#naomi alderman
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Naomi Alderman’s ‘The Future’
Naomi Alderman burst onto the scene in 2016 with The Power, an explosive and brilliant feminist apocalyptic parable. Now, seven years later, she's back with a chunky, propulsive second novel about a very different sort of apocalypse: The Future:
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Future/Naomi-Alderman/9781668025680
The Power was a thriller about a mysterious force that gives women the power to administer violent electric shocks – even lethal ones – from the palms of their hands. As this power races around the world, the status quo is abruptly shattered. Abusers get nasty surprises. The Saudi government topples. Parents of teenaged boys demand sex-segregated classes to protect their sons from vicious girls:
https://memex.craphound.com/2017/10/10/naomi-aldermans-the-power-in-which-fierce-power-of-women-is-awoken/
In The Future, we get a very different kind of apocalypse: the imagined apocalypse of the prepper. At the core of prepperism is a fantasy: that the world will experience a cataclysm that requires the special skills and supplies of the prepper themselves. Water chemists who turn prepper fantasize about attacks on the water-supply – not because there's any special reason to expect one, but because if terrorists attack the water supply, then water chemists become civilization-rescuing heroes:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/22/preppers-are-larpers/#preppers-unprepared
(And of course, if the world ends in such a way that marauding bandits rove the wasteland, eating their former neighbors, then macho, AR-15-obsessed musketfuckers get to reinvent themselves as warlords who defend the sheeple from "bad guys.")
This is what makes billionaire prepper fantasies just so weird – for most of us, it's hard to imagine how the skills of a billionaire are the one thing we'll need to see us through a crisis. But for billionaires themselves, the necessity of billionaires in rebooting civilization is so self-evident as to be unquestionable.
What's more, billionaires are convinced – more than any of us – that the world is about to end. As Douglas @Rushkoff puts it, these guys want to earn enough money to outrun the consequences of how they're making all that money. This is #TheMindset, the idea that your own position has jeopardized civilization itself, but that also, you must survive the cataclysm, because only you can survive it.
Rushkoff chronicles the real-world fantasies of luxury bunkers patrolled by mercenaries locked into explosive discipline collars in his book Survival of the Richest:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/13/collapse-porn/#collapse-porn
But billionaires don't just suck at running civilization, they also suck at making up stories about its collapse. One thing that's striking about Rushkoff's ethnography of rich people preparing to outlive the end of the human race is how banal their eschatological fantasies are.
It's not that there aren't any exciting stories to tell about billionaire survival fantasies. The granddaddy of these is, of course, Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 "#MasqueOfTheRedDeath":
https://www.poemuseum.org/the-masque-of-the-red-death
I published an updated version with the same title in 2019 in my novella collection #Radicalized:
https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/14/masque-of-the-red-death/#masque
In The Future, we get a cracking, multi-point-of-view adventure novel about billionaires prepping for the end of the world. Three billionaires, the lords of thinly veiled analogs to Facebook, Google and Amazon, each getting ready in their own way. Stumbling into their midst comes Lai Zhen, a prepper influencer vlogger with millions of followers.
When Zhen becomes romantically entangled with Martha Einkorn, the top aide and chief-of-prepping for one of these billionaires, she finds herself in possession of an AI chatbot that is devoted to protecting a very small number of people from incipient danger. This chatbot determines that Zhen is being stalked by an assassin at a mall in Singapore, and guides her to safety.
The chatbot is a closely held secret among the tech billionaire cabal. It is designed to monitor world events and predict when The Event is imminent, be it disease, war, or other cataclysmic disaster. With the chatbot's predictive powers and its superhuman guidance, the billionaires, their families, and their closest confidantes will be able to slip away before the shit hits the fan, fly by different private jets to one or another luxury bunker, and wait out the apocalypse. Once the fires raging without have died down to embers, the chatbot's billionaire charges will emerge to assume their places as wise and all-powerful leaders of the next human civilization.
As you might imagine, not everyone who finds out about this plan – including various members of the billionaires' families who are fully aware of these rich, powerful people's fallibility – is enthusiastic about it. As we build toward a looming crisis, we cycle between these family members, Zhen and her hacker buddies, and members of an online prepper community where Einkorn is a kind of provocateuse and eminence grise.
Alderman skillfully maneuvers all these power players and blocs into position before detonating the crisis that sets off the book's second act, where we get into some damned fine Masque of the Red Death territory, but clad in Tony Stark mecha survival suits and against a backdrop of total disaster.
I won't give away any spoilers here, except to say that there are lots of twists (that won't surprise readers of The Power, which had its own excellent surprises). But without delving too deeply into the fake-outs, crosses, and turns that Alderman lays, I will say that this is a fantastic and incredibly satisfying comeuppance novel that gets very deep into the ideology of wishing the world would end, and dreaming that when it does, you will finally matter.
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/07/preppers-of-the-red-death/#the-event
#pluralistic#naomi alderman#the future#books#science fiction#apocalypse#billionaires#abolish billionaires#big tech#maneki neko#preppers#gift guide
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Naomi Alderman [author of The Power]: "There was a certain kind of men's rights activist who went, 'Oh, this evil feminist supports electrocuting men.' The thing is, if I thought that violence was the answer, I would not have written a book, I would have done violence. In fact, the answer is communication and ideas."
