Stand on Zanzibar

A vision of the future? Source: Here

"Hipcrime: you committed one when you opened up this book. Keep it up. It's our only hope."

This is easily one of the strangest, most unconventional books I've read. A rarity among science fiction in that its predictions are eerily close to how events came to be, and still are. 

Stand on Zanzibar was written in 1968 by John Brunner and won the Hugo Award in 1969. The book is set in the then-future date of 2010, with the world population having grown to seven billion and increasing tensions between the American and East Asian superpowers. Extrapolating from existing social, economic and technological trends, Brunner creates a world eerily like our own, with several predictions hitting awfully close for comfort:

• (1) Random acts of violence by crazy individuals, often taking place at schools, plague society in Stand on Zanzibar.
• (2) The other major source of instability and violence comes from terrorists, who are now a major threat to U.S. interests, and even manage to attack buildings within the United States.
• (3) Prices have increased sixfold between 1960 and 2010 because of inflation. (The actual increase in U.S. prices during that period was sevenfold, but Brunner was close.)
• (4) The most powerful U.S. rival is no longer the Soviet Union, but China. However, much of the competition between the U.S. and Asia is played out in economics, trade, and technology instead of overt warfare.
• (5) Europeans have formed a union of nations to improve their economic prospects and influence on world affairs. In international issues, Britain tends to side with the U.S., but other countries in Europe are often critical of U.S. initiatives.
• (6) Africa still trails far behind the rest of the world in economic development, and Israel remains the epicenter of tensions in the Middle East.
• (7) Although some people still get married, many in the younger generation now prefer short-term hookups without long-term commitment.
• (8) Gay and bisexual lifestyles have gone mainstream, and pharmaceuticals to improve sexual performance are widely used (and even advertised in the media).
• (9) Many decades of affirmative action have brought blacks into positions of power, but racial tensions still simmer throughout society.
• (10) Motor vehicles increasingly run on electric fuel cells. Honda (primarily known as a motorcycle manufacturers when Brunner wrote his book) is a major supplier, along with General Motors.
• (11) Yet Detroit has not prospered, and is almost a ghost town because of all the shuttered factories. However. a new kind of music — with an uncanny resemblance to the actual Detroit techno movement of the 1990s — has sprung up in the city.
• (12) TV news channels have now gone global via satellite.
• (13) TiVo-type systems allow people to view TV programs according to their own schedule.
• (14) Inflight entertainment systems on planes now include video programs and news accessible on individual screens at each seat.
• (15) People rely on avatars to represent themselves on video screens — Brunner calls these images, which either can look like you or take on another appearance you select — “Mr. and Mrs. Everywhere.”
• (16) Computer documents are generated with laser printers.
• (17) A social and political backlash has marginalized tobacco, but marijuana has been decriminalized. 

•  Source: https://themillions.com/2013/03/the-weird-1969-new-wave-sci-fi-novel-that-correctly-predicted-the-current-day.html 

What makes it stand out as one of the most innovative examples of the New Wave is Brunner's inter-mixing of narrative with worldbuilding chapters, providing background from sources like advertisements, newspaper extracts, song lyrics, book quotes and the like. Co-opted from John Dos Passos' USA Trilogy, the result of this narrative construction is a truly sprawling world that looks and feels real. The large cast of characters gives a broad cross-section of this future society, giving it real depth in its examinations of people just trying to get by from day to day; and yet even with this massive cast the book never feels bloated.

The structure of the book splits narrative and worldbuilding into several sections:

• "Continuity" - main narrative is largely contained here.

• "Tracking with Closeups" - used to take a closer look at supporting characters or build a further picture of the state of the world.

• "The Happening World" - short descriptive passages embodying the vibrant, cramped nature of the world.

• "Context" - fairly self-explanatory really. The main setting for the novel, comprised of headlines, advertisements and further texts, and in one chapter, actual headlines from the 1960s.

Even with the interblending of several plot threads the main plot remains easy to follow. The main narrative centers around two roommates, Norman Niblock House and Donald Hogan. Norman is a rising executive at General Technics, using his "Afram" (American) heritage to move higher up in the company. Donald Hogan appears for all intents and purposes to be a student, but is in fact a spy working for the U.S. government that can be called up at any time. Their plots provide the through-line for the rest of the book, keeping everything anchored and preventing the plot meandering too much.

Looking at the predictions above, it's hard not to be a little awed at how close to the mark Brunner. Yes, certainly some of his more specific predictions did not come to be but just extrapolating from then-present socio-economic trends it stands as a testament to Brunner's talent that he came as close as he did.

It wasn't an easy book to read, and Brunner isn't interested in playing catch-up for anyone lost in the narrative. But it is an immensely rewarding experience, and I hope to be able to experience his strange new world again.