Preview: The Affinities by Robert Charles Wilson

The Affinities: Award-winning Canadian author Robert Charles Wilson releases a new novel about the “science of social networking” on April 21, 2015. Using the intimacy of first-person narrative, Wilson takes readers into the world of Adam Fisk, a young man who leaves a dysfunctional family in upstate New York to attend art college in Toronto, where he undergoes rigorous psycho-social testing and qualifies for the Tau Affinity, one of the largest of twenty-two social profiles that are redefining humanity. Each Affinity is a mix between a fraternity, a religious cult and an extended family—a communal group that sweeps across class, culture and all aspects of business. As the testing technology spreads and the social networks expand globally, the exclusive Affinities begin to usurp the traditional roles of government and financial corporations. Power struggles arise and war seems inevitable, and Adam Fisk finds himself caught in a dangerous new world where allegiance has been reduced to brain-mapping and genetics. Robert Charles Wilson has a gift for delicate characterization, bringing technology down to earth by using believable people in familiar situations—love and sex, drugs and alcohol, abuse and betrayal. He writes with great insight into humanity and a sense of hope for a better future, that mankind might overcome natural adversity to build a beautiful world. The Affinities is about belonging to something bigger than yourself, about serving sacrificially and fighting for your friends.