Gutted buildings, looted stores, streets desterted except for packs of computer-implanted wild dogs. Not another soul around.
Through a haze, memories of the previous reality flash through Steven's mind. Bits, fragments, disturbing reminders that everything in the world has changed.
Steven knows that he has undergone a brain operation. It makes sense that he might see the world differently. What makes no sense at all is that the world actually is different; somehow the biochip in Steven's skull has given him the ability to change reality at will. Theoretically he can bring back his own familiar world, just by willing it so.
But, it isn't quite that easy. He isn't the only worldmaker around....
--Connie Willis
author of Doomsday Book