William Charland

Soundings William Charland

It's 1995 and Denver is humming. Telecommunications is hot, as inventors and investors chase the Next Big Thing that could put their frontier city on the map. Hawk Kidree watches the scene with a skeptical eye. A mixed-race Nanticoke Indian, he's an outsider by nature who has drifted into a career in public relations. His lone client is Wally Arneson, an engineer with the huge regional phone company Telwest. Wally spends his days tinkering with the video phone, a product that isn't ready to market.

One night, Hawk has a vision and his makeshift world begins to crumble: he watches the bright, neon sign of Telwest flicker out as the skyline of Denver is plunged into darkness. Before long, he finds himself caught in a mysterious complex of corporate forces intent on marketing the video phone-as a device for a society of civic leaders too busy to attend meetings, or a tool for the up-and-coming industry of video phone sex.

Soundings is the story of a culture out of control, and of one man's journey through the darkness of Denver to find the spirits that are driving it. In the end, Hawk must confront his own dark side, and learn the true identity of a woman he is afraid to love, if he's to save the people he cares about.