Andrea Dworkin: “I don’t believe rape is inevitable or natural. If I did, I would have no reason to be here. If I did, my political practice would be different than it is. Have you ever wondered why we [women] are not just in armed combat against you? It’s not because there’s a shortage of kitchen knives in this country. It is because we believe in your humanity, against all the evidence.”
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read in 2023: disobedience by naomi alderman
Sometimes I think that God is punishing me. For what we did together. Sometimes I think that my life is a punishment for wanting. And the wanting is a punishment, too.
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Disobedience, 2017
#drama#disobedience#sebastián lelio#naomi alderman#rebecca lenkiewicz#rachel weisz#rachel mcadams#attachment#such a beautiful and sexy movie
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vote YES if you have finished the entire book.
vote NO if you have not finished the entire book.
(faq · submit a book)
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First Look Images for The Power
#the power#naomi alderman#amazon prime video#tv shows#release date is 31 march 2023#surprised that these haven't been posted on tumblr
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The Power Teaser
Based on the novel by Naomi Alderman, The Power is set in the regular world with one giant change. “Suddenly, and without warning, teenage girls develop the power to electrocute people at will. The Power follows a cast of remarkable characters from London to Seattle, Nigeria to Eastern Europe, as the Power evolves from a tingle in teenagers’ collarbones to a complete reversal of the power balance of the world.” (Prime Video)
The Power stars Toni Collette, John Leguizamo, Auli’i Cravalho, Toheeb Jimoh, Josh Charles, Eddie Marsan, Ria Zmitrowicz, Zrinka Cvitešić, and Halle Bush. Raelle Tucker serves as showrunner.
The Power hits Prime Video on March 31, 2023.
#the power#power#prime video#toni collette#john leguizamo#auli'i cravalho#toheeb jimoh#josh charles#eddie marsan#ria zmitrowicz#zrinka cvitesic#halle bush#raelle tucker#naomi alderman#TGCLiz
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Finished two books last month: (Toni Morrison), and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde). Both were audio books, both sort of within the horror genre. Beloved took me a while to get through because 1) fairly heavy and 2) Toni Morrison herself was the narrator and I think the recording had been done a while ago so it was sort of hard to hear her when I was driving/doing dishes/cooking (which is when I tend to listen to audiobooks.)
I enjoyed both a whole lot! A lot more than The Power (Naomi Alderman) which I finished back in August and was miserable about the whole time. I'd like to blame that book for not reading anything in September, but ultimately, I just got busy.
Funny thing is, i usually can't listen to audiobooks written pre-1950 (just because the style of writing can get dense) but i had no trouble with Dorian Gray. I think Beloved was actually harder for me as an audiobook, just because of the style (an amazing style, just harder for me to track when I'm listening to it...if that makes any sense.)
#Booklr#Bookish#Books#the portrait of dorian gray#The power#Beloved#toni morrison#Oscar Wilde#naomi alderman#Mag tag#Mango Tag#The Back Burner
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Die letzten guten Menschen in Sodom
„Wir alle fallen ständig von der halb verstandenen Vergangenheit in die unvorhersehbare Zukunft. Ein anderes Wort für Fallen ohne Angst ist Fliegen.“
Stell dir vor, die Apokalypse steht an und du kannst dich davon freikaufen. Und stell dir vor, du bist so reich, dass du dir ein exklusives Frühwarnsystem und einen gewaltigen Bunker leisten kannst und während der Rest der Menschheit untergeht, darfst du weiterleben. Dieses Szenario entwirft Naomi Alderman in ihrem Roman The Future (erschienen 2023 bei Heyne) und führt dem Leser damit eindrucksvoll die Macht des Geldes und der Superkonzerne vor Augen. Alderman, die bekannt ist für ihre dystopischen Romane, schafft hier eine der unseren sehr ähnliche Gesellschaft, weswegen ihr neuster Roman nicht nur ein spannender Thriller, sondern ebenso ein brandaktueller Gesellschaftsroman ist.
Im Amerika einer nicht näher benannten Zukunft liegt die gesamte Macht in den Händen von drei großen Technikfirmen, hinter denen drei Milliardäre stehen, denen es völlig egal ist, dass die Zerstörung des Planeten immer weiter voranschreitet. Martha Einkorn, die als persönliche Assistentin des CEOs des größten Social Media Konzerns Fantail arbeitet, muss genau dies erkennen und schmiedet mit einigen Verbündeten einen waghalsigen Plan, um die Superreichen aufzuhalten. Als sie dann auf Survival-Expertin Lai Zhen trifft und sich in sie verliebt, bekommen die Ereignisse eine neue Dynamik.
