Every Once in a while, we get a book that marks a departure from the conventional trend and breaks stereotypes.

Shankar Ananth’s ‘Utopia: The Next Step In Human Evolution’ is just that – a breakaway science fiction story that’ll serve as a major refresher to those currently binging on Dan Brown and Cixin Liu.

Shankar is a consulting professional who usually is found exploring coffee in different joints across Bangalore, perhaps with a book in his hand. Drowning himself in fantasy, fiction and dystopian themes from the remotest corners of the library, Shankar had always kept his passion for reading and writing brilliantly complicated stories close to him. He was even the editor for a small-time magazine for a while. But the idea of writing a full-fledged novel hit him when he was exploring Orwell and his arguments. He combined this with a new concept he had read up on- Lucid dreaming.

But in a country where most readers are yet to warm up to the idea of science fiction, it required a stronger conviction and a belief in the product like Utopia to help it through its journey. Enter The Book Bakers, one of India’s premier literary agencies that helped Shankar make modifications to his book and get him his first publishing contract with Locksley Hall Publishing LLP.

“The entire journey of seeing my book through to fruition suddenly became much simpler and exciting when The Book Bakers and Locksley Hall came in,” says Shankar on his journey from writing to getting published.

The recently launched book is garnering rave reviews across Amazon and Goodreads.

UTOPIA: THE NEXT STEP IN HUMAN EVOLUTION

Utopia’s plot takes the reader through a maze of intertwined stories, each seemingly independent at first, congregating rather unexpectedly towards the fag end of the book. At the heart of these four stories are four characters, one more different than the other, with one common underlying search: one for happiness, or utopia.

The unifying factor for these stories though is something that has a much larger arc, and something that touches upon philosophical ideas that have traditionally been the domain of western writers. The ideas of technological singularity (when technological growth becomes irreversible and leads to consequences for humanity), the evolution of man, and the limits on humanity feature quite prominently.

The lines between the conventionally good and potentially sinister have been significantly blurred, and choosing one side over the other may not prove to be the simplest of tasks.

But perhaps the most prominent question the story tries to delve into is whether or not short-term human costs are a viable trade-off for long-term benefits. If it can be argued that some human suffering today can elevate human life by a significant measure in the future is that something that can pass the test of humanity’s moral and ethical standards?

Utopia is a story of wonder, bewilderment, bravado, grit, and most importantly, of survival. The idea is best summed up by these words from the book: “God had clearly intended something different when he thought of humans. The purpose cannot merely be survival!”