandfather) has accidentally discovered that Helen is setting out to destroy the communities’ defensive system and finds himself having to choose between helping to destroy what he created and the destruction of his granddaughter.
Available from bookshops or on line booksellers including The Hinton Press at £10.99 plus postage if appropriate.
LESSONS IN DUPLICITY
PETER MCGREGOR'S SECOND NOVEL
Suddenly John Tamplin's
personal and business life was under siege - could he retain his integrity?
.....a story of lust, lies, loyalty and love
in the real world of industry and politics
John Tamplin is shattered when during a normal business trip to Central amd South Africa in 1970 he finds himself at the Victoria Falls Hotel in bed with Avril Llewellyn-Rhys from whom he was separated by her parents 26 years earlier when he was 18 and she was 15. He is still unable to resist her, although the sweet young girl has turned into a sophisticated, self-assured and mysterious woman who expects to get what she wants, introduces him to members of the Rhodesian rebel government , and shoots their way out of a sudden terrorist ambush. They part, not expecting to meet again.
Back in England with Eleanor, his adored wife to whom until then he has always been faithful, he finds that the family shareholders in the company for which he works are squabbling about its future and that he cannot avoid being sucked into the argument. He tries to put all thought of Avril out of his mind and get on with his difficult business task with its many complications in which he learns that his normally open and honest way of managing becomes increasingly impossible, even when he is trying to save the livelihoods of most of his colleagues. Eleanor worries that the man she loves is changing, and they are both unhappy that they are ceasing to share a common view of the world.
Unexpectedly Avril appears in England and attempts to take charge of his life. As he fights his way more and more ruthlessly through labour disputes, takeover bids and merger talks with a German company he is subjected to the influence of the two women, Eleanor offering him a future in which you try to live a good life, and Avril one in which you do what you have to do to get what you want. It is Eleanor's determination and the surprising relationship which develops between her and the younger of the two women family shareholders which in spite of his last treacherous action enables him to find a way forward.
“I enjoyed it”
Sir Geoffrey Owen, Former Editor The Financial Times
“Where are these people who think that engineers and scientists are an illiterate lot?”
Dr Tom Lunt, Manchester Statistical Society and Ferranti Limited
“What a great book.............. I really enjoyed it. And what a twist at the end!”
Robert Wilson, Chairman and MD Wilson Transformer Company Pty Ltd Melbourne Australia.
"A shrewdly observed tale of the cruel and ever-present machinations at the heart of industry, the City and Whitehall, with a fascinating glimpse of Africa emerging from colonial rule. It is interwoven with a romantic thread that reawakens youthful memories and 'what-if'’s but, in the final twist, banishes them safely back to reality. Definitely a book of the ‘can't be put down’ variety.”
Allan Duncan, formerly Director, HM Inspectorate of Pollution, Dept. of Environment."
“A well-written and absorbing book with an unpredictable and satisfying end."
Ted Murphy, former UK Government computer scientist
Published by Trafford Publications ISBN 1-4251-0069-1
You can shop on-line here or by telephone to 01367 242243.
Price per copy £13.99 plus £1.90 postage and packing.
Bookshops RRP £15.99
Non-UK Buyers - www.amazon.com, price displayed on website
For information about the author go to www.petermcgregor.co.uk
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