Everything Belongs to the Future - by Laurie Penny (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Everything Belongs to the Future is a bloody-minded tale of time, betrayal, desperation, and hope that could only have been told by the inimitable Laurie Penny.

Time is a weapon wielded by the rich, who have excess of it, against the rest, who must trade every breath of it against the promise of another day's food and shelter. What kind of world have we made, where human beings can live centuries if only they can afford the fix? What kind of creatures have we become? The same as we always were, but keener.

In the ancient heart of Oxford University, the ultra-rich celebrate their vastly extended lifespans. But a few surprises are in store for them. From Nina and Alex, Margo and Fidget, scruffy anarchists sharing living space with an ever-shifting cast of crusty punks and lost kids. And also from the scientist who invented the longevity treatment in the first place.

"The scariest, most enduring dystopias walk a fine line between parable and prediction. Penny erases that line. In this made-up story, the rich speciate from the poor; in our real world, working class lifespans are declining as the one percent live ever longer lives at ever-greater removes from the rest of us. This is no mere literary device. This is a pitiless allegory, calculated to enrage and terrify its readers." -- Cory Doctorow

Review Quotes

"The scariest, most enduring dystopias walk a fine line between parable and prediction. Penny erases that line. In this made-up story, the rich speciate from the poor; in our real world, working class lifespans are declining as the one percent live ever longer lives at ever-greater removes from the rest of us. This is no mere literary device. This is a pitiless allegory, calculated to enrage and terrify its readers." --Cory Doctorow

"Everything Belongs to the Future is a brilliant fiction debut, a searing indictment of the misuse of privilege and a dire warning about the consequences of allowing power to fall into the hands of a self-elected elite." --The Guardian

"Everything Belongs To The Future is a story about monsters and self-deception - a tight, tense, character-centred thriller in a world where a life-extension treatment compounds social inequality by letting the wealthy buy more time, too... Cutting prose and brilliant characterisation make this an incredible science fiction novella." --Locus

"Original and unflinching in its realistic portrayal of a utopia gone wrong, Everything Belongs to the Future is science fiction at its thought provoking finest." --Geek Syndicate

"I very much loved [this book]. 8/10" -Kirkus Reviews

"A skilfully told story doing what SF does best - examining the social consequences of scientific discoveries." --SFX Magazine

About the Author

Laurie Penny is a contributing editor and columnist for the New Statesman and a frequent writer on social justice, pop culture, gender issues, and digital politics for the Guardian, the New Inquiry, Salon, the Nation, Vice, the New York Times, and many other publications. Her blog Penny Red was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize in 2010. In 2012, Britain's Tatler magazine described her as one of the top "100 people who matter." Her nonfiction book Unspeakable Things: Sex, Lies, and Revolution was published by Bloomsbury (2014).