The title is an obvious nod to Orwell, but Larry’s dystopia isn’t really about telescreens and jackboots. It’s about something quieter and, frankly, more believable: a society that decides addiction has been “solved” through a mandatory pharmaceutical cure, and then builds a whole compliance system around it. Recovery stops being something you choose and becomes something you prove.

At the centre of the world is Neuroxone, a fictional wonder drug delivered by patch, pill, or implant. It removes craving, but the real cost shows up over time: autonomy gets thinner, choice gets riskier, and the long-term downsides are minimised, buried, or blamed on the very people the system claims it is helping.

One of the strongest threads in our conversation was the moral pressure this kind of world creates. If a “solution” appears to reduce harm at scale, who gets to decide the trade-off? What happens when compassion becomes policy, and policy becomes a blunt instrument?

Larry also shared some of the personal roots behind the novel. A late friend in recovery helped plant the seed with an observation that stuck: that addiction treatment can be slowly hijacked when profit and power get to write the rules. That idea, combined with Larry’s own lived experience, became the backbone of the story’s tension.

We also dug into the cast and the push-and-pull between enforcement and resistance. On one side: corporate power, political cover, and people whose careers depend on keeping the machine running. On the other: characters trying to uncover what’s being hidden, and asking whether a stable system is worth the price of removing choice. I won’t spoil arcs here, but the book is built to keep turning the screw.

On the worldbuilding side, the tech stays grounded. No flying cars, no magic AI overlords. Instead, it’s an amplified version of what we already have: compliance checks, retinal scans, screens that make monitoring frictionless, and systems designed to nudge “participation” into obligation. The point isn’t flashy futurism. It’s proximity. This world feels like it could arrive through a series of “reasonable” decisions.

We finished by talking craft. Larry spoke candidly about the challenge of writing fiction after other forms of writing, how easy it is to get overwhelmed by moving parts, and why he chose to write the ending first and build backwards. If you write speculative fiction yourself, there’s plenty here on stakes, structure, and making moral questions land without turning the story into a lecture.

This episode isn’t just about addiction recovery or corporate influence. It’s about how systems drift: how choice gets traded away one policy at a time, and how “help” can become control when nobody is allowed to say no.

For more on Dr Larry Smith, his books and his story, visit: https://www.drlarrysmithauthor.com/

Craft discussion: https://richardsonsrubicon.com/community/season-5-speculative-fiction-where-worlds-meet/does-worldbuilding-need-familiar-power-structures-to-feel-real/