The Word Exchange
The Word Exchange is a science fiction novel by Alena Graedon, published in 2014. It is a dystopian thriller set in the not very distant future when the printed word has nearly vanished, technology dominates, and language has become a commodity. An online "Word Exchange" has taken the effort out of looking up words, a mere convenience until real dictionaries are no longer available. Then it becomes possible to corner the market for words. The novel has been translated into eight different languages. Plot Anana Johnson's father, world renowned linguist and Chief Editor of the North American Dictionary of the English Language, has gone missing. Doug (Douglas Samuel Johnson) was in his Manhattan office at the Dictionary seeing to the last details before the 3rd edition went to press, and then he was not. Even his name was missing from the Dictionary database, one clue among several he has left behind for his daughter. In the post-print world of the not very distant future, Anana had been enjoying her job at the NADEL, a scholarly foundation-funded project, even though she was not much of a reader, herself. Like most people, she got all the news and narrative she wanted on her "Meme," an artificially intelligent as well as smart phone/digital assistant. She shrugged off her father's aversion to the device, because she liked hers. It had learned her preferences and mapped her life so intimately that it automatically took care of things for her, from ordering menu items or driverless car rides to downloading a definition from the Word Exchange for a word she had momentarily forgotten. As the Diachronic Society tried to warn everyone (or all readers of the Times, at least) words were being forgotten at an alarming rate and Memes, not to mention the newer implantable device the "Nautilus," made by the same mega-corporation Synchronics were responsible. In fact, Memes were not merely dispensing information, they were spreading a virus, "word flu" at an epidemic rate. Aphasia was the first symptom of the new disease, and for those who survived the fever, also the most long-lasting. Anana bravely, if foolishly, faces down book-burning minions, oversized Russian security guards and accusatory Diachronic Society members before she leaves her Meme behind and evades her pursuers, escaping through tunnels. She has been betrayed by her mother's boyfriend and her own ex. Bart, Ana's devoted admirer and Doug's erstwhile assistant editor, uncovers Synchronics’ plot to inflate prices on the Word Exchange by polluting the Dictionary with nefarious neologisms, and he barely escapes with his life. To contain the word flu contagion, nations are closing their borders to Americans, but Ana arrives in London just in time. From there, she is followed all the way to Oxford, captured, and imprisoned in silent quarantine for three days before finding her father under the protection of the Oxford English Dictionary. Major themes Information technology "The Word Exchange insists readers think critically about how digital media is controlled and how language could be usurped by