Candor, The Earth Says Hello?
by Arnold Faber

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Anyway, here’s the thing. It’s the final seconds of 1999, and the ball is dropping in Times Square, New York City. The dreaded Millennium Bug weighs heavily on everyone’s mind. The public had gradually become aware of the Y2K scare in the years leading up to the turn of the century. Large corporations, and governments are dreading viruses and network sabotage. Maybe even cyber invasions. As it turned out, while the first kiss of the year was in progress, nine very exceptional babies were born in nine different parts of the world, at exactly 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, January 1, 2000. These reincarnated babies, along with three major political statesmen already reincarnated, and in their teens, were specially chosen by the Powers That Be or the PTB. They are out to restore balance, quality of life, and freedom for all the peoples of the world. All the reincarnates had died or were killed before they could impart their true genius on the world. That is, a certain music-politico genius mix, needed to unite a world spinning out of control. Opposing the PTB, is Whoever They Are or the WTA. They are out to maintain life as we live it today; imbalance of wealth and privilege, rampant gender, racial and religious prejudice; food/water distribution, etc. The WTA, being the darker side of a universal framework that for too long has nurtured and maintained that status quo of imbalance and inequality. Thus, ensuring that those who have will always have, and that those who have not, never will. Candor, selected by the PTB and in his final year of high school, leads the reincarnates who, when not paired with their mentors, are all just regular teens. All the reincarnates would be trained to work together with the discipline of a major league baseball team; team strategies coached by the long deceased Yogi Berra with all his real-life Yogi-isms. All to be overseen by the PTB. Hucky, selected by the WTA, a cyberbully in his final year of high school has a penchant for cruelty both online and off. He is the perfect candidate as he excels in all skills necessary for carrying out the WTA’s bidding, fixing elections, starting wars and dictating the quality of peoples’ lives. There is even a different time continuum, the chronozone for time-out coaching and counselling. Romance, cyber-bullying, total world chaos, music, more music and of course, baseball weave a compelling tapestry of good vs evil.

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Canadian composer Arnold Faber has been a performing musician since he was very young and has always considered music to be a universal language. Although having a large catalogue of his own musical compositions, this is his first novel, inspired by his personal passion for music and the inhumanely imbalanced state of the world at present. Arnold is currently working on a companion soundtrack for the book. An avid reader with an out-of-control imagination, Arnold currently lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, the poet Shelly Faber, and their dachshund (BBoy). They have three married sons, one granddaughter and one grandson.

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Contributors

Author

Arnold Faber

Introduction

Shelly Faber

Illustrator

Tracy Thomson