Zeke Yoder Vs. the Singularity

by Stephen Beachy

A mind-bending dystopian science fiction that merges the metaphysical speculation of Philip K Dick with the thrilling adventure of queer Amish cyberpunk. When Zeke Yoder’s grandmother is bitten by a genetically modified rat on his Iowa farm, the Amish teen is propelled into a world changing so fast he can barely make sense of it. Introduced to new technologies and new desires by his cyborg buddy Gonzalo, Zeke speeds down hallucinatory highways and through elaborate rat tunnels to save his grandmother and find new land for his people. In a world of conspiracies and counter-conspiracies, and faced with the new government’s anti-Amish policies, Zeke is never quite sure who to trust. In a series of adventures with evangelical clones, off-Grid rebels, drugged robots, and intelligent rodents, Zeke will be forced to question everything he has believed and the very nature of reality in the 21st century. There is a newly installed anti-human government and ferocious resistance to that government. There are paranoid scientists in underground bunkers, solar-powered mutants with unconventional desires, and anti-technology terrorists who behead robots. There are love triangles and apocalyptic catastrophes, new kinds of consciousness and new kinds of meat, cryptic messages in the seedy streets of the decaying cities that crashed after the "new meat" boom. This is the first in a series of five books following the adventures of Zeke, his childhood friend Leahbelle, and the mysterious rebel Gonzalo. The second book is Leahbelle Beachy and the Beings of Light, the third is Gonzalo Vega and the Portal Down Below, and the fourth The Voice of Q.

Genres: Science Fiction

204 pages, Paperback

Published January 10, 2017

About the author

Stephen Beachy is a writer. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1965. His first novel, The Whistling Song, was published by W. W. Norton with cover illustrations by Curt Kirkwood in 1991 and his second, Distortion, by Harrington Park Press, in 2000. Two novellas, Some Phantom and No Time Flat were published in 2006, from Suspect Thoughts Press. His fiction has been published in BOMB, Chicago Review, Blithe House Quarterly, SHADE, and various anthologies. He has written literary criticism for the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

In October, 2005, he published an article in New York Magazine, exposing the writer JT LeRoy as the concoction of a woman named Laura Albert, with the help of her family members.

Beachy teaches in the MFA Program at the University of San Francisco.

Beachy is also a second cousin of biologist Philip Beachy and historian Robert Beachy.

Reviews

[Alvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wildly imaginative, slyly witty, poignant, and a zippy read. Reminded me a little of the brilliant animated TV series, Futurama, a little of PKD, and a little of the unselfconsciously adventure-packed sci-fi novels from the mid-20th century.

[Debby Bloch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like the best of speculative fiction, Stephen Beachy’s new novel, Zeke Yoder vs. the Singularity, is both completely strange and achingly familiar. Join Zeke, an Amish lad, as he embarks on the hero’s journey with his 97 year-old Grandma Mast. Forced by danger to flee his home in Iowa for the wilds of Oregon or California, by way of the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, Zeke leaves his girlfriend Leahbelle and all he knows as he sets out in a bot-car, evading the drones that monitor the Grid-works, guided only by the GMR rats Lilith and Pazuzu, who, like Zeke, are seeking safety. Along the way, meet the demons and demi-gods that inhabit this particular hero’s world: the two Gonzalos, Madame Ebola, the robots Lalo Lalo and Boopsie, the immortality-seeking Dr. Brockton, and Zeke’s long-lost sister, Beth. Go along for this ride because of the intriguing narrative, but if that isn’t enough, enjoy the riffs on the world we currently inhabit harking back to the “reign of the orange blob.”

[sleepysalamander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why isn't there more Amish sci-fi? Such an insightful angle into exploring our relationships with technology and each other. Super solid sci-fi/speculative fic, plus I really got those Iowa Amish feels. And interestingly written, without being obnoxious about how it's interestingly written.

This book was a delight to read! Strongly recommended.

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

A riot of inventive ideas and nuanced oppositions. The YA conventions can get in the way somewhat, but I suppose they come with the territory.

[Alika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cool experiment in the Amish sci-fi genre. I believe this author is known more for his avant-garde literary fiction, so it's always interesting seeing writers step outside the genre they are used to. I especially liked the ending, specifically chapter 17. Beautiful and funny and hopeful, which was something I wasn’t quite expecting. The whole book reminded me a little of Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, Nancy Farmer's House of the Scorpion, various stuff by Phillip K Dick, Terry Gilliam’s films, and of course Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. And yet, it was so original and smart and imaginative.