Kraken Calling

A Novel

By: Aric McBay

Narrated by: Eleanor Caudill

A sweeping near future dystopic fantasy in the Octavia Butlerian vein of the Parable of the Sower novels.

Political activist and anarchist author Aric McBay (Full Spectrum Resistance) toggles between the years 2028 and 2051 to give us the experience, with breathtaking realism, of what might happen in the span of just one generation to a society that is already on the brink of collapse.

In 2028, environmental activists hesitate to take the fight to the extreme of violent revolution. Twenty years later, with the natural environment now seriously degraded, the revolution is brought to the activists, rather than the other way around, by an authoritarian government willing to resort to violence and willing to let the majority suffer from hunger and poverty in order to control its citizens when the government can no longer provide them with a decent quality of life.

So it is the activists who must defend their communities, their neighbors, through a more humane and in some ways more conservative status quo of care and moderation.

And the outcome here is determined by the actions of those who resist more than it is by the actions of the nominally powerful.

©2022 Aric McBay (P)2022 Tantor

A radical version of 1984

This book is very inspiring and does a great job of highlighting the struggles that today's activists experience, and how they matter going into the future. The various storyline can be hard to keep track of, but I loved it all the same.

Grim and Hopeful

I almost DNF'ed this book within the first hour because I thought it was going to be some Anti-Vax nonsense but I'm really glad I heald on. What unfolds from there is a beautiful piece of speculative fiction about how humanity will respond to impending climate change in ways that are grim and hopeful.

I loved the split story setting as it not only provided fun "who's that" moments when a character was introduced but also showed how action now can resonate throughout the decades and no act is too small.

The reason I didn't give this a 5 out of 5 was the context of when it was released. I'm not some government shill but the decision to publish a book in 2022 where the badguys are using the tools of Healthcare to oppress people left me with that initial poor opinion. However, once context is established, I agreed with the use of such themes as it is not unreasonable to believe that, taken to the extreme, Triage Camps could exist within the next decade or two.

All in all I will be recommending this book to people who are looking for a enviro-centric read with very topical themes.