Numbercaste

Described as “Black Mirror meets the Circle meets 1984” by fans, Numbercaste is an award-winning debut that looks out into an all-too-possible future - a future that’s being built even as you read this.

When Patrick Udo is offered a job at NumberCorp, he packs his bags and goes to the Valley. After all, the 2030s are a difficult time, and jobs are rare. Little does he know that he’s joining one of the most ambitious undertakings of his time or any other.NumberCorp, crunching through vast amounts of social network data, is building a new society - one where everyone’s social circles are examined, their activities quantified, and their importance distilled into the all-powerful Number. A society where the artist is as important as the billionaire. Where those with influence are rewarded, and those without, punished. As NumberCorp rises in power and in influence, the questions start coming in. What would you do to build the perfect state? And how far is too far?

”.. a fascinating work of science fiction…feels like a historical artefact from a future that could be. It broadens what science fiction is capable with the tools it has to inquiry and speculate.” - Camestros Felapton

Numbercaste did very well for being a debut launched out of nowhere - it briefly hit the #1 spot in hard science fiction on Amazon, was discussed on Huffpost, the Sunday Times and Factor Daily twice. It also gave my my first agent (Kanishka Gupta) and publishing deal (with HarperCollins), and was later optioned for film by Endemol Shine. That latter was very much a footnote in the vast world of Indian media, but for a first effort, Numbercaste gave me wings.

For notes on the process of writing Numbercaste, see here. This note was written immediately after the book was published for the first time; I keep it here as a record of change.