If there was a single phrase that captured the public's attention more than any other in 1967, it was this one: "The Medium is the Message." Marshall McLuhan not only made a fortune with it, but established himself as a prophet and philosopher. When McLuhan says the printed word is doomed in our age of electronic communication, everyone listens. Somehow, no one seems to notice that McLuhan's own predictions are presented via the printed word and - by his own theories - are doomed from the start.

Still, it frightens me to think of a future where all artistic outlets are electronic, where all of life becomes an open, sterile, and public thing. In this novel, I have tried to shape a society that has advanced along the lines of the predictions in The Medium is the Message . . . and then advanced a little further - a little to far.

McLuhan says we are drawing - via electronics - together again into a Village Society. A quick look around at television, telephones,and the recorded messages of today's pop music groups makes this seem a reasonable statement. But what will follow this village stage? A Household society? And after that what will we have - and be?

This is not truly a horror story. Not Quite.