andy jennings

"Perilous Republic" $US2.99 : available in all ebook stores  Future fiction starts with a premise. You make some guesses. In "Perilous Republic" I explore the world of Melbourne at the end of the 2020s.  There are some trends, some pressures that I think will be important. Let's start with demographics. As the population ages, we will get to the point where the majority of the population are beyond working age. This is a profound change and has far reaching consequences.  Political parties are in the business of winning elections. If they can do this by handing out money to the majority of old people, then I think they will. Where will they get this money? They might take it from the minority of working age people or they might borrow from the future, which is essentially the same thing. We already see the use of direct election bribes in the early 2020s. It's simple. It works. But in essence it's a violation of the social contract: it puts all of the he...

Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now. Cabinet meetings were of a size larger than Jack liked to deal with. Nominally it was 20 people. But with advisors hovering it stretched to something like 100, spread across two or even three rooms. Today was focused on security. The upstart government was surrounded by enemies. He tuned in as an army major stood at the lectern. “Fortunately the geography works in our favour. With a combined satellite and drone surveillance it is a simple matter to keep the northern plains free. North of the dividing range in the agricultural zones there is very little cover.” He brought up a map showing the zone. Between Albury and Shepparton, and north of Bendigo there were great open spaces. The red swathe was broad and like a circle. He thought about asking about sea-born attacks from the south, where there seemed to be no defences, but he was cautious about making an idiot of himself in such a large gathering...

Extract from "2032" by Andrew Jennings. Available in all ebook stores now. "Somewhere between 1 and 2" an eager face responded. Noah struggled to process that. Of course he meant somewhere between 1 and 2 million people. Where on earth do you put them all? Something like one fifth of the entire population of Melbourne. Spread throughout the city. For Ruby’s speech. A very important speech. Marking the new beginning, setting an agenda. Consolidating power. "How do we fit them?" Noah asked the obvious question. Jack turned towards him. "As far out as Brunswick. On the street. Everywhere." "Screens?" Noah asked Those without the augmented reality viewers would gather in parks. But most had the viewers that projected onto glasses. You got the speech overlayed on top of the scene you were looking at. He  hesitated to ask the most obvious question. "Security?" Ruby looked up. Glanced at Jack. “If they fly anything in pas...

Cities are growing all over the planet. In considering Melbourne's housing problems, I was momentarily distracted by San Francisco. Seems there has been an influx of some 75 thousand people over the last decade, leading to some well publicised incidents: demonstrations at Google buses, posting of nasty signs. Serious, I thought. Then I realised that Melbourne is growing by some 50 thousand people every year. So where SF has struggled with 75 thousand, Melbourne has somehow dealt with 500 thousand. Wikimedia:  Biatch  at  en.wikipedia Impressive, I thought. Melbourne is successful. In a sense, yes. There are problems with success. It becomes expensive, for one. "The Economist" global housing prices. How can it be that it's more expensive to live in Melbourne than in London? At one level, it is the price of popularity.  How does it do it? Mostly by adding at the edges. The fastest growing areas are in the outer fringes of the city. Great...