Why am I passionate about this?

I see no distinction between the personal and the political. All art is, therefore, a political act, and literature especially, since the author gets inside the reader's head. In 1984, the use of a pen is punishable, never mind having an unorthodox opinion; novels are written by machinesā€”commodities like jam or bootlaces, to pacify the proles. (A.I. novels outcompeting human ones?) Yes, novels entertain, and that's OK, but the best way to change your outlook is to let you understand the human condition a little better. That is why I want more from a political thriller than just the same old lies, corruption, sex, and power at the heart of government.


I wrote

All Measures Necessary

By S R Kay,

Book cover of All Measures Necessary

What is my book about?

A political thriller based on what might happen if a left-wing leader remained popular despite every smear and lie theā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Little Man, What Now?

S R Kay Why did I love this book?

I was blown away by this book: one of those books that makes you think differently about the world and stays with you. Your classical political thriller is set at the heart of government: the big cheeses and their power games; this, though, is about two ordinary (but exceptional!) young people and how the political climate of Weimar Germany and the rise of Nazism affected their lives.

I much prefer a book like this, about life and what it means to be human. The ā€œthrillerā€ aspect comes from your fear of what might happen and whether their love alone can pull them through. I loved the characters, both the main ones and the secondary ones.

By Hans Fallada, Michael Hofmann (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Little Man, What Now? as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the bestselling author of Alone in Berlin, his acclaimed novel of a young couple trying to survive life in 1930s Germany

'Nothing so confronts a woman with the deathly futility of her existence as darning socks'

A young couple fall in love, get married and start a family, like countless young couples before them. But Lammchen and 'Boy' live in Berlin in 1932, and everything is changing. As they desperately try to make ends meet amid bullying bosses, unpaid bills, monstrous mothers-in-law and Nazi streetfighters, will love be enough?

The novel that made Hans Fallada's name as a writer,ā€¦


Book cover of 1984

S R Kay Why did I love this book?

I keep returning to this and reading different things into it every time. As with Little Man, this is not the West Wing/Thick of It classic political thriller, but it is told from the perspective of an ordinary Joe. Unlike Little Man, where the political message is woven in seamlessly, 1984 is a full-on polemic written by a man with little time left in an attempt to shape opinion. It is, though, well-plotted and hangs together really well as a novel (barring the sections where Smith reads from the book).

Often read as an anti-communist allegory, I see it as so much more: sending us a warning against all who think only they are right, seeking to impose their will on others, be they autocrats like Putin, Trump, Xi Jinping, or Farage.

By George Orwell,

Why should I read it?

53 authors picked 1984 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU . . .

1984 is the year in which it happens. The world is divided into three superstates. In Oceania, the Party's power is absolute. Every action, word, gesture and thought is monitored under the watchful eye of Big Brother and the Thought Police. In the Ministry of Truth, the Party's department for propaganda, Winston Smith's job is to edit the past. Over time, the impulse to escape the machine and live independently takes hold of him and he embarks on a secret and forbidden love affair. As he writes the words 'DOWN WITH BIGā€¦


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Book cover of Pride's Children: Purgatory

Pride's Children by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt,

Prideā€™s Children is a captivating, contemporary story about love, regret, ambition, and obsession - with a glitzy backdrop. Closer examination reveals a textured and soul-searching novel that serves as a poignant reminder that we are defined by our choices - and their consequences. The treatment of an enigmatic and life-alteringā€¦

Book cover of Zed

S R Kay Why did I love this book?

This book made me think, reflect, and laugh (if a little unnervingly!). It is a quirky tale that warns us of threats to civil liberties from AI and corporate tech giants in a Hitch-hikers' Guide to the Galaxy meets 1984 way.

Some of the writing is lyrical and literary, sometimes perplexing and banal. I was not entirely convinced by the science behind the science-fiction elements, but that is perhaps allowed because of the Theatre of the Absurd approach the author takes.

By Joanna Kavenna,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Zed as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Fun and erudite' Sunday Times
'Snort-inducingly funny' Daily Mail
'One of the cleverest books you'll read this year' Telegraph

Every system, however immaculate, has a few little glitches.

The latest in domestic tech should have predicted that businessman George Mann was about to murder his family. But instead it crashes and leads to the wrong man being caught and punished.

Are there gremlins in digital giant Beetle's ubiquitous wearable tech, talking fridges and Dickensian droids? Have they been hacked, or is something even more sinister going on?

With the clock ticking philandering Beetle CEO Guy Matthias, conflicted national security agentā€¦


Book cover of A Very British Coup

S R Kay Why did I love this book?

This is more your standard genre political thriller: written from the perspective of a British Prime Minister and those pulling the political strings.

I really appreciated the insights the author brings, having been an observer of government machinations and an insider of the British Labour Party. I believe it has reflections for anyone interested in understanding the fragility of democracy.

I deliberately didn't read this until after I had written my book to avoid being influenced since there are parallel warnings about how the British Establishment has a stranglehold over real power and only plays lip service to the concept of democracy.

By Chris Mullin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Very British Coup as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Against the odds, former steel worker Harry Perkins has led the Labour party to a stunning victory. Now he's going to dismantle Britain's nuclear warheads, bring finance under public control and dismantle the media empires.

But the establishment isn't going down without a fight. As MI5 conspires with the city and press barons to bring Perkins down, he finds himself caught up in a no-holds-barred battle for survival.

Described as 'the political novel of the decade' when it was first published, A Very British Coup is as fresh and relevant now as it ever has been.


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Book cover of Liberty Bell and the Last American

Liberty Bell and the Last American by James Stoddard,

Americans love their Constitution. In seventeen-year-old Liberty Bellā€™s era it has become a myth. Centuries after the Great Blackout obliterates the world's digitized information, America's history is forgotten. Only confused legends remain, written in "The Americana," a book depicting a golden age where famous Americans from different eras existed together.ā€¦

Book cover of Rhinoceros and Other Plays

S R Kay Why did I love this book?

This play profoundly affected me (even though it only played out in my head and not on a real stage). It is both disturbing and moving. It is absurdist, but that nightmarish detachment from reality somehow sends an even stronger shock to the system in its warnings about how fascism takes hold: that strong human tendency towards social thinking (emerging neuroscience research suggests a substantial overlap between physical pain and social pain).

This is much more than just an allegory on authoritarianism, however. Recently, people have used it to explain how easily society gave up on a public health approach to the ongoing Covid pandemic. Maybe getting COVID-19 repeatedly and, at some point, eventually getting long-term COVID-19/turning into a Rhinoceros is not so bad?

By Eugene Ionesco, Derek Prouse (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rhinoceros and Other Plays as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Presents three dramatic works by the contemporary French experimental playwright.


Explore my book šŸ˜€

All Measures Necessary

By S R Kay,

Book cover of All Measures Necessary

What is my book about?

A political thriller based on what might happen if a left-wing leader remained popular despite every smear and lie the establishment and their media chums threw at them? What if he gained traction as the election approached because of a serious economic downturn, unrest in the country, and corruption revealed at the highest levels? What if the electorate started seeing him as an answer to their problems? How vicious would the right-wing and ultra-capitalist reaction be?

Unexpectedly, at the heart of a conspiracy is 30-year-old Health and Safety Inspector Mitch Miller, who falls in love with someone he shouldnā€™t and gets into very hot water. A modern-day Romeo and Juliet, facing car chases, murder, betrayal, kidnap, and the odd explosion.

Book cover of Little Man, What Now?
Book cover of 1984
Book cover of Zed

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