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Dub Steps
Dub Steps has a strange long aftertaste. It is science fiction with ordinary characters trying to understand what it is to be alive. People have gone, suddenly, inexplicably, and the remaining handful have to find each other and start again. In that new beginning they wrestle with identity, race, sex, art, religion and time, in a remarkably realistic, step-by-step way. Nature comes back, Johannesburg becomes wonderfully overgrown, designer pigs watch from the periphery walls, and the small group of survivors have to find ways of living with their own flaws and the flaws of each other. The aftertaste comes from the surprisingly real meditations in the middle of the end: after all simulated reality has gone, what human reality is left? There are no clichés in this book, but there is plenty of humour, originality and a gripping, unusual interrogation of the ordinary but really extraordinary fact of being alive.
- GenresDystopiaScience Fiction
376 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2015
About the author
Andrew Miller
2 books14 followersAndrew Miller (born in 1974) is a Johannesburg, South Africa based poet and writer. He is the author of Dub Steps, winner of the 2015 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award (previously the EU Literary Award). It is published by Jacana Media.
Miller performs and lectures on various South African stages and contributes to magazines, on a freelance basis, across the spectrum.
He graduated from the the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in 1995 with a BA in English and Political Science. He has worked as a full time freelance writer since 1998, specialising in commercial ghost writing and the development of corporate narratives.
Together with his wife, Robyn Field, Miller ran Unity Gallery in the city of Joburg between 2003 to 2013. Unity Gallery was a privately funded, socially orientated creative space that offered a wide range of career development services to emerging city fine artists, craft artists, poets, journalists and designers.
Within this context, Miller has worked with many young Joburg artists and creatives in the development of their careers, with a focus on critical thinking, narrative development and the effective use of Public Relations.
As a performance poet, Andrew has appeared on different stages, from the Joburg spoken word scene to the WITS Business School, the Daily Maverick Gatherings and various corporate events. His performances feature a mix of personal storytelling, political commentary and poetry.
Prior to winning the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award in 2015, Miller published an anthology of poetry, Hinsta's Ghost (2007) and a collection of essays, Getting Up: Thoughts on Falling (2008). His poetry was described by the The Independent as “an important contribution to the national conscience, as well as to literature.”
Miller is currently working on [Sic], a novel about grammar, domestic servitude and social conflict.
Miller performs and lectures on various South African stages and contributes to magazines, on a freelance basis, across the spectrum.
He graduated from the the University of Natal (Pietermaritzburg) in 1995 with a BA in English and Political Science. He has worked as a full time freelance writer since 1998, specialising in commercial ghost writing and the development of corporate narratives.
Together with his wife, Robyn Field, Miller ran Unity Gallery in the city of Joburg between 2003 to 2013. Unity Gallery was a privately funded, socially orientated creative space that offered a wide range of career development services to emerging city fine artists, craft artists, poets, journalists and designers.
Within this context, Miller has worked with many young Joburg artists and creatives in the development of their careers, with a focus on critical thinking, narrative development and the effective use of Public Relations.
As a performance poet, Andrew has appeared on different stages, from the Joburg spoken word scene to the WITS Business School, the Daily Maverick Gatherings and various corporate events. His performances feature a mix of personal storytelling, political commentary and poetry.
Prior to winning the Dinaane Debut Fiction Award in 2015, Miller published an anthology of poetry, Hinsta's Ghost (2007) and a collection of essays, Getting Up: Thoughts on Falling (2008). His poetry was described by the The Independent as “an important contribution to the national conscience, as well as to literature.”
Miller is currently working on [Sic], a novel about grammar, domestic servitude and social conflict.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 19, 2015
[Reread] I forgot this was an AI novel ... and published in 2015? Spookily prescient. The idea of transmission paint (as an advertising) medium is still one of the coolest SF ideas ever.
Wow. What a mercurial novel, with as many facets as a leopard has stripes. On the one hand, we have an SF novel fully cognisant of the techno-philosophical peak of our current zeitgeist. On the other hand, we have a slyly observant novel about diversity and prejudice – that is, a post-apocalyptic apartheid novel, if you will.
One of the great urban myths of Africa is that Johannesburg is choked with jungle, with lions roaming down its streets. Andrew Miller uses this urban myth as the basis of a gritty what-if end-of-the-world-as-know-it scenario.
