In a world wrecked by climate change, in a society owned by the ultra-rich, in a city hollowed out by industrial flight, Hubert, Etc, Seth and Natalie have nowhere else to be and nothing better to do. But there is another way. After all, now that anyone can design and print the basic necessities of life – food, clothing, shelter – from a computer, there is little reason to toil within the system. So, like thousands of others in the mid-21st century, the three of them turn their back on the world of rules, jobs, the morning commute and... walkaway.
It's a dangerous world out there; the empty, lawless lands are hiding predators – animal and human alike. Still, when the initial pioneer walkaways flourish, the few become many, building what threatens to become a post-scarcity utopia. But then the walkaways discover the one thing the ultra-rich have never been able to buy: how to beat death. And now it's war – a war that will turn the world upside down.
About the Author
Canadian-born Cory Doctorow is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Little Brother. He has won the Locus Award for his fiction three times, been nominated for both the Hugo and the Nebula, and is the only author to have won both the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Campbell Award for best SF Novel of the Year. He is the co-editor of BoingBoing.net, writes columns for Make, Information Week, the Guardian online and Locus and has been named one of the internet's top 25 influencers by Forbes magazine and a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Cory Doctorow lives in London with his wife and daughter.
Industry Reviews
'The tech may be more advanced, but the politics feel familiar ... The overwhelming message of Walkaway is hope [and] right now, that could not feel more timely' SciFiNow.
'Proper science fiction. A warning of our times. An investigation of what it means to be a human today and where the future might take us' Nudge.
'Doctorow has authored the Bhagavad Gita of hacker/maker/burner/open source/git/gnu/wiki/99%/adjunct faculty/Anonymous/shareware/thingiverse/cypherpunk/ LGTBQIA*/squatter/upcycling culture and zipped it down into a pretty damned tight techno-thriller with a lot of sex in it' Neal Stephenson.
'The darker the hour, the better the moment for a rigorously imagined utopian fiction. Walkaway is now the best contemporary example I know of. A wonderful novel' William Gibson.
'A hard-edged, intelligent look at our immediate future and the high and low points of human nature, incisive, compelling and plausible' Adrian Tchaikovsky.
'Doctorow is one of our most important science fiction writers ... In a world full of easy dystopias, he writes the hard utopia, and what do you know, his utopia is both more thought-provoking and more fun' Kim Stanley Robinson.
'Walkaway reminds us that the world we choose to build is the one we'll inhabit. Technology empowers both the powerful and the powerless, and if we want a world with more liberty and less control, we're going to have to fight for it' Edward Snowden.
'A beautifully done utopia, just far enough off normal to be science fiction, and just near enough to the near-plausible, on both the utopian and dystopian elements, to be eerie as almost programmatic ... a sheer delight' Yochai Benchler.
'Takes the idea of personalities as computer programs to its logical consequence, and envisages multiple copies of the same program - the same person - running simultaneously on different networks. This is the closest anyone will ever get to the fantasy of cloning identical human beings' Guardian.
'A bravura piece of storytelling, and marks a powerful shift in awareness and understanding, not just for the characters but undoubtedly for the readers themselves' National Post.
'Mr Doctorow's philosophy is passionately argued ... and the thinking is lively' Wall Street Journal.
'Cory Doctorow is one of the most exciting writers of Science Fiction currently working' The Bookbag.
'At times, Doctorow's worldview and the day-after-tomorrow world he's created in Walkaway seems a bit rosy, too trusting of human nature and digital innovation. But he's no more a wide-eyed hippie than an Ayn Rand-inspired libertarian, and his view of humanity is complex' LA Times.
'[Doctorow's] fullest, most important book so far, and a lot of fun even to disagree with' Toronto Star.
'I came to care about its characters. Doctorow somehow managed to make me feel their fear, hope, and love' Quill and Quire.
'This is the best Cory Doctorow ever ... Walkaway is a sprawling, ominous and important work of a kind one rarely sees' Locus Online.
'Doctorow is an assured writer and can write to convince ... Definitely a novel to set the brain cells buzzing' Nudge Book.
'Doctorow mixes his expert knowledge of issues involving abusive threats to new technologies and online civil liberties with a writing style that attracts readers across generations and genres. What results is a page-turner that explores a revolutionary response to the bourgeois elite' Cascadia Magazine.
'[It is] fascinating for what Doctorow has taken from our world and run into the not-so-distant future with ... He is also very good at characterisation' Concatenation.
'An exciting, thought-provoking read that any Cory Doctorow fan is sure to enjoy. This one certainly did!' Shoreline of Infinity.
