New Book Alert: The Email From God by Neil Stevenson; Talk To Text Style Highlights Immediacy in This Science Fiction Message From The Future

New Book Alert: The Email From God by Neil Stevenson; Talk To Text Style Highlights Immediacy in This Science Fiction Message From The Future

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If all of Earth gets an email from God then we will know that we all screwed up big time.

That's the premise behind The Email From God by Neil Stevenson, a Science Fiction novel in which a small group of people from the future send an important email from God to the past to create a better world and beat the secret society determined to stop it.

Brother and sister, Fahim and Amina Graham both work at CERN in 2046 and have a very ambitious plan. In 2023, the entire world, I mean everybody in the entire world, received an email from God telling Earth that humanity messed up and caused mass environmental destruction, endless wars, socioeconomic collapse, hate crimes, and terrorist acts. However, there is time to turn it around before it's too late. So God sends a list of 23 Commandments to follow. The Commandments include ways of saving the environment, improving the economy, obtaining good mental and physical health, and ending violence and prejudice.

Oh and if anyone has trouble with that, then they get hit with a massive headache. Not fatal but just enough to let everyone know that the deity means business. 

That's all well and good. Everything begins to improve.  To make sure of this positive outcome, Fahim, Amina, and their respective husbands Mattheo and Dorje create Hindsight which contains uploads of the email, news articles about the email and subsequent events tied to it, and instructions on how to implement these plans. Then they will send these uploads on a nanochip through a wormhole into the past for Readers of God's email to create this new and better future.

Unfortunately, not everyone is excited about this prospect. The Illuminati is still around (because we can't have a good Science Fiction conspiracy novel without a certain infamous organization). They have a plan to destroy the email, kill God's message, in effect kill God, and create a dystopian society in which they will emerge as rulers.

What is particularly brilliant about this novel is its writing style. There have been other works written mostly or almost entirely in email or text form, e by Matt Beaumont, The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot, Love Virtually by Daniel Glattaur, ttyl by Lauren Myracle, When You Read This by Mary Adkins among others. This is not a new format but in this context, it particularly works.

The Talk to Text Style throughout this book exacerbates the characters' sense of urgency and immediacy. They have an important message to share and need to get it sent. They are aware that they are constantly being observed and monitored by Illuminati members (some of whom they work for) and have to make sure that their uploads and God's email are properly uploaded. We don't have time for setting description, interior monologues, and other literary tropes. These protagonists are in a rush.

There are some suspenseful moments throughout the book in which the style really helps. For example, in one chapter two characters text each other and then a third enters the chat. It becomes clear that this person is not friendly and at odds with their plans. The two protagonists instantly switch to typical office chat and small talk.

A few other chapters feature the main characters listening in on the Illuminati's plans and becoming sickened by them. It's a heart thumping moment which reveals what could be lost in their current and former lives if they should fail.

The different fonts and writing styles are jarring at first but allow us to realize who is who, even giving us insights into their characters. Amina's font is very soft and curvy, like someone who weighs out her words and considers what to write. She writes long elegant phrases and summaries letting the world know what she, Fahim, and the others are doing so they can be heard and understood. She only stops once in a while to drop a casual informal reprimand to her brother revealing their close, loving, and teasing nature. She is the one chosen to write about and deliver the message.

In contrast, Fahim's font is short, dark, and concise. It is filled with grammatical errors and lower case nouns like someone in a hurry who doesn't have the time or interest to correct his writing. He is also prone to swearing and speaking out of turn showing his pride, quickness to anger, and impatience. However, he also writes in scientific terms and theories revealing his genius in the fields of science and physics. He is the one chosen to create the Hindsight program and the nanochip.

Rather than be a pessimistic book about the future, The Email From God shows a chance of hope. We don't have to turn Earth into a dystopia out of Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, and Atwood. We have options and choices. Instead of creating the worst, we can make a clear plan to make the world better.