What if all the people suddenly vanished, leaving only a handful behind, with all of humanity’s collective knowledge and history reduced to pie-in-the-sky due to the fact that the Cloud is, well, dissipated.
How do you generate power, collect and purify water, remove your waste, grow food? South Africans are notorious nature and outdoors-types; Miller though takes off the rose-tinted hunter’s glasses and presents us with survivalism that is blood-soaked, desperate and decidedly unromantic. Out of Africa this ain’t.
Enter our eponymous protagonist, who ponders the meaning of everything, from why a cat’s search for a warm spot is one of the greatest philosophical undertakings of any species, to the true meaning of dub music, the nature of artificial intelligence and the evolutionary link between sex and violence.
Rambling, with its heart very much on its sleeve, occasionally shocking and always unpredictable, this is a great shaggy dog story steeped in the unique patois of South Africa and the gritty urban geography of both Johannesburg and Pretoria (the latter because the CSIR, very much tongue in cheek, becomes a kind of techno-spiritual Holy Grail).
What makes this such a brilliant SF novel is that there is a moment of such conceptual daring about halfway through, that the reader is forced to re-evaluate everything that has gone before.
Rather than give cut-and-dried answers to the enigma of South Africa’s abandonment (lots of irony here in terms of isolationism and apartheid, of course), Miller instead ramps up the sense-of-wonder to a dizzying, wonderfully bleak and truly enigmatic ending.
Wow. What a mercurial novel, with as many facets as a leopard has stripes. On the one hand, we have an SF novel fully cognisant of the techno-philosophical peak of our current zeitgeist. On the other hand, we have a slyly observant novel about diversity and prejudice – that is, a post-apocalyptic apartheid novel, if you will.
One of the great urban myths of Africa is that Johannesburg is choked with jungle, with lions roaming down its streets. Andrew Miller uses this urban myth as the basis of a gritty what-if end-of-the-world-as-know-it scenario.
What if all the people suddenly vanished, leaving only a handful behind, with all of humanity’s collective knowledge and history reduced to pie-in-the-sky due to the fact that the Cloud is, well, dissipated.
How do you generate power, collect and purify water, remove your waste, grow food? South Africans are notorious nature and outdoors-types; Miller though takes off the rose-tinted hunter’s glasses and presents us with survivalism that is blood-soaked, desperate and decidedly unromantic. Out of Africa this ain’t.
Enter our eponymous protagonist, who ponders the meaning of everything, from why a cat’s search for a warm spot is one of the greatest philosophical undertakings of any species, to the true meaning of dub music, the nature of artificial intelligence and the evolutionary link between sex and violence.
Rambling, with its heart very much on its sleeve, occasionally shocking and always unpredictable, this is a great shaggy dog story steeped in the unique patois of South Africa and the gritty urban geography of both Johannesburg and Pretoria (the latter because the CSIR, very much tongue in cheek, becomes a kind of techno-spiritual Holy Grail).
What makes this such a brilliant SF novel is that there is a moment of such conceptual daring about halfway through, that the reader is forced to re-evaluate everything that has gone before.
Rather than give cut-and-dried answers to the enigma of South Africa’s abandonment (lots of irony here in terms of isolationism and apartheid, of course), Miller instead ramps up the sense-of-wonder to a dizzying, wonderfully bleak and truly enigmatic ending.
October 7, 2016
I am neither familiar nor comfortable with even the most basic literary terms. In fact, I only discovered this year what a dystopian novel is. And I believe this qualifies me to both read and review Miller’s “Dub Steps”, a novel which defies literary terminology, genre and all other labelling.
In the same way that “A Passage to India” was about an actual, well, passage to India, ‘Dub Steps’ is broadly and rather vaguely a dystopian fantasy. And, yes, there are elements of Sci-fi. And Philosophy. And Romance. But with a powerful synergy, this book is both greater than the sum of its parts and a story that defies labelling.
Set in Johannesburg in the 2030’s, a small group of survivors cluster into a community that gradually adapts to a new city in a new world, a city which is overgrown by trees and plants and which is inhabited by pigs. The group is constantly faced with either adapting to the new world or building the new world in line with the old. And while the old world offers security because it is known, is it possible to echo that human society with all its complexities with only a handful of desperate people?
The real magic of ‘Dub Steps’ is how such lofty questions can be answered so imaginatively and in such an immensely readable manner. A powerful, almost poetic style of writing grabs hold of the reader and rockets them along a story line that is rich and unexpected.
