Optimal Power

by Chris Edwards

Otis Colip had a good life once. Nice home, brilliant wife, a job he could be proud of. Now he lives in a park: an artificially heated space set aside for the homeless, in a city that seems to be collapsing around him.

He wants his old life back, and he’ll pay almost any price to get it.

Optimal Power is a tale of the near-future, in which access is everything—and it’s easy to keep people out. If Otis wants back in, it’ll cost him a lot more than money.

132 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 5, 2021

About the author

CHRIS EDWARDS is the author of the science-fiction novellas A Batch of Twenty, Optimal Power and Phillip Drives the Dead. With inspirations ranging from Phillip K. Dick to John Wyndham to Katsuhiro Otomo’s AKIRA, he writes about what it means to be an individual in dystopian times. His other interests include video games—especially the old ones nobody remembers—plus silent film, animation, Sumo, dinosaurs and animals even older than dinosaurs. Chris lives in Toronto, ON, with his wife and children, all of whom are incredible.

Reviews

[Veronik Durocher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Would have been excellent if it was longer. I couldn’t stopped myself from shouting, when my eyes read the last word, as I was so shocked it was already finished! That's why I only gave 4 stars, even if the writing deserves 5...

[Anne Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The main character, Otis, had me riveted from the first page. Timely topics - housing and climate change - in a timeless, dystopian world.