#BlogTour ‘Kid:A History Of The Future’ by Sebastian De Souza

About the book…

London. The year 2078. Like all other major cities, London is a silent wasteland, abandoned and crumbling, populated only by the renegade ‘Offliner’ movement, the lawless ‘Seekers’ and other minorities that rejected The Upload in 2060. As a result, these rebels live off the grid and in abject poverty, taking shelter in makeshift shantytowns and hideouts. The Offliners have made the disused Piccadilly Circus Tube station their home: a fully self-sufficient, subterranean community of about 500 people, known as the ‘Cell’.

In 2060, following a series of deadly pandemics, devastating environmental disasters and a violent surge in cyber terrorism, the UN made it compulsory for every tax paying citizen in all of its 193 united nations to login to the Perspecta Universe: a virtual reality universe provided by the tech giant Gnosys Inc. So began a period of history known as The Upload. Totally safe, pollution free, environmentally friendly: what was an alternative reality at first has become the only reality. Now, in 2078, billions of people all around the world exist in dedicated Hab-Belts – massive dormitory complexes surrounding the major cities – unconscious of the world around them: living, working, loving, learning, inside the Perspecta Universe.

KID – A History of The Future follows Josh ‘Kid’ Jones, a young Offliner who discovers that an antiquated piece of technology called an ‘iPhone’, left to him by his father, seemingly allows him to communicate with the past through social media. He strikes up a friendship with Isabel Parry, a 16 year old in 2021, and the two begin communicating through time and space via Instagram. In doing so they are not only changing their own fate, but also the fate of the rest of the world

‘Kid’ is published today by Offliner Press and is available in paperback and ebook formats-huge thanks to Ashley at Midas PR for inviting me on to the blogtour and for my gifted review paperback copy of the novel.

This is a massive novel, 600 plus pages and is necessarily large as the entire landscape of London is re-imagined as a dystopian nightmare, dividing the population into the Offliners and other counter culture groups who rejected the 2060 Upload movement. All those who accepted the Upload, turned themselves over to an authority who knows what you think, listen to, believe and track your every moment.

Those who don’t,live a fugitive life such as Kid, a scavenger who goes into the wild abandoned city to reclaim items of past times, such as CDs and musical instruments and so on, only enabled to breathe the toxic air by use of pellets which are strictly rationed by the UN. Even at this point in history, the choice of autonomy has been taken away from the individual-dwell under ground and be safe or explore for a maximum of 2 hours in unsafe air.

Kid is one of a group of orphans, free wheeling spirits who listen to the sounds of Brit pop in a way that recalls past times when things were freer, more simple and straight forward. They are like a future version of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys, both outside mainstream society with little in the way of guidance,they take the brief sliver of freedom afforded to them of opting out rather than become part of the overarching, personality stealing culture.

The linking device between then and now is an iPhone(as an unashamed anti-Apple user I would question whether the use of this is symbolic of not really being able to avoid cultural references, maybe it is used to pinpoint the unavoidable nature of consumerism?)

Without spoiling the story, Kid can talk with a girl from back in our time, Izzy, whose diary intertwines with Kid’s narrative and by using her phone, she can try to warn Kid about the mistakes made in 2021 which set up the reality that he lives in in 2078. But what risks is she taking telling him about the future?As we all know, messing with one tiny thing can cause a rippling butterfly effect of consequences….

Kid is an astonishing feat, mixing now and potential future tech which is not too far evolved from what we currently use, to highlight the dangers of mindless consumption, mass consumerism and the rise of mega corps. Opting in and opting out of the mainstream is so very difficult, many aspects of modern life, even writing this blog post, is aligned to social media accounts. We invite spies into our homes via phones which are more closer in nature to mini computers who track your every move. Anonymity is now not possible, and by referring to ‘Kid’, he becomes emblematic of a movement designed to make a better future for everyone, a neat twist on the way that millennials are blamed for the apparent ‘wokeness’ of modern society yet they are the ones, in this novel, with the potential to remake the future.

I absolutely loved it, it’s a book with remarkable maturity for a debut, it has immense world building yet makes itself accessible and, more importantly, relatable to any age reader. It’s challenging read due to the dystopian subject, and I am aware lots of us are struggling to read end of the world scenarios when it feels like we are existing in a end of the world type of world, but I honestly highly recommend trying ‘Kid‘, you may be pleasantly surprised!

About the author….

Sebastian Denis de Souza (born 19 April 1993) is an English actor. He first gained popularity by portraying Matty Levan in the E4 teen drama series Skins.

He has since starred in the period television series The Borgias from 2012 to 2013, Medici: Masters of Florence (2018), and The Great (2020).

‘Kid’ is his first novel in the Offliner Universe.

Links-https://offlinerpress.com/

Twitter @sebdesouza @midaspr