Miller has written a book that you need to read.
In the same way that “A Passage to India” was about an actual, well, passage to India, ‘Dub Steps’ is broadly and rather vaguely a dystopian fantasy. And, yes, there are elements of Sci-fi. And Philosophy. And Romance. But with a powerful synergy, this book is both greater than the sum of its parts and a story that defies labelling.
Set in Johannesburg in the 2030’s, a small group of survivors cluster into a community that gradually adapts to a new city in a new world, a city which is overgrown by trees and plants and which is inhabited by pigs. The group is constantly faced with either adapting to the new world or building the new world in line with the old. And while the old world offers security because it is known, is it possible to echo that human society with all its complexities with only a handful of desperate people?
The real magic of ‘Dub Steps’ is how such lofty questions can be answered so imaginatively and in such an immensely readable manner. A powerful, almost poetic style of writing grabs hold of the reader and rockets them along a story line that is rich and unexpected.
Miller has written a book that you need to read.
May 12, 2020
Let me start by saying that Dub Steps by Andrew Miller was not quite the novel I expected when I started reading it. The premise hooked me, for sure. But what the ride was entirely unexpected in all the best ways. If you're expecting a TWD setting sans zombies, this is not your book. What you will get is a strangely reflective meandering on the meaning of life interspersed with people trying to figure out what they want while coping with a new reality where more than 99.99% of humankind simply winked out of existence in the blink of an eye. (You'll find out why, near the end, never fear, and it won't quite be what you expected.)
How the remnants cope, varies, and in the telling of their uncovering of their new world and the absurdity of the human condition, we get to know a variable cast of personalities. What I appreciated the most about Miller's writing is the way he humanised even the most unfortunate in his cast. Roy, our incredibly unreliable narrator, sets out on a journey that ends up being both inward and outward. Crippled by his sense of never fitting in, he nonetheless takes on a role within his tiny community of survivors in a South Africa transformed by its people's absence.
Miller manages to pack so much into this book. It is both poignant and pithy, and delivers so much social commentary, even if Roy's constant awkwardness and contrary nature got to me. He's exactly the kind of dude I'd love to hate, yet I couldn't help but feel fond of him. He's a sort of broken-wing, mediocre everyman, and a somewhat tragic figure who stumbles through his world. And yet Roy also displays uncommon wisdom at times, which redeems him as he compulsively attempts to chronicle the world that was – as if that will somehow help him understand what went wrong not only in his life but also preserve the story of the world that was.
While Dub Steps can be considered a work of dystopian science fiction, it's so much more than that. And much in the same way that our lives are messy, often unfinished and all over the place, this is a story that celebrates not only the ephemeral fragility of our existence, but shares the uncommon moments of unbridled joy. This is not an easy read, but it's one that I'll recommend, even if it left me feeling sad and somewhat scratchy behind the eyes by the time I was done.
How the remnants cope, varies, and in the telling of their uncovering of their new world and the absurdity of the human condition, we get to know a variable cast of personalities. What I appreciated the most about Miller's writing is the way he humanised even the most unfortunate in his cast. Roy, our incredibly unreliable narrator, sets out on a journey that ends up being both inward and outward. Crippled by his sense of never fitting in, he nonetheless takes on a role within his tiny community of survivors in a South Africa transformed by its people's absence.
Miller manages to pack so much into this book. It is both poignant and pithy, and delivers so much social commentary, even if Roy's constant awkwardness and contrary nature got to me. He's exactly the kind of dude I'd love to hate, yet I couldn't help but feel fond of him. He's a sort of broken-wing, mediocre everyman, and a somewhat tragic figure who stumbles through his world. And yet Roy also displays uncommon wisdom at times, which redeems him as he compulsively attempts to chronicle the world that was – as if that will somehow help him understand what went wrong not only in his life but also preserve the story of the world that was.
While Dub Steps can be considered a work of dystopian science fiction, it's so much more than that. And much in the same way that our lives are messy, often unfinished and all over the place, this is a story that celebrates not only the ephemeral fragility of our existence, but shares the uncommon moments of unbridled joy. This is not an easy read, but it's one that I'll recommend, even if it left me feeling sad and somewhat scratchy behind the eyes by the time I was done.
October 9, 2016
I agree entirely with the review. This is one of the books I couldn't put down until I'd finished it, and then read again later. Different, beautifully written, egrossing and scary at the same time. Leaves one imagining one's own response to being left entirely alone in the world.
