Karma Decay

Karma Trilogy #1

by Jude Fawley

New York City. Earth's resources are depleted, and its population is getting ready to colonize Mars. Machines produce all of the necessities of life, leaving no manual labor for humans. At the age of fourteen, a chip is implanted in every person's brain, so that the machine known as Karma can watch their every movement. To earn a living, to survive, there is only one thing they must do-- be good to others. The only place they are not watched is in specifically designated areas known as Privacy Rooms. A mysterious organization is using these Privacy Rooms to try to disrupt the system, and a young officer, helped by Karma, may be the only one who can stop them. But only one side can win. Freedom or Altruism.

188 pages, Paperback

First published January 6, 2014

About the author

When I first started writing, my mother told me, "Jude, that's not what an A is shaped like." And she was right, or at least it wasn't shaped like everyone else's. And the rest of the alphabet—similar problems, similar criticisms. But when you're a four year old, that kind of truth is much harder to swallow, and since I was obstinate my As were malformed for many years to follow.

What I would have argued, if I had my current perspective those many years ago, is that the shape of the letters never really mattered. The people that spent years practicing their penmanship, with their protractors and their rulers, never really had anything better to say. An A is nothing if it isn't in a word, a word is nothing if it doesn't have the context of thought, and a thought is nothing if it's coming out of stupid people.

So it came to be that the rest of my life, from the age of four to now, I've dedicated to the avoidance of becoming stupid, at the expense of my handwriting. It is my hope, then, that this will give context to my thoughts and meaning to my letters. With these thoughts I sit at a computer, using a keyboard rather than a pen, and string thousands and thousands of these letters together, so that they become books. It is up to you whether they have meaning. And if you find the font disagreeable, the medium by which these thoughts become accessible to you, it won't be my handwriting to blame, but rather some seventeenth century typographer who was just trying to make a living and is now dead. You can blame him, you have my permission.

Reviews

[Cookie M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good post-apocalyptic series to read during the apocalypse, which is turning out to be the T. S. Eliot sort. Fawley's has more explosions.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars ⭐️

Quick read that gave Fahrenheit 451 vibes.

[Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

A unique premise, that a supercomputer tracks all good deeds done by people, awarding them karmic "credits" that are used to pay for real-world necessities like food and shelter. The author does a good job of predicting the shortcomings, failings, and gaming that would occur. While this could never happen in "real life" (it would involve all nation-states giving up power to a machine) as presented, it is a fun logic exercise.

The author took some time fleshing the premise out, giving people "privacy rooms" in bathrooms and bedrooms, with some limitations. He also, I think, correctly predicts that the system could still be over-written by the supercomputer (for a similar real-world application, look at the US government's conversation with disk manufacturers and encryption companies regarding back doors during manufacture/design).

It's a short read, with lots of new ideas. The writing is tight, but the pacing can be off at times. It seems like there was a very long expository period that jumped quickly to action towards the end, which itself was very short. I don't often say this, but the book could have been served by actually being longer, and having more of an arc. The ideas themselves are, however, new to me and interesting to consider.

[Patricia Kaniasty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this book a 5 star rating if it wasn't for the ending. Overall, it had a bit of a religious flavor to the story.......but yet it still held my interest. It was a quick read and had plenty of action.