In a world where every word and gesture is copyrighted, patented or trademarked, one girl elects to remain silent rather than pay to speak, and her defiant and unexpected silence threatens to unravel the very fabric of society.
Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks (“Sorry” is a flat ten dollars and a legal admission of guilt), for every nod ($0.99/sec), for every scream ($0.99/sec) and even every gesture of affection. She’s been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can’t begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she’s unable to afford.
But when Speth’s friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family’s crippling debt, she can’t express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Backed into a corner, Speth finds a loophole: rather than read her speech—rather than say anything at all—she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again. Speth’s unexpected defiance of tradition sparks a media frenzy, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps, and threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.
All Rights Reserved
Gregory Scott Katsoulis
GREGORY SCOTT KATSOULIS is a writer, teacher, artist and goofball. He is in love with ideas and possibility When he is not writing, he composes incidental music, enjoys taking photographs of faces, debunking bunk and confounding children by teaching them about black holes, time-travel paradoxes and the hilarious fallibility of human memory. He lives in the lovely and stimulating Cambridge, Massachusetts.
You can visit his website at
www.gregorykatsoulis.com for occasional thought updates.
“A chilling, unnerving, and timely debut novel
about what it means to speak out, even in silence.”
—Katharine McGee, New York Times bestselling author
of The Thousandth Floor
The speech in my hand had no words of comfort or mention of Beecher. I couldn’t say how I felt about his death; I wasn’t allowed to speak other words.
Suddenly, a tide of rage coursed through me. My hands seemed to burn. I crumpled the speech into a ball and threw it as hard as I could toward the highway. It fell uselessly into the astonished crowd, not even a quarter as far as I’d imagined it would go. Gasps rose all around.
Everyone knew what came next. I would be one of those few pathetic kids you see on the news who squeak out a few words of protest before being carted off. Then, suddenly, another option blossomed in my mind. I seized it, because it was a choice—my choice—and one I’d never heard anyone suggest or seen anyone do.
I put a shaking thumb and finger to the corner of my mouth and drew my hand slowly across. I made the sign of the zippered lips—a rare gesture still in the public domain—and I silently vowed I would never speak again.
For Jenn & Evia and all our words.
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