Normal cover art

Normal

A Novel

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Normal

By: Warren Ellis
Narrated by: John Hodgman
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About this listen

A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller audiobook straight out of the very near future--by an iconic visionary writer

Some people call it "abyss gaze." Gaze into the abyss all day and the abyss will gaze into you.

There are two types of people who think professionally about the future: Foresight strategists are civil futurists who think about geoengineering and smart cities and ways to evade Our Coming Doom; strategic forecasters are spook futurists, who think about geopolitical upheaval and drone warfare and ways to prepare clients for Our Coming Doom. The former are paid by nonprofits and charities, the latter by global security groups and corporate think tanks.

For both types, if you're good at it, and you spend your days and nights doing it, then it's something you can't do for long. Depression sets in. Mental illness festers. And if the abyss gaze takes hold there's only one place to recover: Normal Head, in the wilds of Oregon, within the secure perimeter of an experimental forest.

When Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, arrives at Normal Head, he is desperate to unplug and be immersed in sylvan silence. But then a patient goes missing from his locked bedroom, leaving nothing but a pile of insects in his wake. A staff investigation ensues; surveillance becomes total.

As the mystery of the disappeared man unravels in Warren Ellis's Normal, Adam uncovers a conspiracy that calls into question the core principles of how and why we think about the future--and the past, and the now.

Anthologies Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense World Literature Thriller Technology Mental Health Short Story

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Critic reviews

"[John] Hodgman grabs listeners with the surreal opening line--"Hand over the entire Internet now and nobody gets hurt"--and infuses an appropriate blend of sarcasm and bemusement throughout. It's not all played for laughs, though. Hodgman also captures the sinister atmosphere bubbling just below the surface." -AudioFile Magazine
All stars
Most relevant
typical of a Warren Ellis book with great research and well thought out storyline. definitely one to listen to a few more times.

interesting and convoluted

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An almost dystopian NOW future novella on the use of technology, fringe theories and what happens when tech and data agents break down but their employers demand return on their investment. Wonderfully narrated, this frightening story reminds us how technology frequently alienates.
Prescient in the extreme.

Frightening visceral and shockingly close

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The narrator is a bit too soft in his voice; makes it hard to hear him when taking the train.
The story is classic Warren Ellis with the usual bunch of weird characters and philosophical monologues.

Good but a bit short and unsatisfactory

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A wonderful book, but I found it strangely lacking. It was a glance into something fascinating that I wish I could have spent more time inside. The world needed us to stick around for a bit longer.

A peek inside something larger.

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