Imagine a not too distant future where government is basically run by the richest people in America. That shouldn’t be too hard.
They have achieved total deregulation of the oil drilling and fracking industries. They have privatized education and law enforcement. They have eliminated the minimum wage.
Of course, this means that all you see now if you go to the beach are oil rigs. All this means is that your kid goes to Subway Take Fresh Paul Revere Middle School, and that when he is struggling in Algebra, all the teachers try to do is sell you some extra tutoring sessions. All this means is that corporations can now pay whatever they want to their employees. And we all know corporations have their employees’ best interests in mind.
They have achieved total deregulation of the oil drilling and fracking industries. They have privatized education and law enforcement. They have eliminated the minimum wage.
This inequality has created a new lower class called Subprimes. Their low credit ratings have basically made them homeless and jobless. They move from place to place and squat in abandoned houses for as long as they can, taking what manual labor jobs they can find. Of course, these jobs only pay five bucks an hour, so they never get ahead.
And in this world, we follow the lives of people who have found a little haven in the desert. It’s an abandoned housing project where they will take anyone in as long as they are willing to work and help the community. They have a well and they grow fruits and vegetables through irrigation. Instead of just surviving from day to day, they’re starting to form a community.
But this might all come crashing down when a huge fracking corporation comes around with a private military force saying that they now own the land.
What they need is a hero. How about a beautiful and mysterious woman who rides a motorcycle? That sounds pretty awesome.
What to Watch for in August
Invasive: A Novel
by Chuck Wendig
Hannah Stander is a futurist who works as an FBI consultant, and she’s about to stumble into an evil plot to destroy humankind with genetically modified killer ants. First of all, futurist would be a really cool job to put on a resume. Second of all, this needs to be a movie from the 1980’s that went straight to video.
The Hike: A Novel
by Drew Magary
A man named Ben goes out for a hike and ends up on a magical journey full of giants, demons, and huge insects. It’s kind of like an adult Alice in Wonderland, except it’s not all about drugs.
