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Spares
No-one dies anymore. Ever.
In the wake of the virus wars you are either undamaged and whole or a walking corpse, animated by no-one knows what and cobbled together out of odds and ends by doctors who don’t really bear thinking about. In this world a surgical scar too many is the difference between a sheltered life of privilege with the Untouched and banishment to the dark, dangerous streets, where it’s every lurcher for themselves and gang culture is rife.
When one of their number is injured in a terrorist bombing, one such gang finds themselves with a large medical bill and a rapidly dwindling list of options, ultimately leading them on a collision course with the Untouched that could change humanity’s course forever.
Parts break, wear out, fall off or get stolen as humanity turns on itself for the one thing it needs in order to keep going:
Spares.
In the wake of the virus wars you are either undamaged and whole or a walking corpse, animated by no-one knows what and cobbled together out of odds and ends by doctors who don’t really bear thinking about. In this world a surgical scar too many is the difference between a sheltered life of privilege with the Untouched and banishment to the dark, dangerous streets, where it’s every lurcher for themselves and gang culture is rife.
When one of their number is injured in a terrorist bombing, one such gang finds themselves with a large medical bill and a rapidly dwindling list of options, ultimately leading them on a collision course with the Untouched that could change humanity’s course forever.
Parts break, wear out, fall off or get stolen as humanity turns on itself for the one thing it needs in order to keep going:
Spares.
74 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2012
4 people want to read
About the author
Alec McQuay
13 books7 followersAlec is a genre fiction writer from Cornwall in the Southwest of the UK, currently working with Fox Spirit Books and Grimbold Books on novels and short stories.
When he isn't writing, Alec is a keen weightlifter who can readily lift more than double his own bodyweight, but somehow also struggles to lift himself out of bed in the morning. He is also a (relatively poor) bass guitarist and trains at a local sport karate dojo, which is a bit like watching a hippo play hopscotch.
When he isn't writing, Alec is a keen weightlifter who can readily lift more than double his own bodyweight, but somehow also struggles to lift himself out of bed in the morning. He is also a (relatively poor) bass guitarist and trains at a local sport karate dojo, which is a bit like watching a hippo play hopscotch.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 21, 2013
There is a new world now. No one dies anymore. Ever. Virus wars are happening, and no one knows what to do. You are either a zombie-like walking corpse or part of the Untouched elite.
Doctors are not really trying to think what is going on or how to fix it. They focus on replacing your body parts. That is if you are lucky enough to have them. Then the terrorist bombing happens and it could change the course of humanity forever. This extremely interesting plot caught my attention the minute I read the first sentence.
The elite of this world lives happy, rich and carefree. But the other parts of society live in darkness, finding that living forever is not as good as it sounds, that your body parts decay and need replacing. But finding new body parts is as hard and horrific as it sounds. Even though this seems as a morbid and fictional story I can actually see this as the future of this world. Science and greed could really create this kind of world.
This author has an amazing sense of humor, and this book is filled with witty dialogues. From the first page to the last this book is detailed, entertaining and interesting. As a lover of apocalyptic things I kind of want to be there and see this messed up future. The kind of where homeless won't ask you for change, but for a fresh body part. The only thing I didn't like was the end. I feel like I was left with a gap, and I wish there is a sequel.
I sincerely hope there is more to come from this writer!
Doctors are not really trying to think what is going on or how to fix it. They focus on replacing your body parts. That is if you are lucky enough to have them. Then the terrorist bombing happens and it could change the course of humanity forever. This extremely interesting plot caught my attention the minute I read the first sentence.
The elite of this world lives happy, rich and carefree. But the other parts of society live in darkness, finding that living forever is not as good as it sounds, that your body parts decay and need replacing. But finding new body parts is as hard and horrific as it sounds. Even though this seems as a morbid and fictional story I can actually see this as the future of this world. Science and greed could really create this kind of world.
This author has an amazing sense of humor, and this book is filled with witty dialogues. From the first page to the last this book is detailed, entertaining and interesting. As a lover of apocalyptic things I kind of want to be there and see this messed up future. The kind of where homeless won't ask you for change, but for a fresh body part. The only thing I didn't like was the end. I feel like I was left with a gap, and I wish there is a sequel.
I sincerely hope there is more to come from this writer!
April 9, 2015
After reading (and enjoying) Emily Nation I decided to give Spares a try, and it's fair to say I wasn't disappointed.
This one is also set an unspecified amount of time in the future, and again has a war without explanation in its back story, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Instead of a sassy, foul-mouthed female assassin with a flair for the dramatic we are presented with a somewhat disparate group of ne'er-do-wells eking out a living in a world where death no longer happens. Sure, you can get very badly injured, up to and including decapitation, but no injury will ever be enough to end your life.
I enjoyed this one almost as much as I enjoyed Emily Nation, but couldn't quite get to grips with it as easily. The narrator (it's all in the first person) never quite managed to elicit enough sympathy to make me root for him entirely and as a result I didn't feel as emotionally invested in the story as I did with the author's other book.
That said, I'd still recommend it, and look forward to seeing more of McQuay's work in the future. Good stuff to fill an hour or two with.
This one is also set an unspecified amount of time in the future, and again has a war without explanation in its back story, but that's pretty much where the similarities end. Instead of a sassy, foul-mouthed female assassin with a flair for the dramatic we are presented with a somewhat disparate group of ne'er-do-wells eking out a living in a world where death no longer happens. Sure, you can get very badly injured, up to and including decapitation, but no injury will ever be enough to end your life.
I enjoyed this one almost as much as I enjoyed Emily Nation, but couldn't quite get to grips with it as easily. The narrator (it's all in the first person) never quite managed to elicit enough sympathy to make me root for him entirely and as a result I didn't feel as emotionally invested in the story as I did with the author's other book.
That said, I'd still recommend it, and look forward to seeing more of McQuay's work in the future. Good stuff to fill an hour or two with.
August 2, 2018
So....what if David Cronenberg made 28 Days Later with some pretty mental imagery including giant dogs and clows?
Well, I guess we'll never know but this book is as close to that as it gets. Really interesting (and sometimes graphic) world building, a plot that twists and turns like a twisty turny thing and contains the term 'fun-bags' for breasts (which I may now adopt).
A little difficult to get into due to the extremely bonkers world that our protagonist lives in (I found myself saying "wait, what?" a few times) but once it gets going it's a great little action packed story set in a really mental world!
Well, I guess we'll never know but this book is as close to that as it gets. Really interesting (and sometimes graphic) world building, a plot that twists and turns like a twisty turny thing and contains the term 'fun-bags' for breasts (which I may now adopt).
A little difficult to get into due to the extremely bonkers world that our protagonist lives in (I found myself saying "wait, what?" a few times) but once it gets going it's a great little action packed story set in a really mental world!
December 19, 2012
Mental. I loved it! A grim vision of what we could become peppered with humour that kind of makes you want to be there (you know, in that way where you know you're actually sitting on your comfy sofa with a cup of tea) Another knockout brought to you by FoxSpirit and the only complaint I have Mr McQuay is I want MORE MORE MORE! Ta.
July 14, 2019
When I read the synopsis of this book the idea of humanity being reduced to spare parts sounding fascinating and horrifying. The book itself certainly delivers. The world building is skilfully done and left me wanting to read more stories set in this universe. The ambiguity of the ending also left me wanting more and I’d love to see the author come back to this world some time.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews