The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide: to New New England & Beyond(1 Wakeful Wanderer's Guide)

A captivating picture of a climate-changed future viewed from two starkly different cultural perspectives, The Wakeful Wanderer's Guide to New New England & Beyond follows the paths of a runaway aristocrat, a Luddite tyrant, a spy seeking retribution, and a wandering historian unicycling north along the crumbling Boston Post Road. Marto Boxter is an optimistic journalist with a head full of implants. When we meet him, he is planning a ride into the interconnected tribes of the Northeast from his town of Reverside-on-Hudson. He plans to document his ride by posting his thoughts in real-time to his post-human followers. Before he can leave on his tour however, a runaway named Helen arrives with secret information that throws Marto's placid world into turmoil. Meanwhile, Barnabas Yoniver IV, the leader of a Luddite town to the south launches a plot to disrupt the life of all upgraded humans and bring them back to the traditional economy of markets and governments. Aware of Yoniver's plans, rival Luddite families scheme to prevent Barnabas from grabbing too much power for himself. This darkly humorous reflection of our changing world is an exploration of what it means to be human as our relationships with technology become increasingly intimate.

About the Author :
Jim Infantino grew up in the Manhattan of the 70s and 80s. He studied Philosophy moved to Boston to become a songwriter and busker. His songs have been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition and All Things Considered. In 2012, after years of touring with his band, Jim got the inspiration for a story too large to fit into song and began writing his debut novel. He is currently working on the third book in the Wakeful Wanderer's Guide series, a book of short stories set in the same world, and a science fiction novelette.When not writing, Jim runs a web design company, plays with his band, writes code, teaches meditation, & reads to his daughters.

Review :
"Like Marge Piercy and Margaret Atwood, Jim shows us an exciting and absorbing future world that is neither zombie-land nor un-relatable utopia. I'm a busy person, but I could not put his book down." - Dar Williams "This book was strange, innovative, and had depth. A satisfying read! What I particularly liked was that there was no clear resolution of the issues the writer puts forward: we don't reach a decision of what the best societal system is, although all the pros and cons of the different systems in his partly dystopian post-apocalyptic Earth are discussed. We know what's better, but we are also given to understand that human constructs aren't perfect, and what about AI? This grey approach (instead of the black-and-white approach people favor these days) is very much to my liking. The dangers of interconnectedness are discussed together with its merits. This book is fiction outwardly, but really it's a disquisition on societal systems." - Nora McKinney "Infantino is an established musician, though only late in the narrative does he start dropping album names and song titles. Instead of this being a singer/songwriter's dreaded side gig, the book is solid speculative fiction about transhumanist and climate issues, though by no means is it the first near-future novel to foresee a society dominated by social media (the term is never used, by the way). Via Marto and other characters, the author ruminates on the Interconnected's progressive system of political and social economy based on "Merits" (think "likes" brought to its ultimate fulfillment) and paying it forward. The author's evaluation of this seemingly idyllic, peaceable coexistence among those whose lives are improved by cybertechnology isn't exactly a full endorsement of better living through science, although the bad guys enact their sinister scheme before the debates with Marto reach any sort of conclusion. Still, it's fair to say that the Interconnected are a nicer bunch of New Englanders to inherit the Earth than their reactionary rivals. More volumes in the series have been completed, and one looks forward to more of this unsettlingly plausible world." - Kirkus Reviews