Imagine a future where you live forever. Nearly the whole population is “on-line” and by using your “mind’s eye” you can open doors, set shower temperatures and set your body clock alarm to wake you at just the exact moment where you won’t feel tiredness when you wake. Now imagine a future where affairs and divorce are illegal and if someone has impure thoughts that may be acted upon these thoughts are broadcast to the on-line population. And also imagine a future where you’re a terraformer, you have an IQ above 200 and the future population is being modelled on you, in fact they will bypass your IQ eventually and you will no longer be the smartest human on earth. This is James Keats’s life in Post-Human.
Whilst James and his team of terraformers are on Venus something strange has happened on Earth and when they get back they find the populace wiped out. The team is confronted by robots, nans and Mr Evil, A.I. The A.I. believes there is no room in his world for humanity, humans are an infestation which should be exterminated, he wishes to populate the world with robots and become a God to all. Will James and his team let this happen?
Post-Human portrays an interesting future, a lot I wouldn’t personally want in my future, although there are some gems of wisdom spread throughout the story that hold quite a lot of truth. For example, affairs and divorce are illegal. You might think this crazy but in a world where people don’t die it is actually a legitimate law as James explains to Thel, “It’s the price we pay for immortality. We can’t go switching partners and procreating endlessly throughout eternity. Family would become meaningless. Civilisation would break down.” This makes sense to me in the context of Post-Human’s future.
There are some “normal” humans in the story called the Purists who represent natural evolution. These people are not on-line and they live like we do today growing food from the ground, eating animals and performing medical attention like we know it, the old fashioned way in this story. Most on-liners think this way of living is inhuman and should be illegal, referring to the Purists as animals and cavemen. James described to Thel, “They live without nans or spinal implants and live out their natural lifespans, allowing themselves to die.” Faced with Post-Human’s alternate future readers will question which life is better and I must say there are justifiable arguments raised for both sides. Which would you choose?
Post-Human is a fast, entertaining read. It is a good versus evil battle. In this story you will find a little bit of everything, romance, comedy, perhaps a few tears and definitely action. I loved that it didn’t go into all the sci-fi technical stuff to explain what was happening and how things came to be, just the right amount of information is provided to the reader to understand this future, without taking away from the story or being bogged down with too much futuristic jargon and kudos must go to David Simpson for creating a great piece of work which many can enjoy. Post-Human does read well and you can envisage everything that happens; perfect for a movie adaptation one day.
I must thank David for providing me with a copy of Post-Human. I haven’t read much sci-fi but I really loved reading this. In an interview I held with David he hinted that there were further works in the future, one in particular I am most excited about, a prequel to Post-Human with Old Timer, one of my favourite characters, starring and we will hopefully get to see how this future world came to be. I cannot wait to read David’s works in the future, if Post-Human is anything to go by they are bound to be fantastic reads that would appeal to a wide audience.
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Click here to go to David’s profile on my website where you will find links to the blurb of Post-Human, my interview with David, David’s website, his Goodreads profile and a link to purchase Post-Human.
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