Penny Ponders On An Excess Of …
Warning — adult themes
An Excess Of … by Stuart Aken is an eco-thriller that encompasses a wide view of the world through the lens of climate change, whilst telling the personal and sometimes brutal stories of a group of strangers thrown together by an unexpected catastrophe.
Faced with an apparently simple choice of “cooperate or die,” the group manages to find as many alternative answers as it has members — each of them convinced by their own stance and intolerant of the others. The tale unravels as they play out in microcosm much of the turmoil of the wider world as the book develops into a many-faceted drama.
It has romance, betrayal, brutality, and ultimately hope…
…but this isn’t intended as a comprehensive book review. I am homing in on some specific points on all of the spotlight books for Fantastic Books Publishing’s…
For a good and entertaining review, I recommend this one from fellow author, Walter Pilcher:
An Excess Of … is set in the near future, and I found myself wondering about the ship that foundered in a storm at the start of the story. Books set in the future often have futuristic transport to match, but I’m aware that in the world of shipping, the range of craft that plies their trade on the high seas covers an enormous range.
Here’s what I asked Stuart:
The story is set in modern times just a short way into the future, but it feels as though the ship they’re travelling in is old and not well maintained. I had the impression that it was the cheap price of tickets that attracted the passengers. Did you research the modern shipping world as to how many old and unsafe ships still sail commercial routes?
This is what he said:
What we have in An Excess Of… is a disparate group of individuals with their own reasons for avoiding air travel; mostly to do with cost for one reason or another. Some were provided with finance for an air fare but decided they could make money by selling that grant and using a container ship instead. Others were either just broke, or mean, or unable to travel by air for security reasons.
I did some research and found various answers to my questions in the Guardian, and online with Businessinsider, Cargoholidays, and Oceanus. But the story is set a few years into the future at a time when lack of international action has failed to prevent CO2 levels rising, and global temperatures with them. The result would be an inevitable breakdown of society.
Container ships are big polluters and many would be forcibly retired. Others would operate illegally in a world less regulated, gathering whatever they could find and transporting it, usually with an inadequate crew, to wherever the customer determines. Such ships would be known to those needing to travel cheaply via the usual underground data suppliers. They would be relatively cheap, generally old and unsafe, and would offer a basic service in order to maximise profit.
It’s an interesting answer and gives a credible background to the catastrophe that opens the book. As the story unfolds, the trapped group learns that things weren’t quite as clear-cut as they had assumed which adds yet another twist to a story that is not short on surprises.
MABLE 2022
Both An Excess Of … and Stuart Aken are in the spotlight during this autumn’s online MABLE 2022 event that will run during September and October. Do sign up. It’s free, you’ll have a chance to chat with the authors, and win copies of books.