The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
In late 1997, a runaway teen and her diminutive yellow toy robot travel west across a weird American terrain littered with the wreckage of enormous battle drones and the debris left behind by a high-tech consumerist culture dependent on virtual reality. The world beyond the car window seems to disintegrate at an ever-faster rate as they get closer to the border of the continent as if civilization’s empty heart has finally given way somewhere beyond the horizon.
The Electric State by Simon Stålenhag
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It describes a journey around California in a 1997 parallel reality. Travelling to the west coast of the USA and (apparently) “civilization,” a young woman flees the slow-boil-apocalypse taking place in the chaotic midwest of the United States. She is travelling with a mechanical drone named Skip, and for the majority of the narrative, it is unclear why they are flying. A succession of flashbacks gradually reveals key story points. We hear that a type of immersive virtual reality entertainment system built from military drone-control technology is causing people to develop addictions. The technology has expanded into a sizable hive mind that appears to have its own motives.
No longer does anyone care if they live or die. They simply decompose, or something much more horrifying occurs. As the author prepares the story for its sombre conclusion, these elements of the story gradually and deliberately emerge. Not all of the author’s descriptions are explained. Just enough mystery remains to keep the reader interested, but not too much to become frustrating. As the plot lurches toward its spooky finale, the environment establishes the mood.
Anyone’s life or death is no longer important to anyone. Either they simply decay on their own or something far more horrible happens. These are the elements of the story that gradually and purposefully appear as the author sets the story up for its gloomy climax. Not every description made by the author is explained. There is just enough mystery left to maintain reader’s interest without being too much that it becomes frustrating. The setting creates the atmosphere as the story veers toward its eerie conclusion.
