Fiction can provide the most profound, incisive truths about the absurdities of our reality. In his most recent novel, Venomous Lumpsucker, Ned Beauman, a master of finding the humor and the fantastical in even the most devastating facets of human nature, has crafted a chilling—and deeply funny—look into what our future relationship with animals might hold. Imagining a not-so-distant future world, in which ‘extinction credits’ allow companies to eradicate entire species for a minor cost, Beauman’s novel explores where complacency and indolent market approaches to saving the world’s biodiversity might lead. In the process, through the voices of his two engaging protagonists, Beauman explores the depths of humans’ relationship to animals, and what cost, or even penance, we should pay for the eradication of Earth’s miraculous biodiversity. In our latest episode, Beauman tells us about his career-long fascination with the systems that entrap us, how animal conservation became the centerpiece for his book, and the future implications of humanity’s self-centered perception of consciousness and worth.
