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Rips & Tears

By Andrew Rivas

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Secret government agencies, powerful dimensional artifacts, and the world in jepordary creates one trilling story!

Synopsis

On November 11, 2032, a catastrophic breach threatens the very existence of the Bureau, a top-secret agency founded in 1959 to classify, house, and protect RIPs and TEARs—supernatural incidents and objects from alternate universes with odd but dangerous powers.

Mayhem ensues as news of the rift is broadcast via the Bureau’s Emergency Broadcast System by one Agent Sedaris. As a Bureau-wide lockdown goes into effect, RIPs and TEARs are escaping their enclosures—wreaking havoc, killing agents, and demanding the life of the Bureau director.

There’s a mole in the agency responsible for the compromise. But is it Agent Sedaris, the director, or someone else entirely? In an agency where things are disclosed on a “need to know” basis and the full truth is never revealed, it’s hard to know who to trust . . . or believe.

Told exclusively through interview transcripts and decades of redacted case files, the true story unfolds in this wildly inventive, tongue-in-cheek commentary on bureaucracy and all the things we never know.

An top-secret government agency under attack with its archive of strange and powerful objects is in chaos. Rips and Tears by Andrew Rivasis a thriller made up of interagency memos, alerts, and heavily redacted files about the Bureau’s investigations during an attack by mole. Things become difficult as no one knows who to trust and the attack is not what it seems to be.


At first the story was difficult to follow as each file was created by a different agent, and a good portion was redacted like an actual government report, leading to an irregular story flow. Over time, these seemingly unconnected files find a role to play in the complete story as each object featured in them is either a problem or a solution. Though some of the elements that make up world-building are redacted and that is a drawback, even the Bureau’s complete name is redacted. It would have been more interesting to Agent Sedaris narrates the current chaos at the Bureau through Emergency Broadcast System alerts created on a strange typewriter that seems to have a mind of its own. I do have to admit Sedaris’s comedic moments that come from panic were relatable and offered a lighter aspect in the dark-toned story. Like many stories involving secret government agencies, there is the feeling of not knowing who to trust, and even the reader feels that as there are times Agent Sedaris cannot be trusted.


Overall, I think Rips and Tears is an entertaining story for science fiction fans, especially for those who enjoy stories about secret government agencies and strange powerful objects. Should the author decide to expand the universe the Bureau resides in I hope the world-building comes across as more freely given. It does make for a good stand-alone, but there is potential for more stories set in this world.

Reviewed by
Sarah Anderson

I have a BS in History and Anthropology and a Masters in Library and Information Science. When was working with a library’s Readers’ Advisory Board I wanted to find another way to connect with other book lovers.

Rips & Tears

Written by Andrew Rivas

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Synopsis

On November 11, 2032, a catastrophic breach threatens the very existence of the Bureau, a top-secret agency founded in 1959 to classify, house, and protect RIPs and TEARs—supernatural incidents and objects from alternate universes with odd but dangerous powers.

Mayhem ensues as news of the rift is broadcast via the Bureau’s Emergency Broadcast System by one Agent Sedaris. As a Bureau-wide lockdown goes into effect, RIPs and TEARs are escaping their enclosures—wreaking havoc, killing agents, and demanding the life of the Bureau director.

There’s a mole in the agency responsible for the compromise. But is it Agent Sedaris, the director, or someone else entirely? In an agency where things are disclosed on a “need to know” basis and the full truth is never revealed, it’s hard to know who to trust . . . or believe.

Told exclusively through interview transcripts and decades of redacted case files, the true story unfolds in this wildly inventive, tongue-in-cheek commentary on bureaucracy and all the things we never know.

THE BUREAU OF ████████—DO NOT SHARE, COPY, OR STEAL UNDER PENALTY OF THE  █████████████ ACT OF 2027.

