"Anthropologist of the absurd" and "brave iconoclast," M.A.C. Farrant positively bristles in this three-part novel-length work of prose fragments, snippets, questions, speculations, and meditations, by turns philosophical, dark, comedic, and lyrical in its attempts to imagine a multitude of possible futures for our accelerated age. It offers her readers nothing less than The Strange Truth About Us.M.A.C. Farrant is the acclaimed author of nine previous collections of satirical and humourous short fiction, and two works of non-fiction. Her work is infused with acerbic wit and innovation, and her surrealistic visions of everyday life are startlingly precise.

This novel-length prose work is by turns philosophical, dark, comedic, and lyrical in approach as it attempts to imagine a multitude of possible futures. It is comprised of three parts and approaches the subject from three different angles, as follows:1. Annotations About an Absence2. Woman Records Brief Notes Regarding Absence3. Other Prose Surrounding AbsencePart 1 is written as a series of numbered annotations (1-115) about the day-long conversation/meditations between a couple who are living in a gated community and who are attempting to create an imaginary novel in which they express their fears about the future:Annotation #5:We concoct a make-believe novel and a set of annotations in which...We attempt to express the universal confusion of mind that is the main feature of contemporary life.Which is?We are afraid.Part 2 is written as notes to the above annotations revealing (in the spirit of transparency) the author's sources/ideas/questions and provides a running and somewhat satiric narrative on the subject. For example:Note #4.Images found in works by Cormac McCarthy, JG Ballard, HG Wells, PD James; Matrix and Mad Max films; PBS Nature segment on rise of poisonous jelly fish in world's oceans; and content of wet Jehovah Witness pamphlet left on woman's doorstep take hold in woman's mind.Each "note" is written as if it were a description of a late-night TV movie; definite articles have been removed as much as possible.Part 3 is comprised of twenty-one prose pieces which are complimentary to Parts 1 & 2 and range in length from one page to twenty pages. Among other things, they take aim at the individual's existence in a globalized world wherein human existence is bludgeoned by the threat of "end times" - climate change, species extinction, pandemics, and really bad politics - insofar as we are able to retain our status as "individuals".This book is an attempt by this writer - along with other writers, thinkers, and observers - to prick the bubble of Western complacency in the face of the "awful atrocity" which is the current world. I would hope that the book, while unique in style and approach, is, nonetheless, readable, engaging, enigmatic, worthy of discourse, and could even be considered, in parts, delightful.