All Driving Rocket Ships
Bander Snatch
By Kevin O'Donnell, Jr.
17 Oct, 2021
Because My Tears Are Delicious To You
1979’s Bander Snatch was Kevin O’Donnell, Jr.’s debut science fiction novel.
Thanks to off-world resources, 22ndcentury Earth is a paradise … mostly. Most folks in this semiperfect society live in no-coms, small communities that are marvels of conformity and uniformity. There are few opportunities for social friction between dissimilar groups. There has been nothing like a proper war since 2063.
No-coms have no place for misfits. The tiny fraction of people unable to adapt to modern life are consigned to places like Federal Dependents Resettlement Area Number Three. If they are particularly unlucky, they may end up in the ruins of Townships 19, 20, 24, and 25, which are still largely unreconstructed after the food riots of 2128. Thanks to agreements that made sense back in 2128, they are still under the control of what are perhaps best called war lords.
Twenty-two-year-old Bander Snatch is one such war lord.