The original novel was published in 2017.
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY meets 1984. In the near-future, all decision-making is automated, until one man makes a brazen choice of his own, with global consequences.
Welcome to QualityLand, the best country on Earth. Here, a universal ranking system determines the social advantages and career opportunities of every member of society. An automated matchmaking service knows the best partners for everyone and helps with the break up when your ideal match (frequently) changes. And the foolproof algorithms of the biggest, most successful company in the world, TheShop, know what you want before you do and conveniently deliver to your doorstep before you even order it.
In QualityCity, Peter Jobless is a machine scrapper who can't quite bring himself to destroy the imperfect machines sent his way, and has become the unwitting leader of a band of robotic misfits hidden in his home and workplace. One day, Peter receives a product from TheShop he absolutely, positively knows he does not want, and which he decides, at great personal cost, to return. The only problem: doing so means proving the perfect algorithm of TheShop wrong, calling into question the very foundations of QualityLand itself.
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Marc-Uwe Kling
Marc-Uwe Kling (born 1982 in Stuttgart) is a German songwriter, author, and Kabarett (political stand-up comedy) artist. He studied philosophy and drama at Freie Universität Berlin.
Since 2003, Kling regularly performs on various stages in Berlin. Frequently, he performs at literary and Kabarett events as well as poetry slams. In 2004, he founded a serial public literary event called Lesedüne (a pun made of the German words Lesebühne, "lecture stage", and Düne, "dune"). Since 2005, Kling tours with his program Wenn alle Stricke reißen, kann man sich nicht mal mehr aufhängen (If all ropes snap, you can't even hang yourself anymore), which is also the title of his first album. Every first Tuesday of the month, he organizes and hosts the Kreuzberg Slam in the Lido (formerly Kato) location, and every first Wednesday the Poetry Slam of Studentisches Kulturzentrum in Potsdam.
