Lacey and his Friends
Encyclopedia
Lacey and His Friends is a 1986 compilation of three stories by David Drake
, about Jed Lacey, a ruthless individual, convicted for raping a former contemporary as an act of revenge for betraying him, turned detective
by a computer that allocates people to work in areas where their "psych profile" indicates they will be effective. It includes other, less grim stories at the end. Lacey lives in a world of constant sousveillance
and surveillance
. Readers of 1984 will find this world eerily familiar, but with a democratic and capitalistic background that sets it up in contrast to the totalitarian world of George Orwell
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
. People have chosen to live in this world rather than it being enforced from above by an unelected and unaccountable government. Ironically the government, in choosing to ignore its own laws, sets Lacey free from his former punishment in exchange for his silence about its own apparently illegal activities, in an inversion of the power relationships present in Nineteen Eighty-Four.
David Drake
David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...
, about Jed Lacey, a ruthless individual, convicted for raping a former contemporary as an act of revenge for betraying him, turned detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
by a computer that allocates people to work in areas where their "psych profile" indicates they will be effective. It includes other, less grim stories at the end. Lacey lives in a world of constant sousveillance
Sousveillance
Sousveillance refers to the recording of an activity by a participant in the activity typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies.Sousveillance has also been described as "inverse surveillance", i.e...
and surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
. Readers of 1984 will find this world eerily familiar, but with a democratic and capitalistic background that sets it up in contrast to the totalitarian world of George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
. People have chosen to live in this world rather than it being enforced from above by an unelected and unaccountable government. Ironically the government, in choosing to ignore its own laws, sets Lacey free from his former punishment in exchange for his silence about its own apparently illegal activities, in an inversion of the power relationships present in Nineteen Eighty-Four.