A glimpse into a Dystopian London where social media use moves from mild addiction to a visceral quest for survival…
Fluence by Stephen Oram

It’s the week before the annual Pay Day when strata positions are decided by the controlling corporations. The social media feed is frenetic with people trying to boost their influence rating while those above the strata and those who’ve opted out pursue their own manipulative goals.

Amber is ambitious. Martin is burnt out by years of struggling. She cheats to get what she wants while he barely clings on to what he has.

Set in a speculative near-future London, ‘Fluence’ is a satirical story of aspiration and desperation and of power seen and unseen. It’s a story of control and consequence. It’s the story of the extremes to which Amber and Martin are prepared to go in these last ten thousand minutes before Pay Day.

“Oram offers a glimpse into a Dystopian London where social media use moves from mild addiction to a visceral quest for survival, where commodification of experience and shallow responses sound warning bells for our species’ continuance. Current debate about benefits and who’s entitled to support reach bitter depths . Fluence’s mix of characters tumble today’s class system and focus on appearance into a rat race where empathy is rare and no-one knows who is friend or foe, even within their own family. A fast-paced and eerily visual read.” – Celia Wade-Brown, Mayor of Wellington, New Zealand // “An extraordinarily gifted, detailed and believable novel which projects the consequences of current economic and social trends forward a decade or so to a country run for and by five big multinationals.” – Paul Simon, ‘Morning Star’