They Is Us

They Is Us
Tama Janowitz

Oryx & Crake meets Douglas Coupland. An unforgettable vision of the future of America.Years from now America finds itself split between the rich and the poor. The haves live in luxury within the small regions that remain unpolluted while the have-nots inhabit a toxic suburbia full of terrorism, crime and genetic mutations.Perhaps not all that different from today then?They Is Us tells the story of one family from the poor side as they go about their daily lives. Julie has a job as a summer intern at an animal laboratory. She can't resist taking home the discarded mutants and her house is filled with genetic cast offs. Her mother, Murielle, has kicked out her stepfather and now, seemingly from nowhere, finds herself subject to the attentions of multi-millionaire businessman A.J.M. Bishrop. Bishrop is only dating Murielle because he wants to get Julie's underage sister Tahnee into bed.Just your typical American family story.Set against a backdrop of increasingly invasive technology, growing pollution and the President of the USA's impending gay marriage (to be broadcast live across the nation) They Is Us features a cast of unforgettable characters that will stick in your mind long after you finish the book.Tama Janowitz has written a prophetic novel which is funny, and frequently hilarious, but is so uncannily believable that it is chilling to read. This really could be the future.

THEY IS US

A cautionary horror story

Tama Janowitz

Copyright (#ulink_6d5438e1-b89b-59ef-88c3-b9ea77170d61)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

The Friday Project

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

Copyright © Tama Janowitz 2008

Tama Janowitz asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9781906321307

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN 9780007380954

Version: 2016-10-05

Dedication (#ulink_73568877-89b3-56db-8a7c-1b837e44771c)

To Fay Weldon and Nick Fox

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

Walt Kelly, poster caption for World Earth Day, 1973

Epigraph (#ulink_1e481d28-3b21-5fc6-9ebe-c9db707f58d7)

The Small Loaf of an Artist in Society

Two chihuahuas have tiny pillowcases

pulled over their heads with holes

cut out for eyes and noses.

Are they members of the Ku Klux Klan?

We do not know. Only, they must

itchy in this warm dampness,

this summer sprinkled with peppery

flies over the ash can of our lives.

What has blighted the stout cart-

puller, the homebody, the watch cur,

Beware of the Dog, a sign

leading to reticence in strangers.

All is changed, deranged and gone,

even slouches have a political

roll to fill. This is not a country

for old schnauzers or dull doubters

who muddle and fiddle and refuse

to remember the name of the street

they live on simply because they’ve

changed address once too often

and their furniture grows

molds and fungi in a warehouse

in Walla-Walla Washington. Changes!

Get used to them! Some young rabble

rouser keeps yelling in the parking

lot on Twenty-Third street, where