> ParaDigm CyberResearch is proud to announce…

From the 1st March 2014, discerning users of PolyFunctional Digital Devices will be able to purchase, via reputable purveyors of electrical merchandise throughout the Empire, ParaDigm CyberResearch’s utterly new and peerless Bulldog 47 Polly.

Without doubt the Bulldog 47 is the swiftest and most convenient Polly ever to be made available to the general public, being built to a most generous specification.

Within a sturdy and most pleasing brass case is contained a circular CRT Flexi-Plexi with an embedded Feely-Screeny matrix, this permitting users to enjoy all the facilities of the Bulldog 47 even in the brightest sunlight. The utilisation of an eyeSoar Mark 47 operating system with multiple de-lux enhancements allows full and crackle-free use of the Bulldog 47’s eyeMail, eyeVid and eyeSpeak capabilities, these most speedily and promptly provided by the employment of a 10 Ghz Empire-class Aye-5 bespoke-designed, refined-performance, replete-power, system-on-a-mote. As all our customers have come to expect, connectivity is provided by ParaDigm’s very own ‘Wi-Not’ custom wireless telemetry. Ample on-board warehousing of data is achieved via a Dreadnaught-class C-wide storage unit. Last but by no means least much thought has been given to the controls of the Bulldog 47: input is achieved through the use of posterior-mounted split-Qwe/rty keyboard which enables eight-digit manipulation for speedier typing whilst twin thumb controls ensure prompt and accurate scrolling.

The Bulldog 47: The Best of British

Price: £14 19s 11d
(including purchase tax)

To find out more click here to visit the author's blog.

> A MESSAGE FROM ROD REES, AUTHOR OF 'THE DEMI-MONDE: WINTER':

I’ve been asked the question as to why I called the book “The Demi-Monde” so I suppose it’s best to begin by defining what the Demi-Monde (or as it is sometimes referred to as the demimonde, the demi-monde or the Demi-monde) is. The term itself derives from the name of a comedy written by Alexander Dumas in 1855 called “Le Demi-Monde”.

There seem to be two standard definitions for the term that I’ve cited in my book:

1. a subclass of society whose members embrace a decadent lifestyle and evince loose morals. This Demi-Monde is often associated with courtesans who exist by stimulating (in often very naughty ways) the generosity of their rich patrons;
2. a shadow world where the norms of civilised behaviour have been abandoned. It is often the artistic and intellectual cliques who are thought to inhabit the Demi-Monde as these are populated by those individuals who find it difficult to accept/obey the precepts and morality of “civilised” society.

Both these definitions lend themselves – at least in part – to the subject matter of my book and that’s why I chose ‘The Demi-Monde’ as my title. My Demi-Monde is a sub-world where the lifestyles adopted by the Dupes (digital duplicates) are often decadent (and sometimes downright evil) and whose actions are often at odds with the Real World’s concept of morality.

So, whether you call it “The Demi-Monde”, "the demimonde", "the demi-monde", "the Demi-monde" or even “Le Demi-Monde”, you have two new definitions to add now the Demi-Monde is published:

3. a MMP simulation platformed on the ABBA quantum computer and utilising ParaDigm CyberResearch’s Total Reality User Envelopment technology to recreate in a wholly realistic cyber-milieu the threat-ambiance and no-warning aspects of a hi-intensity, deep-density, urban Asymmetric Warfare Environment;
4. Hell.