CASETYPE: N/A

CASENAME: N/A

CASE#: N/A

ABSTRACT: TRANSCRIPT OF EMERGENCY BROADCAST (11/11/2032; 19:25)

PLAINTEXT:

ATTENTION AGENTS. THIS IS DIRECTOR ███BURY SPEAKING. I HAVE WRESTED CONTROL OF THE EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM AWAY FROM AGENT ROHAN IN ORDER TO INFORM YOU THAT ONCE AGAIN, CITIZEN ONE HAS INFILTRATED THE BUREAU OF ████████. THIS BREACH IS CATASTROPHIC AND GRANDER IN SCOPE THAN PREVIOUS BREACHES. THE FUTURE OF THE BUREAU HANGS IN THE BALANCE AND ONLY YOU CAN HELP SAVE IT.

AGENT ROHAN IS A MOLE. SHE IS WHOLLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MESS WE FIND OURSELVES IN AND FOR THE DEATH OF SIXTEEN OF YOUR FELLOW AGENTS. I REPEAT, AGENT ROHAN WORKS FOR CITIZEN ONE AND HER GOAL IS TO DESTROY THE BUREAU AND ERADICATE EVERY AGENT WITHIN.

ANY CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY ARE CITIZEN ONE PROPAGANDA AND SHOULD BE DISREGARDED.

ANY AGENT THAT PARTICIPATES IN KILLING OR OTHERWISE DISABLING AGENT ROHAN WILL RECEIVE A CUSTOM ███████████ AND FULL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF SAID ███████████. THIS IS A VERBALLY BINDING CONTRACT AND WILL BE GUARANTEED FOR ANY AND EACH AGENT THAT PARTICIPATES IN THE KILLING OR DISABLING OF AGENT ROHAN.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. LET’S KILL THAT [BEEP] AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.

THIS BROADCAST WILL REPEAT UNTIL THE MOLE KNOWN AS AGENT ROHAN IS BROUGHT TO JUSTICE AND PUNISHED FOR HER CRIMES AND BETRAYAL OF THE BUREAU. THIS HAS BEEN DIRECTOR  ███BURY SPEAKING. GOOD LUCK, AGENTS.


THE BUREAU OF ████████—DO NOT SHARE, COPY, OR STEAL UNDER PENALTY OF THE  █████████████ ACT OF 2027.

CASETYPE: META

CASENAME: THE BUREAU OF ████████

CASE#: 000A

ABSTRACT: EXPOSITION

PLAINTEXT:

The Bureau of ████████ was created on December 31, 1959 by Director ███stone, at the direction of the Founder, ██████. The existence of the Bureau is not known to the public by design. The location of the Bureau is not known to the public, but can be accessed ████████ █████████████████████████████████████████████████████████. The purpose of the Bureau is not known to the public. The inner workings and day-to-day dealings of the Bureau are not known to anyone outside the Bureau. The reason the Bureau exists is so that they do not know what they do not know.

President ███████, after the first known RIP (SEE CASE# 0201) sought to create a new level of governmental classification for the event, fearing that if the public were to learn of RIPs and/or TEARs, it might spark widespread fear and panic. After the second known RIP (SEE CASE #4392), President ███████ contacted the Founder, seeking advice as to what governmental agency should be in charge of handling the RIPs and/or TEARs.

The Founder created the Bureau in response to the third known RIP (SEE CASE# 0403). No other government agency has clearance to know what the Bureau knows. No other government agency has jurisdiction over the Bureau. It answers only to the Director, who answers to the Founder. 

26 agents currently work for the Bureau, but their efforts are supplemented by hundreds of non-agent bureau personnel. The report you’re currently reading was written by Agent Sedaris as part of the Backlog Digitization Effort (SEE CASE# 000C). Per standard protocol, once a RIP and/or TEAR has been handled, the report is written up, aspects of it are redacted, and then it is sent to the ████████████████████████. It is never referenced again. Or that was the case until the BDE was started.

That is all the context you need to know. 

WARNING: If you are reading this and you do not possess at least ████ clearance, know that you have violated the  █████████████ Act of 2027 which carries a sentence of 192 years if proven guilty. Call ██-██-███ to schedule yourself for metadaction and ███████████████████████.

Rips & Tears

Written by Andrew Rivas

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About the author

Andrew Rivas is 34 and lives in New York. He writes books. view profile

Published on December 12, 2021

70000 words

Genre:Science Fiction

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