Marc-Uwe KlingMarcUweKling

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QualityLand

What if the perfect world wasn't built for you?

QualityLand – What if the perfect world wasn't built for you?

Welcome to QualityLand, the best country on Earth. Here, a universal ranking system determines the social advantages and career opportunities of every member of society. An automated matchmaking service knows the best partners for everyone and helps with the break up when your ideal match (frequently) changes. And the foolproof algorithms of the biggest, most successful company in the world, TheShop, know what you want before you do and conveniently deliver to your doorstep before you even order it.

One day, Peter Jobless receives a product from TheShop that he absolutely, positively knows he does not want, and which he decides, at great personal cost, to return. The only problem: doing so means proving the perfect algorithm of TheShop wrong, calling into question the very foundations of QualityLand itself.


“A hilarious romp through an absurd hypercapitalist dystopia…This is spot-on satire.”
Publishers Weekly

“How much you enjoy this is in direct proportion to how much trouble you think we’re all in. Sleep tight.”
Kirkus Reviews

“Kling’s sharp observations target the economy, the law, xenophobia, relationships, security, and government, sparing few and exposing with delightful brutality how close QualityLand is to reality.”
Booklist, STARRED review!

"Eerily prescient and peppered with near-future projections (including the cryogenic resurrection of Jennifer Aniston), QualityLand reads like the best Black Mirror episode as written by Kurt Vonnegut. Kling delivers scythe-sharp satire, steering us through a hysterical dystopian adventure of technological determinism, all while skewering consumer culture, politics, free will, and making me rethink my relationship with my Roomba. Witty, wise, and terrifyingly funny, QualityLand is a genius gem and an absolute must read. I laughed my phone off.”
Kira Jane Buxton, author of Hollow Kingdom

QualityLand is the best kind of satire, offering up a funhouse mirror version of our world that is so smart and so cutting, you have to laugh to keep from crying.”
Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse

"The times we live in demand a satire as sharp and unrelenting as QualityLand. The funniest parts will make you cringe. But rather than merely beat the reader over the head with doom and gloom, this novel goes further, showing the value of endurance and even hope in an age of emptiness.”
Robert Repino, author of D’Arc and Mort(e)

Books

  • The Kangaroo Chronicles – Opinions of a cocky marsupial
  • The Kangaroo Manifesto – A kangaroo travels around Europe
  • The Kangaroo Revelation – The fulminant sequel to the sequel
  • The Kangaroo Apocrypha – Sensation, sensation!!!
  • QualityLand – It's the algorithm that has rhythm!
  • QualityLand Band 1.1 – Graphic Novel

The Kangaroo Chronicles/2009

Opinions of a cocky marsupial

Marc-Uwe lives with a kangaroo. The kangaroo is a communist and totally into Nirvana. Marc-Uwe is a hobby artist who doesn't like to be called a hobby artist. Basically a classic Berlin Kreuzberg flat-sharing community . The Kangaroo Chronicles tell us about the adventures and the debates of this duo - and so we finally get answers to the most urgent questions of our time: Is lying in a hammock already passive resistance? Is debt reduction a question of faith? Was the kangaroo really at the Vietcong? Why is it addicted to champagne truffles? And what is more justifiable - starvation or eating one's friends?

The Kangaroo Manifesto/2011

A kangaroo travels around Europe

They are back - the communist kangaroo and the stoic hobby artist! In the battle against the mysterious Ministry of Productivity, they stop for nothing. A conspiracy at the lowest level! Spectacular revelations! Scandals! Intrigue! Something crazy with religion! Wonderfully weird stories - with fun, excitement and champagne truffles.

The Kangaroo Revelation/2014

The fulminant sequel to the sequel

The marsupial and the hobby artist on the hunt for the mysterious penguin. Get ready: »This is the revelation of the kangaroo to show the antisocial network what is to happen in brevity; and it was sent by email to his servant Marc-Uwe, who testified the word of the kangaroo and the testimony of the antisocial network what he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of prophecy, for the time is at hand.« Hallelujah.

The Kangaroo Apocrypha/2018

Sensation, sensation!!!

Undaunted Germanists have found new stories about the kangaroo and its hobby artist in a secret compartment in Marc-Uwe's desk! The Kangaroo Apocrypha!

