Buying Options

Print List Price:	$12.99
Kindle Price:	$2.99 Save $10.00 (77%)

Enter a promotion code or Gift Card

Share <Embed>

Follow the Author

Stephen Oram

Fluence Kindle Edition

by Stephen Oram (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

26 ratings

See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$2.99

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$12.99

$17.22

Imagine a world where your influence on social media determines your job, your home and your friends. A world without politicians, where the corporations run the country.

Set in a dystopian London, 'Fluence' is a story of aspiration and desperation and of power seen and unseen. Amber is young and 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.

It's the week before the annual Pay Day when strata positions are decided by the algorithms. 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.

To what extremes, and at what cost to their families, will Amber and Martin go to achieve the Fluence they desire?

Reviews
"A frightening insight into a not-so-impossible future. This suspenseful, emotionally rich page-turner shows the dark side of the advanced technology and social networks; the twisted morals of a society driven by superficial social status and manipulated by the elite. The imperfect, realistic characters’ lives brilliantly show the possible consequences of one’s choices." – 'The International Review of Books'

"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

"Almost every review I have read of this book compares it to '1984' and/or 'Black Mirror', presumably because they are the most well known and loved of dystopian future fiction. But for me this needs no comparison: the story is original and great of its own right.” – 'Orchid's Lantern'

"Extraordinarily gifted, detailed and believable. The author has created a vivid and frightening vision and the believable world just around the corner is an outstanding feature of this novel. The world of 'Fluence' may soon be upon us and we must act to stop a pulsating piece of fiction becoming our terrible reality." – Paul Simon, 'Morning Star'

Print length

332 pages
Language

English
Publication date

June 26, 2015
File size

5371 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A frightening insight into a not-so-impossible future. This suspenseful, emotionally rich page-turner shows the dark side of the advanced technology and social networks; the twisted morals of a society driven by superficial social status and manipulated by the elite. The imperfect, realistic characters’ lives brilliantly show the possible consequences of one’s choices." The International Review of Books

"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

"Almost every review I have read of this book compares it to 1984 and/or Black Mirror, presumably because they are the most well known and loved of dystopian future fiction. But for me this needs no comparison: the story is original and great of its own right." – Orchid's Lantern

"Extraordinarily gifted, detailed and believable. The author has created a vivid and frightening vision and the believable world just around the corner is an outstanding feature of this novel. The world of Fluence may soon be upon us and we must act to stop a pulsating piece of fiction becoming our terrible reality." – Paul Simon, Morning Star

--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Stephen Oram writes science fiction and is lead curator for near-future fiction at Virtual Futures. He's been a hippie-punk, religious-squatter and an anarchist-bureaucrat; he thrives on contradictions. He is published in several anthologies and has two published novels, 'Quantum Confessions' and 'Fluence'. His collection of sci-fi shorts, 'Eating Robots and Other Stories', was described by the 'Morning Star' as one of the top radical works of fiction in 2017. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN : B00ZYDU69I
Publisher : SilverWood Books (June 26, 2015)
Publication date : June 26, 2015
Language : English
File size : 5371 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 332 pages
Page numbers source ISBN : 1781323631
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #2,645,008 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #5,342 in Satire
- #7,814 in Satire Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #17,564 in Dystopian Fiction

Customer Reviews:
26 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		39%
4 star		31%
3 star		13%
2 star		17%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

simoncez

"LIKE"

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2015

Verified Purchase

Love it or hate it, social media is here to stay but hopefully not like this.
Fluence's suspenseful near future view of society puts a whole new view on the "Like" button - A real page turner!

Helpful

Cheyanne Lepka

A great book for anyone who likes character-driven dystopian books and wants to side-eye their social media for a while.

Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2018

This was an interesting book, there were parts that dragged a little but once I was about 60% in I found myself unable to put the book down. I became so invested in the characters and their lives that I didn’t want to stop reading, just so that I could know what would happen to them on Pay Day. Tie that in with a near-future dystopia that just a little too plausible and I was hooked.

It’s a book that examines human motivation and looks at a world in which social media influence determines societal position. And holy does it hit close to home on that mark because I’ll be the first to admit that I’m constantly checking my accounts to see how my hits/likes I’ve gotten on my posts (I’m mean, I’m not addicted to social media, you are!). Anyway, this character-driven book, propelled forward by a cornucopia of morally grey characters with a tangled web of motivation, was an interesting foray into the ways in which people will try to survive when things are amiss. Whether by playing by the system, or choosing to opt out, it forces the question of how a person might act when social media rules the world.

While there were a few parts that dragged a little and could have been cut, they were sandwiched by tantalizing scenes that hinted at the eventual conclusion and greater picture. These little hints kept me reading and wanting to know what was going on. I would have liked to see more about this world and have it examined more in depth, but the way it was presented did work well with the character-driven nature of the plot, especially given how little the characters themselves knew about the world. My one complaint is that I enjoyed Max as a character, and while we do get to experience the story a little from his point of view, I would have liked to see more of him.

This is one book where I finished and went, I hope there’s a sequel because I think it’s been set up just perfectly for that (and I would 110% read the sequel).

I recommend this book to anyone who likes near-future dystopian books, enjoys character-driven science fiction, and wants to side-eye their social media for a while.

Helpful

Natural_bri

Loved!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 29, 2016

Fluence in the Big Brother, the 1984 of the social media age. Set in Orwell’s home city, this book takes place in a near-future London. Everything, statues, friendships, housing and even activity are decided based on the social media fluence points you earn in the earn. Rather than a time of money, the greed in solely based round your influence on the net, creating your world to the next year. Mess up, and you could lose your while life and everything you have worked for.

