Set in the years after the "Age of F****d-Up Sh*t," Blueprints of the Afterlife gives us a dystopic near-future of unchecked consumption and technological innovation. Designated "pharmers" are paid to grow foreign tissues on their bodies. Human nervous systems can be healed, stimulated and remotely controlled through an easily abused technology called the "Bionet." And New York City, long since destroyed, is being re-created on Bainbridge Island, near Seattle.
This sounds sinister, but Ryan Boudinot's (author of the novel Misconception and the story collection The Littlest Hitler) delightfully weird characters and wacky scenarios prove Blueprints aims more to entertain than disturb. The plot, a bit overburdened by Boudinot's inexhaustible imagination, revolves around Abby Fogg, who is having what can be delicately described as an identity crisis. Meanwhile, champion dishwasher Woo-jin Kan, dim but sincere, is writing a book called "How to Love People," while genetically engineered superstar Neethan Jordan walks a red carpet from Los Angeles to the Oregon Coast, and Al Skinner, an aging veteran, has erased the worst of his memories--but still has a mean case of post-traumatic stress disorder.
A mysterious interview with the man who innocently brought on the Age of F****d-Up Sh*t, transcribed in pieces, helps illuminate the connection between the characters, though the reader can relate to Abby, who "yearned for a plot, but instead absurdity after absurdity had been thrown at her, absurdities that alluded to obscure purposes." Boudinot's "purposes" may be murky, but the absurdities are cleverly crafted and highly entertaining. --Hannah Calkins, Unpunished Vice