A review by Keith Farnish

Among the sorrow and the wonder, there is a moment in All of The Above that takes a bewildering concept and clarifies it to the level of absurd simplicity. “Our efforts to keep things going as they are just keep in place the very things that are killing us.” Did you know that? The culture of Industrial Civilization is a culture of denial. Good writing transcends any amount of cultural bullshit we are fed. The best writers of science fiction, for that is what All of The Above clearly is, simultaneously tell stories about the imagination and about the cold, hard reality we find ourselves in but rarely acknowledge. Kurt Vonnegut knew this; Douglas Adams knew this; Isaac Asimov knew this.

Timothy Scott Bennett knows this. Two things are evident from Bennett’s first attempt at creating a published work of fiction beyond the cracking yarn he weaves, one that I clung to, despite the obvious slowing down of everything else I had to be getting on with. First, we have to start somewhere: the writing is not without its flaws and the author takes a couple of chapters to really find his stride. The effort is ultimately rewarded with a galloping narrative and moments of unquestionable beauty, love even. But that initial learning process is most definitely present – maybe that was intentional; maybe we are all learning with the author. Second, Timothy Scott Bennett is TS Bennett, writer and director of the film documentary What A Way To Go: Life at the End of Empire. There are things he wants to say and say them he is going to do, whatever it takes. As fellow travellers we start to empathise with the book’s main protagonists, and not surprisingly may struggle to absorb the lessons given on parts of the journey, just as President Linda Travis struggles to take on board the reality she and the rest of the civilized world have become disconnected from.

So it is clear All of The Above is by no means a comfortable ride; but it is a thrilling and a moving one. The book contains more than a few glimpses of a very fine writing talent which no doubt will truly flourish in subsequent volumes. Taken as a single work, though, All of The Above is an important piece of a larger and vital body being assembled by some of the most perceptive minds of the modern world. And what’s not to like about an alien contemplating a French Fry?