''Walkaway'' is a 2017

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by Canadian writer

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...

, published by Head of Zeus and

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

. Set in our near-future, it is a story of walking away from " non-work", and surveillance and control by a brutal, immensely rich oligarchical

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...

; love and romance; a

post-scarcity Post-scarcity is a theoretical economic situation in which most goods can be produced in great abundance with minimal human labor needed, so that they become available to all very cheaply or even freely. Post-scarcity does not mean that scarc ...

gift economy A gift economy or gift culture is a system of exchange where valuables are not sold, but rather given without an explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards. Social norms and customs govern giving a gift in a gift culture; although there ...

;

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

and eventual war; and a means of finally ending death.

Summary

In a world of non-work, ruined by human-created

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

and

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

, and where people are under

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

and ruled over by a mega-rich

, Hubert, Etc, his friend Seth, and Natalie, decide that they have nothing to lose by turning their backs and walking away from the everyday world or "default reality," shortened to "Default." The improvement of

3D printers 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...

over current real-world versions, as well as the invention of machines that can search for and reprocess waste or discarded materials, the characters no longer have need of Default for the basic essentials of life, such as food, clothing, and shelter. As more and more people choose to "walkaway", the ruling elite do not take these social changes sitting down. They use the military, police and

mercenaries A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

to attack and disrupt the walkaways' new settlements. One thing that the elite are especially interested in is scientific research that the walkaways are carrying out which could potentially put an end to death, which results in general revolution within Default and eventual war with walkaway settlements.

Main characters

* Hubert Espinoza, better known as "Hubert, Etc" because of his nineteen middle names. Aged 27. * Seth: A friend of Hubert, Etc, who was "terrified of aging out of the beautiful children demographic and entering the world of non-work." * Natalie Redwater: Born into an elite family, she convinces Hubert, Etc, and Seth to walk away from the everyday world of "Default".

Reception

Writing on ''

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'' online, Jason Sheehan is of the opinion that Doctorow's writing is "super weird in the best possible way." Sheehan says that ''Walkaway'' is a remarkable "story of a utopia in progress, as messy as every new thing ever is, told in the form of people talking to each other, arguing with each other and working together to solve problems. It's all about the deep, disturbing, recognizable weirdness of the future that must come from the present we have already made for ourselves, trying to figure out what went wrong and what comes next." In ''

The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...

'', Adi Robertson writes: "''Walkaway'' imagines a future shaped by the same problems and possibilities Doctorow's been playing with for years: the threat of ubiquitous surveillance and artificial scarcity, and the promise that almost any technology can be repurposed and turned against its creator". Robertson goes on to say that "one of Doctorow's core themes in ''Walkaway'' is subverting what he described as the popular 'man against man against nature' pulp plot." In ''

Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sci ...

'', Sean Gallagher writes that "the future is open source in this optimistic sci-fi disaster epic full of big ideas." He and Doctorow see ''Walkaway'' as a prequel to the author's debut novel ''

Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom ''Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom'' is a 2003 science fiction book, the first novel by Canadian author and digital-rights activist Cory Doctorow. Concurrent with its publication by Tor Books, Doctorow released the entire text of the novel unde ...

''. Gallagher concludes that ''Walkaway'' "shows us a world trying to make things right after having made all the wrong decisions about how to use technology. But Walkaway executes that move beautifully. And like all great performances, it's worth witnessing over and over again."

References

External links

*
Technology is making the world more unequal. Only technology can fix this
,

, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 31 May 2017 {{doctorow-navbox Novels by Cory Doctorow Tor Books books 2017 Canadian novels 2017 science fiction novels Drones in fiction Dystopian novels Utopian novels Climate change novels Novels about mass surveillance Social science fiction Postcyberpunk novels Books about automation Head of Zeus books