Bereits in ihren vorherigen Romanen hat Alderman bewiesen, dass sie in der Lage ist, Fakt und Fiktion auf beeindruckende Weise zu verbinden. So ist das Szenario des Weltuntergangs natürlich fiktiv, doch die Ursachen und Mechanismen, die diese Katastrophe herbeiführen, lassen sich auch in unserer Gegenwartsgesellschaft ausmachen: das Macht- und Gewinnstreben einiger weniger Großkonzerne, Medienmanipulation und Fake News, ein oft fehlendes Umweltbewusstsein, zunehmende gesellschaftliche Spaltung und vieles mehr
Doch nicht nur ihre Gesellschaftskritik macht den Roman so lesenswert. Die anachronistische Erzählweise und die Sprünge zwischen den Figurenperspektiven bauen einen Spannungsbogen auf, der bis zur letzten Seite anhält, so dass keine der knapp 550 Seiten überflüssig ist. The Future ist ein Roman, der viele Themen berührt. Von Umweltthematiken und der Rückkehr zur Natur, über Künstliche Intelligenz bis hin zu Sekten und religiösen Themen ist alles mit dabei. Trotzdem wirkt der Roman keinesfalls überladen. Ganz im Gegenteil: Auf überzeugende Weise zeigt Alderman, wie all diese verschiedenen Bereiche auch in unserer Gegenwert miteinander verbunden sind und wie wir das Ganze nur über seine einzelnen Teile begreifen können.
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THE POWER by Naomi Alderman
RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2017
THE POWER
by Naomi Alderman ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 10, 2017
Very smart and very entertaining.
All over the world, teenage girls develop the ability to send an electric charge from the tips of their fingers.
It might be a little jolt, as thrilling as it is frightening. It might be powerful enough to leave lightning-bolt traceries on the skin of people the girls touch. It might be deadly. And, soon, the girls learn that they can awaken this new—or dormant?—ability in older women, too. Needless to say, there are those who are alarmed by this development. There are efforts to segregate and protect boys, laws to ensure that women who possess this ability are banned from positions of authority.
Girls are accused of witchcraft. Women are murdered. But, ultimately, there’s no stopping these women and girls once they have the power to kill with a touch. Framed as a historical novel written in the far future—long after rule by women has been established as normal and, indeed, natural—this is an inventive, thought-provoking work of science fiction that has already won the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction in Britain. Alderman (The Liars’ Gospel, 2013, etc.) chronicles the early days of matriarchy’s rise through the experiences of four characters. Tunde is a young man studying to be a journalist who happens to capture one of the first recordings of a girl using the power; the video goes viral, and he devotes himself to capturing history in the making. After Margot’s daughter teaches her to use the power, Margot has to hide it if she wants to protect her political career. Allie takes refuge in a convent after running away from her latest foster home, and it’s here that she begins to understand how newly powerful young women might use—and transform—religious traditions. Roxy is the illegitimate daughter of a gangster; like Allie, she revels in strength after a lifetime of knowing the cost of weakness. Both the main story and the frame narrative ask interesting questions about gender, but this isn’t a dry philosophical exercise. It’s fast-paced, thrilling, and even funny. Very smart and very entertaining.
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need someone else to watch the power (naomi alderman) and witness eve as my new favourite teenage girl cult leader
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I read The Power like 6 years ago and was just so much more interested in Roxy's perspective than the others but didn't really think of why and now watching the show, knowing I'm a lesbian, and it's like ah yeah, I just fancied her
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Transgender people in the world of The Power by Naomi Alderman
In a world where women develop organs that let them electrocute people (organs known as "skeins"), it is easy to extend this to imagining artificial skeins and skein removals as an aspect of the surgical part of the transition. Some people would feel dysphoric for having a skein, whereas other people would feel dysphoric for not having a skein.
Patriarchal norms of our world do not disappear in the original story - they only flip around. Testosterone is the controlled substance in our world, not oestrogen, so similar transphobic norms around artificial skeins could easily exist.
I was okay with the fact that transgender people were not in the book. Intersex people were acknowledged, and I think to do transgender people justice you'd have to have another book with a transgender character to give it enough focus. if the TV series has a second season, it would be disappointing if there was no trans character.
I'm an endosex cisgender person, but I'm also gender non-conforming...
Maybe if there's a third season, there could be an endosex gender non-conforming character who hates the entire system but knows that their body meets gendered expectations.
Or maybe a genderfluid character...
There are 1,000 different questions that the book raises, and I just had some thoughts about the ones that it doesn't get around to answering.
#the power amazon#the power naomi alderman#naomi alderman#the power amazon spoilers#the power naomi alderman spoilers#the power spoilers#transgender#trans#gender dysphoria#transition#gender transition#speculative biology#speculative fiction#spec bio#spec fic#transphobia#gender nonconforming
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When is Season 10 of Zombies, Run! coming out? I miss Five! I played the preview, and I miss Five. Help, Rofflenet homies. Give me a light at the end of the tunnel.
#Rofflenet#zombies run!#zr#zr!#zombies run#zombies#run#running#sixtostart#Sam Yao#runner five#zr fandom#zombies run fandom#naomi alderman
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He hopes it was a dream, but that has its own terrors. If, in some dream place, he had yearned to kneel.
—Naomi Alderman/The Power
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