Propaganda and crime fiction

in an alternate reality

What happened is this: one summer I read a bunch of classic noir shorts––Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James Ellroy––the usual suspects. At the same time, I was studying the great French Social and Political philosopher, Jacques Ellul. Somehow, it all got stirred up in my head; I received visions of a hardboiled protagonist in the technological society of some sideways-shifted alternate reality. It turned into this fun, winding yarn with tough-guy fisticuffs, shootouts, sleuthing, and heady political philosophy.