Normal: Book 4

Normal #4

by Warren Ellis

"A smart, tight, provocative techno-thriller straight out of the very near future--by an iconic visionary writer

Some people call it ""abyss gaze."" Gaze into the abyss all day and the abyss will gaze into you.

There are two types of people who think professionally about the future: Foresight strategists are civil futurists who think about geoengineering and smart cities and ways to evade Our Coming Doom; strategic forecasters are spook futurists, who think about geopolitical upheaval and drone warfare and ways to prepare clients for Our Coming Doom. The former are paid by nonprofits and charities, the latter by global security groups and corporate think tanks.

For both types, if you're good at it, and you spend your days and nights doing it, then it's something you can't do for long. Depression sets in. Mental illness festers. And if the abyss gaze takes hold there's only one place to recover: Normal Head, in the wilds of Oregon, within the secure perimeter of an experimental forest.

When Adam Dearden, a foresight strategist, arrives at Normal Head, he is desperate to unplug and be immersed in sylvan silence. But then a patient goes missing from his locked bedroom, leaving nothing but a pile of insects in his wake. A staff investigation ensues; surveillance becomes total. As the mystery of the disappeared man unravels in Warren Ellis's Normal, Adam uncovers a conspiracy that calls into question the core principles of how and why we think about the future--and the past, and the now."

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Technology

32 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 7, 2015

About the author

Warren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.

The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.

He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.

Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.

A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.

Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.

Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.

Reviews

[Belinda Lewis]

Holding off rating this until I finish the series.

[Xx-Wonderland-Xx · Rating 3 out of 5]

The view of the future is so interesting and it really makes you question your sense of reality and truth

[Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Just wow! Abnormal, Clinical, and Group Psychology mixed with a mystery to solve and placed in a not too technologically advanced future. Amazingly well-written and fast-paced. Book 4 completes the series nicely.

I give this book a 5/5 stars for being AD/HD friendly.

Possible spoiler:
A central tenet of this series of books is about how something created for good, can quickly be turned into evil. Like the man who created a solution to help soybeans production proliferate, only to later find out his research was turned into Agent Orange. That is what this book series is about to me. It is about the psychological impact of watching the baby that you lovingly created for good, turned into a malevolent monster from your nightmares right in front of your eyes. And, there is nothing you can do to stop it. It is just horror, helplessness, and never-ending . . .

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This being a serialized novel, I did not review each part but rather chose to wait till book 4 before offering my opinion.
I really love Warren Ellis's work and this was no exception.
Paranoia inducing, snarky & touches on end results of many surveillance tech themes we are seeing put in place in our everyday life now.
Some progress is good, but not all and when do we draw the line between secure and control.
Putting this out in serialized version added to the conspiracy theory like feel and anxiety of the story for me. Having to wait for each chapter as it was produced gave me pause between each to really digest what had just happened before moving on and I recommend others try to read it the same way.

[Bill Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adam finally sets his big plan in motion both for himself and for the other inmates at the asylum. The story is fill of Ellis-isms, near-future tech with hidden agendas that unfold as they serve dark masters.

Well-written and surprisingly touching in moments, this book is not Ellis at his best, but his most intimate as his mirror images express a fear that the future is already lost.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

At this best, Ellis extrapolates the future into a funny, mad nightmare then makes the future look like it just around the corner - or worse - here. This is Ellis at his best.

I would like to be more people experiment with serialisation too, I think I served this book well.

[Campo · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was nice to go back to the serial while reading Normal, felt a lot like binge watching a show in Netflix.

Story concludes for now, an explanation and some implications for the story itself and it's plot and regrettably a gaze to the Abyss that will be our lives in the future.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read, deeply foreboding!

I'm a long time fan of Ellis' work and this serialized story doesn't disappoint. There are some truly epic rants here along with an overdose of bleak reality. Abyss gaze indeed!

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and Scary

Overall a fun story. I had no idea where it was going, which I enjoyed. I am not so sure we are too far away from this future.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only point of criticism is just how short this novel was--so much unrealized potential.

[Matthew Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

darkly funny, creepily plausible...

[Calvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right on

What a wonderful ending to this 4-part minimal feast. It's thick in small numbers. So rad! Pretty great spot to end it, too.

[Chris Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fear the future that is already here.

Damn you Uncle Warren!

Great book though.