Bandwidth (Analog #1)

by Eliot Peper

There was a deeper silence behind the music. A quiet no mere noise could fill. It took a moment to register. His feed. His feed was gone. Not dimmed, not marginalized. Gone. Dag swayed on his feet. His window into the digital infinite, that whirling vortex of endless global conversation, had been slammed shut. It was always there in the periphery, the low murmur of the entirety of human culture, as present and comforting as the sound of waves from inside a beach house. A vast, pulsing constellation of voices, information, art, commentary, and dramas, distilled through the algorithmic sieve to the intimately relevant personal feed. So second nature that it was obvious only now, in its absence. It was as if he had gone suddenly, inexplicably deaf.

Years ago, a designer friend explained to me how white space—the empty areas surrounding design elements—is just as powerful and important as the designs themselves. The seed he planted grew into Analog—the off-grid social club that hosts so many of Bandwidth's crucial scenes. I realized that a powerful way to demonstrate the methods by which a ubiquitous digital feed shaped the lives of people living in this particular future was to cut them off from that feed. Dag's shock at having the feed stripped away illuminates the depth of its influence. Incidentally, if you enjoyed Bandwidth, you'll love my new novel, Veil, which came out May 20th: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52799027-veil Ask me questions about Bandwidth or Veil and learn more about the story behind the books: https://www.goodreads.com/author/7932280.Eliot_Peper/questions