FKA USA

By Ryland Johnson

We live in foreboding times. Theres real danger threatening the human race: climate change, nuclear proliferation, war, guns, consumerism, corporations, pollution, zealotry, and madness. Since art often mirrors life, theres no shortage of current books imagining the awful end of it all. This is why author Reed Kings FKA USA was so much fun it imagines a future where every possible apocalypse happens all at once.

In FKA USAs irradiated 2085, everything is epically and hilariously terrible. The U.S. has devolved into a fractured toxic wasteland cruel, warring states of corporate feudalism ravaged by murderous gangs. What remains of culture is a total nightmare; the internet trolls have won. Everything sucks. This is where we find our crass, teenage protagonist, Trukee Wallace, just some unlucky kid sent on a suicide mission to save the world by his psychotic corporate overlord.

As a genre, postmodern picaresque is admittedly more challenging than your average beach romance, and it may not be for everyone. FKA USA has all the tropes of this genre: madcap world-building via footnotes and extra-narrative text, style like a demolition derby, multi-layered social and political satire, and even an unreliable author (Reed King is a pseudonym for an unidentified, albeit bestselling, author). For many readers, the terrible melange of everywhere-at-once apocalypse will be symbolic of our contemporary American moment. Bulldozed by the endless parade of horrible things, lots of Americans feel off balance most of the time.

At least, sometimes, we still get to have a little fun. FKA USA is a fun book. There are also brief moments of humanity in the chaos, where the compassionate core of personhood surfaces for an instant before being subsumed again. The book is imperfect, but its also poignant. It doesnt compromise or soften its rough edges. In the future, when our books are written by cyborgs, I hope they are as compelling as this one, which is recommended for adult readers and fans of science fiction.