Thanks so much to all of those who on reading the book have shared their thoughts and reflections, some on Amazon, some on Goodreads and some personally. I really appreciate the lengths you have gone to letting me know your reactions to the book.

Now and again an interesting view comes up (just twice so far) that some of the plot of Surplus to Requirements is 'fantastical' or 'implausible'. Such reactions made me smile.

I'm a Christian writer. I believe that two thousand years ago a man rose from the dead. Is that plausible? Many folks these days think not. So is it plausible to have a novel, that is to say fiction and dystopia, written by one with such a world view that is completely plausible if it is trying to communicate some things that for many people already look implausible.

Some Christians believe that the bread and wine of the Eucharist are actually transformed into the body and blood of Jesus during the liturgy. Is that plausible? My ancestors were unsure. They kept some of the language but gave believers rooms for interpretation. Much of the Christian faith is like that. So how would you write about that in the 21st century?

At first I thought perhaps it was the naming of the characters in the book that was implausible. There's the saints of the North particuarly the Celtic ones, the odd nod to Postman Pat and Fireman Sam (beloved characters from childhood) or the idea that Lola drives a steam train. Surely fiction. Surely therefore exempt from being plausible as the rest of fiction must be.

I mean, do muggles and wizards interact, do cars follow steam trains over concrete Bob's viaduct in flight? Are these plausible? Could the reproductive rights of women in North America be eroded such that women become sex slaves to degenerate men who are desperate to copulate with any to retain their control over the human race? Pausible?

Hold it. Look around you. Can you name a country in which a repressive regime has currently fixed it so women are not allowed education, health care or employment, access to the internet or to choose their own clothing? If you cannot name this country then I suggest you have a long hard look at yourself.

Surplus to Requirements is dystopia and so possibly implausible, except that it's not. The clues are all out there. And it you have not yet made mines out of chutney, give it time.

Janet Lees in Longdendale, 9th October 2025