A wealthy new mother drowning in postpartum depression signs on for a black-market body enhancement—but when she starts sprouting leaves instead of confidence, her transformation becomes everybody's business but her own.
In 2043, Pamela just wants to stop feeling like shit.
Enter U++, a new black-market gene therapy, that fills her with promises of a genetically enhanced 'best self.' The horrifying discovery? Pam's biology has very different ideas about what constitutes self improvement...
As the grotesque transformation accelerates, her desperate husband Mark sees opportunity: why not document his wife's metamorphosis as an unscripted show? With their finances crashing, a new baby to support, and the future-Texas heat literally killing people, exploiting Pam's condition (through the art of reality TV) might be their only path to survival.
A savage satire of late-stage capitalism, reality television, and our obsession with self-improvement, "A Modern Growth" asks: when everything is content, what's left of being human?
“A beautifully expressed commentary on the human condition...moves the story forward unhurriedly with all of the horror, banality, absurdity and humor of life”
“Of all the indie books I have read so far, this is easily my favorite.”
“Graham takes the reader on a surreal odyssey through broken marriages, sexual frustration and dystopian satire with the blunt caustic wit of Romero and the energy of a caffeinated madman.”
Perfect for fans of Jeff VanderMeer, Ottessa Moshfegh, and David Cronenberg.
“It was just realistic enough to induce fear about the near future and fantastical enough to protect my sanity.”
Darkly comic and deeply human, "A Modern Growth" branches into territory both hilarious and horrifying.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Holland Graham makes films and television in Houston, Texas, where the heat makes everyone a little crazy. He writes weird fiction, watches bad horror movies, and chases around a four-year-old who already has better taste than he does. He thinks Norm MacDonald was a genius and that reality TV hasn’t gotten dystopian enough yet.
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