But imagine this...The face-dancers ARE machines who have managed to create a "dream-world" for humans, and Idaho has begun to see through it! (I have to admit I'm not sure what the machines are getting out of this scenario, but hey, its just a theory.)
Hmmm, brings to mind the quote from the back cover of Chapterhouse, something about a "heresy called love" (machines can't feel it) and humanity awakening as if from a dream...
There may be something to this, no?
If you check out the rest of Chapter 2 in the link I put in my last post, you will find reference to another story Frank wrote about a disease of the mind caused by a probe-like machine, that is cured by a man who creates another probe-like instrument that allows humans to communicate telepathically and overcome the disease by snapping people out of the mental state that the first machine puts them into. Hmmm, probes, telepathic communication,...these all sound very familiar...
While I agree with you that machines are the threat, I firmly believe that Frank will put his own special twist on it. Anyone even partly familiar with the rest of his work recognizes themes that he explores and develops, and I think it very likely that there are clues in his other work. (Does sound a lot like Dark City and The Matrix, though.)
