Circular Motion
One of The Guardian's Best Sci-Fi Books for 2025
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
'Sparky writing, clever plotting and biting wit [spin] an excellent tale' GUARDIAN, BOOKS OF THE YEAR
The acceleration of Earth's spin begins gradually. At first, days are just a few seconds shorter than normal. Awareness of the mysterious phenomenon hasn't reached Tanner, a young man who flees his Alaskan hometown to work at CWC, a corporation which runs a network of massive aircraft that orbit the Earth, allowing people to visit Paris for an evening or order sushi from Japan. But a wave of social unrest presents challenges for CWC.
That unrest sweeps up Winnie. A high school outcast, she falls in with a group of teen activists who blame the company for the planet's acceleration. As days on Earth quicken to twenty-three hours, then twenty, the sun rising and setting ever faster, causing violent storms and political meltdowns, Tanner and Winnie's stories spiral closer together.
Three-hour days. Two-hour days . . .
A propulsive exploration of capitalism, technology, and our place within a system that dwarfs us, Circular Motion is one of the most ingenious debut novels of our time.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Foster combines climate-change parable and science fiction in his exciting debut, in which Earth's rotation gradually speeds up. Tanner Kelly, a 20-year-old looking to escape small-town Alaska, reaches out to Victor Bickle, an engineer who grew up in the same small town. Victor offers Tanner a job as his assistant at Circumglobal Westward Circuit Group (CWC), operator of a rapid air travel program (flights from the U.S. to Europe only take an hour), which some are blaming for the world's gradually shortening days. Meanwhile, 15-year-old loner Winnie Pines, who hails from the same Alaskan town as Tanner and Victor and now lives in San Francisco, joins a group of protesters bemoaning CWC's lack of service to rural and remote communities. As the novel progresses, a hurricane strikes San Francisco, buildings all over the planet start to tilt toward the equator, and Tanner and Winnie eventually cross paths. While the premise is similar to Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles, Foster shines in his condemnation of corporations and their eagerness to deflect attention away from their role in the climate crisis. Fans of gleeful and unflinching satire will find plenty to love.