»Sensational discovery, my ass,« says the kangaroo,
»you probably leaked that yourself!«
»Uh... ,« I say and scratch my beard.
»And what are apocrypha supposed to be anyway?« asks the kangaroo.
»Is that just a cool word for bonus material?« I blink.
»Haven't you got anything to say?« asks the kangaroo.
»Actually I do. Get out of my blurb.«
»Oh. Mine, yours ... «

The Kangaroo Apocrypha contains 33 brand-new stories and also all kangaroo episodes from former programs.

QualityLand/2017

It's the algorithm that has rhythm!

Welcome to QualityLand! In the future, everything will run smoothly: work, leisure and relationships will be optimized by algorithms. QualityPartner knows who suits you best. The self-driving car knows where you want to go. And anyone who is registered at TheShop receives all the products they want without having to order them, because the system knows what they want. Super practical! Nobody is forced to make difficult decisions anymore - because in QualityLand the answer to all questions is: OK.
Nevertheless, it's more and more creeping up on the machine scraper Peter Jobless that something is wrong with his life. If the system is really so perfect, why does he meet drones suffering from fear of flying or combat robots with post-traumatic stress disorder? Why are the machines becoming more and more human, but the people more and more machine?

The novel is available in 2 versions - as a "light" and a "dark" edition. Simply choose to suit your taste. Marc-Uwe explains the two editions as follows:

"Since my new book revolves a lot around personalization and its absurdities, I had the idea early on to have this personalization applied to the novel itself. That's why there are two different editions. In between the actual chapters, which are identical in both editions, there are recommendations, news and advertising, which differ from each other. However, readers need not be afraid to miss anything. At the end of the book there is a link that leads to the interruptions of the other edition. So you don't have to buy the book twice to be able to read everything."

QualityLand Band 1.1/2020

Graphic Novel

Welcome to QualityLand, in a not too distant future: Everything runs smoothly - work, leisure and relationships are optimized by algorithms. Nevertheless, it's more and more creeping up on the machine scraper Peter Jobless that something is wrong with his life. If the system is really so perfect, why does he meet drones suffering from fear of flying or combat robots with post-traumatic stress disorder? Why are the machines becoming more and more human, but the people more and more machine?

The graphic novel is based on the bestseller by Marc-Uwe Kling, illustrated by Zachary Tallent.

Children's Books

  • The uNOcorn – The new children's book by Marc-Uwe Kling & Astrid Henn
  • The day grandma broke the internet – The new children's book by Marc-Uwe Kling & Astrid Henn
  • Easter Claus – Children's book
  • Princess Head-of-Snot – A modern fairy tale

The uNOcorn/2019

The new children's book by Marc-Uwe Kling & Astrid Henn

In the heart of the Heartforest a small, cute unicorn is born. But although everyone lavenderously loves it very and feeds it with sugared lucky clover all the time, the little animal does not behave like a unicorn at all. It simply always says no, so that its family soon only calls it uNOcorn.

One day the uNOcorn escapes from its cotton candy world. It hits a raccoon who doesn't listen, a dog who doesn't give a hoot, and a princess who always knows better. These four make a pretty good team. Because even being stubborn is much more fun when you're together!

The day grandma broke the internet/2018

The new children's book by Marc-Uwe Kling & Astrid Henn

That's impossible, isn't it? Grandma broke the Internet. The whole thing. All over the world! Tiffany, Max and Luisa can't stop being astonished, because actually ... nothing is working anymore! At first it's pretty strange. Because suddenly everyone has time. But then it gets really cosy, although the internet isn't working - or maybe because of that.

Easter Claus/2017

Children's book

The great new illustrated book by Marc-Uwe Kling and Astrid Henn! It's not easy for the son of Santa Claus. Because he thinks winter, snow, oranges, tea and beards are really stupid! In spring, on the other hand, the boy's heart opens up. And he can't ever get enough of colorfully painted eggs. It is clear that he would much rather become an Easter Claus when he grows up. His father, of course, does not like that at all. After all, being Santa Claus is a family tradition. Fortunately, Santa Claus cannot deny a child any wish ...

Princess Head-of-Snot/2015

A modern fairy tale

»There once was a princess all pretty and blinking. Like most of her kind, her great weakness was thinking.«

Marc-Uwe has written a children's book and Astrid Henn has drawn some great paintings for it. It is called »Princess Head-of-Snot« and is about the same princess who is cursed by a little wizard to be what she is named. From now on the princess must actually wear a huge booger head on her neck. Her father, King Stinkfoot of Head-of-Snot, suggests that she could change her name and with it her appearance through a wedding, but neither the Prince Poop-Puss nor the Sir Zit is chosen by the picky princess.

On popelkopf.de you will find a free audio book and colouring pictures.