Everything Belongs to the Future

_Everything Belongs to the Future_ purports to be science fiction, and perhaps it technically is such, and the technology at the heart of the story is fairly well covered to the degree it needs to be covered. It's difficult to classify this work, or to give away too much of the plot, other than to say that not too far into the future, perhaps just years from now, a medical breakthrough allows the wealthy and their protegés to "fix" their age and to maintain that fixed age for so long as they can afford to take their daily fix. The rich get richer, and the poor go more into the counterculture, or at least that's about what you can see through the eyes of Penny's varied protagonists.Alex is young, poor, and staying out of deep trouble and making ends meet as a snitch, more specifically as a deep-cover infiltrator, in love with one of his targets, beautiful Nina, and her house full of counterculture friends who are anti-gerontocracy, raiders of Oxford parties, stealing time from the wealthy and donating it to the poor. Why should only the rich have their lives prolonged? Daisy, who seems to be in her mid-teens but is one of the long-ago inventors of the fix, is bored with how things have turned out and joins forces with the anti-gerontocrats. Secretly, they plot to break the gerontocrats' lock on longevity treatments, with the goal of making them accessible to all, and on the cheap-or-free. Like penicillin, the wonder drug for the fix starts as a mold, and Daisy knows both where to get samples and what to do to develop them. A practical maintenance agelessness could be not much more out of reach than a block of roquefort cheese at the grocery store.This is not set in some unimaginable future where million-year-old humans have become godlike. Although none are quite yet a hundred years into the fix, they seem to be quite content to do as the rich have always preferred, to live quite well on their immense estates and let the powers-that-be deal with the commoners and hoi-polloi. It is said "against time, even the gods themselves contend in vain" but that doesn't seem to be the problem here. Rather it's the whole basis of society -- the trading of time for the wherewithal of living, the salary or the wage -- which is gone out of joint. Time and money, neither matter at all to those in this world who are wealthy enough; to those who haven't enough, time is what carries the dreams of wealth, leisure, and longevity, all locked in some reciprocal equation where the amount you have of any of those affects all of the rest. The un-aging rich may be spending their looming new eternity off throwing dull parties on their estates, but for everyone else it's a scramble for income. Left mostly unsaid but reasonably assumed is that robots are doing most of the work in the UK and presumably elsewhere; it is mentioned that one of the few ways that people can make money is through art, and that great art gets great pay, including subsidy for access to the fix.Perhaps I am reading too much into a novel of a scant 117 pages in the paperback edition that just came in the mail. It's the quality of the writing as well as my own fondness for the sub-genres on display here, I suspect. The writing is that rare and special stuff that used to be seen in all of the best newspapers. In the same way that one of the writing goals for the news writer was to have a story (or a very nearly complete part of that) in every paragraph if possible, at points in this work one can be almost overwhelmed by the density, when it slides from a political consideration to the feelings one has, to a physical description, to a contemplation of one's role and examination of the alternatives before one... all of this happens in perhaps ten paragraphs each containing perhaps five brief sentences. This is direct, concise, to the point. It might not be exactly in that genre, or perhaps not by intent, but this would be a perfect young-adult novel and I hope a lot of young adults will read it with an eye to adopting the writing style. As an old man I am perhaps too set in my ways to change much, but I will be re-reading this one probably several times, just to marvel at the sparse accuracy of the prose.Penny makes a few rather hard-hitting points in this, although she mostly doesn't trot them out to sit on a pedestal and be marveled at; they are unpleasant things that need to be removed from view, things like certain levels of involvement with people while working as a paid informant. Another point examined is the value of art, or the impetus toward it, if we should lack the spur to leave something that will last longer than we will. All around, hints of things which we should be examining in our daily political discourse, which seem to be sliding past all unexamined in real life. All in all, this book won't take up too much space on your bookshelf, but sometimes it's the smaller works that may matter most. Consider buying a copy of this, but even if you have to wait to get it from the library, do be sure to read it.

