The entire year is 2071. It is a world very recognizable to our own, only now america has implemented a wide-scale, government-run cloning system that is tied directly to medical health insurance. Each US resident has a “Duplicate” living separately in a cleared area in the Midwest. If an “Initial” is unwell or harmed and requires medical procedures, whatever he or she needs is extracted from their clone. In the two decades because the program’s inception, no individual outside the government has ever noticed their Duplicate or been in the Clearances, and no clone has ever effectively escaped-until now.

The Bradbury Survey is a remarkable meditation on the worst and the best that individuals can handle being a race and society. It is a powerful work of speculative fiction, wonderfully written, about love, identity, free of charge will, ageing, and intelligence that will linger with you lengthy after reading.