Fatocracy

Being Fit Comes with a Bizarre Punishment...

By: Robert Sefer

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Global warming turned most of Earth into a barren desert. With industrial-scale farming and animal husbandry no longer possible, humanity nearly went extinct—only enough people remained to populate a single city. At the last minute, scientists created a fully synthetic food product. It kept people alive, but at a terrible price: it had the side effect of making everyone obese.

Far from the city, a secret enclave still thrives on real, natural food. They are fit, free… and unknown to the rest of the world.

Until one day the obese majority discovers them. Those who refuse to integrate into the city’s society—which means eating the artificial food and becoming overweight—face a bizarre punishment: a new technology periodically forces them to “lend” their fit bodies to people who have become immobile due to extreme obesity.

The story is set in the 24th century, in the obese society of Earth’s only city. Its main character, a young man about to turn eighteen, suffers the effects of the synthetic food far more than his peers: he is much more obese than average, and it’s likely that he will soon become immobile. But just in time, he discovers the shocking truth: not everyone in the world is obese…
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Robert Sefer, who has long struggled with his weight, wrote Fatocracy as a form of self-therapy. He wove into the novel the thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes and inner turmoil of someone who desperately wants to lose weight but feels it is impossible. Writing the story gave him the strength to persevere during crises and to avoid abandoning his diet and regaining lost weight. He now feels it is time for the book to help others.

The novel’s metaphors and allegories, and the deeper psychological motivations behind the characters’ actions, will likely be best understood by readers who know what it is like to struggle with weight issues. But to the general audience, Fatocracy also works as a dystopian sci-fi novel.