“I had only one rule – nothing is sacred …” Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington on Omnviolence

From authors Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington (under the pseudonym combined Gareth Jones) New novel of science action, Omnviolet He tells the story of Jackson Cross, who kills foreigners with nothing but a drone and a computer in exchange for the crypt – all in his mother’s basement.

When his reports are glittered and is tied at the top of the most popular scaffolding, Jackson is evacuated from his virtual comfort zone and forced to run.

Meanwhile, Joseph “Bones” Carboni is a Hitman of the Mafia from the old schools, with a lot of demons and a big problem: he has developed a consciousness. When he was in charge of killing Jackson, fifteen years old, Joe Breaks is rank. Now he has to decide if the hero’s game is worth having a target on his own.

Attacked from all sides and struggling to survive in a world in which your older neighbor or an angry child on social networks can be your horse, neither Joe nor Jackson realize that they have been confused in a global power that could change what it means to be human.

We were sitting with Stu Jones and Gareth Worthington to find out more about their novel, Cyberpunk aesthetics and what came next …

Omniviolent It presents a world in which violence is not only inevitable, but systemic – what has inspired this concept and how does our own society reflect today?

Gareth Worthington: The initial premise came from an article of èmile P. Torres, an American philosopher, intellectual historian and activist whose research focuses on eschatology, existential risk and human disappearance. The article discusses “omniviolence”, a term created by Dr. Daniel Deudney of the University of Johns Hopkins, who describes non-state actors who have access to mass destruction weapons such as nuclear weapons. Torres mentions how the term could mean more now, when the democratization of technology has offered everyone everywhere the ability to cause damage to a button. As we aim for the social division to grow, social networks pouring fuel on fire, the ability to act with a fatal race is too real.

Stu Jones: Think about the last time you analyzed comments about anything – Social Media, YouTube, a news article – the uncontrolled ugliness and cruelty you will find that there are outside the tops. We are in the middle of an era of unprecedented technological advancement, as well as extreme social intolerance. What happens when these things intersect? What does the world look like when it becomes socially and technologically viable to kill someone on the planet simply because of a difference of opinions? This is the terrifying world of omniviolence. And it’s on our door.

Your novel combines Cyberpunk aesthetics with hard philosophical questions. How did you balance the explosive action with the intellectual depth?

Gareth: I think this is the place where the collaboration between Stu and I really shines. We play at our strengths. I had a very strong sense of what I wanted to “say”. I am a scientist training and looking at life through an evolutionary lens. I am also a voracic reader of books on social construction from authors such as Yuval Harari. In his work line, Stu is a hero of real life action that lives and breathes bloody hatred in real life. We discovered this combination when we wrote our first collaboration novel: It takes death to reach a star. Stu, would you agree?

Stu: One hundred percent. It is interesting to mention Cyberpunk, because the tropes of that genre have always fascinated me and have led to the creation of my own serial point, Area. I never really considered Cyberpunk omniviolent, but it is aligned with many of the classic “high, low -life trope” found in gender. Regarding the balancing of explosive action and intellectual depth, that’s what we do with me too! I like to believe that we got enough to honor that balance on four novels and a decade to work together.

Omniviolence is credited for Jones Worthington, you have both books written under your name. How did the writing process different for you as a collaboration?

Stu: Creatively, I feel like Big Bang when I write solo. A huge explosion of ideas followed by a overwhelming wave of possibilities. It can be a purposeless touch and sometimes I can feel lost in the construction of the world and the vastness of a project. Gareth is the scalpel for my creative explosion. He has a way to honor things in a sharp razor point and double to make sure that everything is plausible and supported by the scientific theory and the explanation in the real world. What we do together should not work – but it does!

Gareth: I like to write with Stu. It is organic. He writes one character and I the other, in alternative chapters. I really get to experience how his character reacts and sees the world. Makes him authentic. Sometimes I will not know how the character sees or even how his character sees mine. It is a technique that we have done on several books together, and now it is almost boring to write on my own!

In the story there is a powerful socio-political subcursions. Were there events or movements in the real world to directly influence your writing?

Gareth: This book lasted three years from the beginning to the end; To write, edit and be published. The world was beginning to bend in a direction, and Stu and I played on it. We looked at the online vitriol and we imagined if this actually happened in real life. Anonymous can lead to significant cruelty. Initially, it was only text on a screen. However, the progress of technology allows such actions to happen in reality, when pressing a button.