This story really caught me. I was a huge fan of 1984, durning my youth, and have a copy that I have read several times. This book is that, but for this generation. The scary thing - just like Orwell’s- this read has a lot of truth to it. We watch every day as the youth, and even the adults now, use social media as an outlet to show status. Often, building a life that isn’t true to its word, most people vie for their upcoming statuses by creating something fun, catchy and what they know will gain them the points they need, even if it isn’t true.

The media world becomes a cut-throat world, where everyone is out for themselves and often people get left behind in the dust, hurting and alone. I found the level of detail in this read superb. It made it very easy to become a part of the story and really see/feel what they characters were going through.

The detail in the characters, both in personality and actions created a very full, lifelike story. Just like today’s world, people are fighting to win, earn, everything they desire. It was easy to feel as though this was a very likely possibility, and soon.

I liked the pace of the read. We have a great deal of time to get to know the characters, world and what was taking place, but we also had the rushed, urgent feeling the characters experienced, as the final few days dwindled down.

I highly recommend this read. It appears Big Brother is still watching…

**I received this book for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Smit

The danger of being liked - or not

Reviewed in the United States on June 20, 2018

This is not the first book that revolves around this theme. It is the most complicated and layered one I've read so far.

When you live in a world where everything you do or say has a tremendous influence on your place in society, you can go two ways. Play along or get out. Amber is playing along, her colleague Martin wants out. We follow them both during the last week before the one day in the year it is decided what happens to people - go up or down in society. What happens can have great impact; you can lose your house or get a much bigger one, you can lose your job or get a better one.

Fluence is a rather complicated book with multiple storylines and sometimes a bit too much detail. In the middle of the book there is a long part where Amber goes partying; although this 'party' is very important for her, for me, as reader, it was a bit tedious to read.

The author has a unique style and the story itself is a solid one, with interesting characters.

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Debbie Young

A terrific read based on an intriguing premise

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Well, what a terrific concept - a dystopian world in which our lifestyle, including home, salary and social life, is entirely dependent on our social media status. Stephen Oram tells a compelling story here, deftly folding enough present day concepts in together with intriguing futuristic inventions, to summon up a new world order that is all too easy for us to believe in - we can see how the current London could morph into the one in this book.

While the demands of a world governed by online point-scoring wear away at the humanity and morals of the characters, there are also some developments thrown in that don't seem half bad e.g. trains that are programmed to run only when they're at optimum capacity. I think the author must have had a lot of fun along the way in developing his ideas, although overall it's a chilling story, reminding us how easy it would be for us as a society to lose our moral compass, aided by technological developments.

A very enjoyable read, and a very visual one, with lots of details about clothing, food and drink, and some fun, playful touches e.g. a couple feeling very daring for making cakes from raw ingredients, which has become an exciting adventure in such an automated world. The storytelling is very cinematic at points, and it would make a great film.

This is the second novel I've read by Stephen Oram, and I'll definitely be looking forward to reading more by this author.

3 people found this helpful

Reading Queen

Thought Provoking...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 15, 2015

Verified Purchase

This was a very thought provoking read. Here we have an imagined world (not so far away from the one we currently live in) where individuals compete on social media for Fluence points. At the end of the year scores are then added up and colour graded according to the number of points achieved. The colour an individual is awarded is fixed for a year and dictates their social status and class. It controls every aspect of their lives, including where they live and who they socialise with

Amber and Martin work at the same place – the Bureaucracy – as part of a disability assessment team. Their job is to determine whether people are fit to work, or if they need to be supported by the government. There are Fluence points to be gained for good job performance, keeping those disability figures down – so there’s a conflict of conscience straight away. Gain points by reducing the numbers on government support, or make an honest assessment to assist those less fortunate.

Amber is both knowledgeable of how the system works and very focussed. She plays to win, her only goal to increase her colour level and social status within society. Martin, however, is tired of the game, happy to stay in Green but concerned his score is currently in freefall. He is struggling.

The story, although central to these two characters who are at different ends of their game, also shows the bigger picture. Here we have a world where people are pitched against each other.. One man’s rise means another man’s downfall. At the end of the day if being a winner is to the detriment of someone else – can your conscience live with this? Or has the system conditioned you not to care?

I would like to thank the author for providing

2 people found this helpful

stephen

Characters that are you or I?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2017

Verified Purchase

I came to this novel through Stephen orams book of short stories and really liked his style so thought I'd give this a go. I'm a big fan of the 'black mirror' style of writing and so I really enjoyed the authors 'predictions' for our world. The characters could be any of us thrown into those situations, it's interesting to think what effect technology will have, whether for good or evil. I preferred the short stories as they had more punch but it was really interesting to be totally immersed into a world that is/wil be ours.

One person found this helpful

barbara hill

Great idea...disappointing book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great concept for a book but I was pretty disappointed. The main characters were un likeable and I found it hard to feel any sympathy or connection to them.
And the ending .... urgh so un satisfying.... wish I hadn’t bothered

Jonseyb

Fabulous, page turning book. By just tweaking reality ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

Fabulous, page turning book. By just tweaking reality the book unfolds into a slightly unnerving and thought provoking story. I'll never be able to click on a 'like' in the same way again.

One person found this helpful

See all reviews

Buying Options

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

Fluence Kindle Edition

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries