Dystopia = sharing a planet with those who prefer machines to humans.

It’s meant to be the meek who inherit the Earth. But the way things are going, sadly, it looks like it’s going to be the geeks...

In the World of The Powers, techies have developed The Platform, a super-computer that’s generating so much money for the greedy, that those with the power to curtail the techie's dubious activities – which they themselves say carry a risk of wiping out humanity - are seemingly turning a blind eye to law breaking and job destruction, all because it’s lining their pockets.

It’s a theme that runs throughout my new darkly comic dystopian novel, Dead Headz. In that quite frankly excellent book, a youth-led government is totally sold on an all-powerful computer they don’t understand – because it’s saving their government so much money and wiping out the national debt at a rate of knots.

It’s also obliterating jobs and getting people addicted to using it, but those in power are happy to overlook those trifling shortcomings because, well, ££££££££££££££££££$$$.

Of course, most people with a brain they’re still willing to use are disgusted by the power being surrendered to The Platform, and the growing reliance on machines (the populace are forced to have access to The Platform turned on in their homes, 24/7.)

One character, a former semi-finalist in an erudite (look it up, Chat GPT losers, I mean users) UK quiz is so furious at what reliance on The Platform is doing to people, that during a drunken outburst, she says:

“If people truly think machines should be doing everything then there’s no role for us humans, is there? I always think that if you love machines more than people, I think it’s best you get your beloved machines to build you a spacecraft to get you off to Mars, pack your bags, get on board and jolly well get the f*** off this planet. And take all your geeky, ‘deathwish to the human race’ bedfellows with you.”

Strong words, indeed. Sadly, they’re a long way off manned missions to Mars in Dead Headz, but the book does raise questions about where the world is heading by handing more and more power to people who don’t really understand the majority of other people on the planet (and perhaps don’t even like them).

In Dead Headz, it takes one of the silent majority – the lead character Kent Sanderson – to break his silence and do something to change the direction of travel. He chooses to take the most peaceful way forward possible to achieve the change he wants to see.

To find out what methods he chooses and if he succeeds, well, you can always legally download Dead Headz from my Payhip page. Yes, you will have to pay a little for the pleasure, but that's how it works in an non-dystopian world. People get paid for the work they do.