What was frightening are our predictions in real life. Killing a CEO of the company for thundering applause, drones becoming the main means of war, an online beef moving on the streets, crypto becoming a forehead currency and even a human relationship that led to suicide. I’m sure Stu gets to see him first in his job …

Stu: We really wanted to avoid “taking parts” while writing this story. Gareth and I are on the opposite parts of the political aisle so in writing Omniviolent I had only one rule – nothing is sacred. From the beginning we intended to make a shot at everyone, which is why we say our trigger warning Enter here (all triggers). We want the reader to know that he will probably meet something that could sting and, in feeling that bite, he can realize how ridiculous we can all be.

Your world construction is incredibly immersive. Can you share the process for building such a detailed and brutal future?

Stu: World construction is always something I like. Is the question of a single question – what happens if? And then seeing what blooms from that seed. Very often I feel surprised by what is developing and how terribly real it may seem. The world of Omniviolent It’s an excellent example. When Gareth and I work together, the world construction is almost always founded in a scary scientific theory or that bend the mind. Okay, Gareth?

Gareth: Correct! I took a lot of clues from a scientific experiment called Universse25, carried out in the late 1960s/early 70s. The experiment was designed to analyze overpopulation in mice, offering as much space and resources to allow a number. But scientists have seen that the mouse population has never reached its peak; Instead, it collapsed earlier with the breakdown of social norms. The mice forgot how to mouse. You had groups of mice, fighting, some who only care about pretentious, but do not engage in social activities, mothers who abandoned their young people. It was fascinating to draw comparisons with our own social groups in the Western world, which is probably closest to utopia in human existence.

Omniviolent Explores the topics of rebellion and resistance. Do you see your protagonists as heroes, antheroi or something between them?

Stu: I wrote Joe “Bones” Carboni and Svanire, both types of scary mafia. Joe is definitely an anthero. It is a small cliché to use the old Hitman with consciousness. But in this case, it really works. Joe is a criminal and he is good at what he does, but as a samurai, he also has a code. There are lines that it will not cross. This allows the reader to see Joe’s humanity as he strives to see something good in the world – and he is at the young Jackson where he is looking for him. On the other hand, Svanire is a truly contemptuous bastard. Gareth and I knew in any other book our protagonists will be the bastard – so “Big Bad”, so to speak, had to be really awful.

Gareth: So I wrote Jackson and Anja. For me, Jackson is not an anti-hero or even a hero, but the inevitable product of the society I predicted/created in the novel. What I have tried to do with his journey is a presentation that his environment was modeled and with a small direction, his vision of the world Maybe Alter – but that, in the end, his personality is what he is. There are a lot of research on the idea that psychopaths have played a role to play in historical societies in which violence and attack was more common. I needed someone violent and unwavering to do the things that others could not. Anja, on the other hand, thinks of the hero himself. She tries to restore the order and only wants peace – without making the costs. And this is the other point that I wanted to explore: essentially, in our search for peace and equality, do we involuntarily delete what people do to us?

If Omniviolent They were adapted to a film or series, who would you imagine in the main roles and what director would it best surprise?

Gareth: As for a director, I would like someone like Neill Blomkamp, ​​as it creates great movies using SCI-Fi to explore social themes. I could see Seth Carr as Jackson.

Stu: Sylvester Stallone would be a great bone and I think Paul Bettany would make an amazing task. I also totally agree with the Blomkamp. Love her work.

What are you reading now?

Stu: I am currently reading A boy and his dog at the end of the world like Fletcher. It is a heart and emotional exploration of human nature (and our love for good dogs).

Gareth: Oh that always puts me in difficulty. I read mainly non-fiction. So, I read Tehofudalism: What has killed capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis and First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mamuatiand Myth in the Greek and Roman times by Mayor Adrienne. These may seem to be two heads of a spectrum, but both are related to one of my solo projects.

What next for you?

Gareth: So, this will make me sound extremely ADHD, but I have several development projects: a co-author horror with another friend of mine; a solo novel that connects the ancient Greece to Crispr (gene editing technology); And a common book with Stu – which is themed quite far from what I just wrote – in honor of a mutual friend who has glioblastoma.

Stu: So many projects, so little time! Currently wraps changes on the second book of AreaMy Cyberpunk saga, as well as jumping in a new project with Gareth. Should be a little more hearty than Omniviolent. Beyond that I will start a second book in my superhero series, Shred (super humanoids for recognition, espionage and defense).

Omniviolence is now. Read our review here and Buy it here on Kindle