Everything Belongs to the Future is a powerful novella, examining the wrongs of government in a future world that silences dissent in any form. On the surface, it’s a look at the implications of a society where the rich are able to extend their lives by hundreds of years while the poor are left to live their normal lifespan. Deeper down, it’s a condemnation of the unethical tactics used by the government to uncover the opposition and their desire to weaponize progress, no matter the cost.Conversation on Class DisparityThis is arguably the largest issue humanity has always faced – the inequality of the wealthy and powerful versus the everyday man or woman. Poverty is rampant today, and in this version of the future, as people try to make due in menial jobs, living in squalid surroundings affected by flooding caused by climate change. The wealthy are given more time at the expense of the poor. This group of activists is trying to bridge this disparity, providing food for the needy and attempting to find a way to give more time to the less fortunate. Their desperate solution turns against them at the end, widening the gap and animosity between the rich and poor as they battle for time and the safety the future could bring.A Critique of the Healthcare SystemOverall, this book is a clear critique of an insurance based healthcare system that rewards the upper classes and leaves the lower class in the dust. The moral is that good health shouldn’t be a privilege earned by the circumstances of a person’s birth and the opportunities provided to them early on due to their family’s economic status. When you throw the possibility of an extended life into the mix, it becomes even more tragic. Not only are these people sick and dying due to poor public health opportunities, but they are losing possible decades of their lives because they weren’t given the same opportunities. It puts the healthcare conversation into a startling perspective.The Meaning of More TimeWith time comes the fulfillment of a person’s every dream. More time means more days to generate wealth, more years spent with loved ones, more decades spent learning and advancing through society and the world. It’s a chance everyone should have, and in this future it’s head above the heads of the poor, flaunted by the wealthy who congratulate themselves on this victory and refuse to share their creation. Having an option to keep the sickness and suffering of aging at bay creates desperation in those who can’t afford the steep prices. These activists do what they think is right, but their solution is turned against their intentions, becoming a weapon governments and terrorist groups begin to use.Undercover EthicsThe most startling part of Everything Belongs to the Future is the ethical conversation on undercover officers and the government’s acceptance of their relationships with the women they are monitoring. The central romantic relationship of the book is a lie, with the man telling himself it’s all okay because he plans to be with her after it’s all over. This twisted logic isn’t just a problem for the future, but a problem happening today. It’s an issue that isn’t talked about much, and the author uses her platform to expose the practice. The acknowledgement at the end has a very important note about this issue and the women affected.

Penny's first foray into the realm of science fiction is a cautionary tale reflecting our current times. The "elites" whose wealth has always separated them from the rest of society now have use of a pill that can extend their lives to centuries. No worries any more about having too much money to spend in one lifetime; why not just string a bunch of lifetimes together. In conflict with this new wrinkle to the age-old divide between haves and have-nots is a band of activists determined to level the playing field for everyone. This novelette is definitely worth reading. Penny speaks from experience in covering the clashes within our culture. Perhaps her next novel will show the results of these technological changes.

There's not much to this story, in length or plot. I quite liked the setting (I know Oxford) and I'm sympathetic to the politics, but this tried things already done better in Doris Lessing's The Good Terrorist or Ken MacLeod's novels. Why the characters acted as they did was often murky and the problems caused by an inequality in lifespan were not really explored, just assumed.

A tight, beautifully written slice of dystopia. Penny's prose strikes just the right balance between rich and restrained. Speculative fiction may have nearly exhausted every imaginable variant for how tech-driven oligarchy could further entrench the divide between have and have-nots, but the commitment to character that leaves just the right amount of gaps for the reader to fill in make this a fresh read nonetheless. Also features what I would argue is the new benchmark for f*cesitting scenes in literature.

It was okay. From the blurb, thought it would be better. It was just... okay.

Fiction, by an author better known for their political writing. Very well worth anyone's time.

An excellent read, with a lot to think about. I only wish it had been much, much longer. The characters are well written, yet the sci fi content and philosophical discussion do not disappoint.

I read the book end to end on the day that I got it. I love the story, especially the ending (which I will not spoil here).

