Platformed: A Modern Dystopian Novel by Kelsey Josund

Silicon Valley in the 2030s is filled with vaguely sexist CEOs, contested inequality politics, and joke-able startups. After her job folds and she loses her home to wildfire, Sara joins the latest thing: an unnamed tech giant’s quasi-utopian community, floating above former Monterey. Alone on the inside with a thousand mysteriously chosen strangers, Sara is insulated from the turmoil of crumbling governments and catastrophic climate. Those around her seems incredibly thankful, rescued from gig work and student loans and bad news, but she can’t find her own gratitude. As she learns more about her new home, she begins to see the cracks in its perfect facade. She must choose between surveillance and lies from the anonymous algorithms that protect her or face a vulnerable life outside the system to which she has signed away the next five years. Leaving, she learns, may not even be an option.

Category: Science Fiction – Dystopian