What if?

Discuss the June 2017 Book of the Month, Superhighway by Alex Fayman. Superhighway is the first book in the Superhighway Trilogy, so feel free to use this forum to discuss not only the first book but also the other books in the series.

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Zero
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What if?

Post by Zero »

After discovering his powers Alex decided to become a digital Robin Hood. But what if he didn't decide to be a one? What if he decided to become digital Joker? (the greatest villain ever) How would have the story unfolded? What turns and twists would have the story taken?
Please provide your insights.
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. -Albert Einstein
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Post by Donnavila Marie01 »

If Alex Fine in the Story was a villain and a digital joker, then there would be a protagonist.The protagonist must be someone who has the gift of deciphering the brain of Alex Fine.
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Post by Heidi M Simone »

Donnavila Marie01 wrote:If Alex Fine in the Story was a villain and a digital joker, then there would be a protagonist.The protagonist must be someone who has the gift of deciphering the brain of Alex Fine.
I don't think I understand your answer...?
Zero wrote:After discovering his powers Alex decided to become a digital Robin Hood. But what if he didn't decide to be a one? What if he decided to become digital Joker? (the greatest villain ever) How would have the story unfolded? What turns and twists would have the story taken?
Please provide your insights.
Interesting...hm...I would definitely like him less (though I'm not a big fan of his right now). This is tough because I would say that he would use the ability for his own purposes, but he already does that. Not a big difference there.

Maybe if he had a poor experience with a store/company, he could make them go bankrupt. Or, if he didn't like someone in a political position, Alex could probably easily find some discriminating information, leak it, and get that person out of the position he/she holds.
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Post by kandscreeley »

As hsimone stated, I'm not a huge fan of Alex's either. I'm not sure it's too much different from what he's already doing. However, in this age where everything is digital, Alex could easily manipulate someone's data so much so as to kill them. Anyone ever seen the movie "The Net"? All you would have to do is take off someone's medical record that they are allergic to pencillin (for example). They go into the hospital. The doctors give them penicillin. Bam. They die.
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Post by Heidi M Simone »

kandscreeley wrote:As hsimone stated, I'm not a huge fan of Alex's either. I'm not sure it's too much different from what he's already doing. However, in this age where everything is digital, Alex could easily manipulate someone's data so much so as to kill them. Anyone ever seen the movie "The Net"? All you would have to do is take off someone's medical record that they are allergic to pencillin (for example). They go into the hospital. The doctors give them penicillin. Bam. They die.
Glad I have someone on the same boat as me. :)

I have not seen "The Net", but that sounds like such a scary situation. You're right, though, Alex could essentially end someone's life by figuring out their allergies and taking it off the person's medical records. Gosh, that would terrible...
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Post by Jaime Lync »

If Alex was a villain I think he would have more likable because villains are usually cunning. He might have tried to go into political office as well and aim towards the cliche one world government or as Pinky and Brain say - World domination. Villains also seem to invite partners only to experience betrayal before a fork in the story.
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Post by Donnavila Marie01 »

hsimone wrote:
Donnavila Marie01 wrote:If Alex Fine in the Story was a villain and a digital joker, then there would be a protagonist.The protagonist must be someone who has the gift of deciphering the brain of Alex Fine.
I don't think I understand your answer...?

I picked the line, "the greatest villain ever". When I posted my thoughts, I was thinking, if Alex Fine was a villain, the story would not be complete if it has no protagonist, and I said, this protagonist must be someone who has the power to navigate the brain of Alex Fine because in Superhighway 2, as narrated by Alex Fine, there were hundreds of scientists navigating his brain. Sorry for the confusion. The question was, "what if", I addressed that "what if" according to what I thought.
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Post by MrsCatInTheHat »

Jaime Lync wrote:If Alex was a villain I think he would have more likable because villains are usually cunning. He might have tried to go into political office as well and aim towards the cliche one world government or as Pinky and Brain say - World domination. Villains also seem to invite partners only to experience betrayal before a fork in the story.
I can see a villainous Alex going for world domination as well. I don't think he'd succeed as he isn't great at thinking before acting but that could come over time. And now I have the Pinky and the Brain song running through my mind (thanks :lol2: ).
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Post by Jackie Holycross »

If Alex was a villain, it might have been a more enjoyable book. I would have expected him to do evil. As it was Alex just kept hurting innocent people without meaning to. It was tragic.
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Post by Jgideon »

If Alex Fine in the Story was a villain and a digital joker, the book would not have been as intersting for me. However, I imagine he would trigger the agencies that he was spying such as CIA and FBI to start hunting him down and finally capture him.
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Post by dbulkley »

A digital Robin Hood would’ve been good, would’ve made him more likable. A villain may be hard to pull off, but a possibility for a spin off novel!
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Post by Mindy Conahye »

He would have become just like the bad guys in the story. Using others for his own personal gain. I'm glad the author had him become more like Robin Hood. It makes for a better story. In a world with so much bad, I enjoy reading where there is good.
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Post by jjmainor »

kandscreeley wrote: 06 Jun 2017, 07:11 As hsimone stated, I'm not a huge fan of Alex's either. I'm not sure it's too much different from what he's already doing. However, in this age where everything is digital, Alex could easily manipulate someone's data so much so as to kill them. Anyone ever seen the movie "The Net"? All you would have to do is take off someone's medical record that they are allergic to pencillin (for example). They go into the hospital. The doctors give them penicillin. Bam. They die.
I suppose that might work if the patient was unconscious with no family nearby. But, coincidentally, I'm allergic to penicillin, and I've always been asked about allergies pretty much at the start of the visit.

Along those lines, though, you could manipulate the organ donor list so that someone slated for a transplant loses their place in line.
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Post by Atara Miles »

I honestly feel as if the story would have been better well-received, ironically. Most of the feedback I've seen so far as it relates to Superhighway is Alex's eligibility for the hero cape due to moral and ethical dilemmas. I think it would have been easier to view him as a villain though his character - gullibility might probably have been a turn off because we tend to prefer the worldly, charismatic villains.
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Post by Sarah Schmidt »

I honestly feel like the story would have been a great deal more interesting. Alex's role as the wannabe digital Robin Hood was pretty anticlimactic whereas a Joker-like character would have shaken things up a bit.
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