Sharing Air (Penguin Petit)

Picture living in a world that has you constantly tethered to an oxygen tank, covered from head to toe in a body suit and buying dated air that you can sniff without your head gear on for cheap thrills. A world where the elders tell their children stories about the time their ancestors lived and breathed through an air cocktail—like savages! As if it wasn't already hard living in a world like this, imagine having to go through the pressure of attending "sharing air" parties that everyone seems to be going to these days. Apparently, membership at The ToxiClub society is at an all-time high. Whether or not you believe you can handle the ToxiClub, "Sharing Air" is a fascinating glimpse into a world that's scarily plausible. Science fiction offers a writer an opportunity to go directly to the heart of an ironical or thought-provoking situation and by setting up this theoretical world, Manjula Padmanabhan hits the nail right on the head with equal literary aplomb.