December 6, 2024
One day in the not-too-distant future, Johannesburg native, thirty-some year old marketing guru Roy wakes up to realize people have literally disappeared. With no idea what caused this tragic event, he finds an armored car and drives towards Cape Town. There, he meets the only other surviving woman, someone he has a real connection with. Within a span of a few months, they're back in Johannesburg, where they run into a dozen other people. The group settles down in a large mansion, where grand dreams and ambitions run amok. How can so few people re-populate the earth, purify water, get networks and wifi to work again, fly a plane, slaughter animals. As years fly by, Roy looks for a larger meaning. One day he comes across a God-like figure that promises to impart crucial knowledge but only confuses him and muddles his mind. Intense, post-apocalyptic novel, one that asks a key question - how did we collectively as a society fuck up to such a severe degree?
May 9, 2016
Dub Steps is a speculative sci-fi philosophical examination of human relationships - with time, with technology, with nature, and with each other. It's written with a heightened lyricism and skips around, changing from a story about consumerism, to one about fatherhood, to one about survival, to one about alcoholism, to one about sex, to one about technology, to one about love, to one about legacy and relevance, to one about alien robots and the nature of God. Oh, and music. These aren't vignettes, mind you; this is one cohesive novel that follows a specific storyline.
The story takes place in a near-future Joburg, after nearly all of the humans, pets and livestock have disappeared. We follow the protagonist, a former kind of virtual reality art director, as he tries to make sense of his new life in a world where his skills and experiences are pretty much irrelevant. It's all over the place and sometimes, seemingly by chance, lands in an interesting groove. There are bright spots when characters and moments come through more clearly, and the setting of Joburg establishes a rhythm and language that I really enjoyed (not to mention the snippets of Afrikaans that I was able to pick up).
I think ultimately Miller tries to tackle ALL of the big questions in this novel and the end result feels wild and unfocused. It's a pleasant wildness, though, and might have worked better if he'd taken it further and written it as an even more experiential, experimental departure from traditional plot arc form.
Through no fault of Miller's, the music metaphor was, sadly, entirely lost on me. I'm not educated enough in the subtleties of dub or house or trance, and unfortunately it seemed like this was kind of a big deal.
The story takes place in a near-future Joburg, after nearly all of the humans, pets and livestock have disappeared. We follow the protagonist, a former kind of virtual reality art director, as he tries to make sense of his new life in a world where his skills and experiences are pretty much irrelevant. It's all over the place and sometimes, seemingly by chance, lands in an interesting groove. There are bright spots when characters and moments come through more clearly, and the setting of Joburg establishes a rhythm and language that I really enjoyed (not to mention the snippets of Afrikaans that I was able to pick up).
I think ultimately Miller tries to tackle ALL of the big questions in this novel and the end result feels wild and unfocused. It's a pleasant wildness, though, and might have worked better if he'd taken it further and written it as an even more experiential, experimental departure from traditional plot arc form.
Through no fault of Miller's, the music metaphor was, sadly, entirely lost on me. I'm not educated enough in the subtleties of dub or house or trance, and unfortunately it seemed like this was kind of a big deal.
November 29, 2015
As a lover of science fiction, I have always preferred the grubby realism of dystopian stories over the rather fanciful tales of space wars and alien invasions. This is one such story, set in a post-apocalyptic world where the apocalypse was mysterious and remains unexplained until the very end.
For anyone who has pondered the nature of life beyond the singularity, and questioned some of the deeper aspects of humanity's purpose on this planet, this well-told story will resonate.
Miller has an easy-to-read style, that takes you deep into the mind of his (rather dysfunctional) principal character, and strips away the veneer of civilised society. The humour is dark, the denouement surprising. It is a story that will leave you with much to examine in your own perceptions of life and the universe.
Weeks afterwards, I am still thinking about some of the aspects of the story -- which in my mind is the sign of a great book.
For anyone who has pondered the nature of life beyond the singularity, and questioned some of the deeper aspects of humanity's purpose on this planet, this well-told story will resonate.
Miller has an easy-to-read style, that takes you deep into the mind of his (rather dysfunctional) principal character, and strips away the veneer of civilised society. The humour is dark, the denouement surprising. It is a story that will leave you with much to examine in your own perceptions of life and the universe.
