We like mystery because life is mysterious, and story-telling exists to help us figure out how to live. Mysteries help us figure out how to deal with the unending avalanche of unknowns in our own lives (probably not directly, unless you deal with dead bodies a lot).
Some people say that mysteries are popular because people like puzzles. Well, I like a certain kind of mystery, but I’ve never been a puzzle person.
I like FRANK BACON mysteries, the hard-boiled detective who fights to stay alive while prowling dark alleys and darker minds. Often, I don’t care that much about the final reveal of who the real criminal is. It’s the journey, the tortuous path that I like.
In science fiction especially, the who-dunnit can easily become a what-dunnit.
With [TMI*THC], FRANK pulls off writing a science fiction novel that takes places in the present. So what makes it science fiction? BACON’s unique take on our cultural and technological flotsam, and how that might affect our future. Is that enough to really Count as science fiction? The consensus seems to be yes, but you’ll have to decide for yourself.
[TMI*THC] protagonist @defango is among a cult-like group of Internet obsessives that strives to find meaning and patterns within a mysterious collection of video moments, merely called “THE CHANNELS,” let loose onto the Internet by an unknown source. HIS hobby and work collide when a megalomaniac client hires HIM to track down whoever is behind the FILES. @defango's quest will take HIM in and out of harm’s way in a high-stakes game that ultimately coincides with HIS desire to reconcile ... [sic] the September 11 attacks in New York.
"Between 1953 and 1966, the Central Intelligence Agency financed a wide-ranging project, code-named MKULTRA, concerned with the research and development of chemical, biological, and radiological materials capable of employment in clandestine operations to control human behavior."
