Publisher:
N/A

Publication Date:
08/20/2021

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
978-0-473-58414-6

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
N/A

AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens

By A.I. Fabler

IR_Star-black
IR Rating:
3.0
Well-written and occasionally pointed, A.I. Fabler’s AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens is a satirical speculative novel about a future wherein woke-ism has spiraled out of control. 

A.I. Fabler’s AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens opens with its protagonist, Jordan McPhee, reflecting on his loss of personhood. A former mathematics professor, his life was ruined when his discipline was banned. He’s been disowned even by his daughter, who favors the approval of her feminist coterie. But everything changes when Jordan runs into Alexa Smythe, a former student who now works to further Agenda 2060. This initiative, whose stated ideals only serve a new world order, leaves people like Jordan to seek fulfillment outside of society. But Jordan has an outlet through his connection with Artie Sharp, a mysterious figure who broadcasts critical, satirical messages about the state. Through several twists and turns, and Artie Sharp’s involvement, Alexa and Jordan begin working together to subvert Agenda 2060.

Given recent events, the idea behind AGENDA 2060 is fascinating. The author is at his best when pursuing it through Artie Sharp’s biting interludes and various anthology-esque chapters. (“Homo Economicus,” an op-ed by Alexa’s economist father, is a particularly potent such chapter, both hilarious and hard-hitting.) However, Jordan and Alexa’s plot stymies the story’s overall execution. Their defiance of the state is difficult to root for, perhaps because it’s hard to see them as more than vehicles for the book’s message of treading carefully with any ideology. That their teacher-student dynamic has the hint of a romantic undertone is disconcerting. So is the way Alexa is presented. Her lack of flaws, pedestal status, and tendency to get used as a pawn all undermine her gravity as a protagonist. Only one scene, in which she reflects on her childhood desire to go to space, taps into her desires and truest self beautifully.

There are a few quality problems that persist, too — preachy tangents about social dynamics and heavy-handed metaphors pull the reader out of the story regularly. All of this is unfortunate in light of AGENDA 2060’s clever and enjoyable moments, most of which moments are found in the scenes that pose questions about what modern social justice discourse wants and what it actually gets, or what it takes to retain free speech. After all, everyone has seen ideals hijacked for nefarious purposes, and that aside, who wants to live in a world where they’ve cancelled Monty Python’s Life of Brian?  But the overall purpose of satire is lost with the author’s need to make a point. If, as Terry Pratchett put it, satire is “meant to ridicule power,” allowing its main female character’s interiority to be lost is one way to fall short of that. That would’ve been the more daring decision in a novel that already critiques fourth-wave feminism. While that wasn’t in this book’s agenda, perhaps the promised sequel, Agenda 2060: The View From Space, will bring about a change.

Well-written and occasionally pointed, A.I. Fabler’s AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens is a satirical speculative novel about a future wherein woke-ism has spiraled out of control.

~Jennifer Weatherly for IndieReader

Publisher:
N/A

Publication Date:
08/20/2021

Copyright Date:
N/A

ISBN:
978-0-473-58414-6

Binding:
Paperback

U.S. SRP:
N/A

AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens

By A.I. Fabler

A.I. Fabler’s AGENDA 2060: The Future as It Happens is a fictional account of today’s politically correct world of cancel culture, identity politics, and woke epiphanies. Tinges of sly-smile humor are woven into a detailed story of science, Artificial Intelligence, human nature and technological know-how — leading readers to wonder what life really could be like in the years ahead.