I enjoyed this short dystopian novel about a British future in which those who can afford the necessary treatment get to live forever. It depicts what appears to be the end result of a long line of neoliberal/Thatcherish regimes which have drastically reset traditional boundaries: not necessarily between the traditional upper classes and the proles, but between those who can afford immortality treatment and those who can't.Naturally, there is a backlash, a strange coalition between the original developer of the treatment and a bunch of subversives who appear to be living in a squat near the university where much of the technology development has occurred.The key theme of the story doesn't focus on the rich having power over the poor, or more wealth - it's the novel's recognition that real wealth means TIME: normally thought of as between leisure and work: the rich have time and the poor don't. In this novel, the rich also live possibly forever while they prosper, and the poor don't.Naturally there are revolutionaries ... in this case a bunch of subversives living in a suburban squat, and the obligatory police spy embedded among them.There is a continuing image of a bridge in the story, one built by the devil, and an actual bridge at the university. It presumably represents the life-extending technology. The one at the university falls down but is rebuilt. Those who cross the devil's bridge come to a bad end.The author is a good writer, with incisive views on her society; her newspaper articles remind me of George Orwell's essays, but with more rude words. She is probably capable of writing a novel twice as long as this, so I wish she would: one that really skewers what she doesn't like in British society.

Fast-paced and fun, this book does what speculative fiction does best, extrapolating from current events to map warnings of a less-than-ideal future. It manages to be both readable and thought-provoking, and is fresh without being too obviously topical.

Elegant and thoughtful novella; the near-future dystopia reminds me of William Gibson's work, but the voice is uniquely Penny's.

Schnelle Lieferung. Top Zustand

A complicated and thought provoking novella that takes several important big issues of our day (Consent/Rape, Economic gap, Identity to name a few) and entwines them into a dystopic tale in a future where immortality is just a blue pill away - for those wealthy enough to pay.It's set in Oxford, and the author conveys the feel and atmosphere of the place brilliantly. The characters are all flawed in their own ways, and come across more realistic as a result. Some other reviews complain that this is too short or even too long a story - I disagree, I think it flows smoothly and is structured and paced just right.This novella is powerful. I felt emotionally wrung out by the end, and am still thinking about some of the more obvious themes and issues days later.I hope the author Laurie Penny will write more fiction in the future.

Not quite what I expected (or as advertised really). 'Time is a weapon wielded by the rich...against the rest, who must trade every breath of it against the promise of another day's food and shelter' says the blurb. So there I was imagining some high concept piece of SF where the poor can trade their life force away to the rich, and what do we get? [No spoilers, this is all made explicit within the first few pages] A (barely allegorial) tale where the rich can live longer because they have access to better health care, and no one trades anything. OK there's a bit of a 'fountain of youth' aspect to the imagined medical advance, but it doesn't amount to much more than that.After one or two ventures into overwrought metaphor - 'Time exfoliates the stones of Oxford University in slow circles' - the writing settles into a straightforward literalism. Not bad exactly, but not good either, and rather too inclined to tell than show (a key plot point, a key twist, what could be a big reveal, is not even telegraphed just suddenly dropped on the reader way too early).The plot involves not much more than an anarchist/hippy bunch of (might as well be) squatters plotting to overthrow the system. There's little here that couldn't have been written 40 (or 50!) years ago, barring a plot point turning on transphobia where once homophobia would have been the issue du jour. That and the aforementioned plot twist which would have been achingly up to the minute a few years back.As I say, not bad exactly, I almost enjoyed it up to the denoument which just doesn't work. Why does [spoiler removed] suddenly decide to try and do [something] when they could have acted at an earlier point and when based on information they are supposedly party to it is already too late? Threw the whole thing out for me despite the attempt at a redemptive ending.

It's a nice idea but could have done with more story, world building and character behind it. It's not a bad read, it's just frustrating as it has so much potential.

Given the amount of buzz surrounding this book, I had high expectations. I realised as soon as I opened the book in my Kindle that it would be a short read (it's a 128-page novella, for those who don't check these things before buying just like me), which is just fine in my opinion - certainly preferable to the overlong, overwritten prose that's so prevalent in SF and fantasy these days. On the first page I realised it's set in Oxford, where I live! So far, so good.By the end, though, I was thoroughly disappointed. This could have made a fine short story or a great full-length novel, but instead it's an awkward length for the story she's trying to tell. The characters aren't fully realised and are mostly paper-thin; half of them felt indistinguishable from each other. I got no sense that any of them had inner lives or pasts, apart from Daisy (whose backstory, revealed in the last third of the book, is as subtle as a brick). It feels like the kernel of an in-development novel or a short story that's been over-stretched.This is a strong premise and in the hands of someone like Kij Johnson would make a fantastic short story - or indeed, in the hands of Margaret Atwood would make a stunning novel. As it is, the themes are too obvious, the execution too facile and the length either too long or too short to be much of anything.