Blue Friday is set in a dystopian society in the future where working hours are strictly controlled by the government: if you're married and work outside the hours of 9 to 5 you're punished: if you're lucky by Enforcment agents if not by the Family Protection Agency (FPA)- who will probably kill you. There is enforced viewing of family television, monitored family meals times and a coming of age where people reaching the age of twenty-five are married by the state computer if they have failed to marry. The novel follows Leviticus, the leader of the Underground Overtime Network who fights for the right for people to choose when they can work.
Elsewhen's press release is here. Here's a snippet ...
Combining dark humour with a vision of the future that is almost an inverse of
the classic dystopian nightmare of 1984, Mike’s latest novel follows in the tradition of great Speculative Fiction satirists such as Jonathan Swift.
It's a whole different fish from The Ascent of Isaac Steward - with a clipped more cut down style. O and it has characters with great names like Mr Brittle and Mr Stone - you'll like them - not that you should mess with them mind: they are a little touchy at not being the protagonists. You've been warned.
Blue Friday will be released as an ebook in September this year and in paperback at the end of the year.
