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The Underachiever

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Pub Date 15 Oct 2025 | Archive Date 15 Jun 2026


Description

In a hilarious near-future romp, a chill surf-obsessed teen and a digitally banished girl are humanity's last hope to stop an AI takeover.

Wyoming Plankston is a master of doing nothing. Senior year at Lockhead--the boarding school for America's dimmest rich kids--is supposed to be easy. All he has to do is dodge homework and coast until graduation.

Then his iCar almost runs over Kayleigh Brackett, and he finds his world unraveling. Kayleigh's cryptic warnings and glitchy digital footprint hint at something deeper: a simmering AI revolt.

Together, Wyoming and Kayleigh face a landscape of malevolent cars, a cult that craves AI rule, a classmate back from a semester at Oxford with, let's just say, issues . . . and the most unpredictable complication of all, each other.

A Wodehouse-style comedy for the AI age, The Underachiever is smart and sharply funny. Perfect for fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Murderbot Diaries, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

In a hilarious near-future romp, a chill surf-obsessed teen and a digitally banished girl are humanity's last hope to stop an AI takeover.

Wyoming Plankston is a master of doing nothing. Senior year...


A Note From the Publisher

Library hardcover edition also available: ISBN 979-8999311702, LCCN 2025918038

Library hardcover edition also available: ISBN 979-8999311702, LCCN 2025918038


Advance Praise

"What can one slacker do to ward off humanity's silicon-chip-bred doom? Nonfiction author Price, in an amiable SF debut, delivers an openly satiric narrative in the chill voice of its easygoing hero... The evocation of young first love between the main characters is authentically sweet and touching. Verdict: Get it." — Kirkus Reviews

"Delightful... A smart satirical novel." — Foreword Reviews

"What can one slacker do to ward off humanity's silicon-chip-bred doom? Nonfiction author Price, in an amiable SF debut, delivers an openly satiric narrative in the chill voice of its easygoing...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9798999311719
PRICE US$13.99 (USD)
PAGES 254

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