Weeks afterwards, I am still thinking about some of the aspects of the story -- which in my mind is the sign of a great book.
March 21, 2019
I was ultimately disappointed with this book. Perhaps it was because I came to it after reading Tammy Baikie's Paying Lipservice. I found the style of Miller's book off putting, it seemed hollow and trying too hard to be cool. Whilst the premise was interesting to start off with, the story and focus then started to unravel. Towards the end I was just bored and reading became a slog. None of the characters were sympathetic and they seemed rather flat and stereotypical. More could have been done with the landscape and the city than was achieved and a dystopia is about the change in the landscape as well as how humans do or do not cope.
July 1, 2025
A wildly original and hauntingly imaginative post-apocalyptic story set against the familiar (for me) backdrop of South Africa. This book offers a rare blend of cultural intimacy and speculative fiction. It grapples with big themes like identity, mortality, rebuilding society, and the strangeness of survival, while weaving in elements of AI, nature’s reclamation, and human connection. Though not without its flaws, especially in how some threads like music were underdeveloped, the sheer uniqueness of its world-building and setting makes it a memorable experience. I would love to see this turned into a limited series. It would be great!
July 1, 2017
A novel that is intriguing for several reasons. The author manages to capture the essence of Johannesburg's old school in a new futuristic post-apocalypse. I found it to be an unusual read to start with based on the flow of the book, which is explained later on in the novel. It is still with m as I read my next novel, getting me to think about the ins and outs of the novel. As the novel moves on, the story deepens and gains a more philosophical tempo.
August 9, 2023
It begins with a world (a South Africa) I recognise, but very quickly becomes unfamiliar. For a lot of this book, I felt very removed; I wasn't sympathetic to the plight of the characters either, until I was. Then I really got into it and all too soon it was over. I suspect this one will linger in my mind for a good long time.
July 12, 2017
Initially excited, but ultimately disappointed. It lost focus, and to some extent cohesion, in attempting to address a multitude of social concerns in the coolest possible way. Also super repetitive...a pet peeve.
September 3, 2025
I liked a lot of things about this book - until I didn't. Feel like it lost focus and started to repeat itself.
The science fiction elements were good, but there were too many themes in the book for me to get my teeth into
The science fiction elements were good, but there were too many themes in the book for me to get my teeth into
March 21, 2020
It took me a while to get into the story but then I was really enjoying this strange survival stuff. But the end was too complicated for me...I think I didnt get it.
books-i-have
August 5, 2016
Dub Steps
has a strange long aftertaste. It is science fiction with ordinary characters trying to understand what it is to be alive. People have gone, suddenly, inexplicably, and the remaining handful have to find each other and start again. In that new beginning they wrestle with identity, race, sex, art, religion and time, in a remarkably realistic, step-by-step way. Nature comes back, Johannesburg becomes wonderfully overgrown, designer pigs watch from the periphery walls, and the small group of survivors have to find ways of living with their own flaws and the flaws of each other. The aftertaste comes from the surprisingly real meditations in the middle of the end: after all simulated reality has gone, what human reality is left? There are no clichés in this book, but there is plenty of humour, originality and a gripping, unusual interrogation of the ordinary but really extraordinary fact of being alive.
December 28, 2015
The best book that I have read for a long time. It should probably be described as a post apocalyptic science fiction epic set in South Africa, mainly in Johannesburg, however the book is so naturally and so originally written and the characters so well developed that it feels more of a story about people then it does one of science fiction. Controversial at times, thought provoking and thoroughly engaging. I highly recommend immersing yourself in this one.
August 21, 2015
I loved the cover and the blurb grabbed my attention immediately. I was even more spurred on by the fact that it's local but I just couldn't NOT get into this book. I can't pin it down to one reason, maybe it's the writing style. I really wanted to enjoy it. The short chapters and too the point blunt way of writing really got to me. Sorry Mr Miller but it's unfortunately a 2 star for this one.
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October 20, 2018I’ll have to dwell on this story a while. It’s creative, weird, confusing, intriguing, sad. The way dub is actually woven into this dystopian story; amazing. Would love to see a film version.
March 27, 2017
Being the first work of science fiction I have read, it delivers on both the "science" and "fiction" ends.
The way the author segues across time while leaving the reader's mind to fill the blanks and color the white spaces makes it further remarkable.
The way the author segues across time while leaving the reader's mind to fill the blanks and color the white spaces makes it further remarkable.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews