Use Me at Your Own Risk: Visions from the Darkest Timeline

by Anuradha Vikram

Use Me at Your Own Visions from the Darkest Timeline by Anuradha Vikram takes place in 2046, a near future where both automation and climate collapse are more advanced. In five provocative sections, Use Me at Your Own Risk confronts the ethical challenges inherent in our unprecedented shift to automation. Vikram sets the stage for these imagined futures in vivid detail, describing environments, complex characters, and events in disparate locations from New Delhi to Los Angeles. Described by Vikram as an activist art project, this speculative novel asks us to question our role in the destruction of our environment, the impact of automation on society, and heightened inequity across class, race, and gender. Use Me at Your Own Risk is published as part of X Artists' Books' X Topics (XT) series, a collection of single-author books focused on the writing and ideas of marginalized voices.

158 pages, Paperback

Published July 31, 2023

Reviews

[Suzanne Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Isolation. Destruction. Discrimination. Deadly technology. These are just a few of the issues that are addressed in the five sections of this engaging, futuristic book. The author’s description of the world as it exists in the year 2046 is detailed and precise, and lacks nothing in the way of originality. The characters may not always be likable, as some of them allow their actions to be guided more by fear and prejudice than by their humanity, but they are always complex and real. In addition to the vivid descriptions and realistic characters, I also appreciated the simple, but keen words that were used throughout the work. For example: “Money is a salve and a curse. It makes problems go away, until it makes new problems.” l’ve never heard anything that was so plainly stated, yet so timeless and true. The stories in each section are all very good, well written and relevant, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Smart Home. Believe me when I say that after reading this story, you will think twice about giving “user friendly” Alexa her next command. Well done Anuradha Vikram and X Artists’ Books.