Flavor Over Care

By Tony Hicks

In Flavor Over Care, America has descended into a dystopian nightmare where corporate power dominates the most essential human needs. Junk food conglomerates like FlavorCorp, backed by government subsidies, flood the nation with emotionally engineered snack products, while healthcare becomes a luxury only the elite can afford. Cassie Rivera, a nurse from a forgotten sector, loses her mother to a preventable illness and soon uncovers a sprawling conspiracy: citizens are being pacified with addictive, trauma-masking flavors while the healthcare system rots from within. Driven by grief and fury, Cassie teams up with Will, a rogue food scientist, and Nia, a Capitol Hill whistleblower, to dismantle the corporate machinery controlling the nation's taste-and its emotions.

Their journey leads them deep into the heart of FlavorCorp's sinister operations: from underground labs developing neural-flavor conditioning, to the AI-driven "Nacho Algorithm" capable of chemically rewriting memories. Along the way, they discover how the corporation deliberately engineered emotional addiction and relapse to ensure long-term consumer dependence. When Cassie and her allies expose the truth, the collapse of FlavorCorp sparks a global reckoning-but in its place rises a subtler threat: the Care Cartel, a rebranded system offering "emotion-safe" food and synthetic wellness through biometric control. The war shifts from chips to care, and the team must once again fight to protect human agency from being sold in a different wrapper.

By the end, the revolution has grown beyond Cassie. Through memory, grief, and real taste, people begin reclaiming their right to feel fully, even painfully. The final battle isn't waged with weapons, but with truth, choice, and resilience. Cassie's story is not just one of rebellion, but of healing-and a reminder that feeling everything, even the bitter, is what makes us human. Flavor Over Care is a biting satire and a warning wrapped in a hopeful message: that comfort without care is control, and flavor without freedom leaves an aftertaste that never fades.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G3H9CQ1P
• ISBN13: 9798275594324
